Chapter 24

Popes, Peasants, Monarchs, and Merchants Baroque & Rococo Art

The Baroque Period

• Art of the 16th and 17 th century Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation.

• Reaction against the increasing ideas of individual rights and self-autonomy.

• Backlash against emerging scientific investigation.

• Characteristics of Baroque Art – Dramatic theatricality – Grandiose Scale – Elaborate ornateness – Emotional appeal and intensity

Baroque

• Baroque literally means distorted or grotesque. The term was used to discount or slander the art which dominated the seventeenth century. It came into widespread use, however, and more or less lost its negative connotations. The Baroque was born in the first years of the seventeenth century in Rome and was primarily associated with Catholic (as opposed to Protestant) art. But as the century progressed the style made inroads into the Protestant countries, although it tended to be used in a more secular (less religious) way in the north.

Inspiration and Influences

• One of the major discoveries of the Italian Renaissance, Laocoön and his Sons - a Hellenistic sculptural grouping - was found in Rome in 1506 in the ruins of Titus' palace.

• The theatricality and emphasis on emotional intensity is typically Hellenistic Greek-often called "Baroque" as well. Note the writhing serpents, one of whom bites Laocoön's left leg, and the pained expressions on the faces.

• The furrowed brow and open mouthed pain would be copied by Bernini and Caravaggio in the seventeenth century.

Some Key Events of the Period

• Galileo refines the telescope and finds evidence in support of the heliocentric system, 1600-1620.

• Thirty Years War in Germany - 1621-1648.

• Kepler defines laws of planetary motion, 1609-1619.

• Jamestown established,1619; Plymouth Colony founded, 1620.

• Harvey discovers blood circulation, 1628 • English Civil War: England’s monarchy overthrown, 1647 by Cromwell, King Charles I executed, 1649.

• Establishment of the slave trade during the first half of the 17 th century.

• Newton defines law of gravity, 1687.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome

• Design by Michangelo; façade by Maderno, piazza by Bernini

24 3,4: Carlo Maderno, Plan of St. Peter’s • Oval plan reflects Michelangelo’s Campodoglio on the Capitoline Hill.

• “Arms” of St. Peter’s “embrace” the plaza, including obelisk from Egypt and the fountains by Maderno.

• The dome above becomes secondary to the piazza in front.

• Intended to be awe inspiring and authoritative.

24 5 Bernini’s Baldacchino, St. Peter’s • Marks “tomb” of St. Peter, the rock on which the church was founded.

• Bronze, 30 m. high • Spiral columns inspired by baldacchinos in early Christian churches.

• Bridges gap between humans and colossal architecture.

• Bronze came from Pantheon ceiling.

24-6 Bernini

Scala Regia

, Vatican

• Passage leads from papal apartments to the narthex of St.

Peter’s.

• Barrel vaulted ceiling.

• Columns with tiny aisles on each side (mimics a church).

• Narrows & brightens as it ascends.

24-7 Bernini,

David

• Expansive and dramatic image compared to earlier Davids.

• Note the movement of figure, drapery, and the twist in body.

• Observe the tension and concentration in David’s face • Observer is forced to see the outcome of David’s action in the mind.

Three

Davids

24-8 Bernini, Cornaro Chapel

• In Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.

• Baroque spectacle, theatrical event.

• Entire complex with sculpture was designed by Bernini.

24-8 Bernini, Cornaro Chapel

• The Cornaro family is immortalized by Bernini as spectators in sculptural groups at sides of chapel.

• Note the resemblance to box seats in opera house or theatre.

• Observe Bernini’s use of perspective in the relief behind the family.

24-9 Bernini,

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa

• St. Theresa: nun with visions of angel piercing her heart with fire-tipped arrow.

• Angel poised, drawing back robe of nun • Theresa experiences “delightful anguish” • Counter-Reformation emphasis on mystical spirituality

24-10 Borromini,

S. Carlo delle Quattro Fontane

• Rome, built 1665-76 • Irregular site required a unique solution to planning • His façade ripples like a wave, niches recede, columns move forward.

• Borromini was said to have “eliminated the corner.”

24-10 Borromini,

S. Carlo delle Quattro Fontane

• San Carlo delle Quattro Fontane as it appeared in the 17 th Century.

