History of Material Culture I:

Italian and French Baroque

The setting:
• Catholic Reformation
• Scientific Revolution
• Economic Revolution
Council of Trent, 1537-1562
Council of Trent
Ignatius Loyola
founder, Society of Jesus
(Jesuits)
Galileo Galilei
1564-1642
condemned by the
Church, 1633
Galileo’s drawings of the moons, as seen through his telescope
mechanical calculator developed by Leibniz
Baroque art: a celebration of motion through space, time & light

Peter-Paul Rubens: The Apotheosis of Henry IV

 curved and sinuous architectural plans
Baroque

Michelangelo’s German
Plan for St. Peter’s Pilgrimage
Church
 contrasting contours of surface
Baroque

coved ceiling
flowing forms and dramatic lighting
Italian Baroque
Il Gesu, Rome
begun 1568
two-story front
severe and unified
Italian Baroque
Santa Maria della Salute,
Venice

volutes

statue on every pier

high altar
Santa Maria della Salute,
Venice
high altar, Santa Maria
della Salute, detail
Italian Baroque
San Carlo, Rome

architect: Borromini, 1638-41

for St. Charles Borromeo,
canonized 1610

irregular shape
tower looks like a belvedere
Floor plan of
San Carlo,
Rome
Italian Baroque
Dining scene
Italian Baroque
Bedroom

spiral turnings

wainscoting
family crest

higher stretchers

paintbrush foot
Italian Baroque

hidden door gallery

Baroque

Display Table

chinese pots

damask on walls
fireplace, Verona
Italian Baroque

armchair
Italian Baroque

mirror with gilded frame

Italian Baroque

porcelain room
made in Meissen, Germany
French
Baroque

Louis XIV, the Sun King

Louis XIV as a child
 Vaux-le-vicomte, 1656-61
French Louis le Vau, architect
The inspiration for Versailles
Baroque
 Vaux-le-Vicomte
French
Baroque
pavilions hyphens sculpted gardens
French
Baroque
Versailles

• hunting lodge built 1623 for

Louis XIII
• 1661-70 additions for Louis XIV
• became official state residence
1682
French
Baroque
Versailles gardens

begun by Andre le Notre

1663
French
Baroque
 Louis visits the Gobelin factory
French
Baroque
French
Baroque

Bedroom of Louis XIV

Louis as Apollo, the Sun King,
driving his chariot across the
sky
 Apollo Room at Versailles
French
Baroque
Versailles:
The Hall of Mirrors
French
Baroque
Enfilade
(no corridors; doors are
aligned to one side)
French
Baroque

marble staircase to the Queen’s chamber

French
Baroque

Versailles: the Royal Chapel

by Jules Hardouin-Mansart

mixture of Gothic and baroque

 Versailles opera
French
Baroque
 French
Baroque

daybed
bracket with clock
curtains match wall

bedroom of Madame de Maintenon

 Louis XIV tabouret
a duchess could sit on a
tabouret; other ladies sat on
cushions or ottomans

fauteuil (armchair)
In the King’s presence, only
the Queen or another
monarch could sit on a
fauteuil.
French
Baroque
“trophy” decoration

door with paneling and

golden hinges
French
Baroque

Salon of Diana
 spiral turnings
French
Baroque

bedroom of Louis XIII

 bureau Mazarin
• 8 legs
• kneehole
bourgeois interior in Paris • convex drawers
bureau Mazarin
bourgeois all-purpose room
bourgeois dining wide lace collars and cuffs
gussets replace slashings

fork
French
Baroque

cabinet with
• bun feet
• spiral turnings
• gallery around top
French
Baroque

armoire by Andre-Charles Boulle

coffers of Boulle work
 premierepartie: brass and
pewter on tortoiseshell ground

contrepartie:
tortoiseshell on pewter
and brass background
hidden drawers
commode with ormolu trim
French
Baroque

s-shaped leg

bureau Mazarin
 bureau Mazarin, bourgeois version
French
Baroque
French
Baroque

carved, gilded table with x-form stretcher

 French
Baroque

torchiere of gilded wood with fleur-de-lys

French
Baroque

royal bed with

pots of ostrich feathers
carved and gilded bed
French
Baroque
armchair with needlework

cabriole leg

x-form stretcher
armchair with upholstery
of silk damask
 exotic flowers
from China

wing chair with

petit-point upholstery
side chair
Louis XIV as a Roman
Louis XIV as the Sun God
in a ballet
Louis XIV in old age