BAROQUE

1
BAROQUE

• 1580 to 1700 A.D.

2
The Baroque Age

• Our TARGETS for this unit
• Discuss the ideas, developments and changes that
  led to the movement from Renaissance to Baroque.
• Characterize baroque art by defining major
  divisions such as aristocratic baroque and
  identifying major artists (Rembrandt and
  Caravaggio) and their works.
• Discuss baroque music (Bach and the fugue, Handel
  and oratio), theatre and dance (Louis LIV and
  development of Ballet) including major forms,
  composers, playwrights and performance
  conditions.

3
Church Collapsed

• When Rome collapsed, the Catholic church became
  more influential, it remained that way until the
  1500s when the power began to slip away.
• Martin Luther led a group of Christians off from
  the church to form his own religion. This is
  called the PROTESTANT REFORMATION it is
  remembered as the movement that drew people away
  from the Catholic Church

4
Church Collapsed contd

• In response to the Protestant Reformation the
  Church began its own movement. This began in
  Italy and is known as the COUNTER FORMATION.
• Art played a HUGE role in the counter
  reformation. Artists were called upon to create
  works that would renew religious spirit. As a
  result a sense of flowing and ornate art
  developed. This movement has been labeled BAROQUE

5
Baroque Beginning

• The renaissance artists developed oil paint, used
  linear perspective and introduced shading to
  their art, but they were bound to certain types
  of art such as portraiture and religious scenery
  in order to make a living.
• During the baroque period all though they had
  more freedom of choice their decisions had to be
  made more wisely.

6
Baroque Art

• The arts during this time reflect excessive
  ornamentation, contrasts, tensions and energy
• The purpose of the art is
  to reject the limits of previous
  styles
• This period also seeks to restore the power of
  the monarchy and the church

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Baroque Art contd

• Baroque art is characterized by dynamic, often
  violent movement, flamboyant emotion, unusual
  curving compositions, swirling figures, dramatic
  lighting and exaggerated gestures.

8
Painting in Baroque Style

• Painting in the Baroque style appealed to the
  emotions and a desire for magnificence through
  luxurious ornamentation. At the same time, it was
  comprised of a systematic and rational
  composition where the ornamentation was unified
  because of variation on a single theme.
• Realism (lifelikeness) replaced beauty as the
  objective for painting. In much of Baroque art,
  sophisticated organizational schemes merge one
  part into the next to create a complex but
  unified whole.
• The human figure, as an object or focus in
  painting, could be monumental in full fashion,
  but it could also now be a miniscule figure in a
  landscape, part of, but subordinate to, a vast
  universe. Baroque style often exhibited intensely
  active compositions that emphasized feeling
  rather than form and emotions rather than the
  intellect.
• Baroque exalted intuition, inspiration and the
  genius of human creativity as reactions against
  the rationalistic classicism of the Renaissance.

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Baroque painting had a variety of applications.
It

• glorified the Church and religious
• sentiment, both Catholic and Protestant
• it portrayed the magnificence of secular wealth,
• both noble and bourgeois and
• it stressed the themes of absolutism and
  individualism as well.
• This style of painting was used by most European
  artists
• during the period 16001725.

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Baroque in Italy

• The center of the early baroque was in Italy.
• Papel patronage and the spirit of the Catholic
  (and
• counter-reformation) brought artists together to
• make Rome the most beautiful city of the entire
• Christian world. Caravaggio, probably the most
• significant of the Roman baroque painters, shows
• us in two of his works his extraordinary style,
  in
• which naturalism is carried to new heights

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Caravaggio

• In The Calling of St. Matthew
• highlight and shadow create a
• dramatic portrayal of the moment
• when the future apostle receives
• divine grace. The painter turns
• away from idealized forms and
• instead presents us with a
• mundane scene. The call from
• Christ streams, with dynamic
• chiaroscuro, across the groups of
• figures, emphasized by the
• powerful gesture of Christ to
• Matthew. The painting expresses
• one of the central themes of
• Counter Reformation belief that
• faith and grace remain open to all,
• and that spiritual understanding
• consists of a personal, and
• overpowering, emotional

