2. Baroque Meant as derogatory, exaggerated, excessive, perverse Advanced techniques of Renaissance married to the intense emotions of Mannerism Courts and palaces designed to impress visitors Theatrical – emphasis on emotion over rationality
3. Catholic Protestant Spain Portugal France Italy Provinces (Belgium) Austria Poland Rhineland Holy Roman Empire England Scotland Scandinavia Swiss Confederation Holland North Germany
4. Catholic Protestant Caravaggio - Italian Bernini – Italian Poussin – French Versailles and Louis XIV – French Rubens – Flemish Velazquez – Spain The Counter Reformation & Absolutism Rembrandt – Dutch Vermeer – Dutch Capitalist markets for Art The Age of Science
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6. Caravaggio (1573 – 1610) Rebelled against convention Started in Rome, but fled after murder and worked in many cities Used drowned corpse as a model for Death of a Virgin – refused by patron but purchased by Duke of mantua on advice of Rubens Used prostitutes, drunks and street people for models New Powerful Naturalism Died at 37 (unknown cause but lots of speculation) Intense Light/Dark contrasts Dramatic chiarioscuro revolutionizes European art as well as the use of common people Varicose veins, dirty fingernails, and other attributes of “truth” in painting Often worked straight onto canvas without preliminary drawings High Psychological content
7. In 1565 the French Monsignor Matteo Contarelli acquired a chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, but when he died twenty years later it had not yet been decorated. The executor of his will, Virgilio Crescenzi, and later his son, Giacomo, undertook the task. The decorative scheme called for a statue of St Matthew and the Angel, commissioned first to Gerolamo Muziano, and then to the Flemish sculptor Cobaert, for the high altar; and for a fresco cycle for the walls and ceiling by Cavalier d'Arpino. The latter decorated the vault in 1591-93, but the walls were left bare. On 13 June 1599 a contract was stipulated before a notary by which Caravaggio undertook to execute two paintings for the lateral walls (The Calling of Saint Matthew and The Martyrdom of St Matthew), for which he was paid the following year (1600), after the paintings had been set in place. Later, on 7 February 1602, after Cobaert's statue had been judged unsatisfactory, an altarpiece was entrusted to Caravaggio in a separate contract that called for delivery of the work by 32 May, the Feast of the Pentecost. This painting was rejected, the artist made another one (which was accepted) in a surprisingly brief time, receiving payment for this second work on 22 September.
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11. Light comes from two sources on the right; top source illuminates Saint Matthew
23. Judith and Holofernes (Judith 13,1-10) "Judith was left alone in the tent, with Holofernes stretched out on the bed, for he was overcome with wine (Judith 13,2)... She went up to the post at the end of the bed, above Holofernes' head, and took down his sword that hung there. She came close to the bed and took hold of the hair of his head, and said: "Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel!". And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed his head from his body (Judith 13,6-8)... After a moment she went out and gave Holofernes' head to her maid (Judith 13, 9)". The Old Testament narrates the episode of Judith who saved her city of Bethulia from the siege of Holofernes, general of the Assyrian king Nabucodonosor, by killing him after a banquet at which he had been made drink, beheading him and bringing his head to his fellow citizens (Judith ch. 10-13).
45. Di Sotto In Su: Italian phrase that refers to the idea of looking up from below. A type of illusionism in painting, achieved by means of sharp foreshortening, in which the figures and architecture seem to be high above and receding from the spectator. Mantegna, 15th century PietrodaCortona, 17th Century
46. quadroriportato(Italian: ‘carried—or transferred—picture’). Term applied to a ceiling picture that is intended to look as if it is a framed easel picture placed overhead; there is no illusionistic foreshortening, figures appearing as if they were to be viewed at normal eye level. Guido Reni, Aurora (1613)
67. EXCERPT FROM THE LIFE OF ST. THERESA ...Beside me, on the left hand, appeared an angel in bodily form, such as I am not in the habit of seeing except rarely. Though I often have visions of angels, I do not see them...But it was the Lord's will that I should see this angel in the following way. He was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest ranks of angels, who seem to be all on fire. They must be of the kind called cherubim, but they do not tell me their names. I know very well that there is a great difference between some angels and others, and between these others still, but I could not possibly explain it. In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point on fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he plunged it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, or is anyone's soul then content with anything but God. This is not physical, but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it- even a considerable share. So gentle is this wooing which takes place between God and the soul that if anyone thinks I am lying, I pray God to grant him some experience of it
75. Angel as sexless, Teresa in physical ecstasy, drained of all emotion
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77. Ganges Danube Nile (covered head for unknown source) Rio della Plata Americas (note coins on the ledge representing the riches) 1648-50 (Pope Innocent X)
78. Italian Baroque Sculpture Bernini, Baldacchino Over main altar of Saint Peter’s 100 feet high, made of bronze Twisting columns inspired by Early Christian designs, corkscrew motif Lively ornate concept Symbol of the patron, the Barberini family, in the sun and bees motif on entablature Baroque concept of directed view: focuses your eyes down the main aisle of Saint Peter’s and acts as a frame for the Cathedra Petri, which though later in date, was likely planned already Bronze taken from the Pantheon: paganism transformed into Christianity
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80. Church in a congested area of Rome, Bernini wanted an open area to overwhelm visitors entering it through the four-deep colonnade with light and space
