book review martin baroque

8/9/2019 Book Review Martin Baroque

1/4

Baroque by John Rupert MartinReview by: Malcolm CampbellThe Art Bulletin, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 490-492Published by: College Art Association

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2/4

490

THE ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1980 VOLUME LXII NUMBER 3

Crespi

has the most to recommend

it. The

drawing

is

Bolognese

and of

the

early

18th

century;

if not

by

the

paint-

er,

it must have

originated

from a member of his circle.

852

Florentine,

early 17th-century,

and not unlike

Jacopo

Chimenti

da

Empoli,

one of the

many

attributions

proposed

for this

drawing.

866

Venetian,

not

Roman,

18th-century.

The costume is that of

Punchinello,

not

Harlequin.

878 Not unlike

Benedetto Luti.

NICHOLAS TURNER

British Museum

London

WC1,

England

JOHN

RUPERT

MARTIN,

Baroque,

New

York,

Hagerstown,

San

Francisco and

London,

Harper

and

Row,

Icon

Editions,

1977. Pp. 357; 266 + 32 ills. $25; $9.95 paper

With the

publication

of

Baroque,

the

English

language

has

ac-

quired

a much needed

introductory

text

to

Baroque

art,

one that

is economical in

price

and

portable

in scale. Thus this fine

study,

particularly

in its more

reasonably priced paperback

version,

is

most welcome.

It is an educational

rather than

merely

an instruc-

tional book.

As the themes of its

chapters

unfold,

the reader is

encouraged

to

test,

to

challenge,

and

to

extend their

argument.

Few books that

purport

to

be

introductory

texts can

make this

claim. Martin's

Baroque

is concerned

with

process

and

inquiry,

not

the mere

packaging

of data.

Baroque

reflects a

distinguished lineage. Although

published

under

a

different,

but

fine,

imprimatur,

it was conceived as

part

of the

Penguin

Press

Style

and Civilization

series which in-

cluded such authoritative volumes as John Shearman's

Mannerism and

Hugh

Honour's

Neo-Classicism.

Baroque

was

vetted

by

the former editors of that

series, John

Fleming

and

Hugh

Honour,

and with

slight

changes

it

follows

the

Style

and

Civilization

format,

i.e.,

a thematic

rather than

chronological

survey

of

European

art of a

specific

period,

with illustrations

in-

serted in the

text at the

point

of

major

citation,

followed

by

a

catalogue

of illustrations

with brief

comment,

a selected

bibliography,

and an index.

In

Baroque

two welcome additions

have been made.

Supplementary

illustrations

have been

placed

among

the notes. These

illustrations include details of works

il-

lustrated

in the

text,

works related to

the creative

process,

such as

preparatory drawings

and

bozzetti,

and

works

of

art associated

with text illustrations.

Thus,

for

example,

the

catalogue

of il-

lustrations contains a detail of the Danube (p. 312) to supple-

ment the text illustration of Bernini's

Fountain

of

the Four Rivers

(p.

22),

provides

Puget's

Blessed Alessandro Sauli

(p.

108)

with

its Cleveland

bozzetto

(p.

325),

and introduces the reader to

the

pendant (p.

354)

of

Rembrandt's Woman with a Carnation

(p.

248).

These

supplementary

illustrations

receive comment in the

notes and thus serve to enrich

and to extend material

presented

in the text.

Also,

there are four

appendixes

containing

17th-

century writings, exerpted

and translated into

English

(Rubens,

On

the

Imitation

of

Statues;

Chantelou,

Bernini in

France;

Houbraken,

Life

of

Rembrandt; Pacheco,

On the Aim

of

Painting;

and

Philippe

de

Champaigne

on Poussin's

Rebeccaand

Eliezer).

These translations are available

elsewhere,

but it is con-

venient

to

have this material

(which

is cited

in

the

text

or in

the

notes)

immediately

at hand.

