Baroque Art

1600-1700 / 17th Century

Europe in the 17th Century. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended the religious wars. European trade and financial markets span the globe.

A great source of wealth for Europe was Latin America, the main destination of the millions of people enslaved and taken out of Africa between 1500 and 1850. The U.S. received about 523,000 enslaved immigrants. Cuba alone got more than the U.S. Spanish America absorbed around 1.5 million and Brazil at least 3.5 million.

GIANLORENZO BERNINI (Italian, 1598-1680), David, 1623. Marble, approx. 5 7 high. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Bernini was influenced by Hellenistic sculpture like this one, The Dying Gaul, c. 200 BC. (Roman copy)

GIANLORENZO BERNINI, Self-Portrait, about 1625

GIANLORENZO BERNINI (Italian, 1598-1680), David, 1623. Marble, approx. 5 7 high. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Diskobolos, 5th c. Roman copy of Greek originalMichelangelo,Bound Slave, c. 1513

MICHELANGELO, David, 15011504. Marble, 13 5 high. DONATELLO, David, 1420s-1450s, bronze, 5 2 high. First freestanding nude since antiquityBERNINI (Italian, 1598-1680), David, 1623. Marble, approx. 5 7 high. Galleria Borghese, Rome.

BERNINI, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy, 16451652. Marble, height of group 11 6. Detail: face of Teresa

Cornaro family busts in niches on sides, praying devoutly and acting as witnesses to the holy drama.

Teresa is experiencing a transfiguring coma, the so-called Sleep of God, described by mystics, in which a glimpse of Heavens glory is received. Mystics like Teresa would pray for days, often unfed, to achieve such visions.

FRANCESCO BORROMINI, Chapel of Saint Ivo, College of the Sapienza, Rome, Italy, begun 1642. Italian Baroque

GUARINO GUARINI, Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Italy, 16791692. Palace (private residence) of the Princes of Carignan

Details (exterior & interior) GUARINO GUARINI, Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Italy, 16791692.

Compare Baroque with Renaissance neo-classicism: ANDREA PALLADIO, Villa Rotonda (formerly Villa Capra), near Vicenza, Italy, ca. 15661570.

GUARINO GUARINI, Chapel of Santissima Sindone (view into dome), Turin, Italy, 16671694.

Compare Renaissance dome of SantEligio degli Orefici (view into dome), Rome, Italy, attributed to BRAMANTE and RAPHAEL, ca. 1509; reconstructed ca. 1600.

CARAVAGGIO (Michelangelo Merisi, Italian, 1573-1610), Conversion of Saint Paul, Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy, ca. 1601. Oil on canvas, approx. 7 6 x 5 9

Use of perspective, low horizon line, and tenebrism brings the viewer into the experience.Theatricality is a hallmark of the Baroque.

CARAVAGGIO, Calling of Saint Matthew, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy, ca. 15971601. Oil on canvas, 11 1 x 11 5. What role doeslight play in thispainting?Detail from The Creationof Adam, Michelangelo,Sistine Chapel, c. 1511

Details (Matthew & Jesus) from Caravaggios Calling of St. Matthew, Italian Baroquec. 15971601

ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI (Italian, 1593-1653), Judith Slaying Holofernes, ca. 16141620. Oil on canvas, 6 6 1/3 x 5 4. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Caravaggista theatricality, tenebrism and drama

Poor restoration hasRemoved the furrows fromthe women's foreheads that indicated intense concentration and effort.

Compare (left) Gentileschis Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614-29) and Caravaggios Judith Beheading Holofernes 1598-1599.

PIETRO DA CORTONA (Italian, 1596-1669), Triumph of the Barberini, ceiling fresco in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy, 16331639. Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII of the Barberini family. What does the fresco tell us about the Counter-Reformation?

DIEGO VELZQUEZ (Spain, 1599-1660), Water Carrier of Seville, ca. 1619 (The artist was around 20 years old.), Oil on canvas, 3 5 1/2 x 2 7 1/2. Wellington Museum, London. Shows influence of Caravaggio.Know term: genre

DIEGO VELZQUEZ, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), 1656. Oil on canvas, approx. 10 5 x 9. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

DIEGO VELZQUEZ, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), 1656. Oil on canvas, approx. 10 5 x 9. Museo del Prado, Madrid. CARAVAGGIO, Calling of Saint Matthew, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy, ca. 15971601. Oil on canvas, 11 1 x 11 5. Compare the representation and role of light in Caravaggio and Velazquez.

Self-portrait of Diego Velzquez a detail in Las Meninas. He is wearing the cross of the Order of Santiago that he was awarded in 1659. According to legend, the king himself painted the cross.

PETER PAUL RUBENS (Flemish, 1577-1640), Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles, 16221625. Oil on canvas, approx. 12 x 9.5 ft. Louvre, Paris. One of 21 canvases about the life of the queen for her new Luxembourg palace in Paris.

Florentine princess Marie de' Medici was married by proxy to the King of France, Henry IV, in the cathedral of Florence in 1600.Ostentation and elaborate spectacle

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (Dutch, 1606-1669), The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (The Night Watch), 1642. Oil on canvas (cropped on left and top from original size), 11 x 14 4. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Self-Portrait, ca. 16591660. Oil on canvas, approx. 3 8 3/4 x 3 1. Kenwood House, London.How is light used for psychological purposes?

Rembrandt, Self Portrait, 1629 (23 years old)What formalmeans doesRembrandt useto focus our attention on theface?

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, Christ with the Sick around Him, Receiving the Children (Hundred Guilder Print), ca. 1649. Etching, approx. 11 x 1 3 1/4. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Etching was perfectedin the early 17th century. How is it different fromengraving?

JAN VERMEER, Woman Holding a Balance, c. 1664; Oil on canvas, 40.3 x 35.6 cm; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Protestant piety and prosperityhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oYgTP0MX2U

JAN VERMEER, Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, c. 1664-65; Oil on canvas, 18 X 16 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

JAN VERMEER, Allegory of the Art of Painting, 16701675. Oil on canvas, 4 4 x 3 8. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Vermeers probable use of the camera obscuraFirst representation of aCamera obscura, 1544JAN VERMEER, Allegory of the Art of Painting, 16701675. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRDRL57I_Q

NICOLAS POUSSIN (French, 1594-1665) Et in Arcadia Ego (Even in Arcadia I am present), ca. 1655. Oil on canvas, approx. 2 10 x 4. Louvre, Paris. Classicism aims at evenness and moderation in all things. (Poussin)

NICOLAS POUSSIN, Burial of Phocion, 1648. Oil on canvas, approx. 3 11 x 5 10. Louvre, Paris. From Plutarchs Life of Phocion (an Athenian general). A noble landscape for a noble theme the Grand manner

Compare Poussin 1648 Burial of Phocion with Rubens 1625 Arrival of Marie de Medici. Both Baroque era painters

HYACINTHE RIGAUD (French, 1659-1743) Louis XIV, 1701. Oil on canvas, approx. 9 2 x 6 3. Louvre, Paris. French BaroqueArt in the service ofAbsolutism: The Sun King

Aerial view of palace at Versailles, France, begun 1669, and a portion of the gardens and surrounding area. French Baroque

JULES HARDOUIN-MANSART and CHARLES LE BRUN, Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors), palace of Versailles, Versailles, France, ca. 1680.

Controlling nature Gardens of Versailles

LOUIS LE NAIN (French Baroque era, ca. 1592-1635) , Family of Country People, ca. 1640. Oil on canvas, approx. 3 8 x 5 2. Louvre, Paris. Genre scene

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