Baroque and Rococo

Baroque and RococoAVI3MReview QuizWhat period came directly before the Renaissance?Name 2 of the 4 Renaissance artistic innovation.Name 2 artists popular during the Renaissance. Bonus marks name an artwork each created.

ArtistsMasaccio* Jan Van EyckHans Holbein* BoschDonatello* BruegelBotticelli* DurerLeonardo da Vinci* TintorettoMichelangelo* El GrecoRaphaelTitianBaroque

1600 - 1750Baroque (1600-1750)Combines the techniques and grand scale of the Renaissance to the emotion, intensity, and drama of Mannerism.

Baroque was the most sumptuous and ornate.

Mastery of light to achieve maximum emotional impact.

The light of some Baroque paintings acts like a spotlight, picking out carefully painted, realistic details while casting parts into mysterious shadow.

Light made a stormy sky more threatening, a twilight landscape more dramatic.

Baroque paintings, statues and building come to you with all the dramaBegan in Rome around 1600.

Catholic popes financed magnificent cathedrals and works to display their faith and attract new worshippers.

It spread to France, where monarchs spent sums comparable to the pharaohs to glorify themselves.The different styles of the BaroqueIn Catholic countries (such as Italy, France, Flanders, Austria and southern Germany) religious art flourished.

Baroque artists filled their paintings with action, drama and emotion.

Whether it is a religious subject, mythological theme, battle, hunting scene or portrait, the art is dramatic and exciting.

In the Protestant lands of northern Europe (such as England and Holland) religious imagery was forbidden.

Paintings tended to be still lifes, portraits, landscapes and scenes from daily life.

Italian BaroqueArtist could expertly represent the human body from any angle, portray the most complex perspective, and realistically reproduce almost any appearance.

Emphasis on emotion rather than rationality.

Carravagio (1571-1610)Most original painter.

He took realism to new lengths.

Made saints and miracles seem like ordinary people and everyday events.His style wad called il tenebroso (in a dark manner) because he liked using shadowy backgrounds. It is also called dramatic illumination.

The apostles realized their table companion was the resurrected Christ

Action leaping out of the picture frame

Pushing back chairs, throwing open their arms, bowl about to fall off the table,

Theatrical lighting- dark wall, figures seem lit with a floodlight

Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus, 1597. Oil on canvas Artists in Rome pioneered the Baroque style before it spread to the rest of Europe

Artemesia Gentileschi (1593-1653)First woman painter to be widely known and appreciated.

Gifted artist who traveled widely and lived an eventful, independent life.

Her first dated and signed work is so remarkably mature for a seventeen-year-old that many attributed it to her father.

Her signature can be found in the shadow cast by Susanna's legs.

Depicts the biblical story of Susanna, a virtuous young wife sexually harassed by the elders of her community.

She is vulnerable, frightened, and repulsed by their demands

The men appear large, leering, menacing, and conspiratorial in her direction.

Artemesia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610, Oil on Canvas.Bernini (1598-1610)He was also an architect, painter, playwright, composer, and theater designer.Carved marble as easily as claySt. Theresa reportedly saw visions and heard voices.

She believed she was pierced by a divine dart infusing her with divine love.

She is represented swooning on a cloud with an expression of ecstasy and exhaustion.White marble flesh seems to quiver with life.

The feathery wings and clouds are equally convincing.

Bernini, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1645-52, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.Flemish BaroqueThe southern Netherlands, called Flanders and later Belgium, remained Catholic after the Reformation.

Rubens (1577-1640)Outgoing, classically educated, handsome, vigorous, and well traveled.He spoke six languages fluently and had inexhaustible stamina.Output of more than 2,000 paintingsHe woke up every morning at 4 A.M. and worked nonstop until evening.He needed an army of assistants to keep up with the demand for his work.He invented the hunting genre 18

Rubens, The Descent from the Cross, 1612, Antwerp Cathedral.Theatrical lighting with an ominously dark sky and glaringly spot-lit ChristPowerful emotional responseHis drooping head and body falling to the side conveyed the heaviness of death.

Rubens, The Descent from the Cross, 1612, Antwerp Cathedral.Van Dyck (1599-1641)A true child prodigyAn accomplished painter when only 16He worked with Rubens for a few yearsHe was addicted to high societyTransformed the frosty, official images of royalty into real human beingsAnother reason for his popularity was his ability to flatter his subjects in paint.Charles I was stubby and plain.Van Dycks made him a dashing cavalier king.One trick van Dyck used to great effect was to paint the ratio of the head to body as one to seven, as opposed to the one to six.Elongated and slenderized his subjects figure.

Van Dyck, Charles I at the Hunt, 1635, Louvre, Paris.Dutch BaroqueHolland or the Netherlands was an independent, democratic, Protestant country.Religious art was forbidden.Artists were left to the mercy of the marketplace.Butchers, bakers, and blacksmiths bought paintings to decorate their shops.A huge number of artists specialized in specific subjects such as still lifes, seascapes, interiors, or animals.Style was realistic and the subject matter commonplace.Ability to capture the play of light on different surfaces and to suggest texture.Vanitas a type of still life made up of objects that symbolized the transience (briefness) of life. Common vanitas symbols are: skulls, rotten fruit, and watches or hourglasses.

