1. Baroque Europe
“irregular, oddly shaped”
Or deviated from Renaissance
classical traditions
PATRONS: powerful Courts and
Church in Counter Reformation
campaign
Louis XIV, Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701,
9’ x 7’

2. HISTORICAL BAROQUE
•Counter Reformation,
Catholic resurgence,
flourishes in Italy, Flanders,
Spain, & France
•Catholic church intent on
fighting the Protestant
reformation efforts; crusade to
finish St. Peters in 1600,
Thirty Years War ended in 1648 glorify saints, miracles, etc.
Protestants vs. Catholics
•Protestants iconoclasts
But also about political, economic, and
social issues as well •Holland very Protestant, still
Courts became powerful-Kings of some religious works but
Spain, England, France, etc. landscapes, portraits, genre
paintings instead

3. Key Ideas - Baroque Art
• Counter reformation fueled religious sculptures
and paintings, especially in Rome, France, &
Flanders, and Spain
• In Holland counter voice Baroque art in Protestant
form (no saints and miracles)
• Baroque artists: experiments with new forms-
landscapes, still life, genre paintings
• Rome still keeper of masterpieces and center of
Religion, but Paris becomes center of artistic
innovation in Europe… thru WWI.

4. St. Peter’s Basilica and Piazza, Vatican, Rome… Maderno designed the façade to
add to Michelangelo’s original design, and Bernini designed the piazza as a relief
from the crowded streets of Rome. Why is the piazza shaped like a key hole?
(FC)

5. Baldacchino
By??????
For???????
CATHOLIC RESURGENCE
Gilt bronze and marble
Over altar of ____
Directs vision down nave
Shrine canopy over grave of
St. Peter, buried under bsilica
Bees & suns symbols of
patrons, Barberinni family
Counter Reformation spirit in
Rome
Feat of bronze casting

6. flashcard
Church of San Carlo
alle Quattro
Fontane, Rome,
1638-41
Francesco
Borromini
Square w/ 4
fountains
Façade taller than
rest of building

7. Fountain of Four Rivers
by Bernini

8. BIGGEST PATRON =
CATHOLIC CHURCH
(THEN COURTS)
HUGE CHURCHES AND PALACES SPACES
TO FILL WITH MAGNIFICENT SCULPTURES
AND PAINTINGS.
MANY BAROQUE ARTISTS WERE DEEPLY
RELIGIOUS, SUCH AS RUBENS AND THE
SCULPTURE BERNINI
POPE URBAN VIII COMMISSIONED SOME
OF
GIANLORENZO BERNINI - sculptor, architect
Best work… Such s the Cornaro Chapel
magnificent marble and bronze altar, and the
statue of St. Theres in ecstasy.

9. Baroque Sculpture
Characteristics (ITALY)
•Stressed movement
•Mid motion, mouths open
•sculpture meant to be seen in the
round from different angles
•Marble very tactile-flesh is soft, skin is
polished, wings are feathery, drapery is
drapery
•Inspired by Hellenistic sculpture
•Bernini’s DAVID from 1623… marble,
life size (FLASHCARD)
•Mid-action swinging the slingshot
•Harp = role as psalmist
•Multiple views
•Use of negative space

10. This is a flashcard
WHAT IS IT?
Sculptural interpretation of St
Theresa’s diary, tells of
visions of god, angel plunging
arrows in to her.
Rays of god light behind
Sexual exhaustion?
Stage like setting
Natural light from hidden
window above the work

11. ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI… Judith & Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes,
and Judith and Holofernes, 1625, 6 ft x 4 1/2 ft… tenebrism, drama, strong
diagonals, female empowerment… remember she was raped by her tutor and had
to stand trial to prove her innocence.

12. Self Portrait on the Allegory of
Painting, oil on canvas, 38” x 29”,
1630, Artemisia Gentileschi
Dramatic lighting, self portrait
Gentilleschi was a noted female
artist, unusual for that time.
Influenced by Caravaggio
Typical of naturalism school of
Italian Baroque….
NATURALISM (drama, tenebrism,
everyday people) vs.
CLASSICISM of Renaissance
style paintings

13. Calling of St. Matthew, Caravaggio
Oil on Canvas, 1600.. Watch video to
learn more!
Caravaggio: the Power of Art

15. Characteristics of Baroque
Painting in Italy
#3 types popularized, in addition to
traditional religious paintings &
portraiture:
-genre painting
Landscapes
Still lifes
TENEBRISM in this painting
Entombment by Caravaggio, strong
diagonals, everyday figures as they
lower the body of Jesus
Impasto brushwork (thick, textured)
Artists like Caravaggio
MADE RELIGION REAL AND
CLOSE TO HOME
But they were artistically opposed by
classic style painters….

