Art Hist: Italian Baroque Painting

17th Century in Italy: Seicento (1600s)

• divided into a number of diff independent states (republics, kingdoms, “papal state” around Rome)

• the Italian peninsula was dominated by Spain (naval power; depositing gold from the New World to the banks in Republic of Genoa)

• Kingdom of Siciliy: ruled by Spain (Naples, fourth largest city in the world

• Universities in Pisa, Padua, Naples (science, theology, philosophy)

  • “Age of enlightenment”, Galileo Galiei

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

• taught at universities of Pisa, Padua in Italy

• “the father of modern observational astronomy”

• 1609: made a telescope (not the first one to make one, though

  • eventually used it to see “moons of Jupiter”

• 1610: supported heliocentricism (sun = center)

• 1616: brought before inquisition

  • “E pur si muove” = “And so it moves”

17th Century in Italy: Music

• 1680s: modern form of violin - Antonio Stradivari (Cremona)

• 1700: invention of piano - Bartolomeo Cristoforo (Florence)

• Opera “invented” in Florence

  • Jacopo Peri, 1598 “Dafne”

  • Claudio Monteverdi, 1609 “Euridice”

!7th Century in Italy: Theater

• “The Age of Theater”

• (Shakespeare, Corneille, Moliere, Racine)

• Categories: tragedy, comedy, opera

• “Democratic”: for all classes

• “Melodrama”

• Lavish productions

• Special effects

Analysis of painting

• content

• formal analysis

  • composition

    • arrangement: symmetry

    • lines (linear patterns, implied lines)

  • space

    • perspective systems

      • overlapping

      • pianimetric separation (foreground, middle ground, background)

      • linear perspective

    • viewer’s vantage point (parallel, low, high)

Caravaggio

• real name: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

• from: Caravaggio (near Milan)

• 1571-1610

• arrived in Rome, 1600

• 1606: fled Rome

• traveled: Rome, Naples, Malta, Sicily (his work was widespread)

• first success: “Calling of St. Matthew”, Rome

• his style: “Caravaggesque”

  • “in the style of Caravaggio”

Content: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

Content:

• the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 9:9)

• recounts how Matthew became one of Christ’s disciples

• in the painting, Christ looks/points at Matthew

• cross created in the intersection of Christ’s and Matthew’s gestures

• Melodrama

  • to focus on the most dramatic moment in a story

  • suspenseful: unresolved story

  • psychological tension

  • pivotal moment

• Image quotation: Christ as the “new Adam”

  • Caravaggio referenced Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel

Composition: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

Composition:

• arrangement: symmetric

  • separates the two groups: Christ and his followers

• vertical linear patterns

  • why: the line in the window points to the hand of Christ

• horizontal linear patterns

  • why: the story is told through gestures (theatrical)

• diagonal linear patterns

  • why: light connects Christ and Matthew; becomes “calling”; theatrical (stage-like lighting)

• “implied lines”: motion, direction, eye glance

  • reciprocal lines that continue to tell the story

Space: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

Space:

• perspective systems: overlapping

  • connecting the images in the different “planes” by having them appear to block or obscure images in another “plane”

  • why: “everyman” represented: youth/elderly, grouped together

  • why: Christ’s earthly body blocked; emphasizes the “divine”

• planimetric separation

  • deep foreground with “telescoping” figure

  • no middle ground

  • blank wall or absent background

  • why: “falling into the viewer’s space”; connecting with us and into the future

  • why: blank wall = stage like set (theatrical); unclear outcome

• linear perspective

  • the manipulation of lines to create the illusion of deep recessional space

  • why: supports overlapping of figures

Viewer’s vantage point: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

Viewer’s vantage point

• parallel

  • why: places the viewer within the action (on stage) at the table with Mattew or in the group with Christ

Influences from theater: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

Influences from theater:

• shallow stage-like setting

• melodramatic moment

• gestural action

• theatrical effects: spotlight

Dynamism: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

• continuous motion

• implied passage of time

• dynamic gestures

• dynamic light:

  • parallels presence

  • movement of Christ entering

  • “light from heaven?”

Tenebroso: “The Calling of St. Matthew”, Caravaggio

• in the dark manner; shadows

• why: Matthew in the shadows, Christ in the light

• outcome/conclusion of the story is obscure, shadowy

“Conversion of St. Paul”, Caravaggio

• tenebroso: represents blindness

• planimetric separation:

  • telescoping foreground

  • obscure background

  • all of the action taking place in the same plane

• melodrama: paul’s gesture

• dynamism

  • light, horse’s raised hoof

“The Entombment”, Caravaggio

• story of the descent from the cross or the deposition of Christ

• engaged eye: a person in the painting appears to look into the viewer’s space; narrator (self portrait of Caravaggio)

• ascending: soul to heaven

• descending: body to earth

  • why ascending/descending: separation of body and soul; Christian symbolism

• viewer’s vantage point: low, inferior (in the tomb), earthly

  • can see the bottom of Christ’s feet; dirty, showing how Christ walked on earth

“Young Bacchus”, Caravaggio

• Bacchus: the god of wine & revelry

• planimetric separation

  • all foreground: stage-like

• engaged eye

  • actor; includes us in the action

• melodrama

  • includes us in the action

• dynamism

  • movement of wine in the glass

  • reflection of light in the carafe

Artemisia Gentileschi

• Caravaggisti: follower of Caravaggio, learned from him

“Judith Slaying Holofernes”, Artemisia Gentileschi

• melodrama: spurting blood

• tenebroso: hidden, no interference

• planimetric separation: telescoping foreground

  • head will fall into viewer’s space

• engaged eye: Holofernes

• dynamism:

  • gesture

  • light: theatrical

• painted Caravaggio as Holofernes