Chapter 24 - The Baroque in Italy and Spain

Pietro da Cortona 1596 - 1669

architect and painter who moved to Rome 2 decades before

Annibale Carracci

artist, love of gods, 1560-1609

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, baldacchino (looking west) inside Saint Peter's (fig. 24.4), Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1624-1633. Bronze columns, 66' high.

Bernini baldaccino serves both functional and symbolic purposes. It marched Saint Peter's tomb and the high altar, and it visually bridges the marble floor and the lofty vaults and dome above.

Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, ca 1630, oil on canvas

Although presenting herself as an artist specializing in genre scenes, Leyster wears elegant attire instead of a painters smock, placing her socially as a member of the well to do family.

Guido Reni (1575-1642)

Aurora

Flight into Egypt ca 1604-1605 oil on wood

Carracci's landscapes idealized antiquity and the idyllic life. Here, the pastoral setting takes precedence over the narrative of Mary, The Christ Child(Jesus) and Saint Joseph winding their way slowly to Egypt

Caravaggio (1571-1610)

First of the Baroque painters. Famous for his use of tenebrism or contrasts of light and dark to create emotion. Works were controversial due to their graphic nature.

Carlo Maderno, east facade of Saint Peter's (fig. 24.4), Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1606-1612.

For the facade of Saint Peters Maderno elaborated on his design for Santis Susana. The two outer bays with bell towers were not part of his plan and detract from the verticality he sought.

Rembrandt, Christ with the Sick around Him (Hundred-Guilder Print), ca 1649, etching and engraving

Rembrandts mastery of the newly perfected medium of etching is evident in his expert use of light and dark to draw attention to Christ as he preaches compassionately to the blind in lane.

Peter Paul Rubens, Elevation of the Cross, 1610

In this triptych, Rubens explored fore shorten anatomy and violent action. The whole composition seethes with a power that comes from heroic exertion. The tension is emotional as well as physical.

Cesare Ripa

Iconologia

Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, 1665

In Rembrandt's moving representation of this biblical parable, light mingled with shadow directs the viewers' attention by illuminating the father and son while largely valuing the witnesses.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait with Two Circles 1665 oil on canvas

In his late self portrait, Rembrandt's interest in revealing the soul is evident in the attention given to his expressive face. The controlled use of light and the non specific setting contributes to this focus.

Frans Hals, Archers of Saint Hadrian, c. 1633, oil on canvas

In this brilliant composition Hal's succeeded in solving the problem of portraying each individual in a group portrait while retaining action and variety in the painting as a whole.

Triumph of the Barberini, Pietro da Cortona ca. 1633 - 1639, ceiling fresco

In this dramatic ceiling fresco, Devine Providence appear in a halo of radiant light directing Immortality, holding a crown of stars, to be bestow Eternal life on the family of Pope Urban VIII

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, Rembrandt, 1632, shows doctors in action performing autopsy

In this early work, Rembrandt used an unusual composition, arranging members of Amsterdams surgeon guild clustered on one side of the painting as they watch Dr Tulp disect a corpse.

Judith Slaying Holofernes ca 1614-1620, oil on canvas

Narratives involving heroic women where a favorite them of Gentileschi. In this painting the dramatic of the lighting in the foreground emulates Carravagio's tenebrism

new subjects for a new clientele

Northern Europe was mostly Protestant, Catholic Church was no longer the leading Patron

Churrigueresque

Overly lavish, decorated architecture from the baroque period in Spain.

Clara Peeters, Still Life with Flowers, Goblet, Dried Fruit, and Pretzels, 1611

Peeters was a pioneer of still life paintings. In this breakfast piece, she reveals her verticity, in depicting a variety of objects. She laidterm-48 the groundwork for many Dutch still life painters.

Self-Portrait with Saskia

Rembrandt van Rijn. 1636 C.E. Etching.

Night Watch, Rembrandt, 1642, oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Rembrandts dramatic use of light contributes to the animation of this Malicia group portrait in which the artist showed the company members rushing to organize themselves for a parade.

