Baroque

Key Ideas

History

• Art during the Baroque period is influenced by the Counter-Reformation, symbolized the Catholic resurgence (after the Protestant Reformation). 
• Baroque art flourished in Holland and became of the voice to counter Catholic art.
• Baroque can be separated in 2 schools: classicists (influenced by Raphael) and naturalists (inspired by Titian).
• Baroque architecture is associated with the grand and majestic royal courts.

• The finishing of St. Peter's became a crusade for the Catholic Church
• 1650: Increased power and influence of French Kings. This shifted the art world from Rome to France.
• France became center of modern art and innovation. 
• The Thirty Years (1618-1648). It devastated Europe which produced a halt in art making. It was a culmination of religious wars of the 16th century: Catholics vs. Protestants. German princes wanted secular power back.
• The Counter-Reformation movement reaffirmed all the things the Protestant Reformation was against. Protestants were iconoclasts.
• 1648: The Peace of Westphalia- gave religious freedom (along with many other additions but for the sake of Art History, this is the most important)

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Additional Resources

• YouTube: Caravaggio's Calling of St. Matthew
• YouTube: Velasquez's Las Meninas
• YouTube: Rembrandt's Self Portraits
• YouTube: Bernini's St. Peter's Piazza
• Read about Ruben's Elevation of the Cross
• Take a virtual tour or view a slide show of the Palace of Versaille. Look into the estate of Marie Antoinette
• PBS.org Versaille Tour
• Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes by KhanAcademy
• Santa Maria della Vittoria
• Documentary on Caravaggio by The Power of Art
• Crash Course video: The Reformation
• Baroque Review
• ​Church of Saint Charles

ARTICLES

• These  Women Artists Influenced the Renaissance and Baroque
• The Most Iconic Artists of the Baroque, from Caravaggio to Rembrandt
• Behind the Fierce, Assertive Paintings of Baroque Master Artemisia Gentileschi
• Dynamic Underwater Photos Look Like Dramatic Baroque Paintings

Artwork List

Saint Charles of the Four Fountains
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Versaille
  -Hall of Mirrors
Judith Slaying Holofernes
Calling of Saint Matthew
Ecstasy of St. Teresa
Las Meninas
Marie de'Medici Cycle
Self Portrait with Saskia (Rembrandt)
Woman Holding a Balance
Fruits and Insects
​Triumph of the Name of Jesus

Vocabulary

Di sotto in su
genre painting
impasto
tenebrism
vanities
​chiaroscuro