Schoellhorn-AP Art History

THE BEGINNING OF BAROQUE1600-1700 C.E.

The Wars of Religion• The Protestant Reformation led to multiple religious wars, Catholics vs. Protestants.• Holland became Protestant,

breaking from Spain (Flanders remained Catholic in the South)• French Catholics fought against

Hugenots (Protestants) until the Edict of Nantes in 1598.• Henry IV- “France is worth a mass.”

• Thirty Years War- German states fighting Spanish HRE for Protestant rulers.

The Sound of Science• Scientific discoveries also threatened the power of the Catholic Church.• Galileo-Heliocentric Theory• Isaac Newton- Deism,

gravity, “God as the watchmaker”• Tyco Brahe• Johannes Kepler

The Counter-Reformation: A Religious Public Relations Campaign• Officially began at the Council of Trent (1535-1563) to regain faith to the church.• Ended (some) corrupt

practices of the church (simony, lust, etc)• Required priests to attend

seminaries• Recruited missionaries

(especially to the new world) to recruit non Christians. • Jesuit orders established,

founding religious schools (Get em while they’re young approach)

“Don’t Call it a Comeback”-(LL Cool J)• Baroque art began in Rome with patronage of Catholic church• visual side of the Catholic Church renovations, used to reaffirm Catholic beliefs. • Sacred images are completely okay• Miracles were real and totally possible.• Mary and all the Saints should be worshiped and are important.

The Basics of Baroque• Deliberately evokes an emotional response from viewers (Venetians and mannerists already did this).• “Don’t just think about it, feel it!”

• Canvas is a theater, using lighting for dramatic effect.• Intense emotion• Realistic portrayals from nature• Dramatic movement• Bright, vivid colors• Take the viewer INTO the painting through illusion, lighting, tromp l’oeil• Blended together techniques, grand scale of the Renaissance with emotion, intensity and drama of Mannerism

A Bias Against Baroque• Baroque is a term often used negatively, meaning ostentatious, overdone, gaudy. Do you agree?

The Religious Divide•With Baroque Art…• Catholic countries will focus on religious art• Church and loyal royalty were patrons• Spain

• France

• Flanders

• Italy

• Protestant countries focus on portraits, still lifes, genre scenes, landscapes (no icons)• Merchants, nobility were patrons• England

• Holland (Dutch)

The Impact of Italy• Academies were created in Italy to train artists in Renaissance classical styles. • Baroque artist combined…• Renaissance balance with Baroque emotion• Static composure with dynamic movement• Idealization combined with naturalistic observation• Genre paintings, portraits, still lifes with Classical references. • Sometimes, emotion, realism and

classicism were combined all at once!

Carracci vs. CaravaggioWhat differences do you see?

The Carracci• Brothers: Agostino and Annibale, Cousin Ludovico all shared a studio on Bologna. • Founded an art academy in 1582• 1595: Annibale hired by Cardinal Farnese to decorate Palazzo Farnese.• Farnese Duke was marrying the Pope’s niece• Requested scenes of love from Ovid (Roman poet) Metamorphoses. • Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel was inspiration.

Carracci, “The Loves of the Gods”

What is this scene?

Jupiter and Juno

Selene and Endymion

Aphrodite and Aeneus

Specifics on the Ceiling• 1597-1601• Di sotto in su ( From below, up)- Figures hover from above, looking down. • Tromp l’oeil ignudi separate the scenes. • Quadro riportato: wall mural on a curved ceiling.• Viewer must stand in a particular spot for it to appear right side up.

• Barrel vault ceiling, divided into compartments, frames

Creating Like Carracci• Carracci inspired other artists to undertake ceiling frescos• Tried to create drama of immeasurable heaven• Di sotto in su• Quadratura: Architectural settings painted in meticulous perspective• Architecture continues to

appear beyond viewers eye, into the sky.

Quadro Riportato: Needs a particular viewing point.

Di sotto in su: Who is this?

Quadratura

Guido Reni, Aurora, 1613-1614•Which trend: Classicist or Naturalist?• Technique: Di sotto in su, quadratura, or quadro riportato?• Classical influence? Raphael• Aurora leads chariot of Apollo

Pietro da Cortona, Triumph of the Barberini (Pope Urban VIII)• Naturalist or Classicist Trend• Technique?• Di Sotto in Su• Quadro Reportato• Quadratura

Barberini Palace, Rome

AKA: Glorification of Pope Urban VIII•Model for illusionist palace ceilings in Europe. • Figures weave in and out of architectural setting (quadratura)• Shows virtues of the Pope• Symbols of family (bees, wreaths) • Sound familiar?

Michelangelo Merisi: AKA Caravaggio• Labeled most original, most influential painter of the 17th century. • Made realism “en vogue” after artificiality of Mannerism• Said to have been the first to intentionally shock and

offend viewers. • Called an “evil genius, anti-Christ of painting”• “Perpetual feeding upon horror and ugliness and

filthiness of sin.”-19th century art critic John Ruskin.• “Omen of the ruin and demise of painting, painting

with nothing but nature before him which he simply copied in an amazing way. • Quick tempered, killed a man over a tennis match

with a knife, fled to Rome. • Condemned to death, pardoned later.

