baroque: italy, spain, holland, pp. 291-300; 302-304; 308 ... · 3/19/2010  · the term baroque is...

Baroque: Italy, Spain, Holland, pp. 291-300; 302-304; 308-310; 321-

324Dynamism: movement and metamorphosis

Caravaggio:

down-to-earth realism

dramatic light

Artemisia:

violent humanity

the first representation of women by a

female artist

Velasquez:

portraiture as a game of power

realism and fiction: who’s looking at whom?

Bernini:

the architect of Counter-Reformation

materials colors and space in a spectacular

sculpture

Rembrandt:

light-dark and air

self-portraiture

dynamism is a broad

concept: it is the quality of

being dynamic

In an artwork, the most

direct form of dynamism

is the representation of

things/people in motion

rather than in a static

condition

Balla, Dynamism of a

Dog on a Leash, oil on

canvas, 1912

Duchamp,

Nude

descending a

staircase, oil

on canvas,

1912

When it comes to

composition,

asymmetrical

compositions are less

balanced and therefore

more dynamic than

symmetrical/balanced

ones

compositions

developed around

diagonal lines

are more dynamic;

while artworks whose

compositions

are based on

horizontal and

vertical lines result in

a more static effect

Asymmetry, instability,

and dynamism are main

features of Baroque art

As exemplified by

Bernini’s sculpture

Apollo and Daphne

Where dynamism manifests

itself at 3 levels:

-figures’ representation

(running)

-Composition (diagonal)

-Even subject matter!

(transformation)

Bernini,

Apollo and

Daphne,

marble,

1622-25

Taken from Ovid’s

Metamorphoses, the statue

represents the moment when

Apollo captures Daphne

(who is fleeing)

As he touches her,

she turns into a

laurel tree

Bernini shows the

dramatic moment of

the metamorphosis:

The passage from a

status into another is

the quintessence of

dynamism

Bernini,

Apollo and

Daphne,

marble,

1622-25

the term Baroque is

used to describe the

art that arose in Italy

around 1600

and spread through

much of Europe

during the next two

hundred years

The word

“Baroque” means

absurd or

grotesque

and was used by

men who considered

good art only that

which followed the

Classical rules:

Anti-classical

3 main differences:

1) The balanced harmony achieved by Renaissance

artists

Vs. experimental uses of space (sharp diagonals and

extreme foreshortenings)

Compare and contrast

Caravaggio, St. Paul’s

Conversion, oil on canvas,

1601

2) more intense contrasts of light and shadows:

theatrical use of chiaroscuro (especially

Caravaggio’s night effect)

3) Emotional, down-to-earth realism

Compare and contrast

Years of the Roman

Catholic Church’s

response to the

Protestant Reformation

Through this new style of

painting, Caravaggio and

the Church intended to

intensify the religious

experience

Caravaggio, St. Paul’s

Conversion, oil on canvas,

1601

Counter Reformation

Subject matter

New Testament: the Roman Saul

was traveling toward Damascus

to persecute Christians

“Suddenly a light flashed from

the sky” and he fell to the ground

He heard Christ’s voice saying

“Saul why do you persecute

me?”

Saul was converted to

Christianity and baptized with the

name of Paul

interest in metamorphosis (in

this case spiritual)

Paul is represented as a

young Roman soldier,

his harms are spread to

embrace the divine light

His body is

foreshortened and

pushed into the

foreground

(device we have already

studied…

Caravaggio, St. Paul’s

Conversion, oil on canvas,

1601

similarly to Mantegna, the

spectator is emotionally

involved: such a close view that

we feel we are right there

But C. turns the figure upside-

down and breaks M.’s

symmetry

Caravaggio

introduces a new use

of light:

religious inspiration is

shown as a real light

that touches

everybody:

Caravaggio, St. Paul’s

Conversion, oil on canvas,

1601

No longer the aristocratic

saints/philosophers of the

Renaissance

Main characters are now simple

people

Caravaggio’s painting is an invitation

to participate to the mystery of

conversion

that involves everybody without

distinction of social status

While, at first, many

contemporaries were

shocked by

Caravaggio’s extreme

realism,

within a decade

Caravaggism had

spread throughout Italy

to Spain, France and

the Netherlands

A. Gentileschi,

Judith Slaying

Holofernes,1620,

Florence, Uffizi

A. Gentileschi,

Judith Slaying

Holofernes,1620,

Florence, Uffizi

Artemisia Gentileschi

(1563-1639) was a follower

of Caravaggio

Here she exploit

Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro

and un-idealized

representation of common

humanity

to much more violent

effect

(Subject: Judith was a

Jewish widow who saved her

town from Nebuchadnezzar's

army by seducing the general

Holofernes and cutting off his

head while he slept)

she is slowly carving off the

head of Holofernes while

holding her body back from the

spurting blood

Theatrical light effects

emphasize the drama of the

scene

Artemisia specialized in scenes

in which women play dominant

roles

For the first time in the history of

art we have powerful

representation of women by a

woman

many scholars have related her

preference for violent scenes

to the fact that she was raped

by her painting teacher

Her paintings would be an act

of rebellion/resistance

(identification with Judith)

However we should keep in

mind that in this period the

choice of subjects was done

by patrons

What is notable anyway is the

CounterReformation’s

interest for social

groups/gender formerly kept

at the margins

Velazquez emerged

from the Spanish

Caravaggesque

school

Subject: large room in

the place of the king

Philip IV of Spain,

the painter is at work

on a huge canvas

In the foreground is the

daughter of the king,

Margarita, surrounded

by her maids

Velazquez, Las Meninas (the

Maids of Honor), 1656, oil on

canvas, 10’ 5” x 9’ 1/2”

With the exception of

the princess,

all the figures are

represented in the

midst of movements /

every-day gestures,

Velasquez’s loose

brushstrokes,

and the blurred edges

of the forms

contribute to the

natural effect of the

image

something in front of the

sitters seems to have

interrupted this

naturalness:

They realize that they

are observed!

is the princess posing for

us?

