AP Art History - Baroque

• Santa Maria della Vittoria

• Carlo Maderno

• 1605-20

• Rome

• Originally dedicated to St. Paul, later rededicated to Mary after a military victory in Bohemia in 1620

• Six Ionic pilasters with emphasis on façade center.

• Round and triangular pediments, scrollwork and partial volutes

• Houses other symbols of victory, such as flags captured from Turkish forces in 1683

• Houses the Cornaro Chapel and Ecstasy of St. Teresa

• San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

• Francesco Borromini

• 1638-46

• stone and stucco

• Rome

• Unusually small (66’ x 39’)

• Alternating concave and convex patterns in façade and interior

• Built as part of Trinitarian complex; sculptures of Trinitarian saints are seen on façade

• Interior dome is oval and coffered

• Borromini worked in shades of white, avoiding typical Baroque color

• Worked for free in exchange for greater creative freedom

• Palace at Versailles

• Louis le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart

• begun 1669

• masonry, stone, wood, iron, gold leaf, gardens

• Versailles, France

• Palace of Louis XIV and subsequent kings

• Demonstrates the ideal of the absolute monarch

• An extensive remodel of a hunting lodge

• Center of the complex is the bedroom/audience chamber

• Building centered in vast garden and town complex that radiate out like the sun’s rays

• Hall of Mirrors

• 240’ long barrel vault; ceiling paintings stress Louis XIV’s victories

• Light enter windows from one side and reflect off panes off glass

• Venetian workers imported to craft mirrors (extravagant display of wealth)

• Hall used for state and court functions

• Gardens

• Gardens formal near the palace, more wooded further away

• Long vistas ending in fountains and statuary

• Garden’s axis formed by 2 canals, aligned with rising sun

• Many fountains; ones near palace kept running all the time

• Demonstrates belief that humans can control nature

• Ecstasy of St. Teresa

• Gian Lorenzo Bernini

• 1647-52

• marble, stucco, gilt bronze

• Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome

• Work captures a moment in time rather than a general scene

• Figures seem to float in space, illuminated by a hidden window

• Marble sculpted in a variety of textures

• Teresa canonized only 25 years earlier

• Depicts one of her visions of God, an angel descending with an arrow, about to plunge it into her

• Counter-Reformation work, meant to increase piety and devotion

• Stage-like setting

• Patrons (the Cornaro family) sit in theater boxes on either side to observe and comment

• Chapel is located within Santa Maria della Vittoria

• Calling of St. Matthew

• Caravaggio

• 1597-1601

• oil on canvas

• Matthew was a tax collector

• Light points directly to him

• Tenebrism

• Slight suggestion of halo above Christ

• Figures wear current fashion

• Counter-Reformation – focusing on the physical expression of faith

• Triumph of the Name of Jesus

• Giovanni Battista Gaulli

• 1676-79

• fresco and stucco

• Il Gesù, Rome

• Ceiling in Il Gesù’s nave

• Di sotto in sù

• IHS in the center golden light

• Figures tumble from heaven (some sculpted to create 3-D effect)

• Trompe l’oeil, illusion of the ceiling open to the sky

• Last Judgment scene

• Gaulli a student of Bernini; his influence seen in the dramatic emotion

• Las Meninas

• Diego Velasquez

• 1656

• oil on canvas

• Portrait of artist at work

• Infanta Margharita and meninas, along with chaperones, a dwarf, a midget, and a dog

• Jose Niéto, head of the Queen’s Tapestry in rear

• King and Queen in mirror

• Alternate fields of light and dark pull viewer deeper

• Paintings on back wall show Minerva, goddess of wisdom and patron of the arts

• Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de’Medici

• Peter Paul Rubens

• 1621-25

• oil on canvas

• 1 of 24 paintings in the Marie de’ Medici cycle

• Commissioned by Marie after her husband’s death

• Allegories and symbolism assist the narrative

• Hymen and Cupid present her portrait

• Jupiter and Juno look on approvingly

• Connection of royalty to divine

• France personified urges Henri to choose love

• He does – his helmet and shield are now playthings for cherubs

• Self-Portrait with Saskia

• Rembrandt

• 1636

• etching

• Self-portrait of artist drawing or etching

• Saskia in background – his muse

• Many portraits of Saskia made

• Only known etching of Rembrandt with wife

• Rembrandt famous for self-portraits (89!)

• Both are dressed fancifully rather than in contemporary dress

• Woman Holding a Balance

• Johannes Vermeer

• 1664

• oil on canvas

• Vermeer primarily depicts intimate, interior scenes

• Light from left warmly illuminates the scene

• Capturing a moment in time

• Woman’s expression suggests weighing something profound

• Fruit and Insects

• Rachel Ruysch

• 1711

• oil on wood

• Asymmetrical arrangement

• Image constructed rather than depicted – not all fruits in season at same time

• Artist probably used botany textbooks (father was a professor)

• Wheat and grapes – possibly reference to Eucharist