The Baroque

1
The Baroque

• 1600-1715

2
Background

• A period characterized by grandeur, opulence, and
  expanding horizons
• Art used to indoctrinate by the Catholic Church
• An age of secular absolutist rulers
• An age of religious warfare
• Great period of scientific discoveries

3
Absolutism

• By 1715 there was a balance of power in Europe
  among five great military states England,
  France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia
• Absolutists complete control over state affairs
• Divine right and natural law

4
Louis XIV

• Supreme example of absolutist ruler
• Ruled for fifty four years
• Campaign of self-glorification
• Palace of Versailles supreme embodiment of
  classical Baroque

5
Louis XIV
6
Palace of Versailles
7
Thirty Years War

• Lasted from 1618-1648
• Europeans struggle between Protestants and
  Catholics
• Treaty of Westphalia ended war

8
The Baroque

• Characteristics
• Grand sweeping gestures
• Open-ended works
• Flowing movement
• Curving lines
• Oval and elliptical shapes

9
Baroque Styles

• Florid (Italian) Baroque
• Classical (French) Baroque
• Restrained (Northern Protestant) Baroque

10
Italian Baroque

• Influence of Council of Trent
• Art as propaganda
• Papal patronage
• Dramatic moments
• Ecstatic visions of saints
• The suffering death of Christ
• Powerful realism

11
Italian Baroque Architecture

• Bernini Church of Saint Peters in Rome
• G

12
Italian Baroque Sculpture

• Bernini- most famous Italian Baroque sculptor

13
Bernini The Baldacchino
14
Bernini, The Ecstasy of St Teresa
15
Bernini, David
16
Italian Baroque Painting

• Caravaggio
• Gentileschi
• Chiaroscuro
• Realism

17
Caravaggio
18
Caravaggio
19
Caravaggio
20
Gentileschi
21
Classical Baroque

• Secular Focus
• Absolutism
• Palace of Versailles

22
Classical Baroque Painting

• Nicolas Poussin

23
Poussin
24
Northern Protestant Baroque

• Simpler
• Reflected common human experience

25
Northern Protestant Baroque Painting

• Rembrandt ability to portray the range of
  moods and emotions he found in humanity
• Vermeer
• Leyster
• VanDyck
• Wren

26
Rembrandt
27
Rembrandt
28
Rembrandt
29
Rembrandt
30
Vermeer
31
Vermeer
32
Leyster
33
Van Dyck
34
Wren

• St. Pauls Cathedral in London

35
Baroque Literature

• Characteristics
• Love of ornate language
• Fascination with characterization
• Sensuality
• Dramatic rhetoric

36
Milton, Paradise Lost

• Baroque characteristics
• Grand theme
• Mixing of Christian theme and ancient epic
• Grand style
• Lofty tone
• Exagerrated rhetoric

37
Baroque Music

• Opera Monteverdi
• Vivaldi
• Handel
• Bach