Baroque Art
1600-1700 / 17th Century
Europe in the 17th Century. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended the
religious wars. European trade and financial markets span the globe.
A great source of wealth for Europe was Latin America, the main destination of the
millions of people enslaved and taken out of Africa between 1500 and 1850. The U.S.
received about 523,000 enslaved immigrants. Cuba alone got more than the U.S.
Spanish America absorbed around 1.5 million and Brazil at least 3.5 million.
Bernini was influenced by Hellenistic sculpture
like this one, The Dying Gaul, c. 200 BC.
(Roman copy)
GIANLORENZO BERNINI (Italian,
1598-1680), David, 1623. Marble,
approx. 5’ 7” high. Galleria Borghese,
Rome.
GIANLORENZO BERNINI, Self-Portrait, about 1625
Diskobolos, 5th c. Roman
copy of Greek original
Michelangelo,
Bound Slave, c. 1513
GIANLORENZO BERNINI (Italian,
1598-1680), David, 1623. Marble,
approx. 5’ 7” high. Galleria Borghese,
Rome.
DONATELLO, David,
1420s-1450s,
bronze,
5’ 2” high. First
freestanding nude
since antiquity
MICHELANGELO,
David, 1501–1504.
Marble, 13’ 5” high.
BERNINI (Italian, 1598-1680), David,
1623. Marble, approx. 5’ 7” high.
Galleria Borghese, Rome.
Detail: face of Teresa
BERNINI, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,
Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della
Vittoria, Rome, Italy, 1645–1652.
Marble, height of group 11’ 6”.
Cornaro family busts in niches on sides,
praying devoutly and acting as witnesses
to the holy drama.
Teresa is experiencing a transfiguring
coma, the so-called “Sleep of God,”
described by mystics, in which a glimpse
of Heaven’s glory is received. Mystics like
Teresa would pray for days, often unfed,
to achieve such visions.
FRANCESCO BORROMINI, Chapel of
Saint Ivo, College of the Sapienza,
Rome, Italy, begun 1642. Italian
Baroque
GUARINO GUARINI, Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Italy, 1679–1692.
Palace (private residence) of the Princes of Carignan
Details (exterior & interior)
GUARINO GUARINI, Palazzo
Carignano, Turin, Italy, 1679–1692.
Compare Baroque with Renaissance neo-classicism: ANDREA PALLADIO, Villa
Rotonda (formerly Villa Capra), near Vicenza, Italy, ca. 1566–1570.
GUARINO GUARINI, Chapel of Santissima Sindone (view into dome), Turin, Italy,
1667–1694.
Compare Renaissance dome of Sant’Eligio degli Orefici (view into dome), Rome,
Italy, attributed to BRAMANTE and RAPHAEL, ca. 1509; reconstructed ca. 1600.
Theatricality is a hallmark
of the Baroque.
CARAVAGGIO (Michelangelo
Merisi, Italian, 1573-1610),
Conversion of Saint Paul,
Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del
Popolo, Rome, Italy, ca. 1601.
Oil on canvas, approx. 7’ 6” x
5’ 9”
Use of perspective, low
horizon line, and tenebrism
brings the viewer into the
experience.
Detail from The Creation
of Adam, Michelangelo,
Sistine Chapel, c. 1511
What role does
light play in this
painting?
CARAVAGGIO, Calling of Saint Matthew, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei
Francesi, Rome, Italy, ca. 1597–1601. Oil on canvas, 11’ 1” x 11’ 5”.
Details (Matthew & Jesus) from Caravaggio’s
Calling of St. Matthew, Italian Baroque
c. 1597–1601
“Caravaggista” theatricality,
tenebrism and drama
Poor restoration has
Removed the furrows from
the women's foreheads
that indicated intense
concentration and effort.
ARTEMISIA
GENTILESCHI (Italian,
1593-1653), Judith
Slaying Holofernes, ca.
1614–1620. Oil on
canvas, 6’ 6 1/3” x 5’ 4”.
Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence.
Compare (left) Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614-29) and
Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes 1598-1599.
PIETRO DA CORTONA (Italian, 1596-1669), Triumph of the Barberini, ceiling
fresco in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy, 1633–1639. Commissioned by Pope
Urban VIII of the Barberini family. What does the fresco tell us about the
Counter-Reformation?
Know term: genre
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ (Spain,
1599-1660), Water Carrier of
Seville, ca. 1619 (The artist
was around 20 years old.),
Oil on canvas, 3’ 5 1/2” x 2’
7 1/2”. Wellington Museum,
London. Shows influence of
Caravaggio.
