Baroque Art Summary 1600 1700 Baroque Summary 1600

Baroque Art Summary 1600 - 1700

Baroque Summary (1600 s) • Religious and political conflict around Europe (Thirty Years’ War); Catholic Church responding to growth of Protestantism with Counter – Reformation. • Catholic Church hiring best artists and architects to create “must-see attractions” that will inspire the faithful • Italy, Spain, and Flanders (aka Spanish Netherlands) remained Catholic. • Dutch Netherlands won its independence from Spain and was formally recognized by the Peace of Westphalia 1648 as the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The Dutch were Calvinists ( a type of Protestantism)

Baroque Differences • Catholic (Italy, Spain, Flanders, France) • Scenes of saints and famous events from the Bible and Apocrypha (Judith Beheading Holofernes) • Portraits of kings, nobles, and popes • Spectacular architecture with amazing ceiling frescoes of religious • Protestant (Dutch Netherlands) • GENRE SCENES of everyday life (middleclass), VANITAS STILLLIFES – religious meaning, landscapes of Netherlands • Portraits of middleclass • Art is meant for the Dutch home or public buildings • Plain churches – art should not be in

Great Baroque Artists – Catholic Countries • Caravaggio (big influence on Velazquez, Rubens in Flanders, Rembrandt in Holland), Gentileschi, Bernini, Borromini, Caracci, Fra Andrea Pozzo – Italy • Velazquez, Zubaran, Ribera – Spain, portraits of royal court and very religious paintings (saints, martyrs) • Peter Paul Rubens and Sir Anthony Van Dyck – Flanders – Rubens (everything – portraits, mythology, religious), Van Dyck – royal portraits for King of England

Dutch Baroque • Rembrandt (portraits, group portraits, self-portraits, biblical scenes, etching) • Vermeer (quiet domestic scenes of young women) • Frans Hals and Judith Leyster (portraits, group portraits) • Steen (genre paintings) • Van Ruisdael (landscapes) • Steenwyck, Heda (vanitas still-life)