Baroque Art
Professor A. D’Ascoli
Baroque Era
• 1611 King James Bible is published
• 1612 Foundation of New York by the Dutch
• 1618 Beginning of the Thirty Years' War, which devastates much of
the German region
• 1619 First African slaves in Virginia
• 1636 Foundation of Harvard College
Baroque Art Characteristics
• Symmetry still applies in architecture
• Classical themes are replaced by religious ones
in the classical style
• Ornate, rich, lavish decorations inside and even
outside
• Attempt to show power of the Church
• Emotional and violent portrayals
• Strong contrast between light and dark colors
• Trompe l’oiel (fool the eye) painted illusions
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
St Peter’s façade
1607 – 1615
Rome, Italy
Artist: Carlo Maderno
Changed Michelangelo’s
Greek cross plan to Latin cross
to accommodate large crowds
• Largest of any church in
Europe
• Uses symmetrical order to
connect the stories
• Grand theatrical work to evoke
power of Pope
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
Plaza di San Pietro
1657
Rome, Italy
Artist: Gianlorenzo
Bernini
• Plaza and colonnade
represent the
outstretched arms of the
church encircling the
faithful
• Fountains align exactly
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Baldacchino
Rome, Italy
1624 – 1633
Artist: Bernini
Altar that sits directly over
St. Peter’s tomb
• Bronze that this is made
of was taken from the
Pantheon’s roof by order
of Barberini family
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
David
1623
Rome, Italy
Artist: Bernini
David caught in the
middle of hurling the
stone
• Amazing skill is seen
here in the
expression, clothing
and details of
muscles and veins
Baroque Art
• Blessed Ludovica
Albertoni
• 1671-1674
• Rome, Italy
• In San Francesco in Ripa
• Shows her dying but in
religious ecstasy at the
same time
• Not a saint yet, just
beatified – claimed she
could levitate and perform
miracles
Baroque Art
• St. Theresa in
Ecstasy
• 1645 – 1652
• Rome, Italy
• Artist: Bernini
• Moment when angel
is piercing St
Theresa’s heart with
the arrow of pure love
of God, her face in
divine pleasure
(almost erotic)
Bernini
Bernini
Baroque Art
Baroque Art
• San Carlo alle Quattro
Fontane
• 1638 – 1667
• Rome, Italy
• Artist: Francesco
Borromini
• Church is on an
intersection of narrow
streets upon each corner
is a fountain
• Curvilinear surface is a
unique aspect of
Borromini’s work
• Unique space called for
unique church – columns
of a made up classical
order
Francesco Borromini
dome of
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rome, Italy
1665-1676
Dove painted in center represents the Holy Spirit
Francesco Borromini
Chapel of Saint Ivo
College of the Sapienza
Rome, Italy
begun 1642
Most famous architect of the Baroque – he and
Bernini were rivals
Guarino Guarini
Chapel of Santissima Sindone
Turin, Italy
1667-1694
The Shroud of Turin rests here
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Calling of St. Matthew
1599 – 1602
Rome, Italy
Artist: Caravaggio
Seated at a bar St
Matthew is called to
Jesus
• The use of light makes
this into a religious
experience
• Christ’s halo is barely
visible
• Tenebrism – in a dark
manner
Caravaggio
Conversion of Saint Paul
Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo
Rome, Italy
ca. 1601
oil on canvas
approximately 7 ft. 6 in. x 5 ft. 9 in.
Caravaggio is considered the greatest of the Italian Baroque painters
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
The Entombment
1603
Rome, Italy
Artist: Caravaggio
The stone slab is placed
at eye height to give the
viewer the sense that
he/she is in the tomb
ready to receive Christ’s
body
• Self portrait snuck in here
• Caravaggio’s saints are
regular people – common
looking – an aspect that
got him in a lot of trouble
during his career
Caravaggio
David Victorious over Goliath
oil on canvas
43 1/4 x 35 7/8 in.
