Art History Encyclopedia/Art History Encyclopedia.iso/ingles/curso5.dbf

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THE BAROQUE STYLE
-----------------

The XVII century, in general, tended towards a new order and a
new totality. Thus, the Baroque artist tried to place his work
in a universal context. The painter used to work within a
framework dictated by an arquitect. The Baroque art did not
find its order in calmness; on the contrary, everything
reveals tension and movement.

This style also marks deep contradictions. Though the
statements that everything that is earthly is perishable
existed, never were such brilliant and murmurous parties
celebrated as then. Baroque was then the art of the non-
bourgeois strata, of nobelty, of the monastic orders and
the name Baroque has been atributed, in general, to Benvenuto
Cellini, due to the use of the term "baroque" by Neo-Latin
languages to refer to the pearls of irregular shape. The name
was assigned to this style, dissident from the severe
classical norms.

Certain studies point out Michelangelo as the initiator of
Baroque in building, as he took a free interpretation of
classicism.

By the end of the XVI century, the tendency existed to reform
art. This change was performed by Michelangelo Amerisi, called
Il Caravaggio, and by Annibale Caracci in Rome, where the
former arrived from Lombardy in 1593 and the later around
1595. Caravaggio was the founder of the realism which exerted
its influence in Flanders, Holland and Spain, as well as in
France and Italy.

We could say then that Baroque is an art thought as a
continuation of Renaissance, but granting it more life,
movement and sensation, thus acquiring more spectacular and
rhetorical possibilities. Meanwhile, in the history of art we
observe a tendency similar to the waves of the rising tide and
the ebb tide of the sea; the regular alternation between
Classical and Baroque reveals the different tendencies of the
time, since man wants to capture nature and mold it as
faithfully as possible. He then follows strict norms of
construction of images so that these be as faithful as
possible (classical phase). When this representation becomes
insufficient, the tendency can be observed towards showing
reality as leaving space for a deeper analysis of conciousness
and it will show more spiritual feelings than precise and
logical forms. In short, the more the Classical style adheres
to rational representations, in a way impassible and far from
passions, the more Baroque resorts to the their exaltation to
feel the very nature of its inpulse.

As the reader could appreciate (both in this chapter as in the
following one, concerning Classicism), we repeatedly resume
the subject of the Baroque-Classical alternation. We can then
summarize the contraposition-complementation of both styles
through the following comparative table:


Concept               Baroque                Classical
------                -------                ---------

Image                 Fixed, of an           Excitement of
                      architectonic type     perceptions.
                                             "Musical" type.

Shapes                Main stress on         Suggestion
                      contours and           through color.
                      continuity of line
                      in drawing.


Composition           Principle of unity     Assymmetric,
                      and symmetry,          expensive,
                      convergence.           of open shapes.



Main Pictorial Exponents of the Baroque
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Towards the end of Renaissance, as a rule, we can note the
dying out of shapes and style. It is in this moments of
transitions where new artists appear and, in fact, make up a
new historic hinge, bringing about a change that their
coetaneous do not fully comprehend, if they do not mercilessly
attack. Such is the case of the Carraccis and Caravaggio.
Acting in different environments, the influence of the family
in the former ones and a powerful and luring personality in
the latter initiate a change in style that truly crosses
history, not only meaningfully but also conforming the
foundation of a new way of understanding painting.

The Carraccis were from Bologna and their family originally
from Lombardy. They studied Correggio and the Venetians Titian,
Il Tintoretto and Il Veronese. At first, the elder Luigi
developed a taste quite similar to that of Caravaggio, but it
is remarkable the trace that Renaissance masters left on them.
In fact, they would strongly percolate all their production.

Luigi Carracci stayed in Bologna and created a school that,
through the years, was dignified with the name of Academy.

Annibale Carracci, perhaps the most genial of the family,
creates a sort of a popular realism (opposed like that of
Caravaggio to the aristocratic Mannerism), develops an
instinctive technique that makes one undestanding his
painting as announcing the future Impressionist school.
We can name important works such as "Flight into Egypt"
and "Christ and the Sammaritan".

In Caravaggio (1573-1610), all the strength of his personality
molds his painting; first, the rebellion against his family,
then, against the whole Roman society and, besides, his
frequent problems with justice, all these along his short life
are seen to a large extent in his painting.
While Renaissance had seen Magdalen as a christian Venus,
Caravaggio sees her like a strayed woman, saddly meditating
about her sins. His "Death of the Virgin" is considered as
one of the most religious tables of the XVII century.
The light in his tables has a special role; examples of this
light treatment art are "The Conversion of St. Paul" and
"The Life of St. Matthews". Another interesting example is
"The Beheading of St. John the Baptist", where the light that
flows over the characters that surround the Baptist deeply
contrasts with the darkness of the maze where the action takes
place.

Benedetto Castiglione (1616-1670), called Il Grechetto because
of his Greek origin, essentially deals with interior paintings
and an affable repertoire of flowers, fruits and landscapes.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) certainly constitutes the
epilogue of Baroque; lights and shapes are widely and
generously used as can be seen in "The Martyrdom of St. John,
Bishop of Pergamo".

Van Dyck Sir Anthony (1599-1641). Flemish painters have
characterized themselves by the accuracy of their portraits
and van Dyck applies in Flanders the best methods of Titian
and Il Tintoretto. The result of his trips and apprenticeships
is poured in "Charles I Hunting"; another interesting
composition is "St. Martin Tearing his Gown". He takes from
Rubens his taste for the theatrical and takes religion his own
way. In Palermo he paints "Madonna of the
Rosary".

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) is a major exponent of Baroque
and Counterreformation. Not only was he a genial painter for
his work but also for his remarkable influence on his
coetaneous. Of his numerous and surprising compositions we can
name "Descent" (cathedral of Antwerp), a complex work that
mixes shadows and light with an excellence, "The Judgement of
Paris", "Venus Before the Mirror", "Self-Portrait", famous for
his eyes expression, and finally "The Last Judgement",
characterized by a truly overwhelming amount of images.