APAH: Unit 6 - Baroque, Rococo, & Neoclassist Art

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (creator & date)

Francesco Borromini; 1636-1648 CE

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (culture, location, material)

Italian Baroque; Rome, Italy; Brick, stucco, & limestone

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (use & facts)

• church

• trademarked was interplay of convex & concave forms

• Counter-Reformation

• 2 facades

• curves & verticality accentuated by deep niches

• sense of movement, light, & dark

• broken entablatures, coffers decrease towards the apex

• combines movement with architectural form

• ovals = dynamic & circles = static (circles in this one)

• used complex geometry to create visual metaphor for God

Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Ecstasy of St. Teresa (creator & date)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini; 1647 CE

Ecstasy of St. Teresa (culture, location, & material)

Italian Baroque; Rome, Italy; Marble, stucco, gilt, & bronze

Ecstasy of St. Teresa (use & facts)

• Church decor

• found in church Santa Maria della Vittoria, patron Frederico Cornaro

• designing entire space & context for his art (much like stage set designer)

• Bernini designed the sculpture & architectural elements surrounding the piece

• hidden window behind pediment for bright & dramatic “celestial light”

• utilizing tenebrism in 3d & actual light

• carved from single block of marble showing flesh, flowers, cloth, & clouds

• interpretation of the diary of the saint – pain & pleasure

Calling of St. Matthew

Calling of St. Matthew (creator & date)

Caravaggio; 1599-1600 CE

Calling of St. Matthew (culture, location, & material)

Italian Baroque; Rome, Italy; Oil on canvas

Calling of St. Matthew (use & facts)

• comissioned for a chapel

• extreme naturalism & intense value contrasts with hard-edged painting style

• creates moment of drama

• tenebrism

• Caravaggio paints poor people

• hand reminiscent of God from Creation of Adam

• pictures moment of conversion

• drama from use of light & shadow & quality of immediacy

• figures engulfed by shadow & beaming light highlighting St. Matthew

• use of vivid colors, bold contrast of reds, gold, greens & textures of velvet & fur

• contrast of gestures & expressions

Triumph in the Name of Jesus

Triumph in the Name of Jesus (creator & date)

Giovanni Battista Gaulli; 1568-1584 CE

Triumph in the Name of Jesus (culture, location, & material)

Italian Baroque; Rome, Italy; Fresco painting & stucco molding

Triumph in the Name of Jesus (use & facts)

• Church

• expresses emotional drama using asymmetrical compositions focused on diagonals & contrast of light & dark

• strongly modeled forms created from light & dark contrasting values (drama)

• mother of Church of Jesuits in Rome

• paradigm of Counter-Reformation

• mannerist exterior with tympanum & pediment

• Jesus portrayed as INH in bright sun

Las Meninas

Las Meninas (creator & date)

Diego Velasquez; 1656 CE

Las Meninas (culture, location, & material)

Spanish Baroque; Madrid, Spain; Oil on canvas

Las MeninasLas Meninas (use & facts)

• Enhance status of the artist

• portrait of Margarita, self portrait of artist, portrait of King & Queen in mirror

• mix of everyday subject matter & royalty

• presence of mirror suggests viewer is seeing perspective of Spanish King & Queen

• no focal point

• viewer bought into scene bc figures observing him/her

Henri IV Recieves the Portrati of Marie de Medici

Henri IV Recieves the Portrati of Marie de Medici (creator & date)

Peter Paul Rubens; 1622 CE

Henri IV Recieves the Portrati of Marie de Medici (culture, location, & material)

French Baroque; Paris, France; Oil on canvas

Henri IV Recieves the Portrati of Marie de Medici (use & facts)

• Comissioned by Marie de Medici to rehabilitate her reputation post-exile

• expresses emotional drama using asymmetrical compositions focused on diagonals & contrast of light & dark

• strongly modeled forms created from light & dark contrasting values (drama)

• Marie in jeweled dress & stiff lace collar, with confident gaze

• ancient gods of marriage & love (Hymen & Cupid, Jupiter & Juno) & portrait presented to Henry IV (King of France)

