Baroque Art Movement and Key Examples

Baroque

The Baroque movement followed the Renaissance period.
Artwork was dramatic, capturing movement and featuring high contrast between lights and darks (chiaroscuro).
Art appealed to emotions rather than intellect.
Many Baroque artworks were religious, aiming to attract worshippers back to the Catholic Church after the Reformation during the Counter-Reformation.

Il Gesú, Including Triumph of the Name of Jesus Ceiling Fresco

Location: Rome, Italy.
Architects:
- Giacomo da Vignola (Plan).
- Giacomo della Porta (Facade).
Artist: Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Ceiling Fresco).
Timeline:
- Church: 16th Century CE.
- Facade: 1568-1584 CE.
- Fresco and Stucco Figures: 1676-1679 CE.
Materials: Brick, Marble, Fresco, Stucco.
Il Gesú was the mother church of the Jesuit order (Church of Jesus) in Rome.
The Jesuit order was founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 and formally recognized by Pope Paul III in 1540.
The Jesuits focused on missionary work and played an influential role in the Counter-Reformation.
The facade design was influenced by earlier churches, like Santa Maria Novella (pediment) and St. Peter’s (paired pilasters).
Giacomo della Porta used scroll buttresses to unite the upper and lower stories of the facade.
The facade style influenced many other churches making it considered the first Baroque facade.
The monogram “IHS” represents the first three letters of Jesus’ name in Greek (Iota, Eta, Sigma).
IHS also stood for “lesus Humilis Societas” (Humble Society of Jesus) and “Iesus Hominum Salvator” (Jesus, Savior of Men).
The church plan included a larger, wider nave and a transept that doesn't extend beyond the nave.
Giacomo da Vignola omitted a deep choir in front of the altar to ensure everyone could see the Eucharist celebration.
These design elements accommodated larger congregations and created a theatrical setting for Catholic rituals.
Giovanni Battista Gaulli's ceiling fresco, Triumph of the Name of Jesus, covers the nave's barrel vault.
The gilded architectural ceiling appears to open into heaven.
Gaulli used shadows to create the illusion of heaven spilling into the church.
Some figures were rendered in stucco, adding a 3D quality and giving the impression of breaking the picture plane.
Gauilli is celebrated for unifying architecture, sculpture, and painting.
He created the illusion that heaven, clouds, and angels are entering the church.
Giovanni Battista Gaulli worked for Bernini, who was known for drama and multimedia effects.
Bernini worshipped at Il Gesú.
The church's beauty aimed to affirm the glory of the Catholic Church and encourage worshippers to return to Catholicism.
Il Gesú and other Counter-Reformation churches sought to create transcendent spiritual environments.
The concept of the church opening to heaven became a common decorative element in Counter-Reformation churches.
To the right of the Altar of St. Ignacio is a marble sculpture called The Triumph of Faith Over Heresy, which depicts Mary throwing Martin Luther and Jan Huss out of heaven.
An angel tears apart their writings and translation of the Bible.

Calling of St. Matthew

Artist: Caravaggio.
Date: c. 1597-1601 CE.
Medium: Oil on Canvas.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a Baroque painter known for dramatic paintings with theatrical lighting.
The Calling of St. Matthew captures the moment of Matthew's conversion.
The idea of conversion was a theme in Counter-Reformation artworks.
The painting is located in the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, which served the French community.
The chapel was funded by Matthew Contarelli, a French noble who was the financial administrator to the pope.
The chapel is decorated with three paintings from the life of St. Matthew: The Calling of St. Matthew, The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, and The Inspiration of St. Matthew.
This was Caravaggio's first public commission.
The Calling of St. Matthew depicts the moment Jesus inspires Matthew to follow him and become an apostle, based on Matthew 9:9.
Levi, who would become St. Matthew, is depicted sitting at a table counting or collecting money, possibly gambling.
He is preoccupied with money, indicated by a coin in his hat, and surrounded by elegant men in expensive clothing contemporary to the time the painting was made.
Jesus enters barefoot with St. Peter and points at Matthew dramatically. His hand position references Adam’s from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Jesus is the redeemer of Adam’s sins, and he will redeem Matthew.
Jesus and St. Peter wear timeless clothing.
Light originates from the direction of Jesus, creating a dramatic spotlight.
The stark contrast between light and dark from a single light source is called tenebrism, also referred to as chiaroscuro.
The light symbolizes the divine and illuminates Matthew.
St. Peter and Jesus do not cast shadows on the seated men.
Two of the men are unaware of Jesus' presence, focused on counting money referencing a print by Hans Holbein where gamblers are unaware of the presence of death.
The Catholic Church aimed to make Catholicism accessible to common people during the Counter-Reformation.
Artworks began to focus on the humanity of holy figures, depicting them as common, everyday people.

