17th Century

Gardner’s Art History

WebMuseum

Mark Harden’s Artchive

Met Timeline of Art History

Baroque Art in Italy and the Netherlands

Elizabeth IPainted by John Bettes the Younger

Hever Castle, Kent

Elizabeth I

Anthony Van Dyck's elegant portrait of Charles I Dismounted shows the king with regal poise and exuding an air of absolute authority, standing casually next to his horse in a landscape.

Anthony Van Dyck, Charles I Dismounted, ca. 1635. Oil on

canvas, approx. 9' x 7'. Louvre, Paris.

Charles I

Louis Le Nain, Family of Country People, ca. 1640. Oil on

canvas, approx. 44" x 62". Louvre, Paris.

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis XIV, 1701. Oil, approx. 9' 2" x 6' 3". Louvre, Paris.

The Sun King:Louis XIV

• 17th Century Art in Italy and Northern Europe

• Catholic Counter- Reformation: intense emotionalism; grandiose propaganda

• Naturalism (the illusion of the real)

• strongly-felt religious subjects

• Dramatic theatricality

• Painting, sculpture and architecture - are forged together to make ensembles

• Dynamic movement overwhelms reposeful balance

• Sculpted, highly articulated space

‘Baroque’

Warring for 30 Years and Longer: Numerous geopolitical shifts occurred in Europe during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The Thirty Years' War was largely responsible for the political restructuring of Europe.

Moving Towards Secularized Government: The religious conflicts that underlay the Thirty Years' War stimulated the movement toward the secularization of government.

The Shifting Geopolitical Landscape in Europe

The increased secularization of government coincided with developments in science that challenged many fundamental religious tenets.

Exploring the Universe:

Copernicus's argument that the sun was the center of the universe (heliocentrism) was developed further and accepted throughout Europe.

Chemical Reactions:

The atomic basis for chemistry was established. Other scientific discoveries introduced ideas that had widespread ramifications. Based on skepticism and an insistence on demonstrable fact, this new science encouraged atheistic beliefs.

Major Advances In The Sciences

The coordination of long-distance trade and the expansion of markets contributed to the intense economic competition between European countries.

Coffee or Tea?

Various changes promoted the growth of a worldwide marketplace. Trade brought coffee and tea to Europe. The taste for sugar, tobacco, and rice, however, contributed to the expansion of the slave trade to provide the labor force needed to produce these crops. The establishment of a worldwide mercantile system permanently altered the face of Europe.

The Development Of A Worldwide Market

Italy

Stimulated by the energy and demands of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, Italian Baroque art developed a new dynamic and spectacular style that is characterized by dramatic theatricality, grandiose scale, and elaborate ornamentation.

Baroque Architecture Of The Seventeenth Century

Piazza del Duomo, Florence, 11th-19th

centuries

The Duomo in Florence

Leon Battista Alberti, S. Maria Novella, Florence; 1458-70; facade

A Vertical Appeal to a Higher Power:

Carlo Maderno's design for Santa Susanna in Rome unites the lower and upper portions of the façade with an emphasis on the vertical. The sculptural treatment of recessed niches and projecting cornices creates dynamic patterns of light and shadow over

the whole design. Carlo Maderno, Santa Susanna, Rome, 1597–1603.

Santa Susanna Carlo Maderno

Maderno, Carlo, 1556-1629; Santa Susanna; Rome, Italy; 1597-1603; Ext: Det. of entrance pediment

St. Peter’s Vatican City Rome

Welcoming the Pious in Rome:

The monumental piazza in front of Saint Peter's, designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini, is in the form of a vast oval embraced by two colonnades of huge Tuscan columns and joined to the façade of the church by two diverging wings. To counteract the excessive width of the façade of Saint Peter's, Bernini designed the diverging wings to counteract the natural perspective of the view and create the impression of the façade being narrower and taller.

A Soaring Bronze Canopy:

The four spiral columns of the gigantic bronze baldacchino erected by Bernini over the main altar recall those of the ancient baldacchino over the same

spot in Old Saint Peter's.

Gianlorenzo Bernini, baldacchino, Saint Peter's, Vatican City, Rome, 1624–1633. Gilded bronze, approx. 100' high

A Church façade in Motion:

The Italian Baroque architect Francesco Borromini created a dynamic counterpoint of concave and convex elements in the façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome. The centrally planned interior space molds a Greek cross design into an oval shape. The undulating walls with projecting columns support a deeply coffered oval dome with hidden windows around its base.