Carlo Maderno, facade of Santa Susanna (looking north), Rome, Italy, 1597-1603

Santa Susanna's facade is one of then earliest manifestation of the Baroque's spirit in architecture. The rhythm of the columns and pilasters mount dramatically toward the emphatically stressed vertical axis

Aerial view of Saint Peter's (looking northwest), Vatican City, Rome, Italy. Piazza designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1656-1667

The dramatic gesture of the embrace that Bernini's colonnade makes as worshipper inter Saint Peter's piazza symbolizes the welcome the Catholic Church wished to extend during the Counter Reformation.

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance ca. 1664 oil on canvas

The emerged woman holding empty scales in perfect balance, ignoring pearls and gold on the table, is probably an allegory of the temperate life. On the wall behind her is a depiction of The Last Judgement.

camera obscura

an artistic framing device used to the image (like a camera today) making the center have the greatest clarity and resolution.

Blinding of Samson, Rembrandt, 1636

Though these painting were not common in 17th century Dutch republic, but this did not prevent Rembrandt from making a series of religious paining's in prints

Aelbert Cuyp, A Distant View of Dordrecht, with a Milkmaid and Four Cows and Other Figures (The 'Large Dort'), late 1640s, oil o/canvas

Unlike idealized Italian Rennaissance landscapes, Cuyp's painting portrays a particular locale. The cows Shepards and milkmaid reflect the importance of the Dutch republics dairy industry.

Anthony van Dyck, Charles I at the Hunt, 1635

Van Dyke specialized in court portraiture. In this painting, he depicted the absolutist monarch Charles I at a sharp angle so that the King, a short man, appears to be looking down at the viewer.

Johannes Vermeer, Allegory of the Art of Painting, ca. 1670-1765, oil on canvas

Vermeer's model wears a laurel wreath and holds a trumpet and book, traditional attributes of Clio, the muse of history. The light illuminating her may allude to the light of artistic inspiration.

Pieter Claesz, Vanitas Still Life, 1630s

a display of wealth and material possessions tempered by Calvinist morality. The skull and time piece is momento mori

Tenebrism

dramatic use of intense darkness and light to heighten the impact of a painting

Rachel Ruysch, Flower Still Life, after 1700

flower paintings were very popular in the Dutch republic. Ruysch achieves international renowned for her blush of floral arrangements, noted also for their careful compositions.

Gerrit van Honthorst, Supper Party, 1620, oil o/canvas

genre scenes were popular subjects among middle class Dutch patrons. Supper Party may also have served as a Calvinist warning against the sins of gluttony and lust.

The Taking of Christ Caravaggio 1602 oil on canvas

in contrast to earlier artists who painted the same subject, Caravaggio tightly framed a half dozen thigh length figures and used light to draw attention to Jesus, Judas, John the Evangelist, and his own self portrait

Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen, c. 1670, oil o/canvas

in this painting, Ruisdael succeeded in capturing a specific, realistic view of Haarlem, its windmills, and Saint Bavo Church, but also imbued the landscape with a quiet Serennity approaching the spiritual.

Artesmisia Gentileschi

influenced by Caravaggio

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

leading Dutch painter of his time, renowned for his portraiture

Loves of the Gods, ceiling frescos in gallery 1597-1601

on the shallow curved vault of this large gallery in the Palazzo Farnese, Carracci arranged the mythological scenes in a quaddro riportato(transferred framed panel) format resembling easel paintings on a wall

Hendrick ter Brugghen, Calling of St. Matthew, 1621

one Dutch artist who produced many religious paintings was Hendrick ter Brugghen, who was influenced by Caravaggio. Ter Brugghen's paintings were displayed in private homes, not grandiose catholic churches.

momento mori

reminder of death, a reminder of human mortality usually represented by a skull

Vanitas

symbolism used to indicate vanity, futility, and human excess.

Aurora ca. 1613-1614 ceiling fresco

the divined Guido conceived Aurora as a quaddro ripportato, reflecting his training in the bolognese art academy. the scene of Don leading Apollo's chariot derives from ancient Roman reliefs

Calling of Saint Matthew Caravaggio. c. 1597-1601 C.E. Oil on canvas

the stark contrast of light and dark is a key feature of Caravaggio's style. Here, Christ, cloaked in mysterious shadow, summons Levi the tax collector (Saint Matthew) ton a higher calling.

quaddro riportato

transferred framed panel