2. CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS
CONTEXTS
THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REFORMATION
The Council of Trent
The choice of Trent was a political compromise between France and
the Empire. The Pope took advantage of an outbreak of plague in Trent
to suggest removing it to Bologna--in papal territory.
Charles V, however ordered his bishops to remain in Trent and the
first session of the Council ended in deadlock. A third session in 1562
and 1563 was called by a pope wholeheartedly dedicated to
reform. Bitter controversies and intrigue permeated every session.
The political outcome, however, was assured by the predominance of
the Italians--of the 255 prelates who signed the official Acts of the
Council, 189 were Italians.
3. The immediate result of the Council was a tremendous boost to papal
prestige. The Council ended all possibility of union with Protestants. The
Church became more intolerant theologically as it grew more authoritarian
politically.
The Index and the Inquisition
The Index was drafted and the Inquisition came into its own. The Index
(1558) was a list of books prohibited in whole or in part to the ordinary
Roman Catholic. At first, all of Erasmus' works were among those
condemned.
The Inquisition proved more powerful in Spain than in Italy because it had
firmer support from above, from the king, and perhaps from below as well.
The Inquisition proved more powerful in Spain than in Italy because it had
firmer support from above, from the king, and perhaps from below as well.
4. THE WARS OF RELIGION
The attempts by Catholic monarchs to re-establish European
religious unity and by both Catholic and Protestant monarchs to
establish strong centralized states led to many wars among the
European states.
Spain's attempt to keep religious and political unity within the
empire led to a long war in the Netherlands, which pulled England
over to the side of the Protestant Dutch.
There was a civil war in France, which finally came to an end with
the reign of Henry of Navarre and the Edict of Nantes in 1598.
The Thirty Years' War in Germany (1618-1648) had both religious
and political roots, and left that area a political and economic
shambles.
5. The sixteenth century also saw a vast increase in witch-hunting
and the emergence of modern racism, sexism, and skepticism.
Generally, the power and status of women in this period did not
change.
North American slavery and racism had origins in the labor
problems in America and in Christian and Muslim racial attitudes.
Skepticism was an intellectual reaction to the fanaticism of both
Protestants and Catholics and sign of things to come, while the
Renaissance tradition was carried on by Shakespeare's work in
early-sixteenth-century England.
7. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Believed that the reason was the path to knowledge and the only
way to discover all that there was to know about the universe
He also believed that the ultimate power was the human
domination of nature through the understanding of natural laws.
The first to describe a modern scientific method. His method was
based on induction – the progression from specifics to
generalities.
He said that the task of science is to conquer nature by obeying it.
8. GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
Italian astronomer and physicist who introduced the use of
mathematical approach to discovery. He discovered the law of
acceleration of falling objects and the pendulum principle.
He built the first astronomical telescope and observed for the first
time:
o the mountains on the moon,
o sunspots,
o the rings of Saturn,
o the moons of Jupiter,
o and the stellar composition of the Milky Way.
In 1633 he was arrested by the Inquisition and threatened with
torture.
9. JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1630)
German mathematician known for proposing three laws of planetary
motion.
He studied the heliocentric universe and proposed a theory as to
what keeps the planets in their orbits He said that the planets move
on elliptical orbits rather than circular.
His second law, given in mathematical formulas, accounted for the
variable speed of planetary motion by asserting that nearness to the
sun affected the speed: the closer to the sun the faster the speed.
The third law of planetary motion is a mathematical formula that
demonstrates that the solar system was regular and organized by
mathematically determined relationships.
10. ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)
English mathematician who tied together the emerging scientific
discoveries into a coherent whole.
At the center of his theory is the law of universal gravitation: every
particle of mater in the universe attracts every other particle of
mater with a force called GRAVITY.
According to his theory the solar system was a harmonious
system in which each body attracted the others.
He separated science from metaphysics by not concentrating on
WHY the universe operated as it did.
11. CONCEPTS
ACADEMICISM
The term refers to the academies and to the art produced there.
The first one, the Academy of Drawing of Florence, was established
in Europe in 1562. Academies of art were responsible for establishing
a standardized artistic training, anchored in practical teaching of
drawing, theory, and the humanities.