Francesco Borromini, façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome, 1665–1676.

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane Francesco Borromini

Francesco Borromini, plan of San Carlo alle

Quattro Fontane, Rome, 1665–1676.

A Cohesive Shell Embracing the Pious:

Borromini employed concave and convex forms in the design of the façade of the Chapel of Saint Ivo. The dome, which is supported by a convex, drumlike structure, is topped by an ornate, spiralling lantern. The star shape of the centralized plan rises through the interior elevation from the floor into the dome to create a single,

dynamic, unified, and cohesive space.

Francesco Borromini, Chapel of Saint Ivo

Francesco Borromini, Chapel of Saint Ivo, College of the

Sapienza, Rome, begun 1642.

                   

A Kaleidoscopic Vision of Heaven:

For the dome of the Chapel of the Santissima Sindone in Turin, Guarini devised a series of segmented intersecting arches.

Guarino Guarini, Chapel of Santissima Sindone (view into dome), Turin, Italy,

1667–1694.

Chapel of Santissima Sindone Guarino Guarini,

Guarino Guarini, Chapel of Santissima Sindone (view into dome),

Turin, Italy, 1667–1694.

Paris: View of the Seine in 1630 Etching, 167 x 339 mmMuseum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp

Paris: View of the Seine in 1630

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

Versailles

A Church for Disabled Soldiers:

The compact façade of the Church of the Invalides in Paris is low and narrow in relation to the huge drum and dome, which are expressive of Italian Baroque taste for magnitude and theatrical effects of light and space.

Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Église de Dôme, Church of the Invalides, Paris,

1676–1706.

Église De Dôme, Jules Hardouin-Mansart

A Subdued Royal Chapel:

Jules Hardouin-Mansart's design for the Royal Chapel at Versailles has an apse as high as the nave and pier-supported arcades that carry a continuous row of Corinthian columns. The light that enters through large clerestory windows lacks the directed dramatic effect of the Italian Baroque.

Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Royal Chapel, with ceiling decorations by

Antoine Coypel, palace of Versailles, France, 1698–1710.

Royal Chapel,

Jules Hardouin-Mansart

A Glorious Tribute to Saint Ignatius:

In the huge ceiling fresco of the Glorification of Saint Ignatius, Fra Andrea Pozzo used perspective to create a dramatic and theatrical illusion that the ceiling of the nave has opened to reveal a vision of Heaven above, into which, amid saints and angels on clouds, ascends the figure of Saint Ignatius.

Fra Andrea Pozzo, Glorification of Saint Ignatius, ceiling fresco in the nave of Sant' Ignazio, Rome, 1691-

1694.

Glorification of Saint Ignatius, Fra Andrea Pozzo

Le Louvre, Paris, France by Architect: Pierre Lescot,

Giacomo Lemersier, Jean Goujon (1546 -1624)

Le Louvre, Paris

In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, England enjoyed a Common law and a Parliament that kept royal power

in check. English Baroque art does not have the focused character of either Dutch or Italian Baroque art. However, important developments occurred in architecture, which

incorporated classical elements.

England

St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1675–1710. Sir Christopher Wren

St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1675–1710

Inigo Jones, Banqueting House at Whitehall, London, 1619–1622.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, London 1668, Sir Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren, new Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, 1675–1710.

A Towering Architectural Talent:

Until almost the present, the dominant feature of the London skyline was the majestic dome of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, designed by Christopher Wren, harmonizes Palladian, French, and Italian Baroque features.

In the Cornaro Chapel, Bernini employed a combination of architecture, sculpture, and painting to create an appropriate dramatic tension for the mystical drama of the ecstasy of Saint Theresa. The white marble group of swooning saint and smiling angel appears to float as a vision might in the cleverly illuminated central niche.

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, Cornaro Chapel,

Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, 1645-1652.

Baroque Sculpture

 Bernini, Pluto and Persephone, 1621-22.

Baroque Sculpture

Pierre Puget, Milo of Crotona, 1671–1682. Marble, approx. 8'

10" high. Louvre, Paris.

