Baroque ArtGrade 11

"An art-historical term used both as an adjective and a noun to denote, principally, the style that originated in Rome at the beginning of the 17th century superseding Mannerism.

Baroque

Religious background

Economics: “style of absolutism”

Warfare: “Thirty Years War”

Science: Descartes, Galileo Galilei

Architecture: religious, secular

Art: painting and sculpture

Religious background

Division between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism: Counter-Reformation: a response to the Protestant Reformation (which introduced Protestantism) by the Catholic Church reinforcing its power

Catholics used art to encourage piety/faithfulness and devotion into the church

Politics/ Economics: “style of absolutism”

Middle class emerged with money

Europe ruled by autocrats (one ruler with absolute power…likened today to ‘despot’, ‘dictator’, ‘tyrant’)

France: Louis XIV

Austria: Hapsburgs

England: Henry VIII

“Thirty Years War”

Europe is in a time of political unrest: constant warfare

Thirty Years War: 1618-48

Started with the conflict between Protestants and Catholics

French kings wanting to control all of Europe and battling with the Hapsburg dynasty

Science: Descartes, Galileo Galilei

Discoveries in biology, physics, astronomy, philosophy changed the artistic view

Centre of universe is sun (Galileo); human anatomy studies; law of gravity (Newton); questioning and reasoning (Descartes)

Opposite from the Renaissance ideal and idea of humanism

Now about light, movement, logic

Architecture

Religious: churches are becoming more and more elaborate and decorative and decadent to encourage a faithful following

Secular (non religious): palaces and mansion (by emerging powerful middle class), theatres, stage sets are all elaborate and visually seductive

Bourgeois and the monarchy/ autocracy battle for stylistic victory (i.e. one-up manship)

Art: painting and sculpture

• Types:

Religious

Scientific drawings for texts

Historical paintings (e.g. of battles, betrayals, of coronation)

Portraiture

Still life

Genre painting (of everyday)

Baroque Style

Open composition with diagonal movement

High contrast: extreme light shrouded in extreme dark

Loose and free technique

Naturalistic rather than idealization of Renaissance: verisimilitude

• Media: (thin glazes to heavy impastos)

Picture factories: concept was more revered than the actual ‘original’ copy; therefore, many copies could exist of any one design

The Viewer in Baroque Art

More emotionally and physically engaged in the work

• E.g. Bernini’s David: the viewer expects David to throw the rock into her space and past to the awaiting (imagined) Goliath

Emotionally involved:

• E.g. Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila: a scene of martyrdom & ecstasy: renew faith in Catholics

Caravaggio. “The Calling of St. Matthew”

1599-1602. Oil on Canvas

Italy

Caravaggio (1573-1610). Probably the most revolutionary artist of his time, the Italian painter Caravaggio abandoned the rules that had guided a century of artists before him. They had idealized the human and religious experience.

Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da (1573-1610)

Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes c. 1598; Oil on canvas, 56 3/4 x 76 3/4 in; Galleria Nazionale dell'Arte Antica, Rome

Caravaggio, The Crucifixion of Saint Peter 1600-01; Oil on canvas, 90 1/2 x 70 in; Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popola, Rome

Gentileschi 1620

Caravaggio 1598

Gentileschi 1620

Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian, 1593-1651/53), “Judith and Her Maidservant with the

Head of Holofernes”c. 1625, oil on canvas, 1.8 x

1.4 m (72 1/2 x 55 3/4 inches)

Gentileschi, ArtemisiaJudith and her maidservantc. 1612-1613 Oil on canvas44 7/8 x 36 13/16 in (114 x 93.5 cm)Pitti Gallery, Florence

Gianlorenzo Bernini“David”. 1623. Marble, life size.