12
Caravaggio

• We see in The Death of the Virgin the
• same emotional dynamism where the
• painter depicts real, almost common
• people, rather than idealized figures. The
• picture shows the corpse of the Virgin
• Mary, surrounded by the mourning
• disciples and friends of Christ.
• She appears laid out awkwardly and
• unceremoniously, with all the grim reality
• of death apparent. Her feet are
• uncovered which was considered
• indecent in the early 17th century.
• A curtain drapes over the entire scene
• as if to frame it in like a theatrical setting.
• A harsh light streams across the tableau,
• emphasizing the figure of the Virgin and

13
Caravaggio

• Caravaggio had frequent
• conflicts with the church,
• and, in the case of The
• death of the Virgin, the
• painting was rejected.
• The Duke of Mantua
• Purchased the painting
• however it went on public
• display for a week so that
• all of Rome could see it
• before it left the country.

The Conversion of St. Paul
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The Netherlands

• Art in the bourgeois baroque style reflected
• the visions and objectives of the new and
• wealthy middle class. The wealth and lavish
• lifestyle of the bourgeois sometimes
• exceeded that of the aristocracy, resulting in
• a power struggle.

15
Rembrandt

• Born in Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)
  trained under local
• artists and then moved to Amsterdam. His early
  and rapid success
• gained him many commissions and studentsmore, in
  fact, than he
• could handle. In contrast to the work of Rubens,
  Rembrandts art is by,
• for, and about the middle class.
• Indeed, Rembrandt became what we could call the
  first capitalist
• artist.
• He reportedly spent huge amounts of money buying
  his own works in
• order to increase the value of his paintings.
• Rembrandt uses suggestion rather than great
  detail. After all, the
• human spirit is intangibleit can never be
  portrayed, only alluded to.
• Thus in Rembrandts work we find atmosphere,
  shadow, and
• implication creating emotion.

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Rembrandt

• A strong central triangle
• holds the composition
• together. From a dark,
• shadowed base, the
• artist delineates the
• triangle by the
• highlighted figure on
• the lower right and the
• ladder at the lower left.
• Christs upstretched
• arm completes the
• apex of the triangle.

17
The Deposition of Christ

• By Carravagio
• In this scene Christ is
• being lifted down from
• the cross

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Rembrandt

• The Descent form the Cross has
• a certain sense of richness. The
• artist used only reds, golds, and
• red-browns except for the robe of
• the figure pressing into Christs
• body. Contrasts emerge and
• forms are revealed through
• charges in value.
• The work uses open composition
• -lines escape the frame at the
• left arm of the cross and in the
• half-forms at the lower right
• border. The horizontal line of the
• darkened sky subtly carries off the
• canvas, middle right.
• Again here we see that a central
• triangle holds the composition

19
The Night Watch

• The Night Watch can be described as

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• Cleaning of the Night Watch revealed vivid color
  and is much brighter than when it was named
• Rembrandt shows no natural light source what so
  ever, he used light for dramatic purposes only
• Some experts suggest the painting is a day
  watch because the light seems to be morning
  sunlight

21
Baroque Architecture

• The architecture emphasized the same contrasts
  between light and shade and the same action,
  emotion, opulence, and ornamentation as the other
  visual arts of the period
• Because of its scale, however, the result created
  dramatic spectacle
• The Great Versailles complex grew from a modest
  hunting lodge of Louis XIII into the grand palace
  of the Sun King (Louis XIV)
• In 1668 Louis XIV enlarged the original building
  by enclosing it in a stone envelope containing
  both king and queen apartments

The Palace of Versailles
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Garden of the Palace
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More Garden pictures
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Info. about the Garden

• The grounds of Versailles are extremely detailed
  and designed very well and represent the
  characteristics of the Baroque era.
• Elaborate and artistic and full of metaphors.
• Shows Great ornamentation and of a large scale.

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Fountains at the Palace

• This represents the break of day as the Sun God
  rises in his chariot from the waters
• This is the perfect symbol for the Sun King
  (Louis XIV)