Baroque Sculpture

Decisive and Dramatic Action:

Bernini's marble statue of David catches the figure in a dramatic moment of split-second action. The violent, pivoting motion gives the figure a dynamic quality and a compelling sense of bursting energy that moves out into and partakes of the same physical space as the observer.

David (1623) Bernini (1598-1608)

Galleria Borghese, Rome

Bernini’s David

A Grotto Sculpture for Versailles:

François Girardon's stately and graceful Apollo Attended by the Nymphs shows the classicizing style derived from Greco-Roman sculpture and inspired by Poussin's figure compositions.

François Girardon and Thomas Regnaudin, Apollo

Attended by the Nymphs, ca. 1666–1672. Marble, life

size. Versailles

• 17th Century Art in Italy and Northern Europe

• Catholic Counter- Reformation: intense emotionalism; grandiose propaganda

• Naturalism (the illusion of the real)

• strongly-felt religious subjects

• Dramatic theatricality

• Painting, sculpture and architecture - are forged together to make ensembles

• Dynamic movement overwhelms reposeful balance

• Sculpted, highly articulated space

‘Baroque’

Stark Contrasts of Light and Dark:

In his naturalistic treatment of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Caravaggio employs dramatic chiaroscuro effects (called tenebrism) with sharply lit figures seen emerging from a dark background. The dramatic spotlight-like light illuminates the figure of Saint Paul and at the same time serves as the divine source of his conversion.

Caravaggio, Conversion of Saint Paul, ca. 1601. Oil on canvas,

approx. 7' 6" X 5' 9". Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

Caravaggio

From Tax Collector to Disciple:

Light also carries this double meaning in the dramatically lit commonplace setting of Caravaggio's Calling of Saint Matthew.

Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew, ca. 1597-1601. Oil on canvas, 11'

1" X 11' 5". Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei

Francesi, Rome.

Visualizing Transubstantiation:

In the Entombment, Caravaggio includes plebian figure types and dramatically contrasted darks and lights. The action takes place in the foreground, and the impression is that the men are laying the dead body of Christ onto the real altar in front of the painting.

Caravaggio, Entombment, ca. 1603. Oil on canvas, 9' 10 1/8" x 6' 7

15/16". Musei Vaticani, Pinacoteca, Rome.

In the Footsteps of Caravaggio:

Influenced by Caravaggio's style, Artemisia Gentileschi employed tenebrism and naturalism to heighten the tension and dramatic effect in her painting of Judith and Holofernes.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, ca. 1614-

1620. Oil on canvas, 6' 6 1/3" x 5' 4". Galleria degli Uffizi,

Florence.

José de Ribera, Martyrdom of Saint

Bartholomew, ca. 1639. Oil on canvas, approx. 7'

8" X 7' 8". Museo del Prado, Madrid.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Spain's status as an international power was in decline. The Hapsburg monarchs, however, remained avid art patrons. As a predominantly Catholic country, Counter-Reformation imperatives encouraged Spanish Baroque artists to produce art that moved viewers towards greater devotion and piety.

Spain

El Greco, The Burial of Count Orgascz, 1586 The Prado Madrid

El Greco

View of Toledo

(1597) El Greco

A Martyr at Peace:

Francisco de Zurbarán was also influenced by Caravaggio's naturalism and dramatic lighting effects. In his painting of Saint Serapion, he shows the coarse-featured saint emerging in bright light from a dark background.

                                    

Francisco De Zurbarán, Saint Serapion, 1628. Oil on canvas, 47

1/2" x 40 3/4". Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford

Diego Velázquez, Water Carrier of Seville, ca. 1619. Oil on canvas, 41

1/2" x 31 1/2". Wellington Museum, London.

Diego Velazquez

The influence of Caravaggio is also seen in the dramatic contrast of darks and lights in Diego Velázquez's Water Carrier of Seville, which also includes plebeian figures and finely painted, naturalistic detail

Velazquez, Diego The Feast of Bacchus ("Los Borrachos")

1629 Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Supper at Emmaus, 1622–23

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)

The Toilet of Venus ('The Rokeby Venus'), 1647–51 Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599–1660) Oil on canvas, 122 1/2 x 177 cm