• symbolism

• eagle, peacock, flaming torch, pink silk ribbon, yoke shaped garland

• painting about politics

• personification of France (blue robe) tells Henry marriage to Marie is a good idea & domestic matters are more important than military

Palace of Versailles

Palace of Versailles (creators & date)

Louis Le Vau & Jules-Hardouin Mansart

Palace of Versailles (culture, location, & materials)

French Baroque; Paris, France; Red brick, white stone…

Palace of Versailles (use & facts)

• palace

• palace of Louis XIV who moved whole court to Versailles for control

• everything glorifies the “Sun King”

• façade & garden are geometric

• King Louis bedroom is in the center & everything radiates from there

• represents his political ambition

• Hall of Mirrors: barrel vaulted ceiling, natural light, one side all mirrors, gold leaf, Louis portrayed as civic & military hero

Self Portrait with Saskia

Self Portrait with Saskia (creator & date)

Rembrandt Van Rijn; 1636 CE

Self Portrait with Saskia (culture, location, material)

Northern (Dutch) Baroque; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Etching (acid on copper plate)

Self Portrait with Saskia (use & facts)

• practice artistic technique & function as a marriage portrait

• shows himself doing his craft (etching or drawing)

• produced 75 self portraits

• portrayed himself in a variety of different imagined roles (soldier, beggar, courtier, Oriental leader)

• one of the only works that shows him drawing

• the woman is his wife Saskia with a veil

Fruit and Insects

Fruit and Insects (creator & date)

Rachel Ruysch; 1711 CE

Fruit and Insects (culture, location, & material)

Northern (Dutch) Baroque; Netherlands; Oil on wood

Fruit and Insects (use & facts)

• comissioned for the Duke of Tuscany (her father in law)

• vanitas – moral message from the bible that beauty is fleeting

• still life flowers

• studied her fathers botany books

• celebrated beauty & luxury but warned about fleeting nature of life

• in her works flowers wilt & die & insects have eaten holes in leaves

• one of the few successful female Baroque era (court artist in Bavaria for 8 years)

• reminds Dutch are not attached to worldly possessions

Woman Holding a Balance

Woman Holding a Balance (creator & date)

Jan Vermeer; 1664 CE

Woman Holding a Balance (culture, location, & material)

Dutch Baroque; Delft, Netherlands; Oil on canvas

Woman Holding a Balance (use & facts)

• Spread moral message to middle class audience

• Vermeer was a Catholic (Counter-Reformation)

• light coming in from side

• picture of Last Judgement on wall

• symbolic of weighing life choices & warning against being attached to worldly riches

• lots of trade objects

• Dutch tradition of painting everyday objects with hidden Christian meaning

Tete a Tete from Marriage a la Mode

Tete a Tete from Marriage a la Mode (creator & date)

William Hogarth; 1743 CE

Tete a Tete from Marriage a la Mode (culture, location, & material)

English Rococo; London, England; Oil on canvas

Tete a Tete from Marriage a la Mode (use & facts)

• satrisizing the upper class, appealing to middle class audience

• subject is disasterous marriage between a Viscount & merchant’s daughter

• tired & loose wife appears to have card party & husband returns to expensive & disorderly house from a brothel (dog with woman’s cap) & steward carrying bills

• decoration of room comments on the action

• picture over mantelpiece shows Cupid among ruins, in front is a bust with broken nose (impotence)

• audience was middle class who bought etchings of this painting, but could not afford the actual thing

• moral message = when you marry for money it ends badly/you don’t treat it as a marriage

The Swing

The Swing (creator & date)

Jean-Honore Fragonard; 1767 CE

The Swing (culture, location, & material)

French Rococo; London, England; Oil on canvas

The Swing (use & facts)

• Garnered towards aristocratic audience for a patron

• rococo: fluffy, over the top, pastels

• figures surrounded by lush overgrown garden, sculptured figure saying “hush” (naughty secret), background with two cupid figures

