(EECA3) Art Gallery

Art Gallery

AP Art Gallery

This review has been designed to help you narrow down the most important works of art covered in this module. It is NOT meant be a replacement for reading the text, but to serve as a supplement. You are responsible for keeping up with the reading in your text as well as provided supplemental readings/websites.

Baroque

"Baroque" means "odd or strange" in French. The Portuguese "barroco" means "a large irregular pearl." The term "Baroque" began as a derogatory term to underline the excesses of its style when compared to the clearer, more rational Renaissance style. Baroque art and architecture reflects the European style of architecture and decoration which developed in the 17th century.

Baroque was the favored art style of European art between Mannerism and Rococo. With origins in Rome and its association with the Catholic Counter-Reformation, Baroque art reflected the growing strength and spirit of the Catholic Church. The Council of Trent, by which the Roman Catholic Church asked that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak to the illiterate and be accurate in its message, seems to be an inspiration of the Baroque.

As the Baroque style spread, the style was modified in each of the countries in which it migrated. This merging with different traditions, opinions, and outlooks created very diverse looking work from region to region. In the art of the Protestant north, religious messages were imbedded in more secular themes. Portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes became the subject matter of choice. In Catholic Flanders, Rubens became an important Baroque name. In France, the Baroque style became the vehicle of expression of the French monarchy rather than the church. Louis XIV, realizing the importance of the arts as propaganda, used his palace at Versailles to show his power and authority. In France, the Baroque style merged quickly into the Rococo style that followed it.

Characteristics of Baroque Painting

  • Strong perspective effects
  • Dramatic color
  • Dramatic light and dark (chiaroscuro and tenebrism)
  • Movement of figures (especially upwards)
  • Broken and agitated draperies
  • Loose brushstrokes
  • Heavy impasto
  • Dense and detailed compositions (for emotional impact on viewer)

Points of the Differences between Baroque and Renaissance

  1. Baroque art has continuous overlapping of figures and elements where the Renaissance has clear defined planes that recede in depth. Baroque art often has a sweeping diagonal element that crosses many planes.
  2. The figures in Baroque art are merged better through chiaroscuro that blends the edges of each form. This creates a union of all the figures/elements. Renaissance art treats each figure in isolation and they appear as discrete objects. Color contrasts, outlines, contours or hard edges contribute to this linearity.
  3. The figures in Baroque art seem projected out into the viewer's space (so that the viewer becomes involved in the picture).
  4. Baroque art uses light (and other compositional elements) to create meaning instead of for its purely naturalistic effects or to reveal form. The light sources often are not natural or there are multiple sources. 

Major Characteristics of Baroque Architecture

  • Broader, occasionally circular forms replace long, narrow naves.
  • Dramatic use of light.
  • Opulent use of ornaments (puttos made of wood then often gilded), plaster or stucco, marble or faux finishing.
  • Large-scale ceiling frescoes.
  • The external facade is often characterized by a dramatic central projection.
  • The interior is often no more than a shell for painting and sculpture (especially in the late baroque).
  • Illusory effects like trompe l'oeil and the blending of painting and architecture.
  • Sweeping, curved surfaces (C and S scrolls).

Major Characteristics of Baroque Sculpture

  • Sculpture that shows action and movement.
  • Groups of figures assumed new importance.
  • Baroque sculpture often had multiple ideal viewing angles.
  • Combinations of different materials within a single work and often used one material to simulate another. (Giovanni Bernini's Saint Theresa from the Cornaro Chapel)
  • Elaborate architectural settings.
  • The use of more than one block of marble, which allows a large array of gestures.
  • The use of variegated/colored marble or of different marbles.

Four Areas Where Significant Change Occurred Were:

  1. Religious: Questioning of Catholic beliefs and Protestantism led to tolerance for new ideas.
  2. Intellectual: Free intellectual inquiry resulted from widespread opposition to religious intolerance. The French revolution led to 'age of reason'. Educational institutions free of religious allegiance also spread.
  3. Economic: Industrial revolution, move away from agrarian fiefdoms led to an increasingly wealthy, independent and educated middle class.
  4. Political: Nation-states emerged, ruled by kings and parliaments. Parties and factions who have legitimate differences of opinion.

Characteristics of Rococo Art and Architecture

  • Decoration based on arabesques, shells, elaborate curves.
  • Asymmetrical compositions.
  • Pastel colors.
  • Light-hearted rather than weighty subject matter.
  • Aristocratic men and women in idyllic surroundings.

Review the Early Europe and Americas III works in the Art Gallery presentation below.

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