BARAQUE ART


DEFINITION OF BARAQUE ART ( C.1600-1800 )



The Apotheosis of St Ignatius
(1694) San Ignazio, Rome, by Pozzo.
One of the Baroque's most inspiring
religious paintings ever created.


  • the term Baroque (derived from the Portuguese 'barocco' meaning, 'irregular pearl or stone') describes a fairly complex idiom, originating in Rome, which flowered during the period c.1590-1720, and which embraced painting, and sculpture as well as architecture. 
  • After the idealism of the Renaissance (c.1400-1530), and the slightly 'forced' nature of Mannerism (c.1530-1600), Baroque art above all reflected the religious tensions of the age - notably the desire of the Catholic Church in Rome (as Annunciation at the Council of Trent, 1545-63) to reassert itself in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. 
  • Thus it is almost synonymous with Catholic Counter-Reformation Art of the period.



Styles/Types of Baroque Art
  •  Baroque painting illustrated key elements of Catholic dogma, either directly in Biblical works or indirectly in mythological or allegorical compositions.
  • Painters typically portrayed a strong sense of movement, using swirling spirals and upward diagonals, and strong sumptuous colour schemes, in order to dazzle and surprise. 
  • Boroque sculpture, typically larger-than-life size, is marked by a similar sense of dynamic movement, along with an active use of space.
  • Baraque architecture was designed to create spectacle and illusion. Thus the straight lines of the Renaissance were replaced with flowing curves, while domes/roofs were enlarged, and interiors carefully constructed to produce spectacular effects of light and shade. 
  • It was an emotional style, which, wherever possible, exploited the theatrical potential of the urban landscape - as illustrated by St Peter's Square (1656-67) in Rome.



The artists of the Baroque art

1. Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) 
  •  one of the leading artists of the Baroque art. Architect, painter, and also set designer, he worked for the Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who commissioned him four sculptures which still today are considered to be Baroque masterpieces: “Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius”; “The Rape of Proserpina”; “David” and “Apollo and Daphne” (all now displayed in the Borghese Gallery in Rome). Bernini was a socialite, maybe the first starchitect in history; he was as brilliant as he was arrogant.
2.Borromini (1599-1667)
  •  is the other great Baroque architect together with Bernini, with whom he worked on the plans for St. Peter’s Baldachin, but with whom Borromini would be in dispute all his life. 
  • Perfectionist and introvert, Borromini risked being overshadowed by Bernini all his life.

3. Caravaggio Michelangelo merisi da  (1573-1610)

  • Who had idealized both the human and religious experience. Although he drew some inspiration from the Carracci family, Caravaggio can be said almost single-handedly to have created the Baroque style.
  •  Contarelli Chapel Caravaggio's realistic naturalism first fully appeared in three scenes he created of the life of St. Matthew. 
  • The works caused public outcry because of their realistic and dramatic nature.  
  • The dark and urgent nature of his paintings at this time must have reflected Caravaggio's desperate state of mind.


The characteristics of the Baroque era.
  • Much of the Baroque keyboard music written for the harpsichord and clavichord was written in suites comprising separate dance pieces, changing in tempo and meter but maintaining key unity throughout. 
  • The suite (Italian: Partita, Sonata da Camera; German: Suite, Partita, Overture; French: Order, Suite; English: Lessons).
  •  Other forms of keyboard music from the Baroque period are theme and variations, passacaglia, chaconne, invention, prelude, fugue, choral prelude, ricercare, fantasy, toccata and concerto.
  • The two best known Baroque composers are Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel, both Germans. 
Some general characteristics of Baroque Music are:

MELODY:           A single melodic idea.

RHYTHM:          Continuous rhythmic drive.

TEXTURE:         Balance of Homophonic (melody with chordal harmony) and                                                   polyphonic textures.

TIMBRE:            Orchestral - strings, winds and harpsichord with very little percussion.

DYNAMICS:      Abrupt shifts from loud to soft - achieved by adding or subtracting                                            instruments.

*An overall characteristic of Baroque Music is that a single musical piece tended to project a single mood or expression of feeling.




Samson and Delilah (1609-1610) byPeter Paul Rubens, the great FlemishBaroque painter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ROMAN ART

Image
ROMAN ART Roman art  refers to the visual  arts  made in Ancient Rome and in the territories of the  Roman  Empire. Roman art  includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work . ·          Roman art is a very broad topic, spanning almost 1,000 years and three continents, from Europe into Africa and Asia. ·           The first Roman art can be dated back to 509 B.C.E., with the legendary founding of the Roman Republic, and lasted until 330 C.E. Roman art also encompasses a broad spectrum of media including marble, painting, mosaic, gems, silver and bronze work, and terracotta, just to name a few.  ·          The city of Rome was a melting pot, and the Romans had no qualms about adapting artistic influences from the other Mediterranean cultures that surrounded and preceded them.     ...
Read more

EARLY MEDIEVAL ART

Image
EARLY MEDIEVAL ART The early Medieval period was referred to as " the dark ages " as early as the 14 century by Petrarch (1304-1374) , an Italian poet and scholar of the fourteenth century, who found no redeeming qualities in civilizations after the loss of the Classical tradition in education and learning until the Renaissance.  VIKING ERA Highly elaborate hilt of an early medieval Viking sword from Finland. The Viking Age lasted until the mid-11th century, when the Christianization of Scandinavia was largely completed. The period 1050 to 1350 ,when the Black Death struck Europe – is considered the Older Middle Ages. The period 1350 to 1523 , when king Gustav Vasa, who led the unification of Sweden, was crowned  is considered the Younger Middle Ages. During this period, Sweden was gradually consolidated as a single nation. Scandinavia was formally Christianized by 1100 AD. The Kalmar Union between the Scandinavian countries was established ...
Read more

GREEK ART

Image
GREEK ART Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, 447 – 432 B.C.E Greek art began in the Cycladic and Minoan civilization , and gave birth to Western classical art in the subsequent Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods (with further developments during the Hellenistic Period).   It absorbed influences of Eastern civilizations, of Roman art and its patrons, and the new religion of Orthodox Christianity in the Byzantine era and absorbed Italian and European ideas during the period of Romanticism (with the invigoration of the Greek Revolution), until the Modernist and Postmodernist. Greek art is mainly five forms: architecture, sculpture, painting, pottery and jewellery making. The  Stag Hunt Mosaic  at the  Archaeological Museum of Pella  (3rd BC) Artistic production in Greece began in the prehistoric pre-Greek  Cycladic  and the  Minoan civilizations, both of which were influenced by local traditions a...
Read more