24-10 Borromini,

S. Carlo delle Quattro Fontane

• Ceiling of San Carlo delle Quattro Fontane; note the complex geometric forms, hints of the Pantheon.

Two Baroque Churches

• Left: S. Carlo delle Quattro Fontane (1665-76); Right S. Andrea del Quirinale (1658-1670).

Two Baroque Churches

• Left: S. Carlo delle Quattro Fontane; Right S. Andrea del Quirinale

Architectural Rivals

• Bernini and Borromini were arch rivals; this figure from Bernini’s

Fountain of the Four Rivers

on a church designed by Borromini.

in the Piazza Navona looks with horror

24-19 Caravaggio,

Calling of St. Matthew

, Contarelli Chapel, 1597-1601 • Christ, displaced to right side of work, stands behind Peter.

• Theatrical lighting dramatises the central event.

• Matthew points to himself, doubting the call.

24-18 Caravaggio,

Conversion of St. Paul

, Cerasi Chapel, 1601 • Light within painting corresponds to the illumination from a window in the chapel.

• The painting was designed specifically for this site.

• Caravaggio again uses

tenebroso

-dramatic shadowing to enhance the visual impact

24-20 Caravaggio,

Entombment

, Vittrice Chapel, 1603.

• Dramatic lighting, ordinary faces and figure types.

• The painting was placed over the chapel altar.

• Evokes image of Christ as Eucharist body going into altar.

24-21 Artemisia Gentileschi,

Judith Slaying Holofernes

• • • Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), was the daughter of a well-known Roman artist, Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639). She was one of the first women artists to achieve recognition in the male-dominated world of Baroque art. At a time when female artists were limited to portrait painting and imitative poses, she was able to paint major historical and religious scenarios.

The heroines of her art, especially Judith, are powerful women exacting revenge on such male evildoers as the Assyrian general Holofernes.

After her death, she drifted into obscurity, her works often attributed to her father or other artists. Renewed interest in Artemisia in recent years has recognized her as a talented 17th century painter and one of the world's great woman artists.

24-21 Artemisia Gentileschi,

Judith Slaying Holofernes

• She was a

caravaggista

(a follower of Caravaggio’s style) • The image gives a dramatic presentation of moment of his decapitation.

• Judith saves the Israelites from the Assyrian enemy through the seduction and killing of their general.

Artemisia Gentileschi,

Susanna and the Elders

• Painted 1610, when she was 17 years old!

• Artemesia tells the story of Susanna from a woman’s point of view.

• Most male artists show her from a coy or voyeuristic stand-point. Artemisia shows Susanna as vulnerable, frightened and resisting their demands, whilst the men loom large, leering, menacing and conspiratorial behind her.

Artemisia Gentileschi,

Self-Portrait

• The artist paints herself as the allegory of painting.

• The female figure serves as inspiration and agent of creativity.

Artemisia Gentileschi, two images of happiness.

• Left:

The Lute Player

, 1610; Right:

Felicity

, 1624.

Artemisia Gentileschi,

Rest on the Flight into Egypt.

24-22 Annibale Carracci,

The Flight into Egypt.

• Idealized landscape, similar to the style of Titian or Giorgione.

• Holy Family walks in foreground, dwarfed by the landscape.

• Image is expressive of the “pastoral” view.

24-22 Annibale Carracci,

The Loves of the Gods

, Palazzo Farnese • “Framed” fresco paintings on curved vault.

• Central scene is

Triumph of Bacchus

themes (god of wine).

• Sensuous, lavish display of paganism; Renaissance in Baroque style.

• This “over the top” secular Baroque decorative style could be found in many palaces of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Annibale Carracci,

The Triumph of Bacchus

Annibale Carracci,

The Triumph of Bacchus

Annibale Carracci,

Venus and Adonis

A Venerable Foursome

24-24 Guido Reni,

Triumph of Aurora

• • • Inspired by Raphael (see the

Galatea

) Aurora, goddess of dawn, leads Apollo’s chariot accompanied by the Hours.

Simulated easel painting on ceiling-fresco technique.

