BAROQUE the 17th century and in certain areas much of the 18th century

1. BAROQUEthe17th century and in certain areas much of the 18th century • About 1600 when Rome re-emerged as the centre of the art world)Counter-Reformation- movement within the Catholic church to revitalize the church and to oppose Protestantism. • 1618- 39 year war, 1620 Mayflower reaches Plymouth rock. 1666 Great Fire and Plaque of London • This movement was encouraged by the Catholic Church, the most important patron of the arts at that time, as a return to tradition and spirituality. • Baroque style very emotional, appealing to the senses, often in dramatic ways • Powerful • grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts • Highly competent at drawing and painting the human figure at every angle • Produced complicated perspectives and used colour and value contrast with ease

2. Caravaggio (1573-1609) • Media- oil on canvas • Major Style and Contribution to Art • The immediacy of his mature paintings was achieved by: • Increased drama • Unidealized, realistic representation of people and still life (warts, dirty fingernails and all) • intense and theatrical lighting (use of Tenebroso), • larger than life proportions, • strong foreshortening, • crowding his significant figures into an extremely shallow space thus capturing the attention of the spectator. Judith Beheading Holofernes c 1598 (oil on Canvas)

4. He had many encounters with the law during his stay in Rome. • He was imprisoned for several assaults and for killing an opponent after a disputed score in a game of court tennis. • Caravaggio fled the city and kept moving between hiding places. He reached Naples, probably early in 1607, and painted there for a time, awaiting a pardon by the pope. Here there was a in his painting style. The dark and urgent nature of his paintings at this time must have reflected Caravaggio's desperate state of mind. • Early in 1608 Caravaggio went to Malta and was received as a celebrated artist. Fearful of pursuit, he continued to flee for two more years, but his paintings of this time were among the greatest of his career. After receiving a pardon from the pope, he was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned for two days. A boat that was to take him to Rome left without him, taking his belongings. Misfortune, exhaustion, and illness overtook him as he helplessly watched the boat depart. He collapsed on the beach and died a few days later on July 18, 1610. Goliath is a self portrait- supposedly sent to the Pope when asking his forgivness while he was in Naples

5. He was criticized during the counter reformation because he showed ordinary people among saints, or religious figures in common earthly settings, at this time paintings were supposed to be of important religious figures as ideal examples • The first artist to refuse to differentiate between the appearance of saints and sinners • Rejecting Mannerism's artificiality and the idealization favoured by classical artists, Caravaggio modeled saints and apostles on peasants and showed their dirty feet. Legend claims that the model was Lena a former prostitute loved by Carrivagio Madonna di Loreto. c.1603-1606

6. The Death of the Virgin 1606Oil on canvas, 369 x 245 cmMusée du Louvre, Paris the friars found it alarming, because the Madonna was modelled on a prostitute with whom Caravaggio was in love (according to Mancini), because her legs were exposed (Baglione), because her swollen body was too realistic (Bellori) - for whichever reason, they felt prompted to reject it. After Caravaggio had left Rome, Rubens urged his master, the Duke of Mantua, to buy it.

7. Above her stands the young, mourning St John the Evangelist who had been given special charge of her; in front, the seated Mary Magdalene stoops forward and almost buries her head in her lap. • In the predominant colours - red, orange, dark green - Caravaggio uses a slightly wider range than in his later, darker Roman paintings, but nowhere else did he achieve a mood of such overwhelming solemnity. Mary's companions, her Son's followers, are struck dumb by their grief, like relief sculptures on antique tombs. There is no suggestion that their sorrow will be turned into joy or that Mary will be assumed into heaven.

8. Doubting Thomas. 1602-1603 • tenebroso or tenebrism - Tenebroso is an Italian word, literally meaning dark and gloomy. Both tenebroso and its English equivalent, tenebrism, refer to a style of painting characterized by high contrast between light and shade -- emphasisplaced on chiaroscuro to achieve dark, dramatic effects. Frequently the main subjects of tenebrist pictures are illuminated by a single source of light, as if a spotlight shone upon them, leaving other areas in darkness.

