BAROQUE ART

ROCOCO ART
 BAROQUE ART ( 1600 – 1750)

o The Baroque Period began in

1600 in Rome when Catholic
popes began to finance
magnificent cathedrals and
works to display their faith’s
triumph after the counter-
reformation.
▪ The church wanted to
attract new worshippers by
overwhelming them with
theatrical, “must see”
architecture.
 -THE BAROQUE ERA-
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD?

• 30 Years War
 Started out as a religious war between the
Catholics & Protestants in the Holy Roman
Empire but changed to a political war
involving the following countries and regions:
the Ottoman Empire, Austria, Poland, the
Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France,
Spain, & Sweden
 Results: Treaty of Westphalia and a rise in
nationalism
 P ROTE S TANT REF ORM ATION/CATHOLIC
(C OUN T E R ) R E F O R M AT ION

Martin Luther “thesis” against the Catholic Church

• Influences in the Art:
o Catholic- religious subject matter
▪ Popes wanted to remake Rome as the cultural center of
the western world.
▪ Council of Trent suggested that religious art: be directed
toward clarity, realism, and emotion to increase
understanding, make it more meaningful to everyday life,
and to arose piety and fervor.
• Protestant- avoids religious subjects in favor of landscapes,
etc.
 BAROQUE ART STYLE

• Most sumptuous and ornate

in the history of art
• Art was expanded into
everyday life.
• Light was used to create an
emotional impact.
• Classical elements were used
without classical restraint
• Visual art was supposed to
speak to the illiterate rather
than the well-informed.
 BAROQUE VISUAL ART OVERVIEW

• Started in Italy
• Artists either lived, worked, or studied in Rome
• Baroque comes from the term “barrocco”
• A Portuguese word meaning “irregularly shaped pearl”
• Originally a negative term
• Although started in Italy, it became an international
phenomenon
 Mercantile class and absolute monarchs are the patrons
outside of Italy
 Catholic Church:
 Wanted to establish Rome as the cultural center of the
Western world
 Role of art: Art should be used to teach to the illiterate
 responsible for defending the Catholic Faith
 BAROQUE VISUAL ART OVERVIEW

 Protestants:
 Role of Art: Worshippers should rely on the Bible to
learn about the gospel… not art.

o Increased Trade
• New desires- growth of slavery
• New wealth= new patrons beyond courts and churches
o New Science theories
• Sun at the center of the universe
 BAROQUE VISUAL ART:
FUNCTION AND CHARACTERISTIC

• Most sumptuous and ornate in the history of art

• Art was expanded into everyday life.
• Visual art was supposed to speak to the illiterate rather than
the well-informed.
• Light was used to create an emotional impact.
o Chiaroscuro
 Italian for “lightdark”
 a bold contrast between light and dark.
o Tenebrism
 Italian for "murky"
 It creates the look of figures emerging from the dark.
 which is a heightened form of chiaroscuro
 BAROQUE ARTISTS • Caravaggio, Michelangelo
Merisi
• Rembrandt, Harmenszoon Van
Rijn

• Bernini, Gianlorenzo
• Velasquez, Diego
 HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN REMBRANDT

• 1606 -1669
• Born in Leyden; son of a miller
• 1634: Marries Saskia van
Ulenborch
• 1634 -1642: extremely successful
• many commissions, big
house, art collection, rich
wife
• 1642: Saskia dies - turning point
in art
• His paintings are characterized by
luxurious brushwork, rich color,
and a mastery of chiaroscuro
 CHARACTERISTICS OF ART WORK

• The greatest artist of the Dutch school

• Painter, draftsman, and etcher of the 17th century;
–a giant in the history of art.
• His paintings are characterized by luxurious brushwork, rich color,
and a mastery of chiaroscuro
• Numerous portraits and self-portraits exhibit a profound
penetration of character.
• Between 50-60
• Early career:
• He received many commissions for portraits as well as for
paintings of religious subjects
• Later career:
• In the 1630s and 1640s he made many landscape drawings
and etchings.
 REMBRANDT’S ART WORKS

The Night Watch: 1642 The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.

Nicolaes Tulp (1632)
 DIEGO VELAZQUEZ

• 1599-1660
• 1621: Royal painter for
Philip IV
• Lived in Madrid
• Studied in Rome in June
1629
• Painted many portraits of
the Royal Family
• Throughout career, style
became richer, color more
brilliant, the figures more
animated
 VELAZQUEZ’ ART WORKS

Maids of Honor (Las Meninas)1656 King Philip IV of Spain, 1644

 MICHELANGELO MERISI DA CARAVAGGIO

Probably the most revolutionary

artist of his time
Characterized by his temper
 imprisoned for several assaults
and for killing a man
 Received pardon and died two
days later
He did not idealize the human and
religious experience.
 Considered profane/vulgar
Orphaned at age 11, went to Rome in
1588, and found a patron in Cardinal
Francesco del Monte.
 First commissions: scenes of
the life of St. Matthew
 CARAVAGGIO’S ARTWORKS

The Conversion of St. Paul, 1601 The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, 1601
 GIANLORENZO BERNINI

