Baroque Sculpture

A leading figure in Baroque sculpture was the incredibly religious Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), in fact he is said to have created Baroque sculpture itself. He was patronised by Cardinal Borghese and Pope Urban VIII.

Apollo and Daphne, 1622-5

This shows Daphne turning herself into a Laurel Tree to escape Apollo's failing advances. If you look closely the intricateness of the fingers is impressive and I imagine you'd have to be quite good at sculpting to do that. Baroque in the other arts is defined by drama and movement, which I'd say can definitely be applied to this, not only is Daphne IN transition to her end state as a tree, the pair seem to be running with Apollo's drapery following behind.

The David, 1623.

Just as the height of Classical sculpture in Ancient Greece was succeded by Hellinistic sculpture, Renaissance sculpture followed a similar pattern. In fact, this resembles Myron's Discobolus which was a precendent to the Hellinistic era. There are a lot of similarities to be drawn from the two and this is one of them.

The Ecstacy of St. Teresa, 1647-52.

This was done at the height of the Baroque era and the increase in sophistication is clear. The mastery in the drapery makes us believe she really is flying about mid-air. Bernini took the Pope to see this, and according to my lecturer he implied that he'd seen many an expression like Teresa's in his time!!!

Baldacchino (altar canopy), 1624

This is St. Peter's in Rome. Bernini sculpted it in order to mediate between the tiny little altar and the massive dome that was above it. It is very ornate in the sense that it's got lots of lovely little patterns on it and solomic columns which are elements seldom found in the Renaissance. 

Tomb of Urban VIII, 1628-37.

The Pope is sat atop his tomb pointing in command as an attribute to the Commander Pope. Bernini has sculpted female allegorical figures as was standard for tombs (think Michelangelo's New Sacristy). There is also a skelenton sat atop the sarcophagus (I've made the picture massive for you to see hopefully). A skull was common practice as a mememto mori but in true dramatised Baroque style Bernini sculpture an entire skelenton. She is turned away inscribing the pope's name into the bronze tablet that looks as if it's falling down; and the intention here was to liken the tablet to the book of death, whereby Death himself records the names of the dead. Where the tablet, or better said 'page' is falling down or otherwise turning, the name 'Gregory' is visible - a reference to the pope's predecessor. This is a indication that death has claimed before, and will claim again. The tomb is made out of marble and bronze and represents the 'multimedia effect' that Baroque sculpture bore.

Tomb of Alexander VII, 1671-78.

Bernini's other tomb sculpture. Bernini's rather morbid touch is more easily visible here with the skelenton almost portruding from atop the tomb. In this instance Bernini's skelenton not only represents the death of the pope, but it also commemorates all those of whom died of the plague during his pontificate.  The tomb is painterly without Bernini actually having painted it! Another example of the 'polychrome, multimedia effect'.

Catedra Petri, 1657-66.

This is supposedly St Peter's actual chair (incorporated into Bernini's work obviously). It is very invasive to the viewers space and bares all the qualities of Baroque: movement, decoration, drama. Again, the piece is colourful without actually having been painted. Bernini used sunbursts, stained glass, stucco, bronze and a handful of other mediums.

Cardinal Borghese, 1632.

Because the sculptors of the Renaissance wanted to sculpt in the likeness of the classical sculptors of ancient Greece and Rome, they copied them religiously in that they left eyes blank (they didn't realise they'd have been painted but had since faded and thus not blank but anyway...). Now, moving on, sculptures have eyes! 

Louis XIV, 1665. 

Thirty years later and Bernini's busts have followed suit. Flowing hair, dramatic pose and an unconventional use of drapery as the contour. In my opinion it gives off the sense that the sculpture is infinite.

Of course, Bernini was the most extreme example of Baroque sculpture: the likes of Algardi was actually sometimes preferred because they were more identifiable to Classicism:

Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio arrived in Rome in 1592 at 21 years old. He rejected the standardised practice of painting on top of pre-drawn sketches, he painted alla prima. His brushwork has clear Venetian influence from the likes of Tintoretto and Titian but the style he came to formulate himself moves us into the Baroque era.