In arguing for the possibility of teaching every and any aspect of
artistic creation through communicable rules, these institutions
discarded the idea of the genius driven by divine inspiration or by
intuition and individual talent.
The association of the Academy with a specific aesthetic doctrine
occurred with the creation in Paris of the Royal Academy of Painting
and Sculpture in 1648.
12. SCIENTIFIC RATIONALISM
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
French philosopher and mathematician who created a complete
system that explained all phenomena. He discarded the experimental
method and proposed a purely mathematically approach in science.
The primary belief about matter was that it occupied time and space.
He laid the foundation for an age of systematic rationalism: Cogito
ergo sum (I think therefore I am)
In his Discourse on Method (1637) he formulated four steps for
approaching knowledge:
accept nothing as true unless is self-evident
split problems into manageable parts
solve problems by starting with the simplest and moving to the most
complex
re-examine the solutions
13. SOCIAL CONTRACT
The advances in science had a direct influence on philosophy.
THOMAS HOBBES (1588-1679)
Attempted to synthesize a universal philosophy based on
geometric design. His best know work is titled the Leviathan (1651)
The philosophy of Thomas Hobbes is perhaps the most complete
materialist philosophy of the 17th century.
Hobbes rejects Cartesian dualism and believes in the mortality of
the soul.
He rejects free will in favor of determinism, a determinism that
treats freedom as being able to do what one desires.
Hobbes is perhaps most famous for his political philosophy.
14. Men in a state of nature, that is a state without civil government,
are in a war of all against all in which life is hardly worth living.
The way out of this desperate state is to make a social contract
and establish the state to keep peace and order.
Because of his view of how nasty life is without the state, Hobbes
subscribes to a very authoritarian version of the social contract.
15. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)
The fundamental principles of Locke's philosophy are presented in
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), the
culmination of twenty years of reflection on the origins of human
knowledge.
According to Locke, what we know is always properly understood
as th erealtion between ides, and he devoted much of the Essay to
an extended argument that all of our ideas—simple or complex—
are ultimately derived from experience.
The consequence of this empiricistapproach is that the knowledge
of which we are capable is severely limited in its scope and
certainty.
Locke chose to avoid controversy by publishing his political
writings anonymously. With the Two Treatises of Civil Government
(1690) Locke established himself as a political theorist of the
highest order.
16. ABSOLUTISM
Absolutism was the most important aspect of political life in the
XVII century.
Some democratic ideals existed but the major force in European
national life was the absolute monarch.
Strong dynasties controlled Europe.
The first half of the XVII century saw the consolidation of secular
control over religious affairs in the European States.
The triumph of absolutist state over the Church is best seen in
France.
17. PAINTING
The Baroque is a style in which artists and architects sought emotion,
movement and variety in their works.
ITALY
CARAVAGGIO (1569-1609)
Caravaggio was an Italian baroque painter who was the best example
of naturalistic painting in the early 17th century.
His use of models from the lower classes of society in his early
secular works and later religious compositions appealed to the
Counter Reformation taste for realism, simplicity, and piety in art.
Equally important is his introduction of dramatic light-and-dark
effects—termed chiaroscuro—into his works. Caravaggio studied
and assimilated the styles of the High Renaissance masters,
especially that of Michelangelo.
THE ARTS OF THE BAROQUE ERA
18. Caravaggio. The Calling of St. Mathew
Oil on canvas. 11 X 11 ft
Contarelli Chapel. San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
19. Throughout the century a naturalist school flourished in Italy and
abroad based on an enthusiastic emulation of his style.
Caravaggio studied and assimilated the styles of the High
Renaissance masters, especially that of Michelangelo.
Throughout the century a naturalist school flourished in Italy and
abroad based on an enthusiastic emulation of his style.
21. EL GRECO (1541-1614)
(DOMENIKOS THEOTOKOPOULOS)
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco, was born in Crete, then a
Venetian dependency. He reputedly studied with Titian in Venice, then
moved to Rome in 1570.
By 1577 he had settled in Toledo, where he spent his remaining years.