Portrait of Innocent X, 1650Diego Rodríguez de Silva y

Velázquez (1599–1660)Oil on canvas, 141 x 119 cm

Velazquez, DiegoPhilip IV in Brown and Silver

c. 1631-32 Oil199.5 x 113 cm

National Gallery, London

Velazquez, DiegoMaria Teresa of Spain ("with

two watches")Kunsthistorisches Museum,

Vienna

Velazquez, DiegoThe Buffoon Calabazas

(Calabacillas)1637-39

Oil105.5 x 82.5 cm

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Velazquez, DiegoThe Dwarf Francisco Lezcano, Called

"El Nino de Vallecas"c. 1642-45 Oil on canvas

42 1/8 x 32 5/8 in. (107 x 83 cm.)Museo del Prado, Madrid

Velazquez, DiegoJuan de Pareja

1650Oil on canvas

32 x 27 1/2 in. (81.3 x 69.9 cm.)The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York

Of Art and Royal Life:

Velázquez's great masterpiece Las Meninas shows the painter at work on a portrait with the King and Queen and members of the royal court present. His style is now more "painterly" and is concerned with producing more purely optical sensations through the manipulation of light and color tones.

Diego Velázquez , Las Meninas, 1656. Oil on

canvas, approx. 10' 5" x 9'.

Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Las Meninas (1656) (detail)

Las Meninas (1656) (detail)

Las Meninas (1656) (detail)

Las Meninas (1656) (detail) Velazquez

Las Meninas (1656) (detail)

Las Meninas (1656)

Velazquez, DiegoInfanta Margarita

c. 1656 Oil105 x 88 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Durer, AlbrechtSelf-Portrait at 28

1500Oil on panel67 x 49 cm

Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Albrecht Durer

Kermis / The Peasant Dance, ca. 1568Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Breughel

Fall of Icarus, ca. 1568 Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Hunters in the Snow, 1565 Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Harvesters, 1565 Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Flanders

In the sixteenth century, Protestants in the northern provinces of the Netherlands broke away from Spain

and established the Dutch Republic. The southern provinces that remained loyal to Spain and retained

Catholicism as their official religion became the Spanish Netherlands or Flanders (more or less

modern-day Belgium).

The Dutch Republic

Prosperity in the Provinces: The economic prosperity of the Dutch Republic in the

seventeenth century, and the absence of an absolute ruler, concentrated political power in

the hands of an urban patrician class of merchants and manufacturers.

The seventeenth century is rightly referred to as a Golden Age of Dutch art, as the United Provinces establishes its independence, declared in 1581 and recognized officially in 1648, from Spanish Habsburg rule. Schools of painting arise in cities such as Amsterdam, Delft, Haarlem, Utrecht, and Dordrecht, where a variety of genres are developed and the production of decorative arts flourishes. Civic bodies and wealthy lay citizens, including merchants who make their fortunes in Holland's vast overseas trade empire, are key patrons. Meanwhile, the Southern Netherlands remains under Catholic Habsburg rule, and church commissions proliferate. The port city of Antwerp is a major cultural and commercial center and home to the two greatest Flemish masters of the age: Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). The widely traveled Rubens, whose professional life extends beyond visual artistry to political diplomacy, plays a vital role in the spread of Baroque ideals from their fountainhead in Rome to the North. (Met Timeline)

During the eighteenth century, the Low Countries, exhausted by intermittent wars of the previous century for political independence and trading rights, slips from cultural prominence and wealth. Rival countries England and France meanwhile rise to great political power and economic strength, and are the seat of major intellectual developments that give rise to the Enlightenment and the Neoclassical movement in the arts and architecture. Shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1792, the region falls under French occupation. The arts of this time are marked by the influence of French styles: the ornate Rococo and, later, Neoclassicism.

The Golden Age, 1605 Joachim Wtewael (Dutch, 1566–1638)

Northern Mannerism

Antwerp's central place in this movement, which has led to the creation of the sub-term "Antwerp Mannerism," can be linked to its emergence as the economic capital of Northern Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Bolstered by its rich trade and cultural contacts, the port city of Antwerp attracted hundreds of artists—many of them from northern France, the Rhineland, and especially Holland—who joined the local painters' Guild of Saint Luke, established large painting and sculpture workshops, and fed an expanding market for the production and export of art. Though stylistic traits differed from artist to artist, some defining features of Antwerp Mannerist painting are dramatic gestures and figural arrangements; lavish costumes; vivid, sometimes abrasive coloristic effects; imaginative architecture that freely combines Gothic and Renaissance elements; and demonstrative technical virtuosity (The Last Supper, 17.190.18a-c). Inspired by the demand for a recognizable product, or "manner," Antwerp painters developed a repertoire of stock figural motifs, compositions, and themes. Herri met de Bles, Jan Gossaert (The Holy Family, 2001.190), Jan Wellens de Cock (The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1972.118.276), and a range of anonymous masters (Adoration of the Magi, 1975.1.122), were strikingly inventive and technically ambitious.

