Baroque Art
Ifn it aint Baroque dont fix it

Baroque Art

• Covers the cultural production of the 17th and early 18th centuries.
• Because there are so many changes in culture, science, and society during this time, there are no over riding themes in Baroque Art.
• Between 1562 and 1721, Europe was at peace only 4 years.
• Most Baroque artists followed in the footsteps of the artists of the Renaissance, visual discoveries and changes were on a smaller scale

Caravaggio: 1571-1610

• Professed disdain for Renaissance masters
• Was known by other traditional painters as the anti-Christ of painting
• Brought a new level of naturalism to art through his imperfect models and dingy settings
• At fifteen was a street kid earling a living painting when he could; worked for other painters part time.

(slide) St. Jerome in His Study (realistic; paints Jerome as he was; leaves out background; brings painting into viewer's face)
(slide) Conversion of St. Paul

• Uses lighting, perspective, and a low horizon line to make the scene seem close to the viewer
• Masterful use of foreshortening
• Spotlight is on the action, rather than on infinite depth

(slide) Entombment: 1603

• Very large work, about 10 x 7
• Natural imperfect people. He frequently used models who were taken from the lower rungs of society
• Christ's body seem to be headed directly for our space
• Models are people off the street.

(slide) Calling of St. Matthew

• An ordinary street scene in which Christ (with a hand gesture similar to Gods in the Creation of Adam calls the tax collector, Levi to become the disciple, Matthew.

(slide) Supper at Emaus.
(slide) Judith Beheading Holofernes
(slide) Doubting Thomas
(slide) Abraham Sacrificing Isaac.
(slide) Paints himself as head of Goliath
(slide) Crucifixion of Saint Peter (rejected because it was too realistic)
(slide) Beheading John the Baptist
(slide) Death of the Virgin (rejected outright because Mary as painted dead; and was a more realistic, real person who died after a long and eventful life)

Artemisia Gentileschi

• Her father was an artist, which allowed her to be trained
• She and her father were influenced by Caravaggio
• Eventually her father was able to apprentice her to an artist friend, who raped her. During the trial she underwent torture.

(slide) Susannah and the Elders

• This is the earliest signed and dated work by Gentileschi.
• It was completed when she was 17, prior to her rape and subsequent trial
• You can feel Susannahs helplessness and fear

(slide) Early Renaissance version from 1490 by the Master of Apollo and Daphne.
(slide) Judith Slaying Holofranes

• Painted during, or immediately after the trial of her employer, Tassi for raping her.
• During the trial she underwent a public pubic exam, as well as torture using thumbscrews
• Tassi had a previous history of rape

(slide) Mary Magdalene
(slide) Lucretia
(slide) Corsica and the Satyr
(slide) Self Portrait

Diego Velazquez: 1599 1660

• The greatest Spanish painter of the Baroque period
• Became Chamberlain of the Palace to Philip IV of Spain
• Became a Knight of the order of Santiago
• Supported the monarchy
• Painted light with a shimmering quality

(slide) The Water Carrier: 1619

• Painted when Velazquez was about 20 years old
• Shows the influence of Carravaggio
• Displays his early artistic mastery

(slide) Surrender of Breda

• Depicts the mayor of Breda handing the city's keys to the Spanish general Spinola (Order triumphs out of chaos)

(slide) Philip IV

• Velazquez main job was to paint Philip IV and the royal family.
• Philip had no interest in politics, and during his reign lost Portugal, and the Netherlands
• He was neither handsome nor commanding

(slide) Las Meninas Maids of Honor

• Velazquez greatest masterpiece
• Elevates himself to the rank of nobility
• Is about seeing and being seen
• Mirrored spaces, real spaces and pictured spaces

(slide) Velazquez
(slide) Infanta: Princess Margarita
(slides) Various slides of Princess Margarita at different ages
(slide) The King and Queen
(slide) Innocent? Innocent X
(slide) Francis Bacon Versions
(slide) Venus

Peter Paul Rubens: 1577 1640

• Master of movement and foreshortening
• Paintings frequently have a spiral or diagonal structure
• Synthesized renaissance, baroque, northern and southern painting styles to create his own unique heroic style

(slide) Rubens

• Had an aristocratic education: spoke and wrote in 6 modern languages as well as Latin
• Court Painter to the Duke of Mantua
• Painter to Charles I of England
• Friend to the King of Spain
• Art Dealer
• Diplomat
• Businessman