• Gianlorenzo Bernini
o 1598 -1680
o sculptor/architect
o last of great artists to
work for the popes

o Major works:
• St. Peter’s Piazza
• David
• Ecstasy of St. Teresa
(and Cornaro Chapel)
 BERNINI’S ART WORKS

David Ecstasy of St. Teresa

ST. PETER’S PIAZZA
BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

St. Peter's Basilica

BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

Château de Maisons (1630-51)

 BAROQUE SCULPTURE

Fountain of the Four Rivers, Rome (1648-1651)

BAROQUE SCULPTURE

Fountain of the Archangel Michael by

Hans Reichle in Augsburg (1603-1606)
ROCOCO
ART
 ROCOCO ART

• Rococo is an 18th-
century artistic
movement and style,
affecting many aspects
of the arts including
painting, sculpture,
architecture, interior
design, decoration,
literature, music, and
theatre.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
ROCOCO STYLE

• A light, fanciful, feminine

approach to decoration
• The preoccupation of
society with a romantic
view of life, and a tendency
towards eroticism and
superficiality
• A reaction to the rigid
"grand manner" of court life
under Louis XIV
 ROCOCO ARCHITECTURE

• In 1796, Thomas Jefferson began to build a great house for himself atop a
small mountain near Charlottesville,Virginia (Monticello means "small
mountain" in Italian). He continued to build and modify the house until his
death in 1826.
• The house is an expression of the Age of Enlightenment, with such features
as a built-in calendar and a greenhouse. The design is Neoclassical in style,
employing elements from Greek and Roman architecture.
THE MIRROR ROOM – AMALIENBURG PALACE
(MUNICH 1734)

• A pavilion for Royal

relaxation by François de
Cavaliers who almost single-
handedly responsible for the
spread of the Rococo style
to Bavaria and then to the
rest of Germany and Austria
• Boiserie
• Interior Sculptured Wall
• Paneling (usually floor to
ceiling)… as a rule enriched
by carving, gilding, and
painting (rarely inlayed)
 Rococo
architecture
mostly focuses on
the interior of a
building, such as
the ballroom.
Rococo architecture
is actually a later
version of the
baroque style.

While there are

many similarities
between the
baroque and the
rococo styles,
rococo buildings
tend to be softer
and more graceful.
 FURNITURE AND DECORATION

• French Rococo shows its

anti-classical nature in several
ways:
• A rejection of the use of the
classical Orders in supports
and structural elements,
• An embrace of asymmetry,
• Restless and flickering
movement.
• The use of asymmetrical
scrolls,
• Scallop shells, elongated S and
C curves,
 Louis XIV Louis XV Louis XVI

The chair was now designed for the human body, in contrast to
the sculptural approach to furniture in the Classical Baroque.
Rococo
Furniture replicating behavior
patterns

• Tête-a-tête (or confidante):

seating two people
• Canapé a confidante (closed at
both ends with a corner seat. )
• Four-seater
ROCOCO PAINTING
 “THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT”
JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU, 1713
“THE PLEASURES OF THE BALL”
JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU, 1717
“The Swing”

Jean Honoré
Fragonard
1766
“The Stolen
Kiss”

Jean Honoré
Fragonard

Late 1780s
“The Triumph of
Venus”

François Boucher
1740
“La Toilette” – François Boucher, 1742
“The Marquis
de Pompadour”

François
Boucher
1756
 ROCOCO DRESS

• The delicate frothiness of the Rococo was

reflected in clothing styles. From the 1720s
until the Revolution, French taste dominated
Europe.
• The Rococo style spread to England, Spain,
central Europe, and even into Russia. This
period of aristocratic negligence and
nostalgia drifted to a final conclusion in the
bloodshed and turmoil of the French
Revolution.
• During the Revolutionary period, 1787 -
1795, the last vestiges of aristocratic dress
were swept away, along with the individuals
who wore them. The painting captures the
graceful indolence of the lifestyle.
The Declaration of Love
By Jean-Francois De Troy (France, 1731)

• 1715-1790, Men's costume retained the

artificial Elizabethan silhouette - padded
doublet and breeches and the starched ruff
- for the first two decades of the century.
• Shirts features a narrow band of linen tied
at the neck, the cravat.
• The waistcoat extended to the knee, and
was of rich brocades: fabric woven with an
elaborate design.
• This painting shows the typical silhouette
of the first three decades of the century.
• Wigs, much reduced in size from the end
of the 17th century, were tied back into a
queue with a black ribbon, and powdered.
• Shoes had low heels and large silver
buckles.
The Declaration of Love
By Jean-Francois De Troy (France, 1731)

• 1715-1790, Since the Elizabethan period,

women's dress had involved some form
of corset and skirt support. Several forms
of understructure played an important
part in the female silhouette from 1720
to 1775.
• Female costume reflected the casual and
relaxed mood of the beginning of the
century.
• As the century progressed, costume
pieces proliferated, and a multitude of
accessories were purchased at the whim
of the latest fad.
• Sack (sacque) gown: loosely fitted with
pleats at the back that fell from the
shoulder to floor, was worn over a dome-
shaped hoop.