Heavily influenced his pupil Gentileschi
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Judith Slaying Holofernes
1620
Rome, Italy
Artist: Artemesia
Gentilischi
In the style of
Caravaggio’s tenebrism
She was a female artist
The light is used as a sort
of spotlight to the main
characters in the work
A lot of her art portrayed
violence – many say
associated with her being
sexually assaulted at 15
Artemisia Gentileschi
Judith and her Maidservant
ca. 1612-1613
oil on canvas
44 7/8 x 36 13/16 in.
Note head in the basket
Baroque Art
• Triumph of St. Ignatius
Loyola
• 1691 – 1694
• Rome, Italy
• Artist: Fra Andrea Pozzo
• Ceiling of Sant’Ignazio in
Rome
• Illusionist Baroque style –
flat ceiling line is gone –
looks like it goes up into
space
Triumph of St. Ignatius
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
The Bedroom
1663
Netherlands
Artist: Pieter de
Hooch
• Baroque Dutch
painting focused on
details of everyday
life
• Painting above
doorway to show art
is in everyday life
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Jolly Toper
1628 – 1630
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Frans Hals
Spontaneity is captured
here instead of the usual
stiff seated portraits
• Balancing a glass of wine
in one hand and
gesturing with the other
• He did not blend the
brushstrokes
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boy Playing a Flute
1630 – 1635
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Judith Leyster
A follower of Hals
Depicted animated
scenes from daily life like
this one
• Use of light and shadow
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
The Night Watch
1642
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Rembrandt
The event painted took place
in the morning but years of
candle soot and age caused it
to be known as the Night
Watch in error due to its
darkening
• All men in the painting paid
equally for its commission
• Composed along diagonal
lines
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Christ Preaching
1652
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Rembrandt
Even in his prints
Rembrandt exhibited
contrasts light and
darkness
• Set in Amsterdam’s
Jewish ghetto
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Self-Portrait
1669
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Rembrandt
His last self-portrait of
well over 60
• Contours have become
looser
• Painting himself as he
was – it was an insightful
reflection not like the
paintings of Durer at all
Baroque Art
• Young Woman with a
Water Pitcher
• 1664 – 1665
• Delft, Netherlands
• Artist: Jan Vermeer
• Ordinary daily life
activities in ordinary
surroundings was
Vermeer’s signature style
• The light shines in
producing shadows in all
its subtleties
Jan Vermeer
Girl with the Pearl Earring
1670-1675
oil on canvas
18 x 16 in.
His most famous painting – even made a movie
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
The Love Letter
1669 – 1670
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Jan Vermeer
Composed in a series of
rectangles formed in
perspective
• Paintings hang on the
wall, a laundry basket
and the letter itself adorn
this painting
Peter Paul Rubens
Elevation of the Cross
Antwerp Cathedral, Antwerp, Belgium
1610
oil on panel
15 ft. 2 in. x 11 ft. 2 in.
Rubens focuses on musculature much like
Michelangelo in his early work
Baroque Art
• Marie de’ Medici, Queen
of France, Landing in
Marseilles
• 1622 – 1625
• Antwerp, Brussels
• Artist: Peter Paul Rubens
• Gained his fame from
European royal courts,
especially Marie de’
Medici
• Full of drama for such an
ordinary situation
• Plump females were his
trademark “Rubenesque”
Peter Paul Rubens
The Three Graces
oil on canvas
87 in. x 71 1/4 in.
Rubenesque – a term used to describe the
Women that Rubens painted
Baroque Art
• Portrait of Charles I at the
Hunt
• 1635
• London, England
• Artist: Anthony van Dyck
• Painting captures the
king’s attitude of control
and calm while
contrasting it with the
unsettled horse and the
struggling groom
• Van Dyck was an
assistant to Rubens
originally
Judith Leyster
Self-Portrait
ca. 1630
oil on canvas
2 ft. 5 3/8 in. x 2 ft. 1 5/8 in.
