Transcript Baroque Art

Baroque Art
The Council of Trent, in which the Roman
Catholic Church answered many questions of
internal reform raised by both Protestants
and by those who had remained inside the
Catholic Church, addressed the
representational arts by demanding that
paintings and sculptures in church contexts
should speak to the illiterate rather than to
the well-informed.
The Catholic Church wanted art that
would inspire and move the worshiper
 It also wanted art that would “sell” the
Catholic religion
 Church artworks should be a clear,
intelligible subject realistically interpreted
in order to stimulate piety.
 This was part of the reason that the
artwork turned towards naturalism,
becoming emotionally engaging and
intense.

Baroque art is a successor to mannerism
 It is grandiose
 It is a three-dimensional display of life and
energy
 Baroque art tends to focus on Saints, the Virgin
Mary, and other well known bible stories
 Baroque art is characterized by great drama,
rich deep color, and intense light and dark
shadows

As
opposed to Renaissance
art, which usually showed the
moment before an event took
place, Baroque artists chose
the most dramatic point, the
moment when the action was
occurring.
Caravaggi:
Crucifixion
of Peter
(1601)
Italian Artist
Caracci: Flight into Egypt
(1603) Italian Artist
Georges de
La Tour:
St. Joseph
Carpenter
(1642)
French Artist
Rembrandt:
Christ in the
Storm on Lake
of Galilee
(1632)
Dutch Artist
Not all baroque art was religious
in nature. Rembrandt painted
Abduction of Europa.
Europa was a Phoenician
woman in Greek mythology,
from whom the name of the
continent Europe has ultimately
been taken.
The
princess Europa is
carried away from her
companions and across the
sea – by the god Jupiter in
the guise of the white bull –
to the distant land that
would bear her name.
Rembrandt: Abduction of Europa
(1632) Dutch Artist
Francisco de
Zurbarán
(1627)
Spanish Artist
Peter Paul Rubens (1571-1640)
The most popular and prolific Flemish and
European painter of the 17th century.
 Because many of his paintings feature fullfigured, voluptuous women, the word
"Rubenesque" (meaning plump or fleshy,
yet not "fat," and used exclusively to
describe women) is derived from his last
name.

Peter Paul
Rubens:
Allegory on
Charles V as
Ruler of the
World
Flemish
Painter
Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1690)
Italian Artist
Sculptor
 Architect
 Roman fountains, part public works and
part Papal monuments, were among his
most gifted creations
 Also revolutionized marble busts, lending
glamorous dynamism to once stony
stillness of portraiture.

Bernini:
Marble Bust
of Pope
Urban VIII
(1623-1624)
Bernini:
Bronze Bust
of Pope Urban
VIII
(1632-1633)
Bernini: David
(1623-1624)
Considered to be
among the first
truly baroque
statues.
Note that David is
poised to throw
the rock.
Spanish
Baroque
Architecture
Santiago
Cathedral
German Baroque Architecture
Kaisersaal, or Emperor’s Hall, of
the Residenz, shown on next
slide, is an oval reception room
with a domed ceiling and
frescoes painted by Italian
master Giovanni Battista
Tiepolo. (1700s)
Bernini:
Piazza and
Collonade
St. Peter’s
Rome
French Baroque Architecture:
Palace of Versailles
Built 1660-1685
In the Hall of Mirrors:
• The German Empire was proclaimed on
January 18, 1871 following the defeat of
France in the Franco-Prussian War.
• It was also here that Germany signed the
1919 Treaty of Versailles, officially ending
World War I.
•
Versailles:
Hall of Mirrors
Located on the first
floor of the palace, it
takes its name from
the 357 LARGE
mirrors that face
windows on an
opposite wall.