art history
TY0496
chapter14.pptx17th Century Art in Europe
Chapter 14
Europe in the 17th Century
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THE BAROQUE PERIOD IN ITALY
Started in Rome
As a reaction to the Protestant Reformation
Also, in reaction to Mannerism
The Baroque period is also referred to as the Age of Expansion, especially in the arts.
Patron Popes of the Baroque period included:
Paul V
Urban VIII
Innocent X
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The Roman Catholic Church supported Baroque art style in response to the Protestant Reformation (movement to reform Catholic Church) – communication of religious themes with viewer's direct and emotional involvement
Aristocracy adopted Baroque style to impress visitors and to express triumphant power and control
Baroque Art of 17th Century - ITALY
Much of Italian Baroque Art was aimed at propagandistically restoring Catholicism’s predominance and centrality and was used as teaching tool.
17th century Italian Baroque Art and Architecture characteristics: dramatic/theatrical, grandiose scale, elaborate ornateness – all used to spectacular effect.
Baroque stemmed from Renaissance. Renaissance art generally depicted the moment before or after an event took place whereas baroque showed the actual climatic moment.
Baroque artworks are exaggerated, there is a sense of movement, energy and tension. There is a strong sense of light and dark which is created by illuminating figures out of dark shadows. At the time, this was quite revolutionary and became a hallmark of Baroque art.
The artists of this time were focused on natural forms, space, and unity. There are painterly brush strokes, recession of the plane, open forms and, an unclearness of the subject matter.
Bernini
A child prodigy who the pope demanded an audience of.
Deemed the “Michelangelo” of his generation.
Master of stone
-ability to transform into flesh, and dramatic action-decisive moments.
First sculpture to “freeze” moments in time.
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria Rome, Italy 1645–1652 Marble, height of group 11’ 6”
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Bernini – Interior Niche of Cornaro Chapel
Ecstasy of St. Teresa – 1645-52
The whole chapel became a theater for the production of this mystical drama
Theatricality and sensory impact were useful vehicles for achieving Counter-Reformation goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKcJvjP9zgY&index=8&list=PLB56EEA2DAB1F1CD6
And between death and light, Bernini might be suggesting there are moments of ecstasy worth saving and remembering.
Bernini
David
1623
Marble
5’ 7”
Galleria Borghese, Rome
Modeled features after own face. Expression of intense concentration.
Different from earlier versions- incorporates action and time.
Most dramatic of an implied sequence of poses.
Time and space are united in an artistic theater.
Dynamic energy, cannot be confined in a niche-must be freestanding.
Baroque - theatricality and element of time.
After the Renaissance, an understanding of Progress and a new embrace of change began. Thus art began to demonstrate transience, rather than permanence and timeless ideals.
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Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio
Outspoken disdain for Classical masters- the “anti-christ” of painting.
Recast biblical scenes or themes in new light
Used naturalism -did not idealize the narratives. Characters were common folk not idealized and angelic.
Accentuates the “sinner” or the lower classes in his works-harsh dingy settings. Figures that were relatable.
Strong use of light with deep pockets of shadow
- tenebrism
Action very close to surface of painting-like a “shop window”.
Strong personality violent criminal, thrived in Roman underground scene.
Enormous influence on subsequent generation of painters
(Caravaggista)
Caravaggio
The theatrical Baroque sculpture had its counterpart in painting.
Caravaggio (Michelangelo de Merisi)
Portrayed dramatic movement, tenebrism, emotionally charged subjects, and figures caught in time.
Tenebrism - exaggerated chiaroscuro. Translated as “dark matter” it is often characterized by a small and concentrated light source in the painting or what appears to be an external ”spotlight” directed as a very specific point in the composition.
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Entombment, from the chapel of Pietro Vittrice, Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome, Italy ca. 1603 Oil on canvas 9’ 10 1/8” x 6’ 7 15/16” Musei Vaticani, Pinacoteca, Rome
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Entombment: Sums up CARAVAGGIO’S Distinctive Style
1603 – large-scale painting for Chapel of Pietro Vittrice in Rome
Caravaggio places the figures on a stone slab that seems to extend into the viewer’s space, suggesting that Christ will be laid directly in front of the viewer. The theological implications are that Christ is being laid on the altar of a church, thus making real the doctrine of transubstantiation (the transformation of the Eucharistic bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ); Christ would thus be present during Mass, the Roman Catholic church service
Caravaggio
The Calling of St. Matthew
Contarelli Chapel church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
1599-1600. Oil on canvas
10’ 7.5” x 11’ 2”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZF5K8epWko&index=11&list=PLB56EEA2DAB1F1CD6
Judith and Holofernes (c. 1598) Caravaggio Oil on canvas
Approx. 56 3⁄4” x 76 3⁄4”
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GENTILESCHI (Female) – “Caravaggista”
Caravaggio’s style (combo. of naturalism and drama) became popular and appealed to patrons and artists
Gentileschi was trained by her father (who was influenced by Caravaggio)
Artemisia Gentileschi
Judith Beheading Holofernes
c. 1619-20
Oil on canvas
6’ 63/8” x 5’ 4”
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
Diego Velazquez
Leading artist in the court of King Phillip IV
Because of Velasquez' great skill in merging color, light, space, rhythm of line, and mass in such a way that all have equal value, he was known as "the painter's painter.”