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ,
Las Meninas (The Maids
of Honor), 1656. Oil on
canvas, approx. 10’ 5”
x 9’. Museo del Prado,
Madrid.
Compare the representation and
role of light in Caravaggio and
Velazquez.
CARAVAGGIO, Calling of Saint
Matthew, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi
dei Francesi, Rome, Italy, ca. 1597–
1601. Oil on canvas, 11’ 1” x 11’ 5”.
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Las Meninas (The
Maids of Honor), 1656. Oil on canvas,
approx. 10’ 5” x 9’. Museo del Prado,
Madrid.
Self-portrait of Diego Velázquez –
a detail in Las Meninas. He is
wearing the cross of the Order of
Santiago that he was awarded in
1659. According to legend, the
king himself painted the cross.
Ostentation and
elaborate spectacle
PETER PAUL RUBENS
(Flemish, 1577-1640), Arrival
of Marie de’ Medici at
Marseilles, 1622–1625. Oil on
canvas, approx. 12 x 9.5 ft.
Louvre, Paris. One of 21
canvases about the life of the
queen for her new
Luxembourg palace in Paris.
Florentine princess Marie de'
Medici was married by proxy
to the King of France, Henry
IV, in the cathedral of
Florence in 1600.
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (Dutch, 1606-1669), The Company of Captain Frans
Banning Cocq (The Night Watch), 1642. Oil on canvas (cropped on left and top from
original size), 11” x 14’ 4”. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
How is light used for
psychological
purposes?
REMBRANDT VAN
RIJN, Self-Portrait, ca.
1659–1660. Oil on
canvas, approx. 3’ 8
3/4” x 3’ 1”. Kenwood
House, London.
What formal
means does
Rembrandt use
to focus our
attention on the
face?
Rembrandt, Self Portrait, 1629 (23 years old)
Etching was perfected
in the early 17th
century. How is it
different from
engraving?
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Christ with the Sick around Him, Receiving the Children
(Hundred Guilder Print), ca. 1649. Etching, approx. 11” x 1’ 3 1/4”. Pierpont
Morgan Library, New York.
JAN VERMEER,
Woman Holding a
Balance, c. 1664; Oil on
canvas, 40.3 x 35.6
cm; National Gallery of
Art, Washington D.C.
Protestant piety and
prosperity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=1oYgTP0MX2U
JAN VERMEER,
Young Woman with a
Water Pitcher, c.
1664-65; Oil on
canvas, 18 X 16 in.
Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York
JAN VERMEER,
Allegory of the Art of
Painting, 1670–1675.
Oil on canvas, 4’ 4” x 3’
8”. Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna.
JAN VERMEER, Allegory of the Art of
Painting, 1670–1675.
Vermeer’s probable use of the
camera obscura
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRDRL57I_Q
First representation of a
Camera obscura, 1544
NICOLAS POUSSIN (French, 1594-1665) Et in Arcadia Ego (Even in Arcadia I
am present), ca. 1655. Oil on canvas, approx. 2’ 10” x 4’. Louvre, Paris.
Classicism aims at “evenness and moderation in all things.” (Poussin)
NICOLAS POUSSIN, Burial of Phocion, 1648. Oil on canvas, approx. 3’ 11” x 5’ 10”.
Louvre, Paris. From Plutarch’s Life of Phocion (an Athenian general). A noble
landscape for a noble theme – the “Grand manner”
Compare Poussin 1648 Burial of Phocion with
Rubens 1625 Arrival of Marie de Medici.
Both Baroque era painters
Art in the service of
Absolutism: “The Sun King”
HYACINTHE RIGAUD (French,
1659-1743) Louis XIV, 1701. Oil on
canvas, approx. 9’ 2” x 6’ 3”.
Louvre, Paris. French Baroque
Aerial view of palace at Versailles, France, begun 1669, and a portion of the
gardens and surrounding area. French Baroque
JULES
HARDOUINMANSART and
CHARLES LE
BRUN, Galerie des
Glaces (Hall of
Mirrors), palace of
Versailles,
Versailles, France,
ca. 1680.
Controlling nature – Gardens of Versailles
LOUIS LE NAIN (French Baroque era, ca. 1592-1635) , Family of Country
People, ca. 1640. Oil on canvas, approx. 3’ 8” x 5’ 2”. Louvre, Paris. Genre
scene