Art in the Era of Absolutism
Baroque Art: 17th Century
• Art of the Monarchs, late Reformation and Counter
Reformation
• Religious in Italy, Spain and France
• More Secular in the North, England
Rococo Art: 1730’s-1770’s
• Most popular in France and Germany
• Emphasize grace and gentle movement
• What do you notice about the music? Can
you connect to the historic time period?
Baroque Art
• 1600 – 1750.
• From Portuguese: “barocca,” meaning “a pearl of irregular
shape.”
• Implies strangeness, irregularity, & extravagance.
• The more dramatic, the better
• Strong diagonals and use of light.
• Colors were brighter than bright; darks were darker than
dark.
• Counter-Reformation art.
• Paintings & sculptures in church contexts should speak to the
illiterate rather than the well-informed.
• Ecclesiastical art; appeal to emotions.
Counter Reformation Baroque
Italy: 1590-1680 religious works; church patron; drama,
intensity, movement
• Caravaggio
• Atremesia Gentileschi
• Bernini
Spain: 1625-1660 court portraits; monarch patron; realistic,
dignity
• Velazquez
Belgium/Flemish: 1600-1640 altarpieces; church and monarch
patrons; florid style; sensuality
• Rubens
• Van Dyck
The Conversion of St Paul
Ecstasy of
St. Teresa
Bernini
1647
Comparing Renaissance and BaroqueMichelangelo’s David and Bernini’s
David
David Michaelangelo 1504
David Bernini 1623
The Landing of
Marie de Medici
at Marsailles
Rubens
1623
Charles I, King of
England at the
Hunt
Anthony van Dyck
1635
Dutch Golden Age
1630-1670 people are patrons; visual accuracy; studies of light
Still Life’s
• Claesz
• Heda
• Heem
Landscape
• Ruisdael
• Cuyp
Genre and Portrait
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•
•
•
•
Hals
Rembrandt
Maes
Vermeer
Steen
The
Nightwatch
(detail)
Rembrandt
1642
Rembrandt - The Sampling Officials of the Drapers
Guild 1662
1660
Self Portraits
1669
The
Milkmaid
Vermeer
1658
France Baroque into Rococo
Baroque 1670-1715 classical landscapes; decorative architecture;
monarch patron; pretentious style; order and ornament
• Claude Lorrain
• George La Tour
• Pierre Puget
Rococo 1725-1775 ornate, shell-like, playful, sinuous; ornate
architecture and palaces; monarchy and nobility;
• Watteau
• Chardin
• Boucher
• Fragonard
Pilgrimage to Cythera
Watteau 1717