Baroque Painting: Naturalism, Tenebrism, and Caravaggio's Influence

Baroque Painting: General Characteristics

Baroque painting is defined by a strong desire for naturalism, a taste for movement, and spectacular effects. This commitment to representing reality as accurately as possible led painters to embrace subjects like still lifes and focus intensely on human expression. The study of expression was a major concern for the Baroque painter; characters are often shown laughing or shouting as reflections of their state of mind.

Key Features of Baroque Composition

• Dramatic Composition: The need to contemplate celestial glories often results in showy and dramatic compositions.
• Movement and Diagonals: The movement of the composition is intensified by the desire to create great diagonal lines.
• Light: Great importance is given to light (chiaroscuro).
• Precision: Forms are drawn with sculptural precision.
• Influence: Baroque painters learned techniques from the Venetian school.

Themes and Techniques

Mythological themes continued to be performed in Flanders and France, and in Spain by Velázquez. Baroque painting continued using the fresco technique but generalized the use of oil on canvas. Religious themes became extremely diversified, and other profane topics generalized, including naval battles, landscapes, portraits (individual or group), and still lifes.

European Baroque Painting: Main Schools

The Italian School: Caravaggio

In Caravaggio's work, light is projected violently, and its contrast is sharp and intense—a style known as Tenebrism (or gloomy style). His extreme naturalism meant that his works were repeatedly rejected by the Church, who considered his models and realistic depictions inappropriate for religious themes.

Major Works by Caravaggio

The following are some of his principal works:

Bacchus (Young Bacchus)

This work, often considered a self-portrait from his early period, represents a reaction against the aristocratic exclusivity and seriousness prevalent in Italian painting at the time. It develops the topic of Bacchus (intoxication) in a contained manner, following a scheme undoubtedly influenced by Michelangelo, accompanied by still life elements (fruit). Caravaggio essentially focuses on man and his surroundings, rendering everything with striking realism and naturalism.

The Calling of St. Matthew

This religious theme, executed in oil on canvas, is located in the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of St. Louis of the French (Rome). This painting perfectly encapsulates the characteristics of the new style. Its naturalism was controversial; critics condemned the painter for using common people as models. His characters are depicted as men of the village, captured in realistic gestures.

Key Techniques:

• Light: Used as a primary expressive element.
• Chiaroscuro: The key technique, employing violent, dramatic lighting.

Christ and an apostle enter from the right. Christ’s gesture resembles that of God in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. The potential immobility of the scene is broken by strong diagonal lines.

The Crucifixion of St. Peter

This oil on canvas is also located in the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of St. Louis of the French (Rome). It represents the moment when St. Peter is hoisted upside down on the cross. The painting emphasizes the intense human suffering St. Peter felt at the time of his martyrdom.