His extensive production consisted almost exclusively of religious
subjects and portraits.
The greatest Mannerist of them all is the Spanish painter El Greco l
Greco's elongated figures, his intense and unusual colors, his
passionate involvement in his subject, his ardor and his energy, all
combine to create a style that is wholly distinct and individual.
22. It is the implicit meaning that always matters most in El Greco, that
which he conveys by manner rather than by substance, gleaming with
an unearthly light that we still, despite the unresolved mysteries, do not
feel to be alien to us. El Greco carried Mannerism to the greatest height
with consistency.
23. El Greco.
Saint Jerome, c.1610 – 1614
Oil on canvas. 168 x 110.5 cm
(66 1/8 x 43 1/2 in.)
The National Gallery of Art,
Washington, DC Chester Dale
Collection.
24. FLANDERS
PETER PAUL RUBENS
Peter Paul Rubens is considered one of the most important Flemish
painters of the 17th century. He created a vibrant art, its energies
emanating from tensions between the intellectual and emotional, the
classical and the romantic.
For 200 years the vitality and eloquence of his work influenced such
artists as Antoine Watteau, in the early 18th century, and Eugène
Delacroix and Pierre Auguste Renoir, in the 19th century.
The number of pictures requested from Rubens was so large that he
established an enormous workshop in which the master did the initial
sketch and final touches, while his apprentices completed all the
intermediary steps.
Besides court commissions from Brussels and abroad, Rubens was
much in demand by the militant Counter Reformation church of Flanders,
which regarded his dramatic, emotionally charged interpretations of
religious events as images for spiritual recruitment and renewal.
25. Peter Paul Rubens
Rape of the Daughters
of Leucippus. Castor
and Pollux Abduct the
Daughters of
Leukyppos., c.1618.
Oil on canvas.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich,
Germany.
26. PETER PAUL RUBENS
Henry IV Receiving the Portrait of Maria de Medici
Maria de Medici’s portrait is placed in the center of the painting. The
position is emphasized by the lines formed by the figures.
The aging king, Henry IV, is advised by Minerva to accept the
Florentine Princess, Maria de Medici, as his second bride.
Maria’s portrait is presented by Mercury. Juno and Jupiter look on
approvingly. The painting depicts happy promises of divine
intervention.
The painting reflects glamour and optimism. It appeals directly to the
emotions rather than intellect.
27. Peter Paul Rubens.
Henry IV Receiving the Portrait
of Maria de Medici, 1622-25
Oil on Canvas
Louvre, Paris
28. FRANCE
POUSSIN (1593-1663)
Rome had a tremendous impact on the seventeenth century French
artist Nicolas Poussin and through him had a tremendous effect on
French art in the subsequent centuries.
Poussin was heavily influenced by the classical ideals of Italian art
and thrived on the lifestyle in Rome that fostered this mentality.
Poussin spent over half of his life, and almost his entire productive
artistic career in Rome.
Despite the fact that he was a practicing artist before his time in
Rome, it is said that his artistic career truly began with his arrival in
the Eternal City.
29. He served many Roman patrons but was also extremely popular
with French patrons. Poussin not only influenced French patrons
but he also heavily impacted the future of French art.
Poussin's artistic style did not only derive from Italy. He retained
some stylistic elements from his French heritage. His exposure to
Italian art helped to solidify some of the classical ideals that he
discovered in his youth.
It also helped him acquire a background in incorporating those
ideals into art. But it is in the basic composition that we see his
French heritage. Like many French painters his pictures lack a
finite line of recession into the canvas. Instead there is attention to
the pattern of figures and forms on the planar surface
30. In Landscape with the Funeral of Phocion we see another event
from the writings of Plutarch. In this story Phocion, an Athenian
general, was unjustly killed by his own countrymen. He was then
given a public funeral and memorialized by the state.
The general was originally forbidden to be buried on Athenian soil,
but was later brought back. In the foreground we see two soldiers
taking the body of the hero away from his homeland.
The figures are dwarfed and weighted down by the expansive
landscape surrounding them. They seem completely isolated from
their surroundings, as if to indicate the isolation of the hero from
his country.