I

have stressed

the

genesis

of this

book

because,

although

produced

as an

independent

volume,

it was conceived as

part

of a

series

that

contained

studies

of

the

High

Renaissance and of

Mannerism and

that

presumably

was

to

have included a volume

devoted to the Rococo. In the words of

its

editors,

The aim

[of

the

Style

and Civilization

series]

is to discuss each

important

style

in relation to

contemporary

shifts in

emphasis

and direction

both

in the

other,

non-visual

arts and in

thought

and civilization

as a

whole,

an

ambitious

prolegomenon

and one that

predict-

ably

elicited criticism from some

specialists

who

prefer

that

the

genres

of

art be dealt with

separately

and who therefore

object

to

salt

cellars,

wig

stands,

cabinets,

and

gilded

helmets

sharing

the

reader's attention with

masterpieces

of

painting, sculpture,

and

architecture. From such censure there is little

defense;

the critic

wishes a different sort of book.

A

more relevant

concern,

however,

is that the

proposed approach

should not

degenerate

into a historical

exegesis

in which the work of art is reduced to

artifact,

a mere

specimen

of material culture. To Martin's

credit,

collateral material is never

permitted

to

displace

the work of

art

as the central feature of his

exposition.

In his

introduction,

Martin

indicates

that he will use the term

Baroque

to

denote ... the

predominant

artistic trends of the

period

that is

roughly comprehended

by

the seventeenth cen-

tury.

He

perceives

this

period

as one that

is

not

easily

defined.

Sixteenth-century

Mannerism

is

seen as

persisting

into

the Ba-

roque period

and,

conversely,

the

Baroque

s seen as

waning during

the last

quarter

of the

century, yet enduring

in certain individual

works

of

art well into the 18th

century.

Martin

argues

that a

characteristic of the

Baroque

is its

stylistic diversity,

which re-

quires

us to look for

unity

in certain

widely

held

ideas,

attitudes

and

assumptions.

In the first

chapter,

The

Question

of

Style,

Martin ad-

dresses issues

pertinent

to a

stylistic analysis

of

the

Baroque.

The

first two sections of this

chapter,

entitled

Mannerism and

Ba-

roque

(pp.

19-26)

and The Absence of

Stylistic Unity (pp.

26-

32), raise issues with which I find myself at some variance. These

matters,

comprising

a

scant dozen

pages

of

text,

do not substan-

tially

affect

the

arguments

advanced

in

subsequent chapters. My

reservations

concern the

emphasis given

to the

stylistic

dif-

ferences between Mannerist and

Baroque

art and

the

relative

lack

of attention

paid

to

the

stylistic

continuities between

Renaissance

and

Baroque.

In the first section of the first

chapter,

Martin considers the

problem

of

style,

as

that term

is used to denote

the

prevailing

style

of

a

historical

period.

In this

context,

he uses the

procedure

of

identifying contrasting stylistic properties

in

works

of art of

different

periods

to establish distinctions

between,

for

example,

the Mannerist

style

of the

mid-16th century

as embodied in a

Deposition by

Francesco Salviati

(ca. 1547)

and the

Baroquestyle

as exemplified by an early 17th-century work by Peter Paul

Rubens,

his

Antwerp

Descent From the Cross

(1611-12).

Similar

comparisons

are

made for

sculpture

and architecture. The

pur-

pose

is to demonstrate that the

Baroque style possesses

salient

characteristics that differentiate it from the art of the

High

Maniera.

Martin's

justification

for his

comparison

of

Baroque

and Man-

nerist art is that

it

is more

revealing

and more

significant

than

that between

Baroque

and

High

Renaissance;

for

the

early

Ba-

roque

movement took

shape

in

opposition

to the methods

of Man-

nerism not

to

those of the

High

Renaissance

(p.

26).

This is es-

sentially

true,

but is it not also

important

to define

Baroque style

by

what its

practitioners

accepted,

indeed

actively sought

to

repossess, namely

the

heritage

of the

antique,

of

the

High

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3/4

BOOK REVIEWS

491

Renaissance,

and

of

the Late

Renaissance,

especially

in its

Venetian

form?