9. The Calling of St. Matthew. 1599-1600.

12. foreshortening

16. The Entombment (detail)1602-03

17. Bernini (1598-1680)Country- Italian • Media- - considered a Renaissance man- sculpture, painter, architect, stage designer, dramatist, and composer • Major Style and Contribution to Art • Magnificent piazza in front of St. Peters (trapezoid to oval space surrounded by massive Doric columns with an obelisk in the centre • Bernini was, after all, the sculptor most responsible for making Rome a city of fountains, • Bernini brought to sculpture a sense of drama and naturalism, and launched the daring enterprise of capturing in stone frozen moments of human bodies in motion.

18. Interesting Fact-The son of a Florentine sculptor, Gianlorenzo Bernini was one of the most outstanding infant prodigies of all time. He had mastered the techniques of sculpting marble while still a child, he carved the infant Zeus with pets when he was just 13 (some sites say 17). Probably carved around 1610 when the sculptor was twelve years old, the bust of Santoni demonstrates an ability to fashion works that more mature rivals would have envied.

19. Apollo and Daphne 1622-25Marble, height 243 cmGalleria Borghese, Rome • depicting the chaste nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo god of light. • This life-size marble sculpture, begun by Bernini at the age of twenty-four and executed between 1622 and 1625, has always been housed in the same room in the villa, but originally stood on a lower and narrower base set against the wall near the stairs. Consequently anyone entering the room first saw Apollo from behind, then the fleeing nymph appeared in the process of metamorphosis. Bark covers most of her body, but according to Ovid's lines, Apollo's hand can still feel her heart beating beneath it. Thus the scene ends by Daphne being transformed into a laurel tree to escape her divine aggressor.

23. The Rape of Proserpina1621-22Marble. height 295 cmGalleria Borghese, Rome The large marble group of Pluto and Proserpina shows Pluto, powerful god of the underworld, abducting Proserpina, daughter of Ceres (Greek Demeter), the goddess of harvest and fertility. By interceding with Jupiter, her mother obtains permission for her daughter to return to earth for half the year and then spend the other half in Hades. Thus every spring the earth welcomes her with a carpet of flowers.

24. In this group Bernini develops the twisting pose reminiscent of Mannerism, combined with an impression of vital energy (in pushing against Pluto's face Proserpina's hand creases his skin and his fingers sink into the flesh of his victim). Seen from the left,

26. The Ecstasy of St. Teressa (1645-1652) • Mystic event involving St. Teressa, who believed the pain in her side was caused by an angel of God stabbing her in the side with a fire-tipped arrow

27. The Spanish nun swoons in heavenly rapture at the point of an angel's arrow. • Floats on a marble cloud that seems suspended in the air • Rays of glimmering bronze shower down upon her (he had a hidden window to let in real light

28. With half-closed eyes and a half-open mouth, the Saint sinks in a trance. • A shudder seems to pass through her cloud-borne body, and beneath the crushing folds of the cloak her hand and foot hang down limply. • The similarity between this mystical ecstasy and the ecstasy of profane love has often been pointed out; but the connection is literally made in the Saint's own account of her vision, which Bernini followed closely. • Windows concealed in a little dome diffuse a golden light down the gilt bronze rays and over the Saint and angel, enhancing the supernatural atmosphere of the vision.

31. Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)Country- Holland-Delft • Media- oil on canvas • Major Style and Contribution to Art • Use of light and realistic colour • He noticed colours from one object can be reflected in other parts of the room • Interesting Fact- Artist featured in the movie ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’. Not well known in his day. • It was believed he used a obscura to achieve his realism . This was like a camera- having lens and mirrors which would project a reduced image onto a flat surface that an artist could trace

33. Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance, c. 1664, National Gallery of Art, • Light flows from a window, accentuating a hand, a sleeve, a face. • It washes across the wall, revealing a painting of the Last Judgment. It shimmers across gold and pearl jewellery and creates soft shadows. • In the center hangs a balance, empty but for the light itself. • Wide range of values and tones, use of Chiaroscuro

34. Composition • the vanishing point- meet precisely at the woman's finger. The frame behind her reinforces this focus. • The balance point of the scales is exactly at the center of the painting. Symbolism: • light- and spiritual enlightenment • mirror.- a frame on the wall contains a mirror, art often symbolize vanity or self-knowledge • Pearls and jewelery- associated with vanity and worldly concerns, earthly possessions, they can also represent purity • balance- the empty scale stresses that she is balancing spiritual rather than material considerations. Vermeer's portrayal does not impart a sense of tension or conflict, rather the woman exudes serenity. Vermeer's point is that we should lead lives of moderation with full understanding of the implications of a final judgment . • the Last Judgment-, Christ judges the souls below in this violent and fearsome final reckoning of mankind. The woman's head obscures the place where Saint Michael customarily would be weighing souls in the balance. The figure of Christ appears immediately above the woman's head, reinforcing the interpretation that her mundane act is intended to parallel the weighing of souls in The Last Judgment.

