Baroque World

New Spirit

• 1600s

• Roman Catholic Church

• Counter-Reformation

• Baroque

Baroque

• French and Portuguese roots

• Affect all of Europe

• Cultural achievement– Music– Art– Architecture– Variety

General Characteristics

• Strong emotional statements

• Psychology of Exploration

• Invention of new and daring techniques

Baroque Examples

Visual Arts

Michelangelo Merisi, or Carravaggio (1573-1610)

• Controversial in own lifetime

• Drastically different style

Examples

The Calling of St. Matthew, 1597-1603

Detail

Artemisia Gentileschi

• 1597-1651

• 1612 – Tassi Trial

• Great renown in her own lifetime

• Dialog with artists of the day

Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes, c.1620

Comparison

Sculpture and Architecture

Bernini, St. Teresa in Ecstasy, 1645-52

Detail

Baroque in France

Académie des Beaux Arts

• 1st exhibition 1667

• Standards and values

• Prizes offered

Nicolas Poussin

• C.1594-1665

• Reject Caravaggio’s style

• Work was a protest

• Nostalgia in art

Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego, c.1630

Comparison

Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743)

• Popular & respected

• Louis XIV, 1701– Parody?– Extravagant

lifestyle– Baroque ideal in

France

Palace of Versailles

• Famous palace of the French kings

• Chief architects– Louis Le Vau – François d'Orbay

• Architecture with an agenda

Versailles

Sun King

Hall of Mirrors

Gardens

Spanish Baroque

El Greco

• 1541-1614

• Domeniko Theotokopoulos

• Contrast in work

Diego Velázquez

• (1599-1660)

• Combines elements of French & Italian Baroque

• Subject matter is diverse

Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656

Baroque Art in Northern Europe

Peter Paul Rubens

• 1577-1640

• Universal painter

• Active

• Contented personal life

Rubens, Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, c.1618

Vermeer

• (1632-1675)

• Art forgotten until 19th century

• Inner depth of feeling prominent

• Details

A Lady Drinking and a Gentleman

Details

Rembrandt van Rijin

• 1606-1666

• 1642 – artistic turning point

• Famous for self portraits

• Biblical subjects at end of life

The Night Watchmen

Self Portraits

Music

Key Points

• Familiarity & wide appeal

• Pleasure for listener

• Flexibility of style

Opera

• Universal appeal

• Starts in Florence

• Conceived intellectually– Camerata

Two women

Male and female

Opera

• Universal appeal

• Starts in Florence

• Conceived intellectually– Camerata

Two women

Male and female

Euridice

• Earliest extant opera

• Jacopo Peri

• Performed at the wedding of Henry IV & Marie de Medici

• Based on a classical myth

Claudio Monteverdi

• 1567-1643

• L’Orfero– 1st popular opera

• Sets the standard for later operas

Growth of the Opera

• Italy primary but will spread throughout Europe

• Melodrama & Sensation

• Lavish spectacles

• Arias, Oratorio, SonataAria

Oratorio

Growth of the Opera

• Italy primary but will spread throughout Europe

• Melodrama & Sensation

• Lavish spectacles

• Arias, Oratorio, SonataAria

Oratorio

George Frederick Handel

• 1685-1759

• Messiah (1742)

Johann Sebastian Bach

• 1685-1750

• Devout Lutheran

• Intellectual and spiritual

• Large quantity of music left behind

• Virtually unknown in his own lifetime

Johann Sebastian Bach

• 1685-1750

• Devout Lutheran

• Intellectual and spiritual

• Large quantity of music left behind

• Virtually unknown in his own lifetime

Literature in the Baroque Period

Miguel de Cervantes

• 1547-1616

• Don Quixote – 1605– First modern novel– Comic satire

King James Bible

• 1611

• “Biblical Style”

• Hugely influential

Philosophy & Science in the Baroque Period

Galileo Galilee

• 1564-1642

• Changed the world in 2 ways– Proved Copernicus

right– Founder of modern

physics

René Descartes

• 1596-1650

• Father of Modern Philosophy

• Discourse on Methods (1637)

• Meditations (1641)

Thomas Hobbes

• 1588-1679

• Different thinker

• Politics rather than philosophy

• Leviathan– Shocks everyone

John Locke

• 1632-1704

• Paves way for Enlightenment

• “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”– Blank slate