What makes Caravaggio important to us today (or at least those of us who care about this shizzle) is the fact that he spearheaded the realist rebellion of the Italian Baroque.  Even though the renaissance (and the movements that came from it) are extremely important in the development of art they have one downfall (in my opinion): lack of realism. The Renaissance masters were limited by the words of Leon Battista Alberti, the man who set the new-age boundaries of what art must be.

How did his treatsies limit them? He said art must be naturalistic (fine) but must pick and chose the most beautiful of what nature has to offer - in other words idealised. Therefore, the Quattrocento was a beautiful century: tearful Madona's were strikingly beautiful (when most of us would look horrendous crying), a large nose may have had some artistic nip and tuck, and there was strickly no portrayal of normal, realistic life...

SO, cue Caravaggio! He would use people from the streets of Rome as models for his characters and depicted the uglier aspects of life.

His better known works (which tend to be at the turn of the 17th century) are renowned  for his use of Tenebrismo which is a word used to describe sharp contrast in painting. This tenebrismo became more contrasted as time went on and although it's a bit of a cliche it is general belief that his paintings got darker as his life also 'got darker'.

Although I've already babbled on enough and it's time to move on to some paintings, I think Caravaggio's life was incredible enough to deserve at least some mention. After going through my notes I feel quite incredulous towards what I have written down and as any university student would I had a quick wikipedia check. Now... wikipedia's series of events vary from those of what my lecturer told us but seeing as the story passed on from my lecturer is far more entertaining I'll be telling you that, in my own amazing note taking prose:

"Caravaggio killed an opponent in a football match. He then fled to Naples, then Sicilly and then Malta. He became a knight but was found as a fugitive and sentenced to a beheading. He was imprisoned for a year but then escaped with bed linen like Rapunzel. He came to Rome in a boat but died as he arrived at the age of 39"

Yep

Cardsharps, 1594.
I think what I like about Caravaggio is that he reminds me of a baby French realist of the 1800's, although not on the same scale he deserves some credit. This painting here portrays a cheated card game, whereby the cheat signals the number on the card to his accomplice. I read here that the concealed eye of the cheat suggests the fragile nature of what's going on in the painting. In other words, the precise and coincidental positioning of the boys feather infront of the mans eye can be disrupted with the slightest  movement, which mirrors how easily the cheats could be sussed.

The Fortune Teller, 1594.
This again shows what could be likened to French bohemian life. More 'tomfoolery'. The young boy is visibly happy, while he gets his palm read by a gypsy...little does he know she's stealing his ring! It may not be so obvious to us now but portraying mishaps in normal life like this was virtually unheard of in Italy at this time.














Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1599.
It could be the quality of the above pictures but in any case the palette in this is far darker than before. Although this biblical scene was a popular choice for artists, it was never portrayed quite like this. We can see Judith, having seduced a drunk Holofernes, in the process of beheading him. Judith is famous for looking half disgusted and half determined to get the job done - none of the victorious hero stuff that we were treated to in abundance during the Renaissance.

Martyrdom of St Matthew, 1600.

St Matthew was ordered to be killed by the King of Ethiopa, of whom was criticised by the saint for wanting to marry his niece (who happened to be a nun and therefore was off-limits).The year this was painted is considered (in a process of trying to categorise art) the year Baroque came onto the scene. Here we see the previous level of drama in his paintings increased by a tenthfold: notice the boy dramatically waving his arm, the squirming man at the bottom right, St. Matthews arm out in a dramatic protest "NO PLEASE" etc etc.

The Entombment of Christ, 1603.

As a realist, Caravaggio couldn't resist painting the Virgin Mary as an old woman, whereas the Renaissance and Mannerist lot portrayed her as eternally and unrealistically young.

Death of the Virgin, 1606.

Caravaggio was famous during his own lifetime, but not always for particularly good reasons. One of the bad reasons are this below. Those mourning the dead Virgin Mary are all dressed like peasantry while the model for the Virgin herself was a dead prostitute found in the River Tiber. Mary Magdalene is crying more realistically than how Renaissance women cried: back curled and head down in disbelief? Caravaggio's use of models would not have gone down well with the Catholic church seeing as they already had their backs up following the counter-reformation. A brilliant detail in this is Mary's dirty feet.

Beheading of St. John the Baptist, 1608.