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

Location: Rome, Italy.
Architect: Francesco Borromini.
Dates: 1638-1646 CE.
Materials: Stone and Stucco.
Francesco Borromini created dynamic and sculptural architectural facades.
He envisioned the building’s exterior as a transitional space to lead people inside, rather than an outer barrier.
The interior plan combines a Greek Cross and an oval.
The side walls curve and undulate, continuing the flowing architecture seen in the facade.
This creates a unified space, unlike segmented earlier churches.
The ceiling has a coffered oval dome that appears to float due to hidden windows.
Coffers decrease in size as they approach the center.
A dove, representing the Holy Spirit, is at the center.
The church integrates the geometry of ovals, octagons, circles, and triangles.
The triangle symbolized the Holy Trinity and the church’s patrons, the Trinitarians.
The Trinitarians granted Borromini complete creative freedom.
The Order of the Spanish Secular Trinitarians commissioned Borromini to design San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in 1634.
The complex, including the cloister, refectory, dormitory, and church, was constructed between 1635 and 1641, while the facade was completed later (1665-1667).
The complex sums up Borromini’s stylistic experiments, forming a 3D anthology of Baroque vocabulary.
After Borromini’s death, his nephew Bernardo completed the upper story and decoration.
Borromini had to manage with limited and irregular space, turning these conditions into advantages with innovative solutions.
The cloister features a plastic conception of space, with a white colonnade on two levels and paired columns forming an octagonal courtyard with convex curves at the corners.
A single extruding cornice provides continuity to the undulating rhythm.
Light falls perpendicularly into the narrow space, becoming weaker at ground level.
The church’s interior has an elliptical plan resulting from two equilateral triangles sharing a base along a transversal axis.
In contrast to similar plans, like Bernini's Saint Peter's Square, this church is laid out longitudinally, creating a sense of compression along diagonal directives.
The interior is dominated by spatial dynamism.
The undulating rhythm of the walls suggests contraction and expansion as one moves towards the altar.
White walls accentuate this effect.
The interior is faced in white stucco, interrupted by gilded grille-work, the red Trinitarian cross, a grey stone-paved floor, and altarpieces.
The juxtaposition of convex and concave curves is cadenced by columns.

Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

Location: Cornaro Chapel, Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy.
Artist: Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Date: c. 1647-1652 CE.
Materials: Marble (Sculpture); Stucco and Gilt Bronze (Chapel).
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a well-known Baroque sculptor, famous in his lifetime, employed by the Pope and creating sculptures for the Vatican.
Bernini was known for dramatic and theatrical sculptures that were part of a “total artwork.”
St. Teresa of Ávila was a 16th-century Spanish nun who had mystical religious visions and believed her spiritual conversion occurred at age 39.
As a Carmelite nun, she preached contemplation and austerity and published 24 volumes of writing detailing her visions and an autobiography called “Life.”
Bernini sculpted St. Teresa on marble clouds with flowing robes.
An angel stands over her, ready to pierce her with an arrow.
Sculptural divine light and natural light illuminate the scene from above.
Bernini made clay models of his sculptures before sculpting them in marble.
The sculpture represents St. Teresa’s vision where an angel pierced her body repeatedly with an arrow, causing ecstatic oneness with God.
The scene captures the drama and emotion of her vision, connecting with viewers and drawing them back to the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation.
Worshippers were encouraged to feel scripture and have emotional reactions while praying or meditating.
Bernini turned the Cornaro Chapel into a theater for the production of this mystical vision.
The scene takes place on a proscenium-like stage framed by a broken Baroque pediment.
Relief sculptures on the wall depict the Cornaro family watching the drama from balcony seats.
The Cornaro family seems to react as if watching a play, discussing the drama.
All depicted people, except the cardinal, would have already been dead.
Bernini had experience working in the theater.
He used a hidden window behind the pediment to let in natural light and illuminate the sculptures below, creating a surprising and dramatic effect.

Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de’Medici, from the Marie de’Medici Cycle

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens.
Date: 1621-1625 CE.
Medium: Oil on Canvas.
Peter Paul Rubens was born in Germany but grew up in Antwerp, Belgium.
He was accepted into a painter’s guild at age 21.
He studied famous works of art in Italy and Spain, including those from Ancient Rome and the Renaissance.
He became the court painter to the Habsburg Archduke and Duchess in Flanders (Belgium).
His patrons included royals such as Philip IV of Spain, Queen Marie de’Medici of France, and Charles I of England.
In 1621, Marie de’Medici commissioned Rubens to paint the story of her life, glorifying her role in ruling France as queen regent for her son Louis XIII, and commemorating the founding of the Bourbon royal dynasty.
Rubens created 24 paintings for the Marie de’Medici Cycle, portraying her life and political career, in 4 years.
The paintings decorated one of the two galleries in Marie de’Medici’s newly built Luxembourg Palace in Paris.
Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de’Medici is the fourth painting in the series.
21 paintings depict the queen’s struggles and triumphs, while the last three are portraits of her and her parents.
Rubens included many gods of ancient Greece and Rome overseeing Marie's life.
This series is unique in art history in the major life events of a queen, especially recent events, were celebrated on such a large scale.
In 1617, Marie was exiled from Paris due to tensions with her son and French nobles. Upon her return, this cycle of paintings commissioned upon her return validated her reign.
The theme of peace runs throughout the cycle.
This cycle can be considered political propaganda.
Cupid and Hymen, the god of marriage, present Henri with a portrait of Marie de’Medici, and he falls in love immediately.
The Roman gods Jupiter and Juno look down approvingly.
A personification of France encourages Henri to abandon war for love.
A smoking battlefield is in the background, and putti play with armor at Henri’s feet.
There are marriage references in the painting.
Hymen is the god of marriage, and Jupiter and Juno are married. Juno’s peacocks are tied together with a pink ribbon.
A sculpture of Cupid holds a yoke-shaped garland, symbolizing marriage.
The painting conveys that even the gods can be subdued by love, and Henri should focus on marriage.
Henri was nearing 50 and had yet to produce an heir.
France was concerned about the country's future and hoped their king would wed.
Henri had been a Protestant but converted to Catholicism upon ascending the throne with the hopes that Marie, 27, would be a catholic bride.
She also had a large dowry, which would help Henri’s debt to the Medici.
Rubens shows that Marie would be successful as a wife and mother.
Rubens creates a sight line connecting her to Juno, the wife of Jupiter.
Marie and the cherub look out at the viewer, showing she would produce an heir to the throne of France.