BAROQUE
1600 - 1750 C.E
Southern, Southern + Northern Aristocratic, Northern Bourgeois

​HISTORY

  • The finishing of St. Peter's became a crusade for the Catholic Church
  • 1650: Increased power and influence of French Kings. This shifted the art world from Rome to France.
  • France became center of modern art and innovation. 
  • The Thirty Years (1618-1648). It devastated Europe which produced a halt in art making. It was a culmination of religious wars of the 16th century: Catholics vs. Protestants. German princes wanted secular power back.
  • The Counter-Reformation movement reaffirmed all the things the Protestant Reformation was against. Protestants were iconoclasts.
  • 1648: The Peace of Westphalia- gave religious freedom (along with many other additions but for the sake of Art History, this is the most important)
​SOUTHERN BAROQUE (Italy & Spain):
  • Conforms to the Counter Reformation Agenda (inviting, inspiring, enticing, exciting)
  • Caravaggio= Tenebrism - dramatic use of light and shadow (figures emerging from a dark background = heightened tension and emotion)
  • Breaks away from the refined, Classical, mathematical, and careful, observation of the High Renaissance in favor of heightened emotion and movement, similar to that of the Hellenistic Period of Greece
  • Spanish occupation of the low countries (Netherlands and Holland)
  • 1566 Revolt of the Netherlands against Spain rule begun - split: Flanders remains Catholic, Holland is Protestant
  • 1601 Holland and Flanders given independence from Spain. ​Thirty years War ends. Netherlands Independence in 1648.

NORTHERN BAROQUE (France, Flanders & Dutch Republic):
  • For fear of creating idolatrous images Northern patrons prefer more secular subjects: group portraits, still lives, genre, landscapes, moralizing allegories, etc. 
  • more thoughtful and reflective than dramatic
  • interested in the particular identities or Psychology of Light that surrounds a person and illuminates their soul
  • Rembrandt- stringy, painterly application of paint
CONTENT: What do you see?
FORM: The details (what you see more exactly). How the artist delivers the content.
CONTEXT: Everything NOT observable.
FUNCTION: The intended purpose of the work.

APAH 250 Images:

Southern Baroque Art
85. Calling of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio 
82. Il Gesù, including Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco 
88. San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Francesco Borromini 
89. Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Gian Lorenzo Bernini 
* Blessed Ludovica, Gian Lorenzo Bernini
 
Southern + Northern Aristocratic Baroque
86. Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de'Medici, Peter Paul Rubens 
93. The Palace at Versailles 
                  * Hall of Mirrors
                  * The Gardens of Versailles
​
Spanish Baroque Art
91. Las Meninas, Diego Velazquez 
 
Northern Bourgeois Baroque Art
87. Self-Portrait with Saskia, Rembrandt van Rijn 
92. Woman Holding a Balance, Johannes Vermeer 
96. Fruit and Insects, Rachel Ruysch 

VOCABULARY

Di sotto in su
genre painting
impasto
tenebrism
vanities
​chiaroscuro
​camera obscura 
​Rationalism Absolutism Academies 
tenebrism perspecitve illusionism
trompe l’oeil
impasto
​quadri riportato
etching intaglio editions
​impasto glazes​

​KEY IDEAS

  • Art during the Baroque period is influenced by the Counter-Reformation, symbolized the Catholic resurgence (after the Protestant Reformation). 
  • Baroque art flourished in Holland and became of the voice to counter Catholic art.
  • Baroque can be separated in 2 schools: classicists (influenced by Raphael) and naturalists (inspired by Titian).
  • Baroque architecture is associated with the grand and majestic royal courts.

BIG IDEAS:

1. Counter Reformation
2. New Scientific discoveries
3. Discoveries in the New World
​4. The spread of ideas and information due to the printing press

The Counter Reformation Agenda:

​1. Church beliefs and doctrines are fired by a new kind of mysticism and rekindling/redefining through education, public affairs, and missionary work.
​2. The church faces the moral and political realities of the century by creating new religious orders to adapt to modern conditions and challenges Protestantism.

CONTEXT

History: 16th Century in Southern Europe that forms the foundation of 17th Century Art:
1492 - Expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain 1534 - Counter Reformation begins - a movement within the church to bring about a revival of religious faith as a way to fight the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther in 1517.
1542 - the Universal Inquisition was established - effort to censor printed matter
1545 - the Council of Trent convened from 1545-1563 to undertake reform and reaffirm dogma within the Church’s various orders established as part of the Counter Reformation agenda (including Carmelite Order, Jesuit Order and missionary work of Francis Xavier.
History: 17th Century in Southern Europe :
The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) begins as a religious conflict but soon involves most of Europe - results in nation building. Treaty of Westphalia grants religious freedom across Europe
​World-wide mercantilism - international trade networks with old and new world (and Africa), supported by the slave trade, trade with the far east, and newly developed ideas of diplomacy
History: France and 17th Century Northern Europe:
1648
  • French monarchy under Louis 14th consolidated absolute power
  • French culture, language, and fashion dominates tastes throughout Europe
  • France becomes the largest and most powerful country in Europe
  • Royal Academies (of architecture, painting, science, arts + letters, etc.) are established in England and France. The annual Salon exhibition is a form of “gate-keeping” for upcoming artists.

1. Divine Right of Kings/Absolutism: “I am the state” - Louis divine right to power
2. Art is the service of royal power: “le grande siecle” - art functions as: = propaganda = nostalgia for another time/place = myth and landscape make Arcadian dream
3. Royal Academies established for arts/sciences (England/- through patronage of the king and aristocracy
4. Baroque Classicism in architecture = power and authority of king / state asserted through grandiose architectural and garden projects