This was comissioned by the Knights of Malta (of which he served for briefly remember?) and is the moment where Salome awaits the head of the saint that she is to deliver to her mother Herodias. It is the largest painting by Caravaggio and is the only one that has been signed by him. His signature was only discovered in a 1950's restoration and thus whether his signature was meant to read 'I. Caravaggio' or 'F. Michelangelo' is unclear. Because of the fact that the signature is written in the blood on the floor, the former is asserted to be his confession for the murder of Ranuccio Tomassoni: 'I, Caravaggio, did this'. The latter assumption would suggest he is referring to the brotherhood of the Knights of Malta.

David with the Head of Goliath, 1610.

Here, nearing the end of his life, he painted himself as the head of Goliath. I do not know the exact dates but regardless of whether he'd escaped or not by now this picture clearly is a reference to what was to be his fate.

Baroque, the art of persuasion

The term 'Baroque' is a definition coined in the 19th century by Heinrich Wolffin in an attempt to define a stylistic period. This means, as always, that it is not perfect.

Given that, the approximated dates for this period is 1600-1750.

The name comes from, oddly enough, a Portuguese word: Barroco, an irregular pearl that is both precious and deformed. The later Rococo (1720-1770 approx), which was very decorated, obviously derives from this too somewhat. Alternatively, the two styles can be amalgamated into one as simply 'Barroco'.

The characteristics of the Baroque can be identified by the use of mirrors, gold, swirls, grandeur, richness, emotional exuberance, movement, tension...you get the point. Mostly though, the Baroque put a great deal of emphasis on the unification of painting, sculpture and architecture.

As is true of every period of artistic movement or style, there is always a historical backdrop. Baroque too was a result of its environment. In the 17th century, all the states we can identify today were more of less established in Europe, except for Germany and Italy. There was also a religious war in the mix, at the hand of Henry VIII's split from the Roman church.

Although we all know Henry VIII turned his back on the Pope because of his wish to divorce, the Protestant force that came to be got their name from the verb 'protest'. Although the king took his stance for less than holy reasons, the people who supported him did so in protest of the Pope's behaviour; (if you've ever watched Da Vinci's Demons, although set a century earlier the Pope Sixtus IV behaviour wasn't massively exaggerated - and we can only assume the likes of Paul III were similar!).

Right so, the aftermath that ensued lead to Europe being split in two: Catholics and Protestants. The Protestants banned idolatric practice. In other words, Protestants did not believe in the use of idols in representing the holy. Thus, art in Protestant countries was far more rigid and scaled down than in the Catholic countries. In the southern Netherlands, being under Catholic Spanish control - see here - all churches were whitewashed and can still be seen today.

The Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, originally covered in frescoes but was white-washed by the Protestant church.

While the arts were being affected in this way on the Protestant side, the Catholics were also appropriating the arts to serve a new purpose...cue the 'art of persuasion'.

Between the years of 1645 and 1663, the council of Trent met 25 times to re-establish the beliefs of the Catholic church. The main principles were that the church had to become clear, persuasive and sublime; and to enforce this, they applied it to the arts. There was also recommendations from the council to portray realistic interpretation of the Gospel and an 'emotional stimulus to piety'. If the Protestant's turning their back on Catholicism was the reformation, then the Catholic church redefining themselves was the counter-reformation.

So why would any of this matter? because it influenced the likes of chuches in Gran Canaria here and art in the Netherlands as pointed out above and seen here/here. It was also very influential on architecture in England, Italy and France.

Baroque Architecture in Rome

Baroque architecture in the Baroque era was an evolution of Mannerism - a style of which Michelangelo is credited for having invented. It was a response to what had became a very strict canon of what was acceptable in Renaissance architecture. However innovative Michelangelo was in his playful take on the canon, my personal opinion is that it wasn't the nicest thing to look at!! Just take the Vestibule of the Laurentian Library in Florence for example. What happened next though makes Rome a very pretty place to look around today: Baroque. The architecture is essentially a codifying of Michelangelo's defiance to the canon. Kind of making an anti-canon. The result was much prettier and unified things to look at. Here are some my lecturer took us through today:

ROME

Since Rome took the centre stage in the art world throughout the High Renaissance (c. 1500-1530) with the help of the grand masters, it is unsurprising that the Baroque architecture in Rome is that which we use to compare all other Baroque architecture elsewhere.

