1. The Baroque Age
Chapter 22

2. Guiding Question…
 What should we be governed by?
 The Baroque age will respond with different answers.
 The Church will advocate for Emotion
 Science will advocate for Sight or Observation
 Philosophy will advocate for Reason
We will look at this question religiously and politically

3. Guiding Historical Events
 In 1535, the Jesuits are Established
 Council of Trent, in parts through 1545 to 1563
 Reforms the Catholic Church in reaction to the Protestant
Reformation
 Art and Monastic Orders will help pull people back to the Catholic
Church
 The Inquisition continues through this century
 Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture established in 1648
 Thirty Years War, 1618—1648
 Begins when Peace of Augsburg (1555) is broken and ends with
Peace of Westphalia ends the war (1648)
 Dutch Republic gains independence from Spanish, Catholic
leadership
 Ends the Holy Roman Empire and leads to a system of nation states
 Which makes Hobbes „and Locke‟s ideas significant

4. Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
 Established in 1648 in Paris
 An Institution that governs the subjects, techniques, and
styles of painting for hundreds of years
 A debate will ensue between the groups described below
Rubénistes Poussinistes
 Color is Key  Line, Drawing,
 Color appeals to the Composition is Key
emotions  Line appeals to the mind
 Color is more true to  Line is more true to nature,
nature but requires an educated
 Perceiving Line requires audience to perceive
education; therefore color
can appeal to a wider
array of people

5. Poussin‟s Rape
of the Sabine
Women, 1636-7
Composition is IDEAL and LINE is
privileged over color
Subject is Classical

6. Rubens‟ Marie de’ Medici,
1622-5
COLOR and movement is
privileged over line and
composition
Subject is presented lyrically

7. Reflections of the Age
 Reason, Emotion
PHILOSOPHY MUSIC
 Rene Descartes--The Father of  Opera, the fugue, and
Modern Philosophy and the cantata come to stage
Cartesian Method with a dramatic flourish
 Establishes Scientific Method  Handel‟s Messiah
with Francis Bacon  Bach‟s A Mighty Fortress is
Our God, Cantata No. 80
 Encourages Deductive
Reasoning
SCIENCE
Copernicus (1473-1543) argues that
the Earth revolves around the sun
Based on a Greek geographer
and astronomer, Ptolemy
Rene Decartes, After Franz Hals

8. Further Reflections of the Age
 Observation
Johannes Kepler Galileo Galilei
1571—163 1564—1642
 Interested in optics as a FACT  Develops the telescope to
rather than a metaphysical observe the sky
question
 Asserts that light travels
 Influenced by Leewenhoek‟s and takes time to get
invention of the microscope from point to point
 Describes vision as a  Excommunicated from
relationship between the retina the Church for affirming
and the object seen Copernicus‟ idea that the
Earth revolved around the
 The eye is an “optical
Sun
instrument with a lens used for
focusing”

9. Further Reflections of the Age
Reason
Thomas Hobbes‟ John Locke‟s
Leviathan Second Treatise of
Civil Government
 Argues that a monarchy is  Argues that a legislative
necessary to rule society body elected by subjects
is necessary to rule society
 Monarchy can reason best
how people should be  Man can reason for
goverened himself which leaders to
elect

10. So what should govern?
Artists will answer this differently according to their
worldview. Some artists will choose a combination of both,
observational virtuosity with an emotional coloring.

11. Bernini’s David
 Dynamic, not static like
Donatello‟s or Michelangelo‟s
Emotion
David
 Action leads our attention
elsewhere
 Emotionally honest
 Look of insistent concentration
 Hair swivels with his body


12. Bernini’s
Ecstacy of St. Teresa
Emotion
 Religious experience
presented as erotic,
meaning physically
sensual


13. Caravaggio’s
Entombment
 Action pushed to the
foreground
Emotion
 Allows Christ‟s represented
image to be “lain” on the
actual altar
 Alternating poses of figures
creates more drama
 Tenebrism used as a
theatrical spotlight on the

figures to create an
emotional response

14. Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint
Matthew
 Congregation can relate
Emotion
to Matthew (Levi)
 Christ‟s divinity is made
diminutive
 Gesture is powerful,
especially in the spotlight
of tenebrism


15. Camera  Device used to create an
impermanent, inverted image of
Obscura an object to perfectly capture
perspective
Observation

16. Rachel Ruysch’s Roses, Convolvulvus, Poppies, and
Other flowers ion an Urn on a Stone Ledge, ca. 1745
Observation
 Painted with scientific
accuracy
 But asymmetricality pulls
our emotions—
dynamism

17. Clara Peeters, Table with Tar and White Pitcher, 1611
 Still Life executed with technical virtuosity (like a photograph)
 A vanitas theme emphasizing the mortality of worldly goods
Observation

18. Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait as an Old Man,
1669
 Observation of
personality as seen on
Observation
the visage
 Representation
includes wrinkles,
furrowed brow, and
paunchy face without
idealization
 Paints what he sees

19. Vermeer’s
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, ca. 1664-5
OBSERVATION
 Painted everyday
scenes that one
would observe in a
Netherlandish
setting
 Painted with a
Camera Obscura


20. In subsequent presentations, you will
learn more about:
 Regional preferences in Baroque Art
 Caravaggio as a rebellious leader of the
Baroque style
These presentations will prepare you to
incorporate the information in the
assignments and assessments for the
week