Quiz Weeks 8 & 9 - Baroque Art

Anthony Van Dyck, Elena Grimaldi, 1623 (FLEMISH BAROQUE)

-”Grand Manner” portrait

-Painted during Van Dyck’s stay in Genoa

-Show of wealth, person behind her is likely a slave/servant

-During transatlantic slave trade times

-When compared to his famous peer and teacher Rubens, the subject of this painting has more implied motion

-Graceful

-Painted during the revolt of the Netherlands, Flanders was kept by Catholic Spain

Anthony Van Dyck, Virgin & Child with St. Paul,
Peter, and Rosalie, 1629

-Confraternity "Christian Club", status symbol, commissioned him to make an altarpiece for their chapel in Antwerp

-Titian

-Veronese

-Sacra Conversazione

-Rosalie's bones cured the plague? Becomes invoked to cure the plague

-Painted during Netherlands revolt

Anthony Van Dyck, Charles I at the Hunt, 1635

-Painted while Van Dyck was a painter for the King of England

-Purposely looks up at Charles to make him seem tall

-contributed to the Van Dyck trend of portraits at the time by keeping a sense of authority yet showing subjects at leisure.

-Charles I’s clothing and attitude in this painting sort of encapsulates his attitude towards power, and shows a conflict with parliament, leading to his beheading.

Willem van Haecht, The Art Gallery of Cornelis van
der Geest, 1628

-Van der Geest was a wealthy merchant from Antwerp.

-Not exactly a representation of real life and his actual gallery & guests, but a gallery painting made to showcase the art he has collected.

-drawing on table is a reference to an ancient roman painter and is a possible allegory for art

-vive lespirit “long live van der geest!”

Jusepe de Ribera, Martyrdom of St. Philip, 1639

-depicts the moments before the crucifixion of the apostle, commissioned by the Duke of Medina de las Torres as a gift for King Philip IV

-Implied movement with the lifting of legs. elegant yet visceral, depicting such an intense act

-chiarascuro

-brutal themes in spanish baroque art

-commissioned by archduke, Viceroy of Naples, for King Philip IV of Spain

-Spain is poorest country at the time so only church and kings and wealthy people can commission paintings really

-St. Philip known for preaching the gospel in eastern Europe, martyred in turkey

-Definitely similar to Caravaggio's paintings

Jusepe de Ribera, Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, 1637

-favored over the more subtle paintings because of its dramatic baroque qualities and counter-reformation subject matter

-Ribera was very influenced by Caravaggio, having spent time in Italy and having seen Caravaggio’s work, but this painting turned away from that style

-influenced by guido reni's immaculate conception which was commissioned by a Spanish king

-commissioned as a large altarpiece

  -big one for altar, little one for nun

-Catholicism

-Netherlands revolt

Francisco de Zurbarán, St. Serapion, 1628

-St. Serapion of Algiers

-TENEBRISM

-unique for nonviolent portrayal of martyrdom

-Third Crusade, 1196

-Badge on tunic is a symbol of the order of mercy

-Christ-like

-White robe characterizes st. serapion with the badge

-Influenced by Caravaggio AND Ribera

-Drama is communicated through the dark shadows and the dramatic lighting on the gown with all the folds and the bright highlights

Francisco de Zurbarán, Virgin & Christ in the Holy House of Nazareth, c. 1640

-Humble presentation

-Mary is sewing and embroidering

-Apocryphal gospels

-Christ is poked by the crown of thorns, the virgin is realizing his fate and crying

-tiny thin halo above the virgin

-heavenly light illuminating the area christ sits in, the angels are barely visible in this light

-Sewing basket is a domestic symbol

-Mary is wearing a thimble to protect her finger and christ has poked himself

-Doves are what is offered in sacrifice when he was taken to the temple

-Pears on table are a momento mori

-Interesting representation of jesus

Diego Velázquez, Surrender at
Breda, 1635

-depicts the magnanimous Spanish victory over the Dutch in 1624

-spanish general recieving keys to the city from dutch commander, instead of shame

-symbol of mutual respect

-during the eighty years war/netherland revolt

-velazquez is a self portrait on the right side of the scene

-Painted between 1634-1635 for the Hall of Realms in King Philip IV's new palace, the painting was intended to celebrate Spanish military might

Diego Velázquez, Equestrian Portrait of Count-
Duke Olivares, 1638

-political portrait of Gaspar de Guzmán, the prime minister of Spain under King Philip IV

-This imagery was meant to showcase his power and command, emphasizing both his political role and his skill as a horseman, a metaphor for strong leadership

Diego Velázquez, Philip IV of Spain in Fraga,
1644

-created in a makeshift studio

-king in military attire

-immortalize the king as a victorious military leader

-tenebrism

-associated Philip with his deceased brother

-propaganda

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656

-shows the Spanish royal family and their entourage

-elevates the status of art and artists and shows the potential of painting

-King and Queen are reflected in background mirror

-places himself in the painting which emphasizes the importance of the artist

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Two Trinities, c. 1680

-two "Trinities": a celestial one with God the Father, the Holy Spirit (as a dove), and Christ; and an earthly one with the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and Jesus as a child

-inspired by jesuit engravings

-christ’s dual human and divine nature

-Despite the grim reality of the time, Murillo's art offered a sense of reassurance and heroism through its emotional and spiritual themes

-made during plague and war

Jacques Callot, Pillage of a Farmhouse, The Great Miseries of War, 1633, etching

-theatrical presentation of real events

-interior of a domestic house

-violent

-people are begging for mercy and soldiers are either taking food or destroying wine or beer

-burning a peasant, showing how when the soldiers are in misery, so are the citizens

-soldiers didn’t get paid so some pillaged while others rotted in the streets

-etching technique

-wars in lorraine

-easily reproduced so possibly distributed to a large audience

-baroque for this one: theatrics with especially light and shadow

-THIRTY YEARS WAR

Simon Vouet, Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 1641

-Commissioned as an altarpiece for cardinal Richelieu

-Vouet is painter to the king

-christ’s infancy, tradition of taking baby into temple for priest’s blessing

-jesuit’s professed house

-jesus halo

-modeled after Veronese and Agostino Carracci

-classical architecture, modeled after what Vouet has seen in Rome

-spent 14 years in italy to establish french tradition and bring art to france

-influenced by caravaggio

Valentin de Boulogne, “The Cheats” Soldiers Playing Cards and
Dice, c. 1618

-Soldier represents the ongoing wars in the area

-bright lights and dark shadows, caravaggio influence with the intertwining and intersecting of hands and gestures

-soldiers vs “fools” with feathers in hats

-Baroque realism

-soldiers in back is cheating

Georges de la Tour, St. Joseph the Carpenter, c. 1635

-humble presentation

-known for dark tenebristic scenes

-teaching jesus to be a carpenter

-diagonal interaction

Louis Le Nain, Peasant Family, c. 1640

-rural

-common theme for Le Nain

-influenced by Dutch genre paintings

-Le Nain’s paintings showed dignity of peasants

-many ppl in the families

-two competing light sources

-rough fabric = poverty

-dog and cat and farm workers

-simple and poor but together and loving

-wine and bread = religious symbolism

Confraternity

King Philip IV

Etching

Duchy of Lorraine

-Part of the holy roman empire that got annexed by france

Thirty Years’ War

-Conflict within the Holy Roman Empire