Baroque by John Rupert Martin

Review by: Malcolm Campbell

The Art Bulletin, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 490-492
Published by: College Art Association
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490

THE ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1980 VOLUME LXII NUMBER 3

Crespi has the most to recommend it. The drawing is

Bolognese and of the early 18th century; if not by the painter, it must have originated from a member of his circle.
852 Florentine, early 17th-century, and not unlike Jacopo
Chimenti da Empoli, one of the many attributions proposed
for this drawing.
866 Venetian, not Roman, 18th-century. The costume is that of
Punchinello, not Harlequin.
878 Not unlike Benedetto Luti.
NICHOLAS TURNER

British Museum
London WC1, England

JOHNRUPERTMARTIN,Baroque, New York, Hagerstown,

San

Francisco and London, Harper and Row, Icon Editions,

1977. Pp. 357; 266 + 32 ills. $25; $9.95 paper
With the publication of Baroque, the English language has acquired a much needed introductory text to Baroque art, one that
is economical in price and portable in scale. Thus this fine study,
particularly in its more reasonably priced paperback version, is
most welcome. It is an educational rather than merely an instructional book. As the themes of its chapters unfold, the reader is
encouraged to test, to challenge, and to extend their argument.
Few books that purport to be introductory texts can make this
claim. Martin's Baroque is concerned with process and inquiry,
not the mere packaging of data.
Baroque reflects a distinguished lineage. Although published
under a different, but fine, imprimatur, it was conceived as part
of the Penguin Press "Style and Civilization" series which included such authoritative volumes as John Shearman's
Mannerism and Hugh Honour's Neo-Classicism. Baroque was
vetted by the former editors of that series, John Fleming and
Hugh Honour, and with slight changes it follows the "Style and
Civilization" format, i.e., a thematic rather than chronological
survey of European art of a specific period, with illustrations inserted in the text at the point of major citation, followed by a
catalogue of illustrations with brief comment, a selected
bibliography, and an index. In Baroque two welcome additions
have been made. Supplementary illustrations have been placed
among the notes. These illustrations include details of works illustrated in the text, works related to the creative process, such as
preparatory drawings and bozzetti, and works of art associated
with text illustrations. Thus, for example, the catalogue of illustrations contains a detail of the Danube (p. 312) to supplement the text illustration of Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers
(p. 22), provides Puget's Blessed Alessandro Sauli (p. 108) with
its Cleveland bozzetto (p. 325), and introduces the reader to the
pendant (p. 354) of Rembrandt's Woman with a Carnation (p.
248). These supplementary illustrations receive comment in the
notes and thus serve to enrich and to extend material presented
in the text. Also, there are four appendixes containing 17thcentury writings, exerpted and translated into English (Rubens,
On the Imitation of Statues; Chantelou, Bernini in France;
Houbraken, Life of Rembrandt; Pacheco, On the Aim of
Painting; and Philippe de Champaigne on Poussin's Rebecca and
Eliezer). These translations are available elsewhere, but it is convenient to have this material (which is cited in the text or in the

notes) immediately at hand.

I have stressed the genesis of this book because, although
produced as an independent volume, it was conceived as part of a
series that contained studies of the High Renaissance and of
Mannerism and that presumably was to have included a volume
devoted to the Rococo. In the words of its editors, "The aim [of
the "Style and Civilization" series] is to discuss each important
style in relation to contemporary shifts in emphasis and direction
both in the other, non-visual arts and in thought and civilization
as a whole," an ambitious prolegomenon and one that predictably elicited criticism from some specialists who prefer that the
genres of art be dealt with separately and who therefore object to
salt cellars, wig stands, cabinets, and gilded helmets sharing the
reader's attention with masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and
architecture. From such censure there is little defense; the critic
wishes a different sort of book. A more relevant concern,
however, is that the proposed approach should not degenerate
into a historical exegesis in which the work of art is reduced to
artifact, a mere specimen of material culture. To Martin's credit,
collateral material is never permitted to displace the work of art
as the central feature of his exposition.
In his introduction, Martin indicates that he will use the term
Baroque to denote "... the predominant artistic trends of the
period that is roughly comprehended by the seventeenth century." He perceives this period as one that is not easily defined.
Sixteenth-century Mannerism is seen as persisting into the Baroque period and, conversely, the Baroqueis seen as waning during
the last quarter of the century, yet enduring in certain individual
works of art well into the 18th century. Martin argues that a
characteristic of the Baroque is its stylistic diversity, which requires us to look for unity in "certain widely held ideas, attitudes
and assumptions."
In the first chapter, "The Question of Style," Martin addresses issues pertinent to a stylistic analysis of the Baroque. The
first two sections of this chapter, entitled "Mannerism and Baroque" (pp. 19-26) and "The Absence of Stylistic Unity" (pp. 2632), raise issues with which I find myself at some variance. These
matters, comprising a scant dozen pages of text, do not substantially affect the arguments advanced in subsequent chapters. My
reservations concern the emphasis given to the stylistic differences between Mannerist and Baroque art and the relative lack
of attention paid to the stylistic continuities between Renaissance
and Baroque.
In the first section of the first chapter, Martin considers the
problem of style, as that term is used to denote the prevailing
style of a historical period. In this context, he uses the procedure
of identifying contrasting stylistic properties in works of art of
different periods to establish distinctions between, for example,
the Mannerist style of the mid-16th century as embodied in a
Deposition by Francesco Salviati (ca. 1547) and the Baroque style
as exemplified by an early 17th-century work by Peter Paul
Rubens, his Antwerp Descent From the Cross (1611-12). Similar
comparisons are made for sculpture and architecture. The purpose is to demonstrate that the Baroque style possesses salient
characteristics that differentiate it from the art of the High
Maniera.
Martin's justification for his comparison of Baroque and Mannerist art is that it is "more revealing and more significant than
that between Baroque and High Renaissance; for the early Baroque movement took shape in opposition to the methods of Mannerism not to those of the High Renaissance" (p. 26). This is essentially true, but is it not also important to define Baroque style
by what its practitioners accepted, indeed actively sought to
repossess, namely the heritage of the antique, of the High