Admittedly,

there was

a

reaction to

Mannerism,

especially

in

central

Italy, yet

much of the

strength

of

the new

style

derived from

a

fresh

appraisal

of the

art and

theory

of the

ancient and Renaissance

periods,

both of which

were

manifestly

accessible.

Ideally,

even an

introductory exploration

of

Baroque

style

should not be

narrowly

limited

by comparisons

that address

only its anti-Mannerist characteristics.

My

second reservation concerns a broad

schema that Martin

introduces to

explain

that the lack of

[Baroque] stylistic

unifor-

mity

...

[is]

the result not

only

of national

differences,

but of

a

process

of evolution

(pp.

26-27).

The

thesis

that

follows,

and

this is the

point

I

question,

does not

really

address the evolution

but rather the

spread

of the

style.

The

confusion

between

spread

and

evolution

is

exacerbated

by

the use of the words

phase

and

generation

as

equivalent

terms.

In

support

of his

thesis,

Martin

quotes

Jakob

Rosenberg:

The

development

of

Baroque painting

may

be traced

according

to

generations,

and its

leading

inter-

national

representatives

during

the course of the

century

were

Caravaggio

(at

the side of

the

Carracci),

Rubens,

and

Poussin.

This

means that

Italy's

initial

leadership

did not last

throughout

the

century

but

was

succeeded

by

that of Flanders

and France

(quoted

on

p.

27).

On the basis of

this

statement,

Martin dis-

tinguishes

a succession of

phases

in an

international

develop-

ment

comprising

an

Early

Baroque phase

which was essen-

tially

naturalistic

with a

pioneering

figure

in

Caravaggio;

a

second

generation,

often called

'High Baroque,'

a

phase

of sen-

suousness

and colorism most

fully

realized

by

Rubens;

and a

third or

classicistic

phase

which

supplanted

the

High Baroque.

This third

phase

had its

beginnings

in

Rome

in

the

early

1630's and

had as

its chief

proponent,

Nicolas Poussin.

Somewhat

tentatively,

a

fourth,

Late

Baroque stage

is dis-

tinguished

and described as the later Louis

XIV

style,

with its

decorative

reworking

of the classic

vocabulary (pp.

28-30).

Martin,

drawing

on

Rosenberg's

statement,

has

given

us an

acceptable chronological

schema

for

tracing

the

spread

of the

Baroque

as an international

style.

However,

to describe ade-

quately

the evolution

(or

development)

of

Baroque stylistic

forms,

we

must

first

identify

the

point

in time and

place

at which

such

a

mode or

species

of

style,

be it naturalism or

classicism,

is

first taken

up by

an artist of merit.

I

would therefore

argue

that

we must reintroduce

the

Carracci,

whom Martin deleted from his

version of

Rosenberg's

scheme,

and

place

them

(although

they

are

slightly

older)

alongside Caravaggio.

Then we will find

that the

phases

outlined

by

Martin

do not conform

to successive

generations

as he seems to

imply. Caravaggio

(1571/72-1609)

and Rubens

(1577-1640)

are

really

of the same

generation

(a

fact

obscured

by

the

early

death of the

former),

and indeed other

nearly

coeval

artists

disrupt

the

sequence

of

phases

as outlined.

For

example,

Pietro da Cortona

(1596-1669),

identified

by

Mar-

tin as second generation, and Poussin (1593-1665), whom he

places

in the third

phase,

are

actually

of the same

generation.

A

chronological equation

based on the

generations

of

artists

shows that

Caravaggio,

Rubens,

and Annibale Carracciwere all

active in Rome

in

the first decade of the

century.

Therefore,

it is

apparent

that the three

principal

styles

of the

Baroque

identified

by

Martin as

chronologically

successive

actually enjoy

a

coexis-

tent

evolution,

although

their international

acceptance

indeed

follows

the

successive

phases

he has outlined. The

evolutionary

coexistence of the

styles

of

the

Baroque

must be

borne

in mind

because it makes more evident the

connections

between the

Ba-

roque

and

those

aspects

of

the

Renaissance

in which these same

trends are adumbrated.'