Raphael’s Galatea

4-25 Pietro da Cortona

Triumph of the Barberini Family

• Ceiling of the

gran salone

, Barberini Palace, Rome.

• The Barberini family receives allegorical gifts of Divine Providence and Immortality.

24-25 Pietro da Cortona

Triumph of the Barberini Family (detail)

24 28 José de Ribera,

Martyrdom of Saint Bartholemew

• Ribera was a Spaniard who settled in Italy and followed the style of Caravaggio.

• Brutal accounts of saints’ lives reinforce brutality of Counter-Reformation practices (both Protestant & Catholic).

• Martyrdom as theme of sacrifice to a “greater” good.

24 29 Francisco de Zurbarán

St. Serapion

• One of the Caravaggisti; also a Spaniard. Spain was marked by intense Counter Reformation reaction (e.g.

Jesuits).

• Again, note the light figure against a dark background.

• “Common” features designed to draw sympathy and devotion from lower classes, reinforce Catholicism.

Diego Vélàzquez (1599-1660)

• Born in Seville to lesser nobility; he apprenticed to a painter who had court contacts.

• He was influenced by the work of Caravaggio; studied Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian.

• Appointed court painter to King Philip IV of Spain in 1623.

• In 1629 he went to Italy, encouraged by Rubens; he made more trips there in later years.

24 30 Vélàzquez

Water Carrier of Seville

• • A very early work, done at age 20.

Genre

painting - ordinary scenes, no allegory, history, religion • Image shows the dignity of working classes, gives the workers nobility of features.

24 33 Vélàzquez,

Las Meninas

• Has been called the most perfect painting.

• It depicts the

Infanta

her ladies in-waiting.

• Vélàzquez shown in (eldest daughter of the king) and painting at left; mirror in background shows king and queen; the painter is on a higher level than the king.

• Velazquez changed painting to add his noble emblem.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

• Flanders remained Catholic and kept its links to Spain after the Netherlands broke away.

• Rubens combined elements of Michelangelo and Titian with Caravaggio’s Baroque drama to become the first “European” painter.

• Classically educated, multi-lingual with aristocratic and royal contacts, especially in France and Spain.

• Robust, fleshy nudes were Rubens’ hallmark.

24-34 Peter Paul Rubens

Elevation of the Cross

24-35 Rubens

Drawing of Laocoön & his sons

• Done while Rubens was in Italy, 1600 1608.

• Drawn from observations of the statue in the Vatican collection.

24-36 Rubens,

Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles

• Marie de Medici was Queen of France, wife of Henri IV, regent for her son, Louis XIII.

• She was an extremely powerful and ambitious woman.

• Rubens presents her as the idealized, perfect woman, honoured by the gods an allegory of power and authority.

24-38 Anthony Van Dyck

Charles I Dismounted

• Van Dyck was the former assistant to Rubens in Flanders.

• He painted, in a courtly manner, elegant figures, pleasing to royalty.

• Charles’ “casual” dress is belied by his manner, pose.

• The king is placed to enhance his height and superiority

The Dutch Republic

• Bank of Amsterdam founded 1609.

• Henry Hudson sails to New York 1610.

• Colonies, fur trade and spice plantations established; overseas empire created in Asia and the Americas.

• Urban patrician class of merchants and manufacturers with money to spend become primary art patrons-taste differs from royal, noble patrons and the landed aristocracy.

• Religious toleration: Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities coexist.

24-40 Gerrit von Honthorst,

Supper Party

• • Genre painting, informal, unidealized.

The artist studied Caravaggio on a trip to Italy, uses dramatic lighting for nonreligious work.

Frans Hals,

The Jolly Toper

24-41 Frans Hals,

Archers of St. Hadrian

• • Individualized faces; similarity of attire is offset by unique features of each man.

Group of civic militia feasting on their patron saint’s day; such militias worked to expel the Spanish from Holland.

24-42 Franz Hals

Regents of the Old Men’s Home

• Aspects of each woman’s personality shown • Lack of spontaneity; focus on stability; women in authority need to be sober, responsible and pious.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

• Educated young, Latin schooling, two-year apprenticeship.

• Portraiture his specialty –Anatomical studies led to over 100 self portraits.

• Moved to Amsterdam, made many contacts among upper classes (rich merchants).