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BOOK REVIEWS

491

Renaissance, and of the Late Renaissance, especially in its

Venetian form? Admittedly, there was a reaction to Mannerism,
especially in central Italy, yet much of the strength of the new
style derived from a fresh appraisal of the art and theory of the
ancient and Renaissance periods, both of which were manifestly
accessible. Ideally, even an introductory exploration of Baroque
style should not be narrowly limited by comparisons that address
only its anti-Mannerist characteristics.
My second reservation concerns a broad schema that Martin
introduces to explain that "the lack of [Baroque] stylistic uniformity ... [is] the result not only of national differences, but of a
process of evolution" (pp. 26-27). The thesis that follows, and
this is the point I question, does not really address the evolution
but rather the spread of the style. The confusion between spread
and evolution is exacerbated by the use of the words phase and
generation as equivalent terms. In support of his thesis, Martin
quotes Jakob Rosenberg: "The development of Baroque painting
may be traced according to generations, and its leading international representatives during the course of the century were
Caravaggio (at the side of the Carracci), Rubens, and Poussin.
This means that Italy's initial leadership did not last throughout
the century but was succeeded by that of Flanders and France"
(quoted on p. 27). On the basis of this statement, Martin distinguishes a succession of phases in an international development comprising an "Early Baroque phase" which was "essentially naturalistic" with a "pioneering figure" in Caravaggio; "a
second generation, often called 'High Baroque,'" a phase of sensuousness and colorism most fully realized by Rubens; and "a
third or classicistic phase" which supplanted the High Baroque.
This third phase "had its beginnings in Rome in the early
1630's and had as its chief proponent, Nicolas Poussin."
Somewhat tentatively, a fourth, "Late Baroque" stage is distinguished and described as the "later Louis XIV style, with its
decorative reworking of the classic vocabulary" (pp. 28-30).
Martin, drawing on Rosenberg's statement, has given us an
acceptable chronological schema for tracing the spread of the
Baroque as an international style. However, to describe adequately the evolution (or development) of Baroque stylistic
forms, we must first identify the point in time and place at which
such a mode or species of style, be it naturalism or classicism, is
first taken up by an artist of merit. I would therefore argue that
we must reintroduce the Carracci, whom Martin deleted from his
version of Rosenberg's scheme, and place them (although they
are slightly older) "alongside Caravaggio." Then we will find
that the phases outlined by Martin do not conform to successive
generations as he seems to imply. Caravaggio (1571/72-1609)
and Rubens (1577-1640) are really of the same generation (a fact
obscured by the early death of the former), and indeed other
nearly coeval artists disrupt the sequence of phases as outlined.
For example, Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669), identified by Martin as "second generation," and Poussin (1593-1665), whom he
places in the "third phase," are actually of the same generation.
A chronological equation based on the generations of artists
shows that Caravaggio, Rubens, and Annibale Carracci were all
active in Rome in the first decade of the century. Therefore, it is
apparent that the three principal styles of the Baroque identified
by Martin as chronologically successive actually enjoy a coexistent evolution, although their international acceptance indeed

