ITALIAN BAROQUE
ITALIAN BAROQUE
Italian Baroque
Concepts to know…
Patrons and their influence on art
How did royal patrons of the arts choose to have themselves portrayed in the art of the
seventeenth century? Comparing the art of painters such as Riguard, Van Dyck, Rubens, and
Velazquez will help students to visualize the changes that had occurred since the
Renaissance. Regional differences should also be noted.
Naturalism/verisimilitude
The desire of seventeenth-century painters to achieve naturalism in their works marks a shift
away from Classical ideals. The willingness of patrons to be portrayed, "warts and all" (p. 752),
is a startling shift from the trends first seen in the art of the ancient Near East. Caravaggio
takes this notion to an extreme, and was famously persecuted because of it.
New patrons
The emergence of a middle-class art-buying public in Holland during this period is an
extraordinary development. The Calvinistic mores of that culture need to be closely scrutinized
to understand the laces in their portraits and the oysters in the still lifes of the period (p. 799).
Shifting styles
This chapter includes the Baroque and the Rococo art styles. The reasons, not fully
understood, for this shift in taste and what it means visually, are of major importance. Unlike
Mannerism, the Rococo style is mostly uniform, and quickly identified. Nonetheless, the
chapter provides opportunities for students to practice connoisseurship—for example, in a
comparison of Watteau and Boucher.
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Italian Baroque
People to know…
ITALIAN
Bernini, Borromini, Caravaggio,
Gentileschi
FRENCH
Louis XIV, Poussin, Lorrain
SPANISH
Philip IV, Velazquez
FLEMISH
Rubens, Van Dyck, Charles I
DUTCH
Hals, Ruisdael, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Claesz
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Italian Baroque
Goals of Art during the COUNTER-REFORMATION
(The “Empire Strikes Back”)
To deliberately evoke intense emotional response
from the viewer
ITALIAN BAROQUE
Italian Baroque
Goals of Art during the COUNTER-REFORMATION
(The “Empire Strikes Back”)
To deliberately evoke intense emotional response
from the viewer
To create dramatically lit, often theatrical compositions
ITALIAN BAROQUE
Italian Baroque
Goals of Art during the COUNTER-REFORMATION
(The “Empire Strikes Back”)
To deliberately evoke intense emotional response
from the viewer
To create dramatically lit, often theatrical compositions
To use diverse media such as bronze and marble within a
single artwork
ITALIAN BAROQUE
Italian Baroque
Goals of Art during the COUNTER-REFORMATION
(The “Empire Strikes Back”)
To deliberately evoke intense emotional response
from the viewer
To create dramatically lit, often theatrical compositions
To use diverse media such as bronze and marble within a
single artwork
To create work with spectacular technical virtuosity
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Italian Baroque
Bernini
Gianlorenzo BERNINI
His works include:
▪ The colonnade of St. Peter’s Piazza
▪ The baldacchino on the St. Peter’s altar
▪ Vibrant marble sculpture of David
▪ Ecstasy of St. Theresa sculpture
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Italian Baroque
Gianlorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino, St. Peter’s, Rome. 1623-1634.
Long before the planning of the Piazza, Bernini
had been at work decorating the interior of Saint
Peter’s. His first commission, completed in 1624
and 1633, called for the design and erection of the
gigantic bronze baldacchino ( a canopy made of
cloth or stone erected over an altar, shrine, or
throne in a Christian church) above the main altar
under the great dome. The canopy-like structure
marks the tomb of Saint Peter. At almost one
hundred feet high it serves as a focus of the
church’s splendor.
At the top of the columns four colossal angels
stand guard at the upper corners of the canopy.
Forming the canopy’s apex are four serpentine
brackets that elevate the orb and the cross,
symbols of the Church’s triumph since the time of
Constantine. All over the baldacchino are letter B’
s representing the Barberini family (Pope that
commissioned the work).
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Gianlorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino, St. Peter’s, Rome. 1623-1634.
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Gianlorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino, St. Peter’s, Rome. 1623-1634.
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Giovanni Panini, Interior of St. Peter’s, Rome, 1731.
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Gianlorenzo Bernini, “David”,
Galleria Borghese, Rome, 1623.
Bernini’s sculpture is expansive and dramatic,
and the element of time usually plays an
important role in it. This marble statue aims at
catching the figure’s split-second action and
differs markedly from the restful figures of David
portrayed by Donatello and Michelangelo.
The figures legs are widely and firmly planted,
beginning the violent, pivoting motion that will
launch the stone from his sling. If the action had
been a moment before, his body would have
been in a completely different position. Bernini
selected the most dramatic of an implied
sequence of poses, so observers have to think
simultaneously of the continuum and of this tiny
fraction of it.