16. In Italy, especially Rome, another school of painters opposed the drama and tenebrism
of Caravaggio & Gentilleschi… CEILING PAINTERS such as Reni wanted to continue
classical trends. Landscapes had a moral to them, not just a pretty picture.
Reni’s fresco is entitled Aurora, and it is on the ceiling of a Palazzo in Rome.

17. Annibale Carracci was a
classicist painter
CLASSICISM VS.
NATURALISM in Italian and
Flemish baroque art
Ceiling of Gallery, Palazzo
Farnese, Rome, 1601

18. Baroque landscapes typically had figures in them and told some kind of moral tale or
had a purpose beyond showing nature’s beauty, as in this oil painting by Carracci.

19. Baroque Art in Flanders
• Northern Flanders largely Protestant, rebelled
against Spanish rule & present day Holland gained
independence
• Southern Flanders (Catholic) returned to direct
Spanish rule under Hapsburg family
• Key painters: Rubens &Van Dyck w/international
clientele & reputations
• Rubens was wealthy, educated, diplomat with
strong religious beliefs
• Rubens studied Caravaggio & encouraged patron,
Duke of Mantua, to buy Death of the Virgin

20. Charles I at the Hunt, oil on
canvas, 9’ x 6’, 1635, Anthony
van Dyck
Van Dyck did many portraits of
the royal family.
Here he diplomatically made
Charles I look TALL.. By having
the figure against the
background, the horse with
bowed head, etc.

21. Raising of the Cross, Peter Paul Rubens, oil on canvas, 1610, Church of St. Walpurga,
Antwerp, Belgium. Continued Flemish tradition of the triptych.. Drama and emotion
inspired by who? (He traveled to Italy to study)…why is this typical Baroque?

22. Henri IV Receiving the Portrait of
Marie de’ Medici, Rubens
Oil on canvas, 13’ x 10’, 1625
Rubens did a series of
ENORMOUS canvases
commissioned by Marie de
Medici, Queen of France…to
commemorate her founding of
the Bourbon dynasty & role as
Queen Regent to son, Louis XV
Rubens is known for his fleshy,
sumptuous female nudes, plump
women still called Rubenesque
today.. His colors inspired by
Titian
Ran large studio w/ assistants,
collaborated with Van Dyck and
Brueghel (descended from
Renaissance Bruegel)

23. Garden of Love, Rubens, oil on canvas…
shows courtly ladies visual & tactile effects of the garden…

24. In France & Flanders, Rubens & Poussin were from rival schools. Rubens was a
naturalist & Poussin was a classicist… followers were called Rubenistes or Poussinistes
French Royal Academy made a system to evaluate painting vs. drawing and grade
master artists… Poussin was stronger in drawing, Rubens in painting & vivid colors

25. Baroque Art in Northern Flanders
The Dutch Golden Age
• Still lifes term coined in
Holland, such as this
painting by Clara Peeters
• Educated, literate Dutch
enjoyed portraits, still
lifes, and genre scenes
• Demand for art & prints
from merchant class,
unlike France & Italy
• Group portraiture also a
Dutch specialty with Still life with flowers, fruit, and
pretzels, Clara Peeters
artists Hals & Rembrandt

26. The Dutch Golden Age,
continued…
• Landscapes such as this
Vermeer were in demand
• Low horizon to show flat
Dutch country side,
canals, and beautiful
skies
View of Delft, 1665, Jan Vermeer

27. The Jewish Cemetery, Jacob van Ruisdael, 1660. Spiritual meanings of the
landscape, vanitas theme? Allegory of transcience, rainbow shows hope.

28. Still Life with a watch, Pieter Claesz. Still li fes often showed a theme of the brief nature
of life and beauty, with hints of death, a wilting flower, a skull, or other reminder..
VANITAS…time passes with the watch? “breakfast piece” like Clara Peeters

29. Officers of the Haarlem Militia Company, Frans Hals, Oil on Canvas, 6’ x 9’, Lively
composition, social event, strong diagonals. Positions reflect their ranking. IMPASTO
technique, very painterly like Velasquez.

30. Self Portrait, Judith Leyster
Originally thought to be
Hals’ painting…
Judith looks confidently
back at the viewer, as does
her subject the fiddler
Caravaggio’s realism,
drama, lighting…
Participated in the Haarlem
Guild and could take
students…
Known for informal scenes
of daily life
Like who in the
Renaissance?

31. REMBRANDT: IMPORTANT
DUTCH BAROQUE ARTIST
•Known for psychologically intense
portraits (self portrait here from
1658)
•Internalized spirituality, reflected
suffering & personality
•In his later works, realism relates
to the spirit of inner meaning not
surface details
•Studied under Lastman, a history
painter who’d worked in Rome
•Learned tenebrism, naturalism,
drama
•Interested in both science and
faith.
•Like Rubens, used assistants and
ran large workshops.

32. Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, Rembrandt, 1632. Rembrandt transforms Hals’ group
portrait into a dramatic narrative… Cadaver is shockingly green while students lean
forward to study the anatomy of the arm.
TENEBRISM: white collars emphasis the dramatic lighting

33. The Night Watch (Captain Frans Banning Cocq Mustering His Company):
commissioned group portrait @ narrative…girl w/chicken may be company mascot
Originally known as Night Watch, name remains today, but it was cleaned and is not as
dark today.

34. Rembrandt did Three Crosses series of
etchings (prints)

35. Jan Vermeer genre
paintings&portrait such as
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
Notice the lighting
Believed to have used a
“camera oscura”
Still meditative paintings with
single source of light
Clip
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=aYtcOw11S-
A&feature=related

36. Woman Holding a Balance
Jan Vermeer
1664
Metaphor for eternal
judgment
(Christ Last Judgment
appears behind her)
Vanitas theme of
transcience of life

37. Baroque Art in SPAIN
•Profound influence of
Caravaggio & his followers
•Ecstatic religiosity plus intense
realism/tenebrism
•Still lifes, genre paintings, and
religious paintings were popular
•Catholic Counter-Reformation
strong-scenes of saints being
martyred
•Velasquez best known
Spanish Baroque painter
Saint Serapion by Zurbaran shows the
Baroque drama, tenebrism

38. Young Beggar, Murillo, oil on
canvas, mid 17th century
Spanish Baroque master
Influenced by Velasquez
Genre scene
Painted sentimental and
touching works both religious
and secular
Flashcard not in book

39. Water Carrier of Seville, Diego
Velazquez
Oil on canvas, 41” x 31”, 1619
Early work of Velasquez shows
intense interest in Caravaggio
tenebrism
Deceptively simple genre scene-
sacred quality about the expressions,
the clear water, handing over glass
Water jug is masterfully rendered

40. Juan de Pareja, Diego
Velazquez
Oil on canvas,
Velasquez was court
painter to King of Spain,
genius portraitist.
Went to Italy to paint the
Pope and wasn’t as
recognized
Painted Pope Innocent

41. "Velazquez evidently decided
to paint a portrait that would
show the Romans what he
could do. He chose as his
subject his assistant and friend,
Juan de Pareja (c. 1610-70).
Amazingly, this man was
technically a slave; we still
have the document of
manumission with which
Velazquez formally set him
free. However, we can see
from Velazquez painting that
the two were undeniably
equals. That steady look of
self-controlled power can even
make us wonder which of the
two held a higher opinion of
himself. It is a daring picture in
that it almost eschews the use
of color. This is a dark man,
with wonderful coppery skin,
set against an indeterminate
background, where even the
rich velvets of the sleeves
appear dim."

42. • Is this Pope
Pope Innocent X innocent?
• How does
Velasquez
capture his
personality
?

43. Francis Bacon
Study After Valasquez’s Portrait
of Pope Innocent X
1953
oil on canvas

44. The Surrender at Breda, The Lances, Oil on Canvas, 10’ x 12’, 1634-35
Depicts 1625 victory of Spanish over Dutch in Breda
Graciousness of Spanish victors, more dignified, organized
Cross formed over distant lake, symbol of Catholic victory, mutual respect of both sides

45. Las Meninas
Diego Velasquez
Oil on canvas
10’5” x 9’
1656
One of most famous
and analyzed
paintings
WHAT DO YOU
THINK THE
MEANINGS ARE???

46. Princess at center
Attendants… ladies in
waiting, dwarfs, dog
Pyramidic social
composition
King/Queen reflected in
mirror??? Or is it a
paintingt?
Velasquez shows himself
at work, with Knights
emblem
Why are dogs and dwarfs
shown?

47. Baroque Art in
FRANCE
•Louis XIV, the Sun King built
the gorgeous palace at
Versailles
•Poussin & Lorrain landscape
painters, Poussin more
classical in style.
•Georges La Tour did
Caravaggesque drama and
tenebrism

48. Palais du Versailles

49. Hall of Mirrors,
Versailles
(flashcard)
Begun 1678
Msaterpiece of
Barqoue
architectureJules
Hardouin-Mansart
Rebuild hunting
lodge ito palace
Louis XIV
audience
chamber,
bedroom
Vast garden.
Landscape
architecture
Hall of Mirrors,
flickering use of
light

50. Mary Magdalen with the Smoking
Flame, Georges de la Tour,
French, 1640
She contemplates looking at the
candle flame
Skull (vanitas) theme about
brevity or temporary nature of
human life
Diagonals of tilted legs, head,
triangle of light around candle
T------sm?

51. Was Claude Lorrain a Poussiniste or a Rubeniste? Why?

52. Baroque undulating lights and
darks
Ornate, rich decoration
Simpler exteriors
Benedictine Monastery Church,
Melk, Austria

53. Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London
1675-1710
Christopher Wren, Architect
Designed after Great Fire of
London destroyed Gothic church
Facade-dark light contrasts, sides
recede
Borromini inspired bell towers
Actually 3 domes inside