follows the successive phases he has outlined. The evolutionary

coexistence of the styles of the Baroque must be borne in mind
because it makes more evident the connections between the Baroque and those aspects of the Renaissance in which these same
trends are adumbrated.'
In later chapters, Martin's explanation of Baroque art proceeds
along thematic lines on which the problem of the evolution of the
style has only slight bearing. In these chapters, earlier slighting
of the importance of antique sources and Renaissance heritage is
substantially redressed.
The second chapter focuses on the' role of naturalism in Baroque art. Interpreting naturalism broadly, Martin finds it a dominant force in the initial years of the century and an active
presence in the entire period. "The whole art of the Baroque," he
informs us, "expresses an acceptance of the material world,
through the realistic representation of man and nature, through
the affirmation of the senses and the emotions and through a
new perception of space and infinity" (p. 39). He proceeds to
find this vigorous naturalism present where we would expect it
(landscape, still life, and genre) but also where it is more easily
overlooked, as in the paintings of Annibale Carracci, Poussin,
and Rubens and the sculpture of Bernini (pp. 43-49 and 58-59).
In my opinion, chapters 3 and 4, devoted to "The Passions of
the Soul" and to "The Transcendental View of Reality and the
Allegorical Tradition," are particularly successful, each constituting a finely tuned, succinct essay on its assigned theme. The
third chapter is concerned with a topic that Martin notes is
closely allied with the issue of naturalism and with innovations
made by Renaissance artists and theorists who had already formulated a repertory of significant gestures from antique sources,
both literary and artistic, as a means of articulating the inner life
of man. As Martin states, "What chiefly distinguishes the Baroque attitude from that of the Renaissance is the urge to expand
the range of sensual experience and to deepen and intensify the
interpretation of feelings" (p. 73). Bernini's David, Puget's Milo
of Crotona, and Rembrandt's Bathsheba with King David's
Letter, all works that deal with crisis, serve well to illustrate the
range across which Baroque artists realized and orchestrated the
visible expression of emotions. Martin describes the Baroque
penchant for meticulous inventory, as for example Lebrun's
tedious descriptions of human passions, but he shows as well the
skills of its artists in transcending the pedantry of theory in actual practice in order vividly to portray earthy sensualism (Bernini's Costanza Buonarelli) or raptuous transport (Bernini's
Gabriele Fonseca). Such well-chosen examples of portraiture attest to Baroque transformation of Renaissance descriptive conventions into speaking likenesses. Using a limited number of examples and compressing his argument into a few pages, Martin
summarizes broad issues, such as the dramatic yet acutely sensitive portrayal of human emotions in Baroque paintings and
sculpture, and even the acknowledgement of those emotions in
its architecture. Greatly to Martin's credit, in his skillfully
wrought commentary the individual work of art does not become
a mere integer in an equation of generalizations; his sensitive
description of Terborch's so-called The Paternal Admonition
(p. 83) is a case in point.
In his opening remarks in the next chapter, devoted, as we
have noted, to the Baroque transcendental view of reality and the

1 Annibale Carracci is particularly important in defining these connections. Although he omitted him in his adaptation of Rosenberg's equa-

tion, Martin elsewhere identifies him as one of "the pioneers of Baroque

classicism" (p. 16) and lauds his contributions to the style (pp. 32-33).

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492

THE ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 1980 VOLUME LXII NUMBER 3