31. In this image we see a distinct Italianate style as well. It resembles
the works of Italian landscape painters at the time like Annibale
Carracci. The solid structures, carefully arranged trees and distant
forms are all indications of this style.
Unlike in Poussin's figurative history paintings, in this painting we
can see more of an influence of Italian spatial representation with a
slightly more distinct vanishing point.
33. THE NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND)
REMBRANDT
Dutch painter, draftsman, and etcher of the 17th century, a giant in
the history of art.
His paintings are characterized by luxuriant brushwork, rich colour,
and a mastery of chiaroscuro. His drawings constitute a vivid record
of contemporary Amsterdam life. He was a master of light and
shadow.
The Night Watch is misnamed because of a very dark varnish that
covered it until the 1940's. It should be titled The Company of
Captain Frans Cocq.
The canvas is gigantic and was originally even larger. In this group
portrait Rembrandt captures the personality of the entire company.
35. In this painting Rembrandt solved the problem of the group portrait in a
dynamic way. Rembrandt shows Cocq and his men in motion: their
lances are askew, their muskets are out of order, and they all project a
sense of the vitality of their mission.
It depicts a group of city guardsmen awaiting the command to fall in
line. Each man is painted with the care that Rembrandt gave to single
portraits, yet the composition is such that the separate figures are
second in interest to the effect of the whole.
The canvas is brilliant with color, movement, and light. In the
foreground are two men, one in bright yellow, the other in black. The
shadow of one color tones down the lightness of the other. In the center
of the painting is a little girl dressed in yellow.
The number of works attributed to Rembrandt varies. He produced
approximately 600 paintings, 300 etchings, and 1,400 drawings
36. JACOB VAN RUISDAEL (1628-1682)
The painting The Jewish Cemetery appeals to emotions with rich
detail and atmosphere, light and shade, and grandiose scale.
The graveyard, with medieval ruins, create a melancholic
atmosphere.
The painting suggests the insignificance of the human being in the
universe. No focal point
37. Jacob van Ruisdael
The Jewish Cemetery, c 1657
Oil on canvas, 141 x 182.9 cm. 5ft x 6ft
Institute of Arts, Detroit
38. VERMEER (1632-1675)
All his works are admired for the sensitivity with which he rendered
effects of light and color and for the poetic quality of his images.
Little is known for certain about Vermeer's life and career.
A keen sensitivity to the effects of light and color and an interest in
defining precise spatial relationships probably encouraged Vermeer
to experiment with the camera obscura, an optical device that could
project the image of sunlit objects placed before it with extraordinary
realism.
The paintings' display vibrant realism and their general lack of
narrative elements.
39. The Girl with Red Hat
This painting is an abrupt change from the other works. The Girl
with the Red Hat is small even by Vermeer's standards; it is his
only known work that was executed on wood panel; and most
importantly, its immediacy and intimacy contrast sharply with the
meditative mood of the other paintings.
Despite its modest dimensions, a strong visual impact results from
the large scale of the girl. Brought close to the picture plane, she
communicates directly with the viewer.
Her direct gaze and slightly parted lips impart a sense of
spontaneity and anticipation. Vermeer relies heavily on color to
establish the mood of the work.
The red of the hat and the blue of the robe contrast strongly with
the muted background.
40. The bright red of the hat advances, heightening the immediacy of the
girl's glance, while the blue of the robe recedes, balancing the
composition. Vermeer retained warmth in the robe by painting the blue
over a reddish-brown ground.
The materials - the red hat, robe and chair finials - are animated by
highlights of reflected light. Subtle highlights on the girl's eye and
mouth animate her expression.
Finally, the intense white of the girl's cravat, painted as a thick
impasto with parts later chipped off, cradles her face, focusing
attention on her expression.
The small size of this work allowed Vermeer to use painstaking detail
in its execution. A precise depiction of texture and light is achieved
through the duplication of thin glazes over painted ground.
41. To represent the hat, Vermeer firs painted an opaque layer of deep
orange red. He then added semi-transparent strokes of light red
and orange to render the feathers. The robe highlights allow the
underlying blue to show through.
