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
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St Peter’s façade
1607 – 1615
Rome, Italy
Architecture
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
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Piazza di San Pietro
1657
Rome, Italy
Architecture
Artist: Gianlorenzo
Bernini
• Plaza and colonnade
represent the
outstretched arms of the
church encircling the
faithful
• Fountains align exactly
Baroque Art
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Baldacchino
Rome, Italy
1624 – 1633
Sculpture
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
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David
1623
Rome, Italy
Sculpture
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
Blessed Ludovica Albertoni
1671-1674
Rome, Italy
Sculpture
Artist: Bernini
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
• Sculpture
• 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
• Architecture
• 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
Dome of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
1665-1676
Rome, Italy
Architecture
Francesco Borromini
Dove painted in center represents the Holy Spirit
Chapel of Saint Ivo
1642
Rome, Italy
Architecture
Francesco Borromini
Most famous architect of the Baroque – he and
Bernini were rivals
Known for using curved lines and spaces rather
than the straight symmetry of the Renaissance
Chapel of Santissima Sindone
1667-1694
Turin, Italy
Architecture
Guarino Guarini
The Shroud of Turin rests here
Multi-layered dome causes unique perspective
Baroque Art
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Calling of St. Matthew
1599 – 1602
Rome, Italy
Painting
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
Conversion of Saint Paul
ca. 1601
Rome, Italy
Painting - oil on canvas
approximately 7 ft. 6 in. x 5 ft. 9 in.
Caravaggio
Caravaggio is considered the greatest of the Italian Baroque painters, his use
of light to cause spotlight effects is one of his great innovations in art
Baroque Art
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The Entombment
1603
Rome, Italy
Painting
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
David Victorious over Goliath
1599
Rome, Italy
Painting - oil on canvas
43 1/4 x 35 7/8 in.
Caravaggio
Heavily influenced his pupil Gentileschi as
can readily be seen in this compared to
Judith Slaying Holofernes
Baroque Art
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Judith Slaying Holofernes
1620
Rome, Italy
Painting
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
Judith and her Maidservant
ca. 1612-1613
Rome, Italy
Painting - oil on canvas
44 7/8 x 36 13/16 in.
Artemisia Gentileschi
Note the head is now in the basket
Baroque Art
• Triumph of St. Ignatius
Loyola
• 1691 – 1694
• Rome, Italy
• Painting
• 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
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The Bedroom
1663
Netherlands
Painting
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
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Jolly Toper
1628 – 1630
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Painting
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
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Boy Playing a Flute
1630 – 1635
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Painting
Artist: Judith Leyster
A follower of Hals
Depicted animated
scenes from daily life like
this one
• Use of light and shadow
Baroque Art
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The Night Watch
1642
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist: Rembrandt
Painting
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
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Self-Portrait
1669
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Painting
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
• Painting
• 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
Girl with the Pearl Earring
1670-1675?
The Hague, Netherlands
Painting - oil on canvas
18 x 16 in.
Jan Vermeer
His most famous painting – even made
into a movie
Focus is on the pearl, may not even be a
real person
Called “The Mona Lisa of the North”
Baroque Art
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The Love Letter
1669 – 1670
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Painting
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
Elevation of the Cross
1610
Antwerp, Belgium
Painting - oil on panel
15 ft. 2 in. x 11 ft. 2 in.
Peter Paul Rubens
Rubens focuses on musculature much like
Michelangelo in his early work, this will change
in his works
Baroque Art
• Marie de’ Medici, Queen of
France, Landing in Marseilles
• 1622 – 1625
• Antwerp, Brussels
• Painting
• 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”
The Three Graces
1636- 1639
Paris, France
Painting - oil on canvas
87 in. x 71 1/4 in.
Peter Paul Rubens
This is Rubens 2nd wife and her 2 sisters – seems they had scoliosis
Baroque Art
• Portrait of Charles I at the
Hunt
• 1635
• London, England
• Painting
• 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
Self-Portrait
ca. 1630
Haarlem, Netherlands
Painting - oil on canvas
2 ft. 5 3/8 in. x 2 ft. 1 5/8 in.
Judith Leyster
A student of Hals
She became one of the first
truly successful female painters
Baroque Art
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Las Meninas (Maids of Honor)
1656
Madrid, Spain
Painting
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
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Baroque Art
• Rape of the Sabine
Women
• 1636 – 1637
• Paris, France
• Painting
• 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
Et in Arcadia Ego
ca. 1655
Paris, France
Painting - oil on canvas
2 ft. 10 in. x 4 ft.
Nicholas Poussin
Became more famous in modern times because of Da Vinci Code and Rennes
le Chateau mystery as it is said to lead to clues to Christ and the Magdalen’s
tomb in France.
Baroque Art
• Palace du Louvre East
Façade
• 1667 – 1670
• Paris, France
• Architecture
• 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
• Architecture/Sculpture
• Artist: Andre le Notre
• Natural world turned
to geometric shapes
in symmetrical
patterns
Baroque Art
• Garden Façade
Versailles
• 1669
• Versailles, France
• Architecture
• 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
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Hall of Mirrors
1680
Versailles, France
Architecture
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
Eglise de Dome/ Church of the Invalides
1676-1706
Paris, France
Jules Hardouin-Mansart
French military church and hospital
Now also a museum of the French military
Napoleon’s tomb is also inside
Napoleon’s Tomb
Baroque Art
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St. Paul’s Cathedral
1675 – 1700
London, England
Architecture
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
Interior of Vierzehnheiligen
1743-1772
Staffelstein, Germany
Architecture
Balthasar Neumann
German Baroque is extremely detailed and
extravagant
Assumption of the Virgin
1723
Rohr, Germany
Architecture
Egid Asam
Light from window makes it a seemingly heavenly
experience
Baroque Art
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Harpsichord
1658
Germany
Painting/Sculpture
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
Salon de la Princesse
1737-1740
Paris, France
Achitecture
Architect - Germain Boffrand with Painting by Charles-Joseph
Natoire and Sculpture by J.B. Lemoine
Considered by some to be Rococo – not Baroque as it is too extravagant
Spanish Baroque
• Christ Embracing St.
Bernard
• 1625-1627
• Valencia, Spain
• Painting
• Artist: Francisco Ribalta
• Actually depicts Christ’s
descent from the cross
into the Saint’s arms
Spanish Baroque
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Immaculate Conception
1678
Madrid, Spain
Painting
Artist: Bartolome Esteban
Murillo
• The idea of the immaculate
conception of Mary came out
of Seville Spain in 1617, it is a
recent Catholic addition to the
dogma
• So Spanish artists were the
first to portray it
Spanish Baroque
• The Martyrdom of St.
Bartholomew
• 1634
• Naples, Italy
• Painting
• Artist: Jusepe de
Ribera
• Heavily influenced by
Caravaggio as he
worked in Italy
Spanish Baroque
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Christ on the Cross
1627
Llerena, Spain
Painting
Artist: Francisco de Zubaran
Creates illusion of super-reality and
expresses the dual nature of Christ
• One of his most famous works
Spanish Baroque
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Cristo Yacente
1625-1630
Valladolid, Spain
Sculpture
Artist: Gregorio
Fernandez
• Lifelike and the gore
caused quite a stir
Baroque Art
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Chapel of the Rosary
1690
Puebla, Mexico
Architecture
Inside Church of
Santo Domingo
• Baroque style pushed
to the limits of design
and decoration
• Full of flourishes and
gilded gold
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Baroque Art
Frontispiece of Leviathan
1651
London, England
Ink and Pen
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
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Telescope
1609
Florence, Italy
Sculpture and Glasswork
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 . . .
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The 18th century