Santa Catarina dei Funari, façade, Guido Guidetti, 1564
This is believed to be the façade that inspired the façade of the church of the Gesu. Although it is officially said to still bare Renaissance qualities to it I think it's more mannerist than anything - look at the similarity between it and Michelangelo's vestibule:

The church of the Gesu, façade, Vignola and Giacomo della Porta, 1575 - 84
The church of the Gesu (top); Santa Maria Novella (bottom).
The church of the Gesu is known as the first 'true' Baroque façade. One of the main elements in Baroque architecture is the increased interest in the perception of verticality.

 

What I mean by this is that, if you were to compare the half Romanesque - half early Renaissance façade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence with the façade of the church of the Gesu, The former appears as if it is clearly two components put together: the attic and the basement. However, the Baroque architect sought to unify these two parts. Above, you can see that where the pilasters run down the length of the building, Giacomo della Porta has protruded 4 areas of the entablature to make it seem as if the pilasters were uninterrupted. Furthermore, the segmented pediment is occupying the space above. As a whole unifying the structure.

Santa Susana, façade, Carlo Moderno, 1593-1603
Giacomo della Porta's façade although it was more unified than Santa Maria Novella's, it still had work to do. There is clear progression by the time the end of the 16th century came about. Here, Carlo Moderno has made the verticality so pronounced that it's almost become a bit of an effort to try and make out any horizontal lines (if you look hard enough it will be like one of those illusion pictures that hurt your eyes). The entablature barely appears to exist as it follows the recessing and protruding contours of the basement and attic to produce one fluid structure. The volutes (spirally thingies) that are placed on top of the cornice have also become more defined than they were above. I quite like the quirky niche in a niche with tiny baby columns in the centre. Generally, Baroque can also be identified as 'busy'. Not hard to see why!!

St. Peters, façade, Carlo Moderno, 1612
Moderno was also responsible for the façade of St. Peters.
This time however it seems as if he'd come up with a solution to the problem that had been plaguing the Baroque artists: the 'two tier' system had been replaced for colossal columns with composite capitals. As with previous examples, the pediment is bursting into the space above it and the obsession with recession and protrusion still remains with a variety of niches and doorways.

One other major element in not only Baroque architecture, but art and sculpture too, is movement. My lecturer put a lot of emphasis on this idea. I think St. Peter's is an embodiment of this, literally! Look at the clock in the right picture below. There are two of them placed above the cornices at each end - the passage/movement of time of time. More subtly, the structure has the dome, a congregation of statues, and a cluster of columns in the centre. This gives the building fluidity from outwards to inwards as the statues and columns start sparse and end up cluttered.
 

Santa Maria della Valle, façade, Carlo Rainaldi 1590 - 1665
Another pretty church.
It has broken pediments which is typically Baroque, along with clustered columns, recession of the wall surface, interrupted entablature, etc.

One particular thing I think makes this one stand out are the pedestals that the columns are on; they're massive - it looks coooool.

Palazzo Barberini, façade, Maderno, Bernini, Borromini, 1628-33

The Palazzo Barberini was a palace built for the very rich and very powerful Barberini family of whom sent a few of their own off to be cardinals - because they could!

The style isn't as extravagant as the others; but perhaps this is because it is a secular building rather than religious. One thing to note is that it has rustication - probably used to show how powerful and strong the family was (just like the typical Renaissance Tuscan Palace).

I reckon it is  fairly modest for baroque, but because it has a protruding portico which have recessing windows within it and a little balcony sticking out along with a variety of windows shapes it is baroque nonetheless.

Santa Maria della Pace, façade, Pietro de Corona 1656-67

This church is probably the best example of the Baroque obsession with playing with the depth of the surface, along with another growing obsession in convex shapes - the entire body appears to be concave.

Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, Borromini, 1642- 50
And Borromini's obsession with making your church look as much like a concave mirror as possible begins.

Lastly, Finally;



Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fentane, Borromini, 1638, façade 1661
This is a church considered 'too much' even by some of the 17th century Baroque lovers in Rome. They obviously didn't appreciate a building that looks like a massive dressing table!!
Although, Borromini is credited as having been very very very clever at maths and geometry to do this, as you can imagine. The obsession with convex shapes has become even more of an obsession.