allegorical tradition, Martin reminds us that, "The naturalism of

seventeenth century art is inextricably bound up with a
metaphysical view of the world" (p. 119). The reader is reminded
that the transcendental point of view is a pervasive feature of
17th-century life, affecting not only art and literature, but even
scientific inquiry. Martin's gifts as an iconographer serve well
his exposition as he introduces classical, religious, landscape,
still-life, and genre themes for metaphysical interpretation. In
the final section of this chapter, the application of allegory to the
glorification of the earthly ruler is addressed. In a few
paragraphs the rich complex of symbols at Versailles is tellingly
explored, and, refreshingly, the less well known program of the
Amsterdam Town Hall is also presented.
The succeeding three chapters take up issues fundamental to
the Baroque style: the expressive manipulation of space, time,
and light. These three chapters form a predictably interlocking
triad, and the examples of art they inevitably call forth lead us
via their form and content back to issues raised in earlier chapters. Thus, to cite just one example, Caravaggio's Supper at
Emmaus, which Martin presents to demonstrate the methods
used by the 17th-century artist to render coextensive the space in
the work of art and that occupied by the observer, suggests to the
reader not only the themes of time and light, but also those of
naturalism, human expression, and the transcendental view of
reality.
Of the three chapters concerned with space, time, and light,
that devoted to time offers the most perfect integration of its
theme with Baroque civilization. Indeed, this chapter could serve
as a pendant to the classic essay on the subject, Panofsky's
"Father Time."2 Crossing the 17th-century portion of the
territory charted by Panofsky, Martin gracefully acknowledges
his predecessor's investigations and adds new material and examples to the theme. The personification of Time is, of course,
only one aspect of this theme. In an age that routinely applied
allegorical interpretations to its researches in the natural sciences,
transitoriness and mutability were manifest even in an essentially
documentary work of art such as a topographic View of
Dordrecht by Jan van Goyen (p. 199). One facet of time, its
purely temporal role as an important factor in a spectator's experience of a work of art, could have been considered at greater
length. Martin addresses this issue in connection with the way in
which both time and space affect the viewer's experience of
Pietro da Cortona's frescoes in the dome and apse of S. Maria in
Vallicella (pp. 164 and 201). Additional examples, such as the
relationship in and to their physical setting of the paintings and
decorations of Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci in the Cerasi
Chapel (Rome, S. Maria del Popolo), could have been taken up
profitably in this connection, for it would have brought together
that expressive and expressly Baroque triumvirate, space, time,
and light. Of the works commissioned for this chapel, however,
only Caravaggio's Conversion of Saint Paul is discussed in the
context of the theme of light (pp. 226-29). Such an expanded exploration of time as a factor in the experience of the work of art
would have led to a fuller presentation of the role of architecture,
which receives attention in the context of space, but only brief
acknowledgement with respect to time and light.
In a final chapter the role of antique art in the Baroque period
is explored. In this chapter we rightly expect a discussion of artists who openly embraced the classical ideal, but what is par2 E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconology, New York and Evanston, 1962, 6993.
SH. Honour, Romanticism, New York, 1979.

ticularly refreshing is the consideration given to artists of more

naturalistic persuasion, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vel~zquez.
From this chapter, as in the preceding ones, there emerge those
vital links between antique art and the traditions of the
Renaissance that contribute to the Baroque style.
Baroque warrants high marks for the richness and diversity of
the illustrative material it contains. The photographs tend to be
printed darkly, however, which gives highlights a grayish tone
and renders shadowed areas opaque. Thus the venal gleam of the
coin in the hand of the officer in Ter Borch's "The Paternal
Admonition" (fig. 57) is invisible; the space-creating effects
achieved in Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus (fig. 121) and
Rembrandt's The Syndics (fig. 132) are obscured; and while the
novice will see the relationship between the Apollo Belvedere
(fig. 12) and the Apollo in Rubens's The Council of the Gods
(fig. 214), he will be hard pressed to locate the figure derived
from the Ludovisi Gaulic Chieftain (fig. 215) in the same
painting, a comparison important to Martin's discussion of the
use of ancient models (pp. 256-260).
It is good news that Harper and Row has published another
book related to the original "Style and Civilization series."3 One
hopes that a volume dedicated to the Rococo will be forthcoming
and that the standards of Martin's Baroque will be maintained.
For both novice and specialist, Baroque is a most valuable addition to the material available on European 17th-century art.
MALCOLM CAMPBELL

Universityof Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

PIETERJ. J. VAN THIELet al., All the Paintings of the Rijks-

museum: A Completely Illustrated Catalogue, Maarssen,

1976. Pp. 911,
Gary Schwartz for the Rijksmuseum,
many ills. $80
The Rijksmuseum has over 5,000 paintings in its collection, most
of them from the Dutch school. It is the largest storehouse of
Dutch art in the world and contains some of the greatest masterpieces of Dutch art. Many of these works have been extensively
discussed in the literature and are well known to students and
general public alike. Less than half of the Rijksmuseum's
paintings, however, are on view in the museum. Many have been
relegated to storage or lent to regional museums and are consequently less familiar to the viewing public. All of these works,
including those which have been on extended loan to the
museum, have been included in this publication, each with pertinent information about size, support, provenance, and literature.
In many cases, suggested datings for undated works and dissenting opinions as to attributions are briefly indicated. Practically all of the paintings have been illustrated, with small
(average size 1?2 X 2") but remarkably clear photographs. For
those occasional paintings which are not illustrated(many of them
destroyed in World War II), short descriptions are often added.
This important publication by the Department of Paintings,
under the direction of Pieter J. J. van Thiel, is not so much a
catalogue of the paintings of the outstanding collection as an indispensable reference book. The sheer accumulation of information is remarkable, but it becomes even more significant as a
result of the sophisticated system of cross-references that the
authors have devised. In the concluding section of the book, entitled "Lists, indexes and concordances," one finds, for example,
an extensive subject index, broken down into religious subjects,

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