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Unit Four Part FiveBaroque and Rococo

Our study covers the art of the Baroque and Rococo periods in several countries. Our first twoworks predate the Baroque, but show stylistic developments which lean toward the Baroque style.

This is a late Italian Renaissance piece, The Last Supper by Tintoretto. Compared to The LastSupper by Leonardo da Vinci, it is more emotional in content and theatrical in lighting andcomposition. This style, encouraged by the Catholic Church as part of the Counter-Reformationmovement, is the forerunner of the Baroque style. The Catholic Church had lost members to theProtestant movement and wanted to counter this in part through the use of art. Renaissance art,was thought to be too cool and intellectual, so artists working for the Church were directed tocreate strong emotion in their work, to appeal to the hearts of Christians and lead them back tothe Catholic faith.

This work is Resurrectionby El Greco. Its style is Mannerism, which developed out of the LateRenaissance. The term comes from the Italian maniera, meaning style or stylishness. Asshown in this particular painting, characteristics of the Mannerist style include elongated figuresand twisting S-shaped poses, which foreshadow the Baroque. Mannerism also features ashallow, compressed picture space, filled with an illogical number of figures.

Baroque

The Baroque style stands in sharp contrast to the Renaissance, which tends to be calm,symmetrical, intellectual, and reserved in coloring and in its use of lights and darks. Baroque artis characterized by: strong emotional content, vivid colors, extreme use of lights and darks to thepoint of being theatrical, rich ornamentation, and dynamic compositions, which often feature astrong diagonal line.

This is the Entombment of Christby Caravaggio. Note the diagonal composition and the darkbackground, balanced by the theatrical lighting of the figures. This work was designed to hangover an altar at such a height, that when the priest held the Communion wafer over his head,speaking the words of Christ at the Last Supper: This is My body, the wafer would be directly in

front of the body of Christ in the painting.

This work by Peter Paul Rubens is called The Raising of the Cross. Rubens was Flemish, buthad traveled to Italy to study the works of Italian masters, including Caravaggio. Here again is adiagonal composition, this time crowded with figures, including a dog in the lower left corner!Typically Baroque are the writhing S-curves of the figures.

This is Judith and Maidservant with Head of Holofernespart of a series from the biblical storyof Judith. Judith was an Israelite widow who rescued her people from the invading Assyriangeneral Holofernes by inviting him to a banquet, letting him drink himself into a drunken stupor,and then beheading him. The drama of the event depicted in the painting is heightened by thestrong use of light and shadow. The artist is Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the few women knownto make a living as a painter at this time.

This is Las Meninas(The Maids of Honor), by Diego Velzquez. Velazquez was court painter toKing Philip IV of Spain. The focal point of the work is the young princess in the center,surrounded by her attendants. To the viewers left partially in shadow, is Velazquez himself,standing at the canvas. Reflected in a mirror on the far wall are the king and queen. Another,unknown figure stands in the doorway. The light in this painting acts almost like a spotlight on astage, revealing the princess, and to a lesser extent, the maids of honor. The artist has chosen toleave himself in shadow, except for his face and hands. A curiosity of this painting, at least tomodern eyes, is the female figure to the right, who is apparently a dwarf. Having a court dwarfwas a sort of status symbol.

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The Night Watchby Rembrandt is more properly called Sortie of Captain Banning CocqsCompany of the Civic Guard. However the painting became known as The Night Watchbecause years of varnish, smoke, and dirt had cause the painting to appear dark, as if it were anight scene. The work was cleaned in the mid-20

thcentury, revealing a much lighter painting.

The subject is a private militia, originally formed to protect the city from Spanish invaders. By thetime of this painting, militias were largely ceremonial, but still much respected. They served ascivic organizations, like todays Rotary Club, and all of the most important men of the townbelonged to one. Militias often commissioned a group portrait such as the one seen here. Themost important figures are in the center; others are given a degree of visibility in keeping with theamount of money they chopped in for the painting.

This is Woman Holding a Balanceby Johannes Vermeer. The full meaning of this work isrevealed in its background. On the wall behind the woman is a painting of the Last Judgment.The balance represents the weighing of souls, the jewelry on the table earthly treasure, the mirrornext to the window, self knowledge. Domestic interior scenes of this sort are typical of DutchBaroque.

This is the Palace of Versailles, substantially rebuilt by the Sun King, Louis XIV of France. In1661 Louis Le Vau made some addition; in 1678 Jules Hardouin Mansart took over the work.)

Versailles occupies about 200 acres, including the extensive gardens and several chteaux.

Rococo

Rococo style, which originated in France, is an extension of the Baroque period. It dates to thefirst half to three quarters of the 18

thcentury. The term rococo is a play on the word baroque. It

also refers to the French word for rocks or shells, motifs that often appear in Rococo furniture andarchitecture. Rococo differs from Baroque in that it is more intimate and better suited to domesticinteriors that to cathedrals. Its colors are more pastel and its scale smaller and more playfulBaroque light!

The Embarkation for Cytheraby Watteau was painted in1718, at the beginning of the Rococoperiod. Dreamy images of romantic couples in a pastoral setting are typical of Rococo art, which

was painted for a sophisticated French aristocracy weary of the formality of court life.

The Pursuitis part of a set of four paintings called The Progress of Love. Commissioned bythe Countess du Barry from the artist Fragonard, this work is from the end of the Rococo period,1771-73. When Fragonard presented his finished work to the Countess, she rejected them asbeing too old-fashioned and sentimental. Rococo had run its course, to be replaced byNeoclassicism.