36. The Milkmaidc. 1658Oil on canvas, 45,5 x 41 cmRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

38. Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) • Media- oil on canvas, etching • Major Style and Contribution to Art • Greatest Dutch painter, specialized in portraits and history painting • Artwork showed compassion and sympathy for humanity, often showed reflective and quiet moments • Paintings with deep brown and gray shadows relieved by a single highly lit area • Use of chiaroscuro, master of lighting • Revolutionized group portraits, in a composition instead of a posed lineup

39. Interesting Fact- Had great wealth, lost his patrons (probably due to his arrogance and temper) became bankrupt, yet during this time his paintings became stronger and more powerful • -hard times in his life 3 of his 4 children died before the age of two, his wife died 6 months after giving birth to their only living child ‘Titus’. Titus died before Rembrandt when Titus’s new wife was pregnant (they were only married a few months). Rembrandt died 6 months after his grandchild’s birth and his daughter-in-law died 2 weeks later. • -women problems- had an affair with his Titus’s nurse whom he gave away some of his sons inheritance, lost a palimony court case to her, lived in common law with another woman, who protected him after he became bankrupt, but died in a plague.

40. -Left 600 paintings, 300 etchings, 2000 drawings • His many self portraits tell of the progress or decline of his life

42. The Night Watch (1642) 11.5’ x 14.25 ‘ (3.5 x 4.37 m) Oil on Canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

43. The Night Watch, the most famous painting in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. • The picture is a militia painting: a group portrait of a division of the civic guard. • Rembrandt depicted the group of militiamen in an original way. He did not paint them in neat row or sitting at their annual banquet, rather, he recorded a moment: a group of militiamen have just moved into action and are about to march off. • The contrasts between light and shade in the painting enhance the feeling of action and movement. Rembrandt has used the fall of the light to focus attention on the most important figures: the captain and the lieutenant. • The names of the eighteen militiamen portrayed in the painting are on a shield above the gate. A company comprised more members, but only those who paid were included in the group portrait. Not all were happy especially if their face was not clear. • The drummer was hired and was therefore allowed to be in the painting for free. Rembrandt added the others to enliven the painting.

44. The militiamen in the Night Watch are called Arquebusiers after the arquebus, a sixteenth-century long-barrelled gun. Rembrandt worked the traditional emblem of the Arquebusiers into the painting in a natural way: the girl in the foreground is carrying the main symbols: • She is a kind of mascot in herself: the claws of the chicken (1) on her belt represent the 'Clauweniers'- Arquebusiers; • the pistol (2) behind the chicken stands for 'clover'; • moreover, she is holding the militia's goblet (3). • The man in front of her is wearing a helmet with an oak leaf - a traditional motif of the Arquebusiers

45. The Jewish Bride (1667) • An elegantly dressed man and woman are in a vague, dark room. • The man has lovingly placed his arm around the woman's shoulder and a hand on her breast.. • Very carefully she touches his hand with her fingertips. Both are staring straight ahead, they seem deep in thought • It is one of the most famous and mysterious paintings in the museum's collection. The naming of the picture is unclear. It is clearly a couple, although who they are is not clear. The faces appear to be portraits, but the clothes are unusual for the time. Perhaps they were contemporaries of Rembrandt's who posed as characters from the Bible.

46. 1666 Compare the warmth between these two Dutch newly wed couples 1434

47. Bathsheba or Ester National Gallery of Canada

48. Doctor Nicolaes Tulp's Demonstration of the Anatomy of the Arm. 1632. Oil on canvas. Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague, Holland.

50. Man in a Gold Helmet. c. 1650. Oil on canvas