• pastels & movement with prominent diagonal line

• lacks seriousness of Baroque work

• two lovers conspired to get an older fellow to push young lady on swing while lover hides in bushes & looks up her dress

• full of symbols & window into historical moment

• swing is frivolity, shoe in air is decadence (loose woman), bonnet refers to country ideal created by Marie Antoinette

Self Portrait

Self Portrait (creator & date)

Elizabeth Vigee-LeBrun; 1790 CE

Self Portrait (culture, location, & material)

French Rococo; Rome, Italy, Oil on canvas

Self Portrait (use & facts)

• Resume of her work showing her prowess as a painter

• favorite portraits of Marie Antoinette & studied at Royal Academy of Art (post revolution fled to Italy)

• in this she is painting the queen

• left France bc of revolution (supporter of aristocracy)

• painted this portrait during her exile

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery (creator & date)

Joseph Wright of Derby; 1763 CE

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery (culture, location, & material)

English Rococo; Derby, England; Oil on canvas

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery (use & facts)

• depict Enlightenment ideals of advancing science & technology

• depicts awe at scientific miracles

• defies genres set from Royal Academies (conversation piece)

• uses light much like Caravaggio

• orrery = mechanical universe (lamp = sun)

• challenges the rigid genres set by the French (Church subjects are best)

• solemn atmosphere & not a portrait bc the focus is science

Oath of the Horatii

Oath of the Horatii (creator & date)

Jaques-Louis David; 1786 CE

Oath of the Horatii (culture, location, & material)

French Neoclassicism; Rome, Italy; Oil on canvas

Oath of the Horatii (use & facts)

• comissioned by the King, later became call to arms for French Revolution

• red color directs the eye

• clarity & simplicity of depiction adds to immediacy

• simple background, focus on swords

• allegorical: used Ancient Roman subject matter to show parallel with contemporary French politics

• painting is manifesto of neo-classicism (subject & style)

• women are from Horatii family or rival family mourning the inevitable death to follow

• painted as part of a salon

George Washington

George Washington (creator & date)

Jean-Antoine Houdon; 1788-1792 CE

George Washington (culture, location, & material)

French Neoclassicism; Paris, France; marble

George Washington (use & facts)

• Comissioned by Thomas Jefferson as decor for the Virginia Capitol building

• made from plaster cast of Washington’s face

• depicted with a mix of Neoclassical idealism & down to earth naturalism (American ideal)

• plow behind, leaning on fasces (symbol of Roman civil authority), sword out of reach, holding walking stick (retirement from military)

• Greek contrapposto

• Founding Fathers like Greek democratic ideals

Grande Odalisque

Grande Odalisque (creator & date)

Jean August Dominique Ingres; 1814 CE

Grande Odalisque (culture, location, & material)

French Neoclassicism/Romanticism; Paris, France; Oil on canvas

Grande Odalisque (use & facts)

• painted for display in a salon

• inspired by Renaissance nudes but also Turkish harems (seen bc of French expanding colonialism)

• supposed to look “exotic” (headpiece & fan)

• seductive look

• rejected from salon

• too many vertebrae

• transition from Neoclassicism to Romanticism

• testament to colonialism – viewed colonized as exotic & less civilized

• attracted wide criticism when first shown

• renowned for elongated proportions & lack of anatomical realism

• orientalism

Monticello

Monticello (creator & date)

Thomas Jefferson; 1768-1809 CE

Monticello (culture, location, & material)

US Neoclassical; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Limestone, stone, & brick

Monticello (use & facts)

• house

• Jefferson called it an “essay in architecture” & he was a renaissance man (philosophy, archaeology, linguistics, music, botany, bird watching, pasta making)

• Jefferson drafted blueprints for the mansion & gardens with no formal training, but extensive reading on Rome & Italian Renaissance architecture

• unique in design & use of local resources (brick, nails, lumber, stone, & limestone all manufactured on site)

Frontpiece of the Codex Mendoza

Frontpiece of the Codex Mendoza (creator & date)