This is not the kind of sculpture that can be
inscribed
ITALIAN
BAROQUEin a cylinder or confined in a niche; its
Italian Baroque
Comparing Davids….
Donatello
Michelangelo
Bernini
(Early Italian Renaissance)
(High Italian Renaissance)
(Italian Baroque)
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Church of the Santa Maria della Vittoria (Cornaro Chapel)
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Gianlorenzo Bernini
“Ecstasy of Saint Theresa”,
Bernini Cornaro Chapel, Rome Italy, 1645-1652
Saint Theresa was a nun of the Spanish
Counter-Reformation. Her conversion
occurred after the death of her father, when
she fell into a series of trances, saw visions,
and heard voices. Feeling a persistent pain,
she attributed to “the fire tipped arrow of Divine
love” that an angel had thrust repeatedly into
her heart.
In her writings, Saint Theresa described this
experience as making her swoon in delightful
anguish. The whole chapel became a theater
for the production of this mystical drama.
Bernini depicted the saint in ecstasy,
unmistakably a mingling of spiritual and
physical passion, swooning back on a cloud
while the smiling angel aims hisITALIAN
arrow. BAROQUE
Italian Baroque
Bernini, “Ecstasy of Saint Theresa”, Cornaro Chapel, 1645-1652
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Aerial view of St. Peter’
s in Rome
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View of the Square from St. Peter’s Dome
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Carlo Maderno, “Santa Susanna” Rome, Italy 1597-1603.
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Italian Baroque
Comparing buildings…
BAROQUE Santa Susanna
MANNERISM il Gesu
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Restoring Saint Peter’s, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
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Francesco Borromini,
facade of “San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane”,
Rome, Italy, 1665-1676.
The church was designed by the architect
Francesco Borromini and it was his first
independent commission. Designed as part
of a small monastery for a community of
Spanish monks, it is an iconic masterpiece of
Baroque architecture. Built to fit in a cramped
and difficult site, the church has an unusual
and somewhat irregular floor plan in the
shape of a Greek cross defined by convex
curves. The facade is similarly undulating in
plan, and this effect was subsequently
adopted by other Baroque architects in their
church designs. The unifying design feature
in the interior is the use of the triangle, a
motif for the Trinity.
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Italian Baroque
Francesco Borromini,
facade of “San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane”,
Rome, Italy, 1665-1676.
The interior of San Carlo alle Quattro
Fontane is not only an ingenious response
to an awkward site but also a provocative
variation on the theme of the centrally
planned church.
In the plan, San Carlo looks like a hybrid of
a greek cross and an oval, with a long axis
between entrance and apse. The side
walls move in an undulating flow that
reverses the façade’s motion.
Vigorously projecting columns define
space into which they protrude just as
much as they do the walls attached to
them. This molded interior space is
capped by a deeply coffered oval dome
that seems to float on the light entering
through windows hidden in its base.
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Francesco Borromini, interior of “San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane”, 1665-1676.
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Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio),
Conversion of Saint Paul , 1601.
Caravaggio painted Conversion of Saint Paul
for the Cerasi Chapel in the Roman church of
Santa Maria del Popolo. It illustrates the
conversion of the Pharisee Saul to Christianity,
when he became the disciple Paul.
The saint-to-be appears amid his conversion,
flat on his back with his arms thrown up. In the
background, an old hostler seems preoccupied
with caring for the horse. At first inspection, little
here suggests the momentous significance of
the spiritual event taking place.
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Caravaggio
Conversion of Saint Paul, 1601
On display at the Santa Maria del
Popolo (Rome, Italy)
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Caravaggio,
“Calling of Saint Matthew” c1597-1601
The painting depicts the story from the
Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 9:9):
"Jesus saw a man named Matthew at
his seat in the custom house, and said
to him, "Follow me", and Matthew rose
and followed Him." Caravaggio depicts
Matthew the tax collector sitting at a
table with four other men. Jesus Christ
and Saint Peter have entered the room,
and Jesus is pointing at Matthew. A
beam of light illuminates the faces of
the men at the table who are looking at
Christ.
In this work Caravaggio draws
inspiration from his own world, placing
the biblical scene in modern reality.
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Caravaggio,
“Calling of Saint Matthew” c1597-1601
In this work Caravaggio draws
inspiration from his own world, placing
the biblical scene in modern reality.
This work is evidence of Caravaggio's
artistic confidence. He was not
comfortable with the traditions of
contemporary idealizing history
painting and so he regressed to the
subjects of his youth which had
previously earned his success.
Additionally, in this work, there is a
likeness between the gesture of Jesus
as pointing towards Matthew and that
of God as he awakens Adam in
Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.