In

later

chapters,

Martin's

explanation

of

Baroque

art

proceeds

along

thematic lines on which the

problem

of the evolution of the

style has only slight bearing. In these chapters, earlier slighting

of

the

importance

of

antique

sources and Renaissance

heritage

is

substantially

redressed.

The

second

chapter

focuses on

the'role of

naturalism

in Ba-

roque

art.

Interpreting

naturalism

broadly,

Martin finds it a domi-

nant force in the initial

years

of the

century

and

an active

presence

in the entire

period.

The whole art of the

Baroque,

he

informs

us,

expresses

an

acceptance

of the material

world,

through

the realistic

representation

of

man and

nature,

through

the affirmation of the senses

and the

emotions

and

through

a

new

perception

of

space

and

infinity

(p.

39).

He

proceeds

to

find

this

vigorous

naturalism

present

where

we

would

expect

it

(landscape,

still

life,

and

genre)

but also

where it is

more

easily

overlooked,

as in the

paintings

of Annibale

Carracci,

Poussin,

and Rubens and the

sculpture

of

Bernini

(pp.

43-49 and

58-59).

In

my opinion, chapters

3 and

4,

devoted to

The

Passions

of

the

Soul

and to

The

Transcendental

View of

Reality

and the

Allegorical

Tradition,

are

particularly

successful,

each

con-

stituting

a

finely

tuned,

succinct

essay

on

its

assigned

theme. The

third

chapter

is concerned

with a

topic

that Martin

notes

is

closely

allied

with

the issue of naturalism

and with

innovations

made

by

Renaissance artists

and

theorists who

had

already

for-

mulated a

repertory

of

significant gestures

from

antique

sources,

both

literary

and

artistic,

as

a

means of

articulating

the inner

life

of

man. As Martin

states,

What

chiefly distinguishes

the Ba-

roque

attitude

from

that

of

the

Renaissance is

the

urge

to

expand

the

range

of sensual

experience

and

to

deepen

and

intensify

the

interpretation

of

feelings (p.

73).

Bernini's

David,

Puget's

Milo

of

Crotona,

and Rembrandt's Bathsheba with

King

David's

Letter, all works that deal with crisis, serve well to illustrate the

range

across

which

Baroque

artists realized and

orchestrated

the

visible

expression

of emotions.

Martin

describes

the

Baroque

penchant

for meticulous

inventory,

as for

example

Lebrun's

tedious

descriptions

of human

passions,

but he shows as well the

skills of its artists in

transcending

the

pedantry

of

theory

in ac-

tual

practice

in order

vividly

to

portray

earthy

sensualism

(Ber-

nini's Costanza

Buonarelli)

or

raptuous

transport

(Bernini's

Gabriele

Fonseca).

Such well-chosen

examples

of

portraiture

at-

test to

Baroque

transformation of

Renaissance

descriptive

con-

ventions into

speaking

likenesses.

Using

a limited

number of

ex-

amples

and

compressing

his

argument

into a few

pages,

Martin

summarizes broad

issues,

such as the dramatic

yet acutely

sen-

sitive

portrayal

of human

emotions

in

Baroque

paintings

and

sculpture, and even the acknowledgement of those emotions in

its

architecture.

Greatly

to Martin's

credit,

in his

skillfully

wrought commentary

the

individual work of artdoes

not

become

a mere

integer

in an

equation

of

generalizations;

his

sensitive

description

of Terborch's so-called

The Paternal Admonition

(p.

83)

is a case in

point.

In

his

opening

remarks

in

the

next

chapter,

devoted,

as we

have

noted,

to

the

Baroque

transcendental view

of

reality

and the

1

Annibale

Carracci is

particularly important

in

defining

these connec-

tions.

Although

he omitted

him in his

adaptation

of

Rosenberg's equa-

tion,

Martin

elsewhere identifies

him as one of the

pioneers

of

Baroque

classicism

(p.