Viceroy of New Spain, Indigenous painters; 1541 CE

Frontpiece of the Codex Mendoza (culture, location, & material)

Spanish Colonial; Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico); pigment on paper

Frontpiece of the Codex Mendoza (use & facts)

• preserves history of Aztec people

• created by native scribes under supervision of Catholic missionary priests (who annotated it in Spanish)

• patron was Antionio Mendoza to be sent to King Charlies V of Spain, but stolen by pirates & sold in France

• eagle on cactus refers to founding Aztec myth, shield tells how land was conquered, agricultural symbols & band around edge showing calendar of Aztec history

Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei

Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei (creator & date)

Master of Calamarca; 17th century CE

Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei (culture, location, & material)

Baroque Spanish Colonial; Viceroyalty of Peru (Bolivia); Oil on canvas & guilding

Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei (use & facts)

• Symbol of power of Spanish over Indigenous & protection of Catholics

• angel outlawed in Council of Trent (1545)

• name of angel is “Asiel Timor Dei” (fears God) & he is wearing aristocratic European dress, conqueror of Indigenous faiths

• symbol of Counter-Reformation, war on Protestantism  

• took place of native deities so clothing & feathers imitate that of Indigenous Andean noblemen

• exclusively American

• androgynous nature, depicted using extended lines of Mannerist style (preferred in 17^th century America)

• gun shows militaristic ideology of Catholic Church & represents power of Spanish over indigenous people

Screen with Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene

Screen with Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene (creator & date)

Circle of Gonzales Family; 1697-1701 CE

Screen with Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene (culture, location, & material)

Spanish Colonial; Mexico; resin & oil on wood inlaid with mother of pearl

Screen with Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene (use & facts)

• for display, depicts Hapsburg power & allegiance of New Spain to their Hapsburg King

• screen = biombo

• enconchado – inlaid shell painting

• commissioned in Mexico City by viceroy of New Spain & displayed in Mexico’s vice-regal balance

• combines European & Japanese styles with Mexican techniques & history of a recent Hapsburg battle victory in Serbia

Virgin of Guadalupe

Virgin of Guadalupe (creator & date)

Miguel Gonzalez; 1698 CE

Virgin of Guadalupe (culture, location, & materials)

Spanish Colonial; New Spain (Mexico City, Mexico); Oil on canvas with on wood with inlaid mother of pearl

Virgin of Guadalupe (use & facts)

• Symbol of the people of New Spain (especially creoles & indigenous)

• enconchado (inlaid shell paintings with illuminate work when light catches)

• depicts Mary appearing to Juan Diego

• Mary as mother of Central American natives

• original image enshrined on Juan Diego’s tilma

Spaniard and Indian Create a Mestizo

Spaniard and Indian Create a Mestizo (creator & date)

Juan Rodriguez Juarez; 1715 CE

Spaniard and Indian Create a Mestizo (culture, location, & materials)

Spanish Baroque; New Spain (Mexico); Oil on canvas

Spaniard and Indian Create a Mestizo (use & facts)

• casta painting

• “pintura de casta” = caste paintings showing racial intermixing common in Mexico

• modeled on Holy Family

• implication is that Europeans are of higher social order

• commissioned by elites who saw this as a scientific investigations or warnings

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (creator & date)

Miguel Cabrera; 1750 CE

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (culture, location, & materials)

Spanish Baroque; New Spain (Mexico); Oil on canvas

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (use & facts)

• Comissioned painting

• depicts Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, self-taught scholar of scientific thought, philosopher, & poet of the Baroque in Mexico

• a Hieronymite nun of New Spain

• lived during Mexico’s colonial period

• joined a convent to avoid marriage & wrote poetry & prose dealing with topics like love, feminism, & religion

• held gatherings of intellectuals in her residence

• she assertively & directly looks toward the viewer, surrounded by her instruments of learning (books)

• rosary sign of her religious life

• first feminist, critical of misogyny & hypocrisy

• girlboss