Rembrandt (1606-1669)Probably the best known painter of the Western world

Early YearsEarly style is most in-line with the Baroque style dramatic light/dark contrasts, detailed technique, Biblical and historical subject matter Late StyleHe turned to biblical subjects. A palette of red and browns came to dominate his paintings as well as solitary figures and the theme of loneliness.He pushed the limits of chiaroscuro, using gradations of light and dark to convey mood, character, and emotion.

EtchingWas considered the most accomplished etcher ever.

Was believed to be a night scene because of the darkened varnish but after cleaning, it was evident the scene took place in the dayA group portrait (a popular type of Dutch painting at the time) Rembrandt chose to place the men randomly to look naturalLight bounces off several faces and provides a number of minor centres of interest. The main focal point are the 2 figures in the foreground (Captain Cocq and his lieutenant)Each member of the company had paid equally to have his portrait done so people were angry that some faces were obscured.

Rembrandt, The Shooting Company of captain Frans Banning Cocq (The Night Watch), 1642Johannes Vermeer (1632-75)Considered second only to Rembrandt.He remained in his native city of Delft until he died bankrupt at the age of 43.His surviving paintings are few.Vermeers perfectly balanced compositions of rectangular shapes lend serenity and stability to his paintings.Vermeer used a camera obscura to aid his accuracy in drawing.This was a dark box with a pinhole opening that could project an image of an object or scene to be traced on a sheet of paper.Vermeer often applied paint in dabs and pricks so that the raised surface of a point of paint reflected more light

A sparse room lit from a window on the left Woman doing a domestic taskDefined forms by beads of light (rim of the milk pitcher)To avoid monotony on the whitewashed wall he added stains, holes and a nail

Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance, 1664.English BaroquePeriod of upheaval in EnglandReligious art was forbidden and the taste for mythological subjects never caught on.English art was limited almost exclusively to portraits.Hogarth (1697-1764)He invented a new genre- comic stripPoked fun at the flaws of societyHe refused to prettify the subjects; commissions as a result were fewCould be considered the first political cartoonistThe bride coyly admires the groom her fathers dowry has purchasedThe disheveled noble looks gloomy, hung over, or bothThe clock, with its hands past noon, suggests a sleepless night of debaucheryThe lace cap in the aristocrats pocket hints at adultery

Hogarth, Breakfast Scene, from Marriage a la Mode, 1745, NG, London.Spanish Baroque Spains major gift to the world of art was Diego VelazquezDiego Velazquez (1599-1660) At age 18 he qualified as a master painter. He attracted the kings attention His first painting pleased Philip IV so much that he declared from then on only Velazquez would do his portraits He created forms with fluid brushstrokes and by applying spots of light and colour He depicted the world as it appeared to his eyes Five year old princess She is attended by her ladies in waiting and two dwarfsIn the middle ground is a mirrored reflection of the king and queenIn the back is a full-length portrait of a court official The artist is on the leftHe used only the lower half of the canvas for portraits and filled the space above with a range of light and shadow to produce the illusion of space

Velazquez, Las Meninas, 1656, Madrid.French BaroqueIn the second half of the 17th Century France became the most powerful nation in Europe. Paris began to take over the position of the world capital of the arts from Rome and would remain so until WWII when New York emerged as the centre.George de La TourShows Mary Magdalen at the moment of her conversion. She was a symbol of the forgiveness of sins through penance (remorse for past mistakes)Her face is illuminated by a bright flame amid almost total darkness. The dramatic light emphasizes details such as wrinkles and folds of cloth that stand out against the dark shadow.Specialized in candlelit night scenes.

Georges de La Tour, Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, 1630-1635

It was transformed from a modest hunting lodge into the largest palaces in Europe.It was the official residence of the French royal court (King Louis XIV) until the French Revolution.Visual impact took precedence over creature comforts the marble floors made the interior so frigid the water froze in basins, and the thousands of candles made summer events stifling hot.Palace of Versaille, France, 1680.Rococo

1700 - 1784RococoIn the first half of the 18th Century, Baroque art and decoration became more extravagant, with lighter colours and less serious themes. This art came to be known as Rococo and it was especially popular in France. There, the aristocracy enjoyed life while failing to notice the poverty of farms and city streets. Rococo artists painted for the nobility. They liked to show happy people enjoying activities such as picnicking, playing tag, swimming, dancing and playing music in gardens filled with trees and statues. This scene of frivolity and gallantry are considered the embodiment of the Rococo spirit.This picture became an immediate success, not merely for its technical excellence, but for the scandal behind it. The young nobleman is not only getting an interesting view up the lady's skirt, but she is being pushed into this position by her priest, shown in the rear. Jean-Honore Fragonard,The Swing, 1766

Romantic couples frolic on an enchanted isle of eternal youth and love

Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717, Louvre, Paris