16)

and lauds his contributions to the

style (pp.

32-33).



4/4

492

THE

ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER

1980 VOLUME LXII NUMBER 3

allegorical

tradition,

Martin reminds us

that,

The naturalism of

seventeenth

century

art is

inextricably

bound

up

with a

metaphysical

view of the

world

(p.

119).

The

reader is reminded

that the transcendental

point

of view

is

a

pervasive

feature of

17th-century

life,

affecting

not

only

art and

literature,

but even

scientific

inquiry.

Martin's

gifts

as an

iconographer

serve well

his

exposition

as he introduces

classical,

religious,

landscape,

still-life, and genre themes for metaphysical interpretation. In

the final section

of

this

chapter,

the

application

of

allegory

to

the

glorification

of the

earthly

ruler is

addressed.

In

a

few

paragraphs

the

rich

complex

of

symbols

at

Versailles

is

tellingly

explored,

and,

refreshingly,

the less well known

program

of

the

Amsterdam Town

Hall

is also

presented.

The

succeeding

three

chapters

take

up

issues fundamental to

the

Baroque style:

the

expressive manipulation

of

space,

time,

and

light.

These three

chapters

form a

predictably

interlocking

triad,

and the

examples

of art

they

inevitably

call

forth

lead us

via their form and content back to issues raised in earlier

chap-

ters.

Thus,

to cite

just

one

example,

Caravaggio's Supper

at

Emmaus,

which Martin

presents

to demonstrate the methods

used

by

the

17th-century

artist to render

coextensive

the

space

in

the work of art

and

that

occupied

by

the

observer,

suggests

to

the

reader not

only

the themes of time and

light,

but

also those of

naturalism,

human

expression,

and

the transcendental view of

reality.

Of the three

chapters

concerned with

space,

time,

and

light,

that devoted to time offers the most

perfect integration

of

its

theme with

Baroque

civilization.

Indeed,

this

chapter

could serve

as a

pendant

to the classic

essay

on the

subject,

Panofsky's

Father Time. 2

Crossing

the

17th-century

portion

of the

territory

charted

by Panofsky,

Martin

gracefully acknowledges

his

predecessor's

investigations

and adds new material and ex-

amples

to the theme. The

personification

of

Time

is,

of

course,

only

one

aspect

of this theme.

In an

age

that

routinely applied

allegorical interpretations

to its researches

in

the natural

sciences,

transitoriness

and

mutability

were manifest even in an

essentially

documentary work of art such as a topographic View of

Dordrecht

by

Jan

van

Goyen (p.

199).

One

facet of

time,

its

purely

temporal

role as an

important

factor

in a

spectator's

ex-

perience

of a

work

of

art,

could

have

been considered at

greater

length.

Martin addresses

this

issue in

connection

with

the

way

in

which

both

time and

space

affect the viewer's

experience

of

Pietro

da

Cortona's frescoes

in the

dome

and

apse

of

S.

Maria

in

Vallicella

(pp.

164 and

201).

Additional

examples,

such

as the

relationship

in and to their

physical

setting

of the

paintings

and

decorations of

Caravaggio

and Annibale Carracci in the Cerasi

Chapel

(Rome,

S. Maria del

Popolo),

could

have

been taken

up

profitably

in this

connection,

for it

would

have

brought together

that

expressive

and

expressly

Baroque

triumvirate,

space,

time,

and

light.

Of the

works commissioned

for this

chapel,

however,

only Caravaggio's Conversion of Saint Paul is discussed in the

context of the theme of

light (pp.

226-29).

Such an

expanded

ex-

ploration

of time as a factor in the

experience

of the work

of

art

would

have led

to a

fuller

presentation

of the

role of

architecture,

which receives

attention

in the

context of

space,

but

only

brief

acknowledgement

with

respect

to time and

light.

In

a final

chapter

the

role

of

antique

art in the

Baroque period

is

explored.