The Temptation of Saint Anthony (recto); Fantastic Landscape (verso), ca.

1510–20 Jan Wellens de Cock (Netherlandish, ca. 1480–before 1527)

The Last Supper, triptych, 1515–20Netherlandish (Antwerp Mannerist) Painter, first quarter of 16th century

View of Delft Vermeer 1659-60 Oil on canvas, 98,5 x 117,5 cm Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Little Street1657-58

Vermeer

Oil on canvas, 54,3 x 44 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Commissions from royalty or from the Christian Church were uncommon in the United Provinces. Instead, patronage now came

from an expanding and prosperous class of merchant patrons whose taste in pictorial content included genre scenes,

landscapes, portraits, and still lifes.

Different Patrons, Different Subjects:

Portrait of Nicolaes Ruts1631

Oil on mahagony panel, 118,5 x 88,5 cm

Frick Collection, New York

HALS, FransThe Laughing Cavalier

1624Oil on canvas

86 x 69 cmThe Wallace Collection,

London

Rubens, Peter PaulPortrait of Susanna Fourment

("Le chapeau de paille")c. 1622-25

Oil on panel31 1/16 x 21 1/4 in (79 x 54 cm)

National Gallery, London

Self-Portrait, possibly 1620–21

Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641)

Oil on canvas; 47 1/8 x 34 5/8 in. (119.7 x 87.9 cm)

Hals, FransGypsy Girl

Oil on wood23 x 20 1/2 in. (58 x

52 cm)Musee du Louvre,

Paris

Judith Leyster , Self-Portrait, 1635. Oil on canvas, 29 1/2" x

25 3/4". National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Rubens, Peter PaulSelf-portrait with Isabella Brant

c. 1610Oil on canvas174 x 132 cm

Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Peter Paul Reubens

1577-1640

Peter Paul Rubens, Elevation of the Cross, 1610. Oil on canvas,

15' 2" x 11' 2". Antwerp

Cathedral, Antwerp.

Peter Paul Rubens

The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens synthesized in his art a variety of mostly Italian influences to create an international Baroque style. His various influences are evident in the Elevation of the Cross painted for Antwerp Cathedral. The combination of dynamic diagonals, strong modeling in dark and light, and anatomically powerful figures involved in violent action creates a scene of intense physical and emotional drama.

Rubens, Peter PaulThe Descent from the Cross

1611-14Oil on panel

(Central panel of triptych altarpiece)

420 x 310 cmCathedral, Antwerp

Rubens, Peter PaulThe Rape of the Daughters

of Leucippusc. 1618

Oil on canvas88 x 82 7/8 in (224 x 210.5

cm)Alte Pinakothek, Munich

RUBENS, Peter Paul The Garden of Love c. 1630-32 Oil on canvas78 x 111 3/8 in. (198 x 283 cm) Prado, Madrid

Rubens, Peter Paul Return of the Peasants from the Fieldsc. 1632-34 Oil on panel 47 5/8 x 76 3/8 in (121 x 194 cm) Pitti, Florence

Rubens, Peter Paul Dance of the Villagers c. 1636 Oil on board28 3/4 x 41 3/4 in (73 x 106 cm) Museo del Prado, Madrid

Rubens, Peter PaulThe Three Graces

Oil on wood87 x 71 1/4 in. (221 x 181 cm)

Prado, Madrid

Rubens, The Toilet of Venus, 1612-15.

Rubens, Judgment of Paris, 1638.

Laocoon and his Sons, Greek, 1st c. B.C

Rubens, Peter PaulThe Little Fur (Helen Fourment, the Second

Wife to the Artist)c. 1638

Oil on oak panel176 x 83 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Power and Majesty of Royalty:

The rich, decorative splendor of Rubens's painting of the Arrival of Marie de' Medici at Marseilles is enlivened by the inclusion of allegorical personifications and mythological figures.