With this glaze technique, the underlying layer is used to help
model the forms of the composition.
It is possible that he chose a wood panel support to replicate the
gloss of a camera obscura image, which was normally projected
onto glass.
In particular, the diffused specular highlights of the lion head chair
finial resemble the unfocused effect of an image seen in a camera
obscura.
42. Vermeer
The Girl with Red Hat
c. 1665-67;
Oil on panel, 22.8 x 18
cm; National Gallery of Art,
Washington
43. ARTEMISA GENTILESCHI, (b. 1597, Roma, d. 1651, Napoli)
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 - 1652/53), daughter of well-known Roman
artist, Orazio Gentileschi (1563 - 1639), was one of the first women
artists to achieve recognition in the male-dominated world of post-
Renaissance art.
She was the first woman to paint major historical and religious
artwork, whereas women of her era were usually constrained to less
lofty genre painting.
Born in Rome in 1593, she received her early training from her father,
After being refused admission to art academies, she continued her
training under a friend of her father, Agostino Tassi.
44. In 1612, her father brought suit against Tassi charging him with
raping Artemisia and there followed a seven month, highly publicized
trial. The trauma of the rape and of the subsequent trial strongly
influenced Artemisia's painting.
The female heroes of her art, especially Judith, are powerful women
exacting brutal revenge on male evildoers, such as Holofernes. Her
style was heavily influenced by the brutal and dramatic realism and
marked chiaroscuro (contrasting light and dark) of Caravaggio (1573 -
1610).
After her death, she drifted into obscurity, her works often attributed
to her father or other artists. Thankfully, there has been renewed and
overdue interest in Artemisia in recent years, leading to a recognition
of her being not only one of the greatest female artists ever, but one
of the most talented artists of the seventeenth century.
47. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
Marble. 11ft 6”
Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome
48. ARCHITECTURE
In architecture the Baroque Style emphasizes:
Contrasts between light and shade
Emotion
Opulence
Ornamentation
Spectacular scale
49. GIACOMO DELLA PORTA (1542-1602)
Il Gesu (1568-1584), Rome
The mother church of the Jesuit order. The church had profound
influence on later church architecture, especially Latin America.
This church represents the spirit of Counter-Reformation with a
Compact basilica. The architect eliminated the side aisles
The design forces the congregation into a large hall-like space
The façade repeats the row of double pilasters on a smaller scale
on the second level.
The design reflects the influences of Alberti, Palladio, Michelangelo.
51. LOUIS LE VAU (1612-1670)
The Versailles
Baroque palace southwest of Paris built chiefly under Louis XIV.
Originally a hunting lodge, it was enlarged by Louis XIII and Louis
XIV.
In 1682, the Château de Versailles became the official residence of
the Sun King and his Court in 1682
The king insisted that the castle was for the people, and that his
home be open to one and all. Gates of the Chateau stayed open all
day long, and guards only checked for guns that could endanger the
king.
53. The construction of North and South castle's Wings, the Orangery,
the Stables, the Royal Chapel was supervised by royal architect
Jules Hardouin-Mansart .
It was the principal residence of the French kings and the seat of
government from 1682 to 1789, with some 1,000 courtiers and 4,000
attendants residing there.
A masterpiece of formal grandeur intended as the visible
expression of the glory of France, Versailles became the palatial ideal
throughout Europe and the Americas.
56. Le Nôtre's inventive arrangement of earth forms, plantings, and
fountains created vistas, terraces, formal gardens, and wooded
areas that celebrated the delights of both open and intimate space.
After Le Vau's death, Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708) was
commissioned to triple the size of the palace and built the N and S
wings, the Orangerie, and the Grand Trianon.
The Château de Versailles is one of the largest castles in the world
The Chateau de Versailles has ... more than
2,000 windows,
700 rooms,
1250 fireplaces,
67 staircases and
more than 1,800 acres of park.
58. The paintings, tapestries , sculptures ,furniture of this fabulous
castle , have been executed by the best Italian and French artists
of the time
Versailles ' fabulous gardens and park are almost as spectacular
as the castle.
Nowadays, about eight million visitors discover this architectural
and cultural masterpiece every year!