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Caravaggio,
“Calling of Saint Matthew”
c1597-1601
The Calling of Saint
Matthew can be divided into
two parts. The figures on
the right form a vertical
rectangle while those on the
left create a horizontal
block. The two sides are
further distinguished by their
clothing and symbolically,
by Christ's hand.
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Caravaggio, “Calling of Saint Matthew” c1597-1601
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Caravaggo, Crucifixion of St. Peter,
c1600. Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria
del Popolo, Rome.
The painting depicts the martyrdom of St.
Peter by crucifixion. Peter asked that his
cross be inverted so as not to imitate his
God, Jesus Christ, hence he is depicted
upside-down. The large canvas shows
Romans on Nero’s behalf, their faces
shielded, struggling to erect the cross of
the elderly but muscular apostle. Peter is
heavier than his aged body would
suggest, and his lifting requires the efforts
of three men, as if the crime they
perpetrate already weighs on them. dark,
impenetrable background draws the
spectator's gaze back again to the sharply
illuminated figures, yet the faces of
Romans are hidden – perhaps in shame.
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Michelangelo, Crucifixion of St. Peter
Contrast the two Crucifixions
Caravaggio, Crucifixion of St. Peter, c1600.
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Caravaggio, Flagellation of Christ. c.1606-1607. Oil on canvas.
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Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, 1602.
"The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him and lead him away safely" (Mark 14:44).
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Caravaggio, “Supper at Emmaus” National Gallery, London 1601.
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Caravaggio, “The Incredulity of St. Thomas”, 1602.
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Beyond its ability to move its audience, this
composition also had theological
implications. To viewers in the chapel, it
appeared as though the men were laying
Christ’s body onto the altar, which was in
front of the painting This served to visualize
the doctrine of transubstantiation (the
transformation of the Eucharist and wine
into the Body and Blood of Christ) -- a
doctrine central to Catholicism but rejected
by Protestants. By depicting Christ’s body
as though it were physically present during
the Mass, Caravaggio visually articulated
an abstract theological precept.
Unfortunately, viewers no longer can
experience this effect.
Caravaggio, “Entombment” 1602-1603.
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You go, girl!
Italian Baroque
Artemisia Gentileschi
“Judith Slaying Holofernes”
ca. 1614-1620
Gentileschi used what might be called
the “dark” subject matter Caravaggio
that favored. Significantly, Gentileschi
chose a narrative involving a heroic
female, and favorite theme of hers.
The story, from the Book of Judith,
relates the delivery of Israel from its
enemy, Holofernes. Having
succumbed to Judith’s charms, the
Assyrian general Holofernes invited
her to his tent for the night. When he
fell asleep, Judith cut off his head. In
this version of the scene, Judith and
her maidservant are beheading
Holofernes.
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Artemisia Gentileschi
“Judith and Maidservant With Head
of Holofernes”
ca. 1612-1613
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Artemisia Gentileschi
“Judith and Maidservant Beheading
Holofernes”
ca. 1625.
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Caravaggio, “Judith Slaying Holofernes”, ca. 1599.
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Lucas Cranach
“Judith With Head of Holofernes”, 1530.
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Michelangelo. Judith and Holofernes. 1508-1512. Fresco. Sistine Chapel.
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Andrea Mantegna,
Judith and Holofernes. c. 1495
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Botticelli
Discovery of the Body of Holofernes.
c.1469-1470.
Tempera on panel. Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence, Italy.
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Judith Beheads Holofernes In Other Works, Too!
Donatello,
Judith and Holofernes, 1455-60.
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, a wealthy
descendant of Pope Paul III, commissioned
this ceiling fresco to celebrate the wedding
of the cardinal’s brother.
The title interprets the variety of earthly and
divine love in classical mythology.
Carracci arranged the scenes in a format
resembling framed easel paintings on a
wall, but here he painted them on the
surfaces of a shallow curved vault.
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, of course,
comes in mind, although it is not an exact
source. This type of simulation of easel
painting for ceiling designed is called
quadro riportato (transferred framed
painting).
Annibale Carracci
Loves of the Gods, 1597-1601.
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Giovanni Battista Gaulli, “Triumph in the Name of Jesus”,
Church of Il Gesu, Rome, Italy, 1676-1679 ITALIAN BAROQUE
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As the mother church of the Jesuit order, Il Gesu
played a particularly prominent role in the CounterReformation. Gaulli’s compostion focuses on the
joyful rise of spirits to Christ’s aura. In contrast,
figures of the damned seem to plummet through
the ceiling to the nave floor. Gaulli successfully
combined architecture, painting and sculpture to
create a dramatic work that celebrates the glory of
Christ and His Church.
Giovanni Battista Gaulli
“Triumph in the Name of Jesus”,
Church of Il Gesu, Rome, Italy
1676-1679 ITALIAN BAROQUE
ITALIAN BAROQUE