In this

chapter

we

rightly

expect

a

discussion of art-

ists

who

openly

embraced the classical

ideal,

but what is

par-

ticularly refreshing

is the

consideration

given

to artists of more

naturalistic

persuasion,

Caravaggio,

Rembrandt,

and

Vel~zquez.

From this

chapter,

as in the

preceding

ones,

there

emerge

those

vital links between

antique

art and the

traditions of

the

Renaissance that

contribute

to the

Baroque

style.

Baroque

warrants

high

marks

for

the richness and

diversity

of

the

illustrative material it contains. The

photographs

tend to

be

printed darkly, however, which gives highlights a grayish tone

and

renders shadowed areas

opaque.

Thus the venal

gleam

of the

coin

in

the hand of the officer in Ter Borch's The Paternal

Admonition

(fig.

57)

is

invisible;

the

space-creating

effects

achieved in

Caravaggio's

The

Supper

at Emmaus

(fig.

121)

and

Rembrandt's The

Syndics (fig.

132)

are

obscured;

and while

the

novice

will

see the

relationship

between the

Apollo

Belvedere

(fig.

12)

and the

Apollo

in Rubens's The Council

of

the Gods

(fig.

214),

he will be hard

pressed

to locate the

figure

derived

from the

Ludovisi Gaulic

Chieftain (fig.

215)

in the same

painting,

a

comparison important

to Martin's discussion of the

use

of

ancient

models

(pp. 256-260).

It is

good

news that

Harper

and

Row

has

published

another

book

related

to the

original Style

and Civilization

series. 3

One

hopes

that a

volume dedicated to the Rococo will be

forthcoming

and

that the standards of Martin's

Baroque

will be maintained.

For both novice and

specialist, Baroque

is a

most

valuable addi-

tion to the material available on

European 17th-century

art.

MALCOLM CAMPBELL

Universityof Pennsylvania

Philadelphia,

PA

19104

2

E.

Panofsky,

Studies

in

Iconology,

New

York

and

Evanston,

1962,

69-

93.

SH.

Honour, Romanticism,

New

York,

1979.

PIETER

J. J.

VAN THIEL

et

al.,

All

the

Paintings of

the

Rijks-

museum: A

Completely

Illustrated

Catalogue,

Maarssen,

Gary

Schwartz for the

Rijksmuseum,

1976.

Pp.

911,

many

ills.

$80

The

Rijksmuseum

has over

5,000

paintings

in its

collection,

most

of them from the Dutch school.

It

is the

largest

storehouse of

Dutch

art in the

world

and

contains

some of the

greatest

master-

pieces

of Dutch art.

Many

of

these

works

have been

extensively

discussed

in the literature and are well known to students and

general public

alike.

Less

than half of the

Rijksmuseum's

paintings,

however,

are

on

view in the museum.

Many

have been

relegated

to

storage

or

lent

to

regional

museums and are conse-

quently

less familiar to

the

viewing public.

All of these

works,

including

those which have been on

extended

loan

to the

museum,

have been included

in

this

publication,

each with

perti-

nent

information

about

size,

support, provenance,

and literature.

In

many

cases,

suggested datings

for undated works

and dis-

senting

opinions

as to

attributions are

briefly

indicated. Prac-

tically all of the paintings have been illustrated, with small

(average

size

1?2

X

2 )

but

remarkably

clear

photographs.

For

those occasional

paintings

which

are

not illustrated

many

of

them

destroyed

in

World War

II),

short

descriptions

are often added.

This

important publication by

the

Department

of

Paintings,

under the direction of Pieter

J. J.

van

Thiel,

is not so much a

catalogue

of

the

paintings

of the

outstanding

collection as an in-

dispensable

reference book. The sheer

accumulation of informa-

tion is

remarkable,

but it becomes even more

significant

as a

result of

the

sophisticated system

of cross-references that the

authors have devised.

In

the

concluding

section of the

book,

en-

titled

Lists,

indexes and

concordances,

one

finds,

for

example,

an extensive

subject

index,

broken down into

religious subjects,


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