A student of Rubens
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Las Meninas (Maids of Honor)
1656
Madrid, Spain
Artist: Diego Velazquez
Both a family portrait and a
genre scene at the same time
• Velazquez himself (behind
canvas) as well as the king
and queen (in mirror at back of
room) have all been placed in
the painting surreptitiously as
the princess and her maids
pose
• Considered his masterpiece
and possibly the most
recognizable painting in the
world
.
Baroque Art
• Rape of the Sabine
Women
• 1636 – 1637
• Paris, France
• Artist: Poussin
• Diagonals, and verticals
aid in perspective
• Figures seem frozen in a
moment rather than fluid
• Style that is meant to
appeal to the mind not
the eye
Nicholas Poussin
Et in Arcadia Ego
ca. 1655
oil on canvas
2 ft. 10 in. x 4 ft.
Became more famous in modern times because of Da Vinci Code and
Rennes le Chateau mystery
Baroque Art
• Palace du Louvre East
Façade
• 1667 – 1670
• Paris, France
• Artists: Louis Le Vau,
Charles Le Brun &
Claude Perrault
• A return to strict classical
forms began during the
late Baroque era in
France – it would develop
into a style known as
Neo-Classicism
Baroque Art
• Gardens at the
Chateau of Versailles
• 1662 – 1668
• Versailles, France
• Artist: Andre le Notre
• Natural world turned
to geometric shapes
in symmetrical
patterns
Baroque Art
• Garden Façade
Versailles
• 1669
• Versailles, France
• Artist: Louis le Vau
• This is the rear of the
palace at Versailles
facing the gardens; strict
classicism was still
followed for this structure
Versailles
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
Hall of Mirrors
1680
Versailles, France
Artists: Charles le Brun &
Jules Hardoun-Mansart
• 240 ft long but only 34 ft
wide and 43 ft high it
gives the appearance of a
tunnel
• The window side
overlooks the gardens
• Symbol of French
Baroque elegance
Jules Hardouin-Mansart
Église de Dôme
Church of the Invalides
Paris, France
1676-1706
French military church and hospital
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
St. Paul’s Cathedral
1675 – 1700
London, England
Artist: Christopher Wren
A Baroque interpretation
of the Pantheon of Rome
• Columns are arranged in
pairs – a characteristically
Baroque feature
• Also added a lantern to
the dome
• The 2 towers are also
Baroque in style
Balthasar Neumann
interior of the pilgrimage chapel
of Vierzehnheiligen
near Staffelstein, Germany
1743-1772
German Baroque is extremely detailed
Egid Asam
Assumption of the Virgin
monastery church at Rohr, Germany
1723
Light from window makes it a seemingly heavenly experience
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Harpsichord
1658
Germany
Artist: Jerome de Zentis
In the Baroque era, the
harpsichord was a key
instrument used by both
Bach and Handel in their
compositions and
performances
• Strings were plucked not
hammered by a
mechanism inside
Germain Boffrand
Salon de la Princesse
with painting by Charles-Joseph Natoire and
sculpture by J.B. Lemoine
Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France
1737-1740
Considered by some to be Rococo – not Baroque
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
Chapel of the Rosary
1690
Puebla, Mexico
Inside Church of
Santo Domingo
• Baroque style pushed
to the limits of design
and decoration
• Full of flourishes and
gilded gold
•
•
•
•
Baroque Art
Frontispiece of Leviathan
1651
London, England
Written by Thomas
Hobbes
• The body of the king is
made up of his subjects
referring to the social
contract betweens
government and the
people
• A supported government
rules of over a well
fortified land at peace
• The Leviathan is seen as
a defense of monarchial
rule
Baroque Art
•
•
•
•
•
Telescope
1609
Florence, Italy
Artist: Galileo Galilei
Galilei was able to
contradict the Ptolemaic
view of a geocentric
universe by observing the
motions of the heavens
• He was excommunicated
for his views and told to
recant them publicly
The end . . .
Next lecture . . .
The 18th century