Galleria Borghese, Rome

Italy

Gianlorenzo Bernini“David”. 1623. Marble, life-size. Galleria Borghese, Rome

Italy

Gianlorenzo Bernini“Ecstasy of St. Teresa” 1645-52

Marble, life-size. Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome

Italy

Diego Velazquez. “The Maids of Honor (Las Meninas)”. 1656. Oil on canvas. 10’5”x 9’

Spain

Peter Paul Rubens.“Venus at a Mirror” c. 1615

Oil on panel, 124 x 98 cmCollection of the Prince of Lichtenstein,

Vienna

Flanders & Holland

Peter Paul Rubens. “The Three Graces” 1639. Oil on wood

87 x 71 1/4 in. (221 x 181 cm Prado, Madrid

Flanders & Holland

Rembrandt van Rijn “The Night Watch (The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq). 1642. Oil on Canvas. 12’2” x 14’7”

Rembrandt van RijnAristotle contemplating a bust of Homer1653 Oil on canvas143.5 x 136.5 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Rembrandt van Rijn "The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp" 1632. Oil on Canvas

Rembrandt van RijnPortrait of the Artist at His Easel 1660Oil on canvas43 1/2 x 35 1/2" (111 x 90 cm)Musee du Louvre, Paris

Rembrandt van Rijn “Self-Portrait”. 1658. Oil

on canvas

Jacob van Ruisdael. “The Jewish Cemetery”. 1655-60. Oil on canvas. 4’6” x 6’21/2 “

Jan Vermeer“The Letter”

1666. Oil on canvas. 17 ¼ “ x 15 ¼ “

Jan Vermeer“Girl with a Pearl Earring”.

1666. Oil on Canvas.

Nicolas Poussin “The Rape of the Sabine Women” 1633-34 Oil on canvas

60 7/8 x 82 5/8 in.

France & England

Claude Lorraine. “A Pastoral Landscape”. 1650. Oil on copper. 15 ½ “ x 21 “

France & England

Pierre-Paul Puget. “Milo of Cortona”. 1671-83. Marble,

height: 8’10 ½ “

France & England

Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Garden front of Palace of Versailles. 1669-85.

France & England

Palace of Versailles. 1669-85

France & England

Hall of Mirrors.Palace of Versailles. 1669-85

The RococoGrade 11

Rococo

An l8th century style, principally associated with the decorative arts, deriving its name from the French, rocaille, meaning 'rock work'. The name was first used in the early 19th century as a pejorative term, denoting the frivolous over-elaboration which contemporary critics considered the salient feature of the style. Rococo evolved in France from, and as a reaction against, the formal and somewhat ponderous style centred on the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. Following Louis XIV's death in 1715 the court moved to Paris and Rococo reflected the new taste for lighter, more delicate decoration suitable for the smaller, more comfortable and intimate interiors of town houses.

Jean-Antoine Watteau“A Pilgrimage to Cythera” 1717. Oil on Canvas

Jean-Antoine Watteau“Gilles and Four Other Characters

from the Commedia dell’Arte (Pierrot) c. 1719. Oil on Canvas

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin.“Back from the Market” 1739

Oil on Canvas

Francois Boucher.“The Toilet of Venus”

1751Oil on Canvas

Baptiste Chardin. “The Ray”. 1750. Oil on canvas.

Sir Joshua Reynolds.“Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse”

1784Oil on Canvas

Thomas Gainsborough“Mr. And Mrs. Andrews” 1750. Oil oncanvas.

Gainsborough, ThomasMrs. Peter William Bake 1781 Oil on canvas89 5/8 x 59 3/4 in. (227.6 x 151.8 cm)Frick Collection, New York

GAINSBOROUGH, ThomasThe Blue Boy c. 1770Oil on canvas70 x 48 in. (177.8 x 112.1 cm)The Huntington Art Collections, San Marino, California

Oil  on Canvas Completed in 1767

Original dimensions: 65.0cm x 81.0cm (25.6in x 31.9in)

Original Painting held in Wallace Collection , London  England

Jean-Honoré Fragonard