1. Baroque Art
Fountain at Versailles

2. Baroque: The Ornate Age
Advanced the techniques and grand scale of the Renaissance were married to the emotion, intensity and drama of Mannerism
Styles ranged from Italian realism to French flamboyance
Common thread was a sensitivity to and absolute mastery of light to achieve maximum emotional impact.

3. It began around 1600, with the Catholic Popes financing to advertise their triumphs after the Counter Reformation.
Attraction to new worshippers with “must see” architecture
Spread to France where rulers spent sums similar to the Egyptian Pharaohs to glorify themselves.

4. Themes ranged from classical to religious in the Catholic countries to still lifes and landscape paintings in Protestant countries where religious paintings were forbidden.

5. Carravagio: “The Conversion of St. Paul”
1601
Italian Baroque
Took realism to new lengths.
Criticized for depicting holy figures as common people.
Use of light brought focus to particular details.
St. Paul, thrown from horse, showing an “explicit rear-end view”

6. Italian Baroque
Differed from Renaissance in its emphasis on emotion rather than rationality, dynamism rather than stasis.
“It was as if Baroque artists took Renaissance figures and set them spinning like tops.”

7. “The Calling of St. Matthew”
He advocated direct paintings from nature—often directly from the seamy slums.
Apostle to be as a tax collector, in a tavern, surrounded by dandies, when the light comes on him and the call from Jesus.

8. Bernini: “The Ecstasy of St. Theresa”
Sculptor
His work showed dynamic, explosive energy
This work fuses sculpture and architecture.

9. St. Peters Cathedral
The essence of Baroque style: mixture of dazzling colors, forms and materials—provide an overwhelming theatrical effect.

10. Borromini: “San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane”
Serpentine nature makes the walls seem to be in motion
Used never before linked shapes
Alternating convex and concave walls give rippling effects.

11. Flemish Baroque Flanders (S. Netherlands—now Belgium)
Remained Catholic after the Reformation, which gave artists ample incentive to produce religious paintings.
Key artist was Sir Peter Paul Rubens

12. Rubens: “The Descent from the Cross”
1612
Worked everywhere, bringing synthesis of all styles
Over 2,000 paintings
This painting shows “Baroque curves and dramatic lighting.

13. “Marie Arrives at Marseilles
Famous for his paintings of full figured nudes
The arrival of the French Queen depicted as a “sensory extravaganza spilling over with color and opulence”

14. Van Dyke: “Charles I at the Hunt”
1635
Flemish painter; hired by English King, Charles I
Painted officials in “action poses”
Popular for flattering adjustments given to subjects of his work.

15. Dutch Baroque

16. Heda: “Still Life” 1636 Dutch
Still life paintings began in “post-reformation” Netherlands.
Extraordinary realism in portraying domestic scenes.

17. Hals: “The Jolly Toper”
1627
Dutch
Used sweeping brush strokes to freeze the passing moment (here, he looks just about to talk)
Known for enlivening his subjects

18. Ruisdael: “Windmill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede
1665
Dutch
Most versatile landscape artist
Emphasized great stretches of sky water and fields, with contrasting colors to add somber mood to his paintings

19. Rembrandt: “The Nightwatch”
1642; Dutch
Perhaps most famous painter of Western World.
Early in career did many commissioned works
“Nightwatch” was a turning point between early and later in his career.
Later works moved from Baroque style to darker, moodier themes

20. Vermeer: “The Kitchenmaid”
1658
Dutch
Master of using light and shapes and texture to bring out features in paintings.

21. English Baroque

22. Hogarth: “Breakfast Scene”
1745
England
Very satirical artist
Influenced by his father’s imprisonment for debt.
Targeted idle aristocracy, drunken urban workers and corrupt politicians

23. Wren: “St. Paul’s Cathedral”
Dome: diameter 112 feet and height 365 feet.
Lantern and cross at the top weighed 64,000 tons.

24. Velazquez: “Las Meninas”
1656
Spanish
Created forms through color and light rather than through lines. . .
“preferred understatement to ostentation and realism to idealism.”

25. La Tour: “The Penitent Magdalen”
Use of light ala Carravagio.
Use of geometrical shapes/less life like
Human features “hidden”

26. Poussin: “Burial of Phocion”
1648
Most famous French painter of 17th c.
Took classical rationalism seriously
Battles, heroic actions, and religious themes were the only thing worth painting according to Poussin.

27. La Brun & Hardouin-Mansart: “Hall of Mirror” (Versailles)
1680
240-foot-long gallery, lined with massive silver furniture
17 floor to ceiling windows and mirrors reflect the sun.

28. Le Notre: “The Grounds at Versailles”
Water added to appease the complaints of Louis XIV’s mistresses complaints about the symmetry.