FINE ART (Baroque Period, Rococo, Neo Classicism, Romanticism)

A. Baroque
Baroque is a period of artistic style that started around 1600 in Rome, Italy, and
spread throughout the majority of Europe.

Key Points
 The most important factors during the Baroque era were the Reformation and the
Counter-Reformation ; the development of the Baroque style was considered to be
closely linked with the Catholic Church. The popularity of the Baroque style was
encouraged by the Catholic Church, which had decided at the Council of Trent that
the arts should communicate religious themes and direct emotional involvement in
response to the Protestant Reformation .
 The Baroque style is characterized by exaggerated motion and clear detail used to
produce drama, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture , painting, architecture,
literature, dance, and music.
 The chiaroscuro technique refers to the interplay between light and dark that was
often used in Baroque paintings of dimly lit scenes to produce a very high-contrast,
dramatic atmosphere.
 Famous painters of the Baroque era include Rubens, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt. In
music, the Baroque style makes up a large part of the classical canon, such as Bach,
Handel, and Vivaldi.
 The later Baroque style was termed Rococo , a style characterized by increasingly
decorative and elaborate works.

B. Rococo
Rococo salons are known for their elaborate detail, serpentine design work,
asymmetry and predisposition to lighter, pastel, or gold-based color palettes.

Key Points
 After the reign of Louis XIV, the wealthy and aristocratic moved back to Paris from
Versailles and began decorating their homes in the new Rococo style that was
associated with King Louis XV.
 The notion of the salon is an Enlightenment era ideal that transformed the salon, or
living room, into the central space for aristocracy to entertain guests and engage in
intellectual conversation.
 Rococo interiors are highly unified in nature, and represent the coming together of a
number of decorative arts.
 As with other Rococo art forms, the color palette is lighter, the lines are curvaceous
(„S‟ curve), and the decoration is excessive.
 Furniture rose to new heights in the period and emphasized lighthearted frivolity.
 Furniture, friezes, sculpture, metalwork, wall, and ceiling decoration are woven
together stylistically in the Rococo salon.
 Rococo style developed first in the decorative arts and interior design, and its
influence later spread to architecture, sculpture, theater design, painting, and music.
 Rococo style is characterized by elaborate ornamentation, asymmetrical values,
pastel color palette, and curved or serpentine lines.
  Rococo art works often depict themes of love, classical myths, youth, and
playfulness.
 Antoine Watteau is considered to be the first great Rococo painter who influenced
later Rococo masters such as Boucher and Fragonard.
 In sculpture, the work of Etienne-Maurice Falconet is widely considered to be the
best representative of Rococo style.
 Rococo sculpture makes use of very delicate porcelain instead of marble or another
heavy medium.
 Rococo architecture was a lighter, more graceful, yet also more elaborate version of
Baroque architecture, which was ornate and austere.
 Rococo emphasized the asymmetry of forms, while Baroque was the opposite.
 The Baroque was more serious, placing an emphasis on religion, and was often
characterized by Christian themes; Rococo was more secular and light-hearted.
 Rococo architecture brought significant changes to the building of edifices, placing an
emphasis on privacy rather than the grand public majesty of Baroque architecture.

C. Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism refers to movements in the arts that draw inspiration from the
“classical” art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome.

Key Points
 The height of Neoclassicism coincided with the 18th century Enlightenment era, and
continued into the early 19th century.
 With the increasing popularity of the Grand Tour, it became fashionable to collect
antiquities as souvenirs, which spread the Neoclassical style through Europe and
America.
 Neoclassicism spanned all of the arts including painting, sculpture, the decorative
arts, theatre, literature, music, and architecture.
 Generally speaking, Neoclassicism is defined stylistically by its use of straight lines,
minimal use of color, simplicity of form and, of course, an adherence to classical
values and techniques.
 Rococo, with its emphasis on asymmetry, bright colors, and ornamentation is
typically considered to be the direct opposite of the Neoclassical style.
 Neoclassical subject matter draws from the history and general culture of ancient
Greece and Ancient Rome. It is often described as a reaction to the lighthearted and
“frivolous” subject matter of the Rococo.
 Neoclassical painting is characterized by the use of straight lines, a smooth paint
surface, the depiction of light, a minimal use of color, and the clear, crisp definition of
forms.
 The works of Jacques-Louis David are usually hailed as the epitome of Neoclassical
painting.
 David attracted over 300 students to his studio, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres, Marie-Guillemine Benoist, and Angélique Mongez, the last of whom tried to
extend the Neoclassical tradition beyond her teacher‟s death.
 Neoclassicism emerged in the second half of the 18th century, following the
excavations of the ruins of Pompeii, which sparked renewed interest in the Graeco-
Roman world.
  Neoclassical sculpture is defined by its symmetry, life-sized to monumental scale,
and its serious subject matter.
 The subjects of Neoclassical sculpture ranged from mythological figures to heroes of
the past to major contemporary personages.
 Neoclassical sculpture could capture its subject as either idealized or in a more
veristic manner.
 Neoclassical architecture was produced by the Neoclassical movement in the mid
18th century. It manifested in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of
naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of the
classicizing features of Late Baroque.
 The first phase of Neoclassicism in France is expressed in the “Louis XVI style” of
architects like Ange-Jacques Gabriel (Petit Trianon, 1762–68) while the second
phase is expressed in the late 18th-century Directoire style.
 Neoclassical architecture emphasizes its planar qualities, rather than sculptural
volumes. Projections and recessions and their effects of light and shade are more
flat, while sculptural bas- reliefs are flatter and tend to be enframed in friezes, tablets,
or panels.
 Structures such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Panthéon in Paris, and Chiswick House
in London have elements that convey the influence of ancient Greek and Roman
architecture, as well as some influence from the Renaissance and Late Baroque
periods.

D. Romanticism
Romanticism, fueled by the French Revolution, was a reaction to the scientific
rationalism and classicism of the Age of Enlightenment.

Key Points
 The ideals of the French Revolution created the context from which both
Romanticism and the Counter- Enlightenment emerged.
 Romanticism was a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the
Age of Enlightenment and also a reaction against the scientific rationalization of
nature.
 Romanticism legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which
permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art.
 The Industrial Revolution also influenced Romanticism, which was in part about
escaping from modern realities.
 Romanticism was also influenced by Sturm und Drang, a German Counter-
Enlightenment movement that emphasized subjectivity and intense emotion.
 ” History painting,” traditionally referred to technically difficult narrative paintings of
multiple subjects, but became more frequently focused on recent historical events.
 Gericault and Delacroix were leaders of French romantic painting, and both produced
iconic history paintings.
 Ingres, though firmly committed to Neoclassical values, is seen as expressing the
Romantic spirit of the times.
 The Spanish artist Francisco Goya is considered perhaps the greatest painter of the
Romantic period, though he did not necessarily self-identify with the movement; his
oeuvre reflects the integration of many styles.
 The German variety of Romanticism notably valued wit, humor, and beauty.
 The decline of explicitly religious works, a result of the Protestant Reformation,
contributed to the rise in the popularity of landscapes.
 English painters, working in the Romantic tradition, became well known for
watercolor landscapes in the 18th century.
 Artists in the Barbizon School brought landscape painting to prominence in France,
and were inspired by English landscape artist John Constable. The Barbizon school
was an important precursor to Impressionism.
 The glorified depiction of a nation‟s natural wonders, and the development of a
distinct national style, were both ways in which nationalism influenced landscape
painting in Europe and America.