Velazquez, Las Meninas (the

Maids of Honor), 1656, oil on

canvas, 10’ 5” x 9’ 1/2”

It is only when we see the

mirror on the wall,

with the faces of the royal

couple reflected in it,

that we realize that this court

portrait has been changed

into a visual riddle:

Velazquez painted a portrait

of himself making a royal

portrait

And the viewer, who is in the

position of the king and queen

Becomes the OBJECT of the

artist’s gaze (and that of

other represented figures’)

Like other baroque works, this

painting reaches out beyond

its frame in a subtle

dynamism of glance and

image

Las Meninas was

called in its time “the

theology of

painting”

And is indeed a

painting about

painting!

Velazquez, Las Meninas (the

Maids of Honor), 1656, oil on

canvas, 10’ 5” x 9’ 1/2”

Baroque architecture

has always been

perceived as

disturbingly anti-

classical

as we can see in one of

its most representative

examples,

the Baldacchino

(canopy) in St. Peter’s

by the sculptor and

architect Bernini:

Bernini, Baldacchino, St.

Peter’s Rome, bronze, 100’

approx. height, 1624-33

If compared to Brunelleschi, Bernini’s Baldacchino

shows us 6 main features of Baroque architecture:

1)lavishly decorated

2)combination of several materials in a single work

3)non-geometrical, extravagant forms

Brunelleschi,

Santo Spirito

Bernini, Baldacchino, St.

Peter’s Rome, bronze, 100’

approx. height, 1624-33

4)use of colors

5)theatrical/ephemeral quality

(rather than simple eternity)

6)gigantic size

Bernini, Baldacchino, St.

Peter’s Rome, bronze, 100’

approx. height, 1624-33

The Baldacchino

is a bronze

structure

embellished with

gilding

it has both a

practical and a

symbolic

functions:

1) It provided a

focal point for

the vast interior

by marking the

burial spot of

Saint Peter and

the high altar of

the Basilica

Bernini, Baldacchino, St.

Peter’s Rome, bronze, 100’

approx. height, 1624-33

2)The twisted columns are

enlarged versions of those

believed to have come from

Salomon’s temple

(incorporated in Constantine

Basilica and reused by

Berinini in the upper niches)

The Baldacchino is a symbol

of the recovery of the

Papacy from the blow of the

Protestant Reformation

We can better appreciate

Bernini’s ability to integrate

architecture, sculpture, painting

and lighting in his Cappella

Cornaro:

extremely rich side chapel in a

small Roman church

it was commissioned by

Cardinal Cornaro as his own

burial place

and a monument to the

Spanish Saint Teresa

Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Cornaro

Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittori, Rome,

1645-1652

the central marble group represents

the saint’s ecstasy

Saint Teresa had described her

visions in a book, where she tells of a

moment of heavenly rapture,

When an angel pierced her heart with

a golden arrow

Filling her with “pain and yet with

sweet bliss”

Bernini represents the saint carried

on a cloud, towards streams of light

which pour down from above in the

form of golden rays

While an angel approaches her with

an arrow

Bernini powerfully shows the

emotion and the sensuality

Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Cornaro

Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittori, Rome,

1645-1652

Teresa is represented with head

thrown back, mouth open, and eyes

closed in an attitude of physical

abandon

Many adverse comments from

contemporaries pointed out the

overtly erotic interpretation of the

mystic scene

However Bernini was very successful

because of this!

He was able to translate into images

the Counter-Reformation Church’s

concern with the relationship

between spirit and matter

St Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual

Exercises considered the senses

rather than the intellect as the most

important means of attaining

spiritual understanding

Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Cornaro

Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittori, Rome,

1645-1652

Even Bernini’s

handling of the

draperies was

completely new:

Instead of letting

them fall in

dignified folds in

the classical

manner,

He made them

whirl as alive

To add to the

effect of

excitement and

movement

Dutch artist Rembrandt

started his career as a

follower of Caravaggio but

developed a unique way of

painting

especially through his

several self- portraits

they represent him from the

age of 20 to his death at 63

as a sort of visual diary

In this self-portrait he depicts

himself at 53 as a working

artist holding brushes and

palette

Rembrandt, Self-portrait,

1659-60, oil on canvas

He was fascinated by the

expressive possibilities of

the human body and found

himself to be the most

readily available model

He viewed himself

straightforwardly, without

poses nor expressions

His eyes suggest a person of

penetrating insight

By examining himself so

objectively he went beyond

himself:

he created a statement

about how it feels to be a

human

Rembrandt, Self-portrait,

1659-60, oil on canvas

From this detail, we can also see the

characteristic Rembrandt’s use of oil

painting:

It is applied thickly (impasto), wet

onto wet

Because of the thick, past-like quality

of oil paint and the richness of the

brushwork,

Viewers participate in the process of

conjuring up images

The painting projects a solid-looking

head when seen at distance

And show rich tactile surface when

viewed close up