Baroque Art: Magnificence, Power, and Drama in Europe and Latin America

Artistic style that developed in Europe and Latin America during the 17th century and part of the 18th century. Represented the magnificence of the Absolute Monarchs and the Catholic Church as well as the power of the wealthy bourgeoisie.

Grandiosity, dynamism, and drama, equilibrium, symmetry, and rationalism.

Emphasis on motion and complexity. Curved, concave, and convex shapes. Shapes were created through light and color. Realism to heighten emotions and move or surprise the viewer. Theatrical backdrops. Churches were extravagantly decorated and represented the gateway to heaven. The decoration stimulates faith and piety.

Architecture

The desire to incorporate a sense of movement. Churches and palaces. Curved cornices and split/broken pediments. Oval and elliptical shapes. Solomonic columns, domes decorated with frescoes.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini.

Sculpture

Represent movement and naturalism. Figures showed exaggerated gestures and dramatic expressions; captured in the middle of an action. Curved lines and the folds of the clothing; dynamic. Materials: marble, alabaster, bronze, wood. Represented religious and mythological.

Bernini.

Sculpture in Spain

Polychrome wood and focus on religious subjects. Altarpieces (retablos), reclining sculptures, free-standing images, and sculptural groups for processions. Images realistic, with dramatic expressions.

Andalusian strand (Seville and Granada) Juan Martínez Montañés and Pedro de Mena.

Castilian strand (Madrid and Valladolid) Gregorio Fernández.

Painting

Realism: using real-life models. Color predominated over drawing. The use of Chiaroscuro that led to tenebrism: a dramatic illumination with violent contrasts of light and dark. Add drama to an image through a spotlight effect. Foreshortening (escorzo), asymmetry, undulating lines, and people in motion to give the scenes dramatic tension and movement.

Velázquez.

Caravaggio (Italian school): father of tenebrism, contrast between dark backgrounds and sources of light (Chiaroscuro). Represent realism and naturalism.

Rembrandt (Dutch school): portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, allegorical scenes, biblical and mythological themes as well as animal studies. He was prolific and innovative.

Frans Hals (Dutch school): visible brushstroke (pincelada visible), not give a smooth finish, but mimicked the vitality of his subject by using smears, lines, spots, large patches of color, and hardly any details. Paint drunken people.

Rubens (Flemish school): emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and mythological.

Poussin (French school): master of classicism, followed the naturalism introduced by Caravaggio.

Vermeer (Dutch School): use light in his work and painted domestic interior scenes.