Baroque
Late 16th century throughout 17th
century
• Stylistically complex and often containing
opposing styles
• Emotional response by invoking sensory stimuli
• Drama
• Movement
• Baroque pulled from the emotion and movement
idealized in Mannerism
• Combined the above with ideals of solidity,
formidable figures and grandeur from High
Renaissance
Background
•
•
•
•
•
Rome artistic capital of Europe again
Catholic church biggest patron of arts
Associated with the Catholic Counter Reformation
Movement spread outward from Rome
Each area modified the movement to fit their
ideology….Spain/Latin America more zealous on
religious ideology, whereas in Holland it barely appeared
• France saw great culmination in Baroque through
patronage of Louis XIV, who saw the interaction between
the arts culminate in a powerful display of
royalty…Versailles and it’s gardens, art, sculptures etc
Notable Artists
• From Italy=Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci,
Gianlorenzo Bernini and Andrea Pozzo
• From Flanders= Peter Paul Rubens
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1573-1610
Born in Caravaggio
Orphaned at 11
Apprenticed to Simone Peterzano for 4 years
Traveled to Rome where a dealer introduced him to Cardinal
Francesco del Monte
Commissioned at age 24 to paint at the church San Luigi dei
Francesi
Created 3 panel works on St. Matthew that were so realistic and
dramatic, people were affronted
Despite criticism…he flourished and became celebrated
Ran into trouble…wanted for murder and fled Rome, waiting for a
pardon from the Pope
He traveled incessantly
Ended up in Malta, where he was celebrated as great artist and
received pardon
Wrongfully imprisoned for a couple days, the boat that was to take
him to Rome left with his possessions but forgot him
He was so despondant, fatigued and ill, he collapsed on beach and
died a few days later
The Inspiration
of Saint
Matthew
1602; Oil on
canvas, 9' 8 1/2"
x 6' 2 1/2";
Contarelli
Chapel, Church
of San Luigi dei
Francesi, Rome
Judith Beheading Holofernes
c. 1598; Oil on canvas
The Sacrifice of Isaac
1590-1610; Oil on canvas;
Annibale Carracci
• 1560-1609
• Belonged to a family of painters from Bolognese
• All extremely talented and eventually created a school for artisans
called Academia degli Incamminati (Academy of the Progressives)
• Stressed Life Drawing and incredible draughtsmanship
• Influenced and trained many incredible artists
• 1595, Annibale called to Rome to paint Cardinal Odoardo Farnese
to paint in his palace gallery
• The ceiling in the larger gallery became one of the great fresco
masterpieces, in company with Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and
Raphael’s Vatican works
• Technically amazing
• Created hundreds of drawing preparing for the frescoes
• This planning was influential to artists thereafter
• Fell out of favor near the end of his life…stopped painting for the last
few years of his life
• Buried near Raphael
Detail of the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne by
Annibale Carracci, the Farnese Gallery, 1595
The Virgin
Appearing to
St Luke and
St Catherine
1592
Oil on canvas
Baroque architecture
• Utilized to help establish grandeur of Royal class
and strengthen ties to Catholic Church
• 1) Standard practice to incorporate a horizontal
line of statues along roof to hide sloping angles
• Introduced this concept to any horizontal line,
such as garden walls
• 2) Use of statue forms to replace columns:
caryatids: uprights in the form of female or
telamons : uprights in the male form
• 3) Use of freize : coat of arms, trophies etc
extolling royalty
Characteristics
•Dramatic use of lighting: either strong light-and-shade contrasts (chiaroscuro
effects) as at the church of Weltenburg Abbey, or uniform lighting by means of
several windows (e.g. church of Weingarten Abbey)
•opulent use of colour and ornaments (putti or figures made of wood (often
gilded), plaster or stucco, marble or faux finishing)
•large-scale ceiling frescoes
•an external façade often characterized by a dramatic central projection
•the interior is a shell for painting, sculpture and stucco (especially in the late
Baroque)
•illusory effects like trompe l'oeil(is an art technique involving extremely realistic
imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in
three dimensions.) and the blending of painting and architecture
•pear-shaped domes in the Bavarian, Czech, Polish, and Ukrainian Baroque
•Marian and Holy Trinity columns erected in Catholic countries, often in
thanksgiving for ending a plague
Sicilian
Baroque:
San
Benedetto
in Catania.
Vaux-le-Vicomte near Paris: Louis Le Vau and André Le
Nôtre, 1661
Wilanów palace in Warsaw represents a modest type of
baroque residence
Sculpture
Gianlorenzo Bernini
• 1598-1680
• Son of a sculptor, who instructed and helped Bernini
gain patronage
• Virtuoso
• Transformed sculptural works from single viewpoints to
works that required the viewer to walk around work to
see complete story= the visual story often includes
space beyond viewer
• Integrated painting, architecture and sculpture in his
works
• sculptor son Domenico summed him up best: 'Aspro di
natura, fisso nell'operazione, ardente nell'ira' - 'stern by
nature, rock steady in work, warm in anger'.
Apollo and
Daphne
1622-25
Carrara
marble
David
1623-24
White marble
Baldaccino
over the High
Altar of St.
Peter's
1624-33
Bronze and
gold
Height 95 feet
Vatican, Rome
Ecstasy of St.
Teresa
1647-52
Marble
height c. 11'
6"
Peter Paul Rubens
•
•
•
•
Flemish born painter 1577-1640
Knighted in Spain and England
Painter, architect, scholar
Style characteristics: Movement, color,
and sensuality
The Conversion of St. Paul
Christ and St. John with Angels
The
Rape
of
Europa
c. 1630
Daniel in
the Lions'
Den (detail)
1613
Critique: Andrea Pozzo Sant’Ignazio Church Trompe L’oeil Ceiling 1680′s
Michaelangelo sistine chapel ceiling
Resources
• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/baroque/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Farnese
• http://www.students.sbc.edu/oneal08/Cornaro%
20Chapel.html
• http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bernini.html
• http://www.essentialarchitecture.com/STYLE/STY-Baroque.htm
• http://www.peterpaulrubens.org/
Critique
Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1656
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Comparative Summary
Correggio Ganymede
1531-32
Oil on canvas
Peter Paul Rubens Christ and St. John with Angels
oil on canvas