Peter Paul Rubens, Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles, 1622-1625. Oil on

canvas, approx. 5' 1" x 3' 9 1/2". Louvre, Paris.

Rembrandt Self-portrait

1640Oil on canvas, 102 x

80 cmNational Gallery,

London

Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-

1669)

Agatha Bas1641

Oil on canvas, 104 x 82 cmRoyal Collection, London

Portrait of a Lady with an Ostrich-Feather Fan

c. 1660Oil on canvas, 99.5 x 82.5 cm

National Gallery of Art, Washington

Portrait of Baartgen Martens Doomer

1640 Oil on wood, 76 x 56 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Self-Portrait1659

Oil on canvas, 84,5 x 66 cm

National Gallery of Art, Washington

An Illuminating Self-Portrait:

In a late Rembrandt self-portrait, light shines from the upper left to bathe the subject's face in soft light, leaving the lower part of his body in shadow. The portrait's dignity and strength is also the result of assertive brushwork, which suggests confidence and self-assurance.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, ca. 1659-1660. Oil on

canvas. The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, London.

Rembrandt’s Self Portraits (K. Clark Video: 29 min)

Rembrandt van Rijn, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, 1632. Oil on canvas, 5' 3 3/4" x 7' 1

1/4". Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Rembrandt, The Company of Frans Banning Cock preparing to march out 1642

The Jewish Bride c. 1665 Oil on canvas, 121,5 x 166,5 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam (on loan)

Beggars Receiving Alms at the Door of a House

1648Etching, burin, and drypoint,

16.5 x 12.8 cm

The Little Children Being Brought to Jesus ("The 100 Guilder Print")1647-49 Etching and drypoint, 1st state, 278 x 388 mm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Angel Appearing To The Shepherds

1634Etching, burin, and

drypoint, 261 x 218 cmStaatliche Graphische

Sammlung, Munich

Adoration of the Shepherds1646

Oil on canvas, 97 x 71,5 cmAlte Pinakothek, Munich

Compassion Memorably Etched: Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ with the Sick around Him, Receiving the Children (Hundred Guilder Print), ca. 1649. Etching. Pierpont Morgan

Library, New York.

Supper at Emmaus

1648Oil on canvas, 42

x 60 cmMusée du Louvre,

Paris

The Raising of Lazarusc. 1630

Oil on panel, 96.2 x 81.5 cmLos Angeles County Museum of

Art, Los Angeles

The Return of the Prodigal Son

c. 1669Oil on canvas, 262 x 206

cmThe Hermitage, St.

Petersburg

Bathsheba at Her Bath1654

Oil on canvas, 142 x 142 cm

Musée du Louvre, Paris

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (Night Watch), 1642.

Oil on canvas 11' 11" x 14' 4". Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window

1657Oil on canvas, 83 x 64,5 cm

Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

The small, luminous interior scenes painted with care and directness by Jan Vermeer of Delft exude a sense of peace, familiarity, and comfortable domesticity.

Johannes Vermeer

1632- 1675

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (detail)

1657Oil on canvas

Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

A Maid Asleep, 1656–57Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–

1675)

The Milkmaidc. 1658

Oil on canvas, 45,5 x 41 cm

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, ca. 1660–67

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675)

Girl with a Pearl Earringc. 1665

Oil on canvas, 46,5 x 40 cmMauritshuis, The Hague

The Science and Poetry of Light:

It is believed that Vermeer used optical devices such as mirrors and the camera

obscura in composing his paintings. These devices also enabled him to develop a deep

understanding of color.

Jan Vermeer, Allegory of the Art of Painting, 1670-1675. Oil on canvas, 4' 4" x 3' 8". Kunsthistorisches Museum,

Vienna.

The Art of Painting (detail)1665-67

Oil on canvasKunsthistorisches Museum,

Vienna

The Love Letter1667-68

Oil on canvas, 44 x 38,5 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

• 17th Century Art in Italy and Northern Europe

• Catholic Counter- Reformation: intense emotionalism; grandiose propaganda

• Naturalism (the illusion of the real)

• strongly-felt religious subjects

• Dramatic theatricality

• Painting, sculpture and architecture - are forged together to make ensembles

• Dynamic movement overwhelms reposeful balance

• Sculpted, highly articulated space

‘Baroque’