(slide) Elevation of the Cross

• Tremendous forces and counter forces
• Strong diagonal composition
• Strongly foreshortened anatomy
• Twisting contortions
• Influenced by Michelangelo and classical sculpture

(slide) Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles

• Rubens reveled in the pomp and majesty of royalty. He reinforced their authority and right to rule.
• She is welcomed by allegorical France as well as by Neptune and the Nereids, and the god, Fame

(slide) Christ on the Cross between Two Thieves

• Rubens wants to communicate the power and drama of the crucifixion
• He supported the aristocracy and the church
• The illiterate churchgoers could understand the Biblical story
• Strong spirals and diagonals increase the drama.

(slide) Judgement of Paris (who's the most beautiful?)
(slide) Rape of the Sabian Women (Greek legends)

(slide) Helene Fourment

• In 1630, at 53 years of age, and a widower Rubens marries Helene Fourment, a girl of 16. She would bear him 5 healthy children during the last 10 years of his life.

Rembrandt: 1606 1669

• Dutch
• A profound witness of the journey of the human soul in its earthly pilgrimage toward the realization of a higher destiny
• Church is commissioning fewer paintings; but individuals were commissioning smaller paintings.
• Loved to paint Biblical scenes, usually with a strong sense of spirituality
• He became a Mennonite, believing in the sole authority of the Bible and silent prayer
• Paintings are masterworks of light, color and texture.
• Painted in a style that disappeared until the impressionist period

(slide) Self Portrait at 23
(slide) And 24 and 25
(slide) Self at 34
(slide) Saskia
(slide) Titus
(slide) titus as an older son
(slide) Titus and his wife, The Jewish Couple (possible test pair)

(slide) Possible Test Pairing: Jewish Couple/Arnolfini Wedding

• Rembrant experienced financial loss.
• Some poor painting choices cost him.
• He had to declare bankruptcy; his son and second wife set up a corporation to hire him to paint.

(slide) Hendrickje Stoffels
(slide) Dutch guild
(slide) Dr. Culp's Anatomy Lesson
(slide) Night Watch (the beginning of his economic down-turn)
(slide) Holy Family (he turned to religious paintings with strong light, usually focused in a spot)
Jeremiah Lameting the Destruction of Jerusalem
Raising Lazarus
(slide) Abraham and Isaac
(slide) Susana and the elders
(slide) Bathsheba at Her Bath
(slide) Jesus with Woman Caught in Adultry
(slide) Joseph and Potipher's Wife
(slide) Peter Denying Christ
(slide) Descent from the Cross
(slide) Supper at Emmaus
(slide) Return of the Prodigal Son
(slide) Last Self Portrait

Jan Vermeer: 1632-1675

• Dutch, from Delft
• Painted allegorical scenes of everyday life in Delft Holland.
• Used more color than most other Northern Baroque painters
• Simplified pictures through the use of a camera obscura to compose dark and light
• Only 35 of his paintings exist
• He finished about 2 per year
• The tower in this painting housed the tomb of William of Orange a Dutch resistance hero

(slide) Painting by Carel Fabritius (note influence of camera obscura)
(slide) Christ in the House of Mary and Martha

• One of Vermeers earliest known paintings
• Probably the masterpiece he executed for admission into the artist guild

(slide) Dirck van Baburen: The Procuress

• Vermeer tried to make a living as an art dealer
• This is a painting that he owned
• It shows an arrangement for prostitution being made
• Links sex with wine and music
• His work was often alagorical: these are things that can ruin a marriage.

(slide) The house wife asleep on the job (alegorical; note wine/fruit)
(slide) a Cassanova scene.
(slide) Soldier and Laughing Girl
(slide) The Concert
(slide) The Music Lesson (mirror suggests vanity)
(slide) The Guitar Player (emotion vs. reason)
(slide) Mistress and Maid (letters show up in lots of his paintings)
(slide) Woman reading a letter (possible for test; she's avoiding the business of her home; the fruit is spoiled; allusion to vanity--reflection in glass)
(slide) Lady Writing Letter with Her Maid
(slide) Woman holding a Balance (balancing the things that matter)
(slide) The Milkmaid (this woman is doing her chores; break not fruit, milk not wine)
(slide) The Lace Maker
(slide) Girl with the Red Hat
(slide) The Geographer
(slide) The Mapmaker
(slide) The Art of Painting