• Drew and painted the poor of Amsterdam as well as the rich merchants.

• Sought by many for portraits but died in poverty.

24-43 Rembrandt,

Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp

• Painted 1632 • Note the dramatic foreshortening and subdued colour forcing us to focus on the white corpse • The 17th century saw the rise of the new “scientific” medical profession, distinct from “barber surgeons.” • Clean and neat dissection.

24-44

The “Night Watch”

• Largest painting by Rembrandt (not a night scene, the varnish has darkened).

• Company of civil guard (militia) commissioned the work for their hall.

• Brilliant effects in lighting, costumes, composition.

24-45 Rembrandt,

Return of the Prodigal Son

• Calvinist objection to religious art was not really a law, more a warning against certain types of religious images.

• Favoured Old Testament themes, such as this one.

• Scene represents humility, mercy, redemption without ostentation, sensuality.

Rembrandt: Three self-portraits

Left: 1620, Centre: 1659-60, Right: 1660 Note light source in each image, also paint texture.

24-47 Rembrandt:

Christ with the Sick

• Etching, 1649.

• Focus is on the humility of Christ, mercy toward sick, affection for children.

• Jews at left are not demonized, but shown as normal humans.

24-48 Judith Leyster,

Self-Portrait

• This painting shows the influence of Frans Hals’.

• Leyster paints herself painting a genre scene; the fiddler was a contemporary image • In 1633 she became a member of the Haarlem painter’s guild.

24-49 Aelbert Cuyp,

Distant View of Dordrecht

• Carefully rendered local landscape.

• Such works, showing the prosperity of their lands, were popular with landowners, as “portraits” of one’s home or estate.

• Note the accurate rendering of details.

24-52 Jan Vermeer,

Allegory of the Art of Painting (

1670-1675) • Vermeer, the “Master of Light,” specialized in cozy interiors of prosperous merchant homes.

• Here, the painter works at rendering precise details of the subject posing for him.

• The drawn curtain provides us with a “peek” at the scene

Vermeer’s

Allegory of the Art of Painting

• This painting is not a tranquil interior, however; it is highly charged with mood.

• This painting is a watch the show.

host of symbols and icons

. A curtain covers much of the canvas, indicating that this is a stage-set, and the diagonal pattern of floor tiles draws the eye into the scene. There is a chair at lower left, ready for the viewer to sit down and

Vermeer’s

Allegory of the Art of Painting

• The woman has a blue dress and a yellow skirt, she has a crown of laurel, a trombone, and a book; she is interpreted as Clio, the muse of History, as described by Cesare Ripa's

Iconologia

history , an Italian study of symbols that was translated into Dutch in 1644. The book she holds is the works of Thucydides, the classical Greek historian. The traditional name for this painting is therefore possibly wrong; it may not be about painting, but about – or about the relationship of art and history.

Vermeer’s

Allegory of the Art of Painting

• The chandelier hanging from the ceiling has a double-headed eagle motif at the top, symbolic of the Habsburg empire, who had recently been ejected from the newly democratic United Netherlands. There are no candles in the chandelier, showing Vermeer's opinion of the power of the Habsburgs.

Vermeer’s

Allegory of the Art of Painting

• A large part of the canvas is taken up by a map of the Netherlands, produced by Nicolaes Visscher, from 1592, when the Habsburgs still occupied the Netherlands. The map is, however, divided by a prominent vertical crease into the newly liberated United Netherlands (right), and the remaining occupied Spanish part: Catholic Flanders, that will eventually become Belgium. The Muse of History stands directly in front of the view of The Hague, the seat of the Dutch Court and residence of the House of Orange.

Vermeer’s

Allegory of the Art of Painting

• The painter, dressed in fanciful, not contemporary, clothing, works with an almost empty canvas, symbolic of the new republic of the United Netherlands. Furthermore, the easel on which he paints is directly in front of the new country.

On the table at the left, silk flows towards us, echoing the flow of light from behind the curtain. Also there is an object that looks like an oversize death-mask, which may be the face of Willem I, from the tomb of the House of Orange in the Prinsenhof in Delft.