Master realist, and few painters have surpassed him in the ability to seize essential features and fix them on canvas with a few broad, sure strokes.
Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor) 1656 Oil on canvas approx. 10’ 5” x 9’ Museo del Prado, Madrid
After visit to Rome from 1648 to 1651, he returned to Spain and painted his greatest masterpiece – Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor)/ it hung in Philip’s personal office
Here you see the artist looking at the viewer; in the background there appears to be a portrait of the king and queen, but it could be a mirror rather than a painting, and if so, the king and queen would then be standing near the viewer. Or, if the artist were looking at the entire scene with a mirror, then there is a sense of almost endless reflection back and forth.
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Primary patrons were rich Spanish monastic orders.
Devotional image for the funerary chapel of the Order of Mercy in Seville (Mercedarians) who worked towards the rescue of captive and ransomed Christians at hands of Muslims.
St. Serapion suffered martyrdom while preaching Gospel to Muslims.
Tied to a tree, tortured and decapitated.
Bright light brings attention to tragic death.
Note identifies him as St. Serapion.
FRANCISCO DE ZURBARÁN Saint Serapion 1628
Oil on canvas
3’ 11 1/2” x 3’ 4 3/4”
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Peter Paul Rubens
The Raising of the Cross 1610-1611 Oil on panel center panel 15’ 1 7/8”x 11’ ½” Each wing 15’ 1 7/8” x 4’ 11” Now in Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp
Peter Paul Rubens
Henry IV Receiving the Portrait of Marie de’ Medici
1621-1625
Oil on canvas
12’ 11 1/8” x 9’ 8 1/8”
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Peter Paul Rubens
Prometheus Bound
c. 1611-1618
Oil on canvas
95 ½ x82 ½
Rembrandt van Rijn: Self-Portrait (1658)
Oil on canvas
52 5/8” x 40 7/8”
The Frick Collection, New York.
Genre Painting: Self-Portrait
Judith Leyster
Self-Portrait
1635
Oil on canvas
29 3/8” x 25 5/8”
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt2M4HTw29A&list=PLB56EEA2DAB1F1CD6&index=48
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
One of the most influential French painters
Recalled from Rome by Louis XIII
Influences Raphael and Carracci
Classicism official court style (1660-1685)
Ancient Greece and Roman as reference
Authority, power, order, and tradition
Poussin represents favored classicism
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
Studies Raphael, anatomy, perspective, and ancient sculpture in Rome
Work becomes model for similar subject matter
Relays assassination of Roman general
Nicolas Poussin, The Death of Germanicus
1627-1628 Oil on canvas 58 ¼” x 78” Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota
France
Foreign and civil wars
King Henry IV assassinated in 1610; Marie de’ Medici (queen) rules as regent until 1617
1635: Cardinal Richelieu founds the French Royal Academy
1648: Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
Louis XIII dies; 5 year old Louis the XIV (le Roi Soleil) ruled in 1661 after death of Cardinal Mazarin
Louis XIV, ABSOLUTE MONARCH: longest reign in Europe
French Baroque
Leader during French Baroque Louis XIV, known as the “Sun King” because EVERYTHING revolved around him
Divine monarchy
Absolutism
Military campaigns against Spain, Dutch Republic, Germany, and England
Hyacinthe Rigaud Portrait of Louis XIV King of France and Navarre
1701 Oil on canvas 9’2” × 6’3” Musée du Louvre, Paris
French Baroque
France replaces Rome as the center of the art world
Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV
French Baroque is characterized by elegance and restraint of emotion, pomp and circumstance, pageantry, emphasis on the glories of the monarchy
Louis XIV interested in classical influence epitomized in the work of Poussin
The French Baroque style reflects the king’s preference for Classicism
Sought distinct “French” style
Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture formed in Paris, 1648
Charles Le Brun first director
Promotes virtues of Poussin and Raphael
French Baroque
Louis renovates what was a small hunting cabin into a Golden Cage
Begun 1669 by Le Vau, finished 1710
Every aspect of Versailles controlled, even gardens
Center Louis’ bedroom
Aerial view of the Palace of Versailles, France. Begun 1669
Gardens of Versaille
Bird’s Eye View of the Gardens of Versaille, 19th century
