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