Vermeer’s

Delft

Vermeer’s People

24-56 Rachel Ruysch, Floral Still Life • Over her 70 year career, Ruysch painted only flowers; such painting were in high demand in wealthy homes for decoration.

• She apprenticed to Willem van Aelst, another painter of flowers before being admitted to the 1716 painters’ guild in The Hague • She was Court Painter to the King of Bavaria, 1708-

Baroque France

• Royal power greater than that of the Church following the consolidation of centralized monarchy under Louis XIII and Louis XIV (1661-1715).

• Art, literature, and culture come under the increasing control of the monarch who dictated subject matter and style, dress, deportment, and language – especially for the nobility.

• Frequent warfare combined with increasing isolation is detrimental to the economic, political, and artistic health of France.

• Louis XIV’s Palace at Versailles is the symbol of French Baroque (compare to St. Peter’s in Rome).

The French Royal Academy

• “Royal Academy of Painting & Sculpture.” • Founded by Louis XIV.

• Provided instruction, sponsored annual exhibits called “Salons.” • Elected members who judged (jury) entries of potential new members.

• Excluded women.

•Eliminated “guild” system.

•Provided hierarchy of subject matter.

•Art was to serve state (monarchy’s) interests.

•Established academic satellite location in Rome and the Prix de Rome for artists chosen to go study there.

24-58 Le Nain,

Peasant Family,

1640 • • • Genre painting with a socio-political message.

Lower classes were equated with simplicity, religious piety and purity.

Compliant lower classes were what nobility wanted to see

24-60 Poussin,

Et In Arcadia Ego c.

1655

• • • Classicism, Poussin went to Rome to study.

Balanced, pyramidal composition with references to antique statuary.

Note uniform lighting.

24-62 Claude Lorrain

Landscape with Cattle and Peasants

• Landscape creates mood through colour, organization.

• Representation of hardworking, content peasants, prosperous countryside, healthy farm animals promotes French superiority.

24-63

Apollo Attended by Nymphs

• • • Located in the park at Versailles, inspired by classical sculpture.

Glorification of king: Apollo (sun god) = Louis XIV.

Represents “appropriate” roles for women.

24 65 Mansart, Château de Blois

• Height of French Classical Baroque • Heavy use of entablature • Centralized entry • Sharply sloping roof • Doubled columns, pediment applied to central doorway

24-66 Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701

• Very large scale oil on canvas, 279 x 190 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

• Absolutism and authority represented in the image of the king.

• The aging king is represented as still vigorous.

24-68 Versailles

• Gardens surround the palace, integrated iconographically with a decorative program of architecture

24-68 Versailles

• Entire landscape at Versailles is organized - both the formal and the informal were cut, pruned, ordered to show man’s power over nature.

24-69 Plan of Versailles

• The central axis through the marble courtyard and the centre of the palace focusses on the king’s bedchamber.

24-70 Versailles,

Galerie des Glaces

• Long, narrow gallery for display of art.

• Mirrors on right make room seem larger, reflecting light from windows on left.

• Ostentatious display of wealth and power • Part of suite of reception rooms that open on to King’s bedroom.

English Baroque

• English styles do not follow same time line as those in France, Spain, Italy; English Baroque lasts into 18th century.

• English Renaissance architecture begins c. 1600 with work of Inigo Jones • Strong Parliament kept monarchy in check, overthrew King Charles I in 1647, then executed him,1649. Cromwell’s Puritan

Commonwealth

lasts until to 1660, followed by the

Restoration

during which English Baroque flourishes.

24-73 Inigo Jones, Banqueting House, Whitehall, 1622

• An English

Renaissance

building marked by severe classical detail e.g. the heavy entablatures.

• Regular columns, arches and triangular pediments alternate over windows, swags over upper floor.

24-74 Sir Christopher Wren, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London 1675-1710 • Baroque scale, eclectic style.

• Double columns on classical portico.

• Heavy towers recall Gothic style.

• Dome similar to St.

Peter’s, Rome.

• Palladian influence on lower stories of towers.

24-75 John Vangrugh, Blenheim Palace • • Country house commissioned by the government for the Duke of Marlborough; named for the decisive victory by Duke.

Building expands around a large courtyard; the heavy porch, entablatures, etc. create a low, ground-hugging appearance.