• Kicked out of Lombardy, Rome, Naples, Malta, Sicily, Naples again, stabbed in the face.• ONE GOOD THING: All this running spread his style

throughout Europe.

The Brawling Bohemian• Anti-tradition• Rebellious against convention• Preferred real, dregs of society vs. goddesses• Streets were the true source of realism• Secularized religious art• Saints, religious figures were painted as ordinary people using common models.• Gritty realism-some influence from Venetian Ren.

Shedding Light on the Subject• Carravaggio dramatized scenes with diagonal light beam, highlighting emotions, actions, everything else in shadow. • Tenebrism: Italian word for murky, gloomy, in a dark manner; dramatic dark and light contrast.• Chiaroscuro is more gradual,

this is dramatic. • Used a lamp or natural light

come through a window to throw light on subjects. • Where is the light coming from

here?

Breaking the Barrier• Baroque artists like Carravaggio worked to bring the viewer into the painting. • Placed illusionistic objects at the bottom of paintings that project into viewer space, making viewer feel more involved. • Chiaroscuro works like a theater spotlight, dramatically highlighting the action.

Calling of Saint Matthew, 1597-1601

How does Caravaggio use light to show current, previous action?

Where is St. Matthew?

What makes this dramatic?

Calling of St. Matthew• Religious commission, San Luigi dei Francesci• Hit or miss on his religious

paintings being accepted.

• Earliest religious commission, served French community in Rome.• Matthew was patron saint.• Paintings show his calling, martyrdom• Conversion: Common counter reformation theme.

• Pained oil on canvas to be hung together, not frescoes. • No official decision on who Matthew is.

Conversion of St. Paul, 1601Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome• How is light used?• How does the artist bring the painting into your space?

Entombment, 1603Vatican Museum, Rome• Placed over an altar, Christ being placed ON the altar.• Located where communion served.• Counter Reformation idea of transubstantiation- body and blood from wine and bread.• Nicodemus COULD be

Carravaggio.

Profane Pieces•Many pieces commissioned by Carravaggio were deemed to0 profane or vulgar to accept or use. • Often had to tone down or redo

his pieces.• Originals were bought by

private owners. • Use of everyday figures and common people DID show that Catholicism was open to all people (probably not what he was going for). • HATED by some artists, LOVED by

others.

Gentle Orazio Gentileschi• First main follower of Caravaggio. • Embraced realism, viewer involvement. •Much more gentle pause in action, less tension. • Very close to his daughter, Artemisia who he taught art, may have gentled him. • She became a major artist, influenced by personal experience of rape by her tutor• Tortured with thumb screws until

she took back her accusation.

• Her style was NOT so gentle.

Madonna and Child, 1609

Artemesia Gentileschi: The First Feminist PainterJudith Slaying Holofernes, 1614-1620• How do you see Caravaggio’s influence here? • Judith- Hebrew heroine cutting off the head of a Babylonian general. Common theme for her.

Lucretia, 1610

See a common theme here?

Self Portrait, Artemesia Gentileschi

Italian Baroque Sculpture• Hellenistic influence• Drama, motion• Negative space • Viewed from multiple angles • Sculpture is created to give tactile (touch) feel (rough skin, smooth skin, etc).• Dynamic, explosive energy, pent up, ready to burst.

Bernini: “He left his mark on the face of Rome.”• Greatest Baroque sculpture• Also an architect, playwright, composer, etc and THEATER STAGE DESIGNER.• Appointed Vatican architect in 1629• Large workshop allowed

outside commissions.

• First gained fame as a sculptor• Son of a sculptor

Compare…

David, 1623• Created at age 25 by Bernini• Possibly a self portrait• Harp- David was a psalm writer.

Bernini’s Bronze Baldacchino (1624-1633)• For most of his life, Bernini worked on commissions for St. Peter’s Cathedral. • Baldachin: Canopy• Commissioned by Barberini Pope, Urban VIII• Placed under central dome of the Vatican, over burial site of St. Peter. • Taller than ten stories (100 feet)

• Four grooved spiral columns with vines, leaves and bees (why?)

• Corkscrew columns draw eye upward.

• Four colossal bronze angels at the corners.

• Architecture combined with sculpture- Baroque characteristic)

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1645-52• Bernini’s masterpiece for Cardinal Cornaro funeral chapel in San Maria della Vittoria, dedicated to St. Theresa.• Whole chapel designed around it to show

it off. • Sculpted “spectators” around it-

members of Conaro family. .

• Spanish mystic who heard voices, believing to have been pierced in the heart with an angel arrow, giving her divine love. • “The pain was so great that I screamed

aloud, but at the same time I felt such infinite sweetness that I wished the pain to last forever.”• Suffered from intense malarial pain,

similar to Hildegard of Bingen.

The Sculptural Style• Very dynamic, moving, emotional• Textures created through marble. • Vault of heaven on the ceiling, with sculptural golden rays of light. • Hidden window on ceiling lets in light.

• Contrast: Angel’s peace, Theresa’s pain/ecstasy• Goal: Animate viewers with religious fervor, passion. • Sculpture is a stage with spectators.