The Baroque art movement originated in the Catholic countries of 17th century Europe. It featured highly emotional, dramatic, and ornamental styles intended to inspire religious devotion. In Italy, Baroque art was exemplified by the sculptor Bernini, whose works included the dramatic Ecstasy of St. Teresa and the grandiose colonnades of St. Peter's Square in Rome. The painter Caravaggio also influenced the development of the Italian Baroque with his naturalistic style and use of tenebrism. Architects like Borromini designed buildings employing complex geometries and theatrical effects of light and space. The Baroque style emphasized emotion, movement, and grandeur to promote the ideals of the Counter-Reformation.

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Baroque comes from the Portuguese for “grotesque”;
A judgment made by later neo-classical artists who found Baroque art
too elaborate for their taste.

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• Today the term
refers to the art
of the 17th
century.
• It is highly
ornamental and
theatrical which
is a better
description than
grotesque.
Baroque
The King’s Bedchamber from the Palace of Versailles

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• It is he art style or art movement of the Counter-Reformation in
the 17th century.
• Although some features appear in Dutch art, the Baroque style
was limited mainly to Catholic countries.
• It is a style in which painters, sculptors, and architects sought
emotion, movement, and variety in their works.

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Advances in the Sciences
• The increased secularization of
government coincided with
developments in science that
challenged many fundamental
religious tenets.
• Copernicus's argument that the sun
was the center of the universe, was
developed further and accepted
throughout Europe.
• The atomic basis for chemistry was established.
• Other scientific discoveries introduced ideas that had widespread
ramifications.

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A World-Wide Market
• Various changes promoted the growth of a worldwide
marketplace.
• Trade brought coffee and tea to Europe.
• The taste for sugar, tobacco, and rice, however, contributed to
the expansion of the slave trade to provide the labor force
needed to produce these crops.
• The establishment of a worldwide mercantile system
permanently altered the face of Europe.

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The Baroque in Italy
• The Baroque was born in Italy under the patronage of the
Catholic church.
• A papal program to beautify Rome drew artists from all over Italy.
• Artists of this era were highly skilled in drawing and painting the
human figure from every angle.
• Discover the meaning of tenebroso.

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Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
• Bernini was the most important
Baroque sculptor and architect
of the 17th-century and one of
the key creators of the whole era.
But he worked initially as a painter.
• This no was a sideline which he
did mainly in his youth.
• Despite this his work reveals a sure
hand.
• He studied in Rome under his own
father, Pietro, and soon became one of
the most precocious prodigies in the
history of art.
Bernini, Self-Portrait as a Mature Man, 1630-35,
Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome

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• This self-portrait was painted
when the artist was about 25 years
old, when he sculpted the David,
and Apollo and Daphne.
• The nervous rapidity of the
brushstrokes and quick flash of his
eyes reveal his desire to capture
expression in an instant.
• He did this systematically in his
sculpted portraits.
Self-Portrait as a Young Man c. 1623
Oil on canvas
Galleria Borghese, Rome

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• Next is one of the few paintings by Bernini.
• He despised painting, he regarded it as deception and lie in
contrast with sculpturing which is the truth.
• He painted only five self-portraits and a few pictures representing
saints.
Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas, c. 1627,
Oil on canvas, 59 x 76 cm, National Gallery, London

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Aeneas, Anchises,
and Ascanius, 1618-
19
Marble, height: 220
cm, Galleria
Borghese, Rome
• Primarily a sculptor and
architect Bernini was a
versatile and influential
artist.
• In this, Aeneas,
Anchises, and Ascanius
Fleeing Troy, Bernini
carved his first important
life-size sculptural group.

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• Apollo and Daphne
is one of Bernini’s
most popular
sculptures.
• The influence of
antique sculptures and
of contemporary
paintings is clearly
seen.
• This life-size marble sculpture,
begun by Bernini at the age of 24
has always been in the same room
in the Borghese villa.
• Anyone entering the room first sees
Apollo from behind, then the fleeing
nymph appears in the process of
metamorphosis.
• Bark covers most of her body, but
according to Ovid's lines, Apollo's
hand can still feel her heart beating
beneath it.
• The scene ends by Daphne being
transformed into a laurel tree to
escape her divine aggressor.

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• Bernini’s 1623 sculpture of
David is quite different from
the earlier David sculptures by
Michelangelo and Donatello.
• In his David, Bernini depicts
the figure casting a stone at an
unseen adversary.
David, 1623, 67” h,
Villa Borghese, Florence

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• In comparison to the earlier
celebrated David sculptures,
Bernini paid particular attention
to the biblical text and sought to
follow it as closely as possible.
• Unlike the earlier sculptures,
Bernini's hero has a shepherd's
pouch around his neck which
already contains pebbles ready
to use in the deadly sling which
he will use against Goliath.
• The upper part of David's body is
represented immediately after has taken
a stone from his pouch.
• This means that the torso twists and
strains not just physically but
psychologically.
• The Renaissance versions of this subject
show David in tranquillity with the head
of Goliath or the sling-shot as attribute.
• Bernini, on the other hand, represents
David in action, in the very moment of
shooting.

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• The youth's tense facial
expression is modelled on
Bernini himself as he
struggled with his tools to
work the hard marble.
• According to contemporary
sources Cardinal Maffeo
Barberini (who visited
Bernini several times in his
studio) himself held the
mirror during its execution.

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• With the pontificate of
Urban VIII (1623-44), Bernini
entered a period
of enormous productivity and
artistic development.
• Bernini was commissioned to
build a symbolic structure over
the tomb of St Peter in St Peter's
Basilica in Rome.
• The result is the famous
immense gilt-bronze baldachin
executed between 1624 and
1633.

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• Bernini brought the fountain
sculpture from the villa to the
city, from the natural to the
social setting.
• With him, the sculpture is
conceived in relation to the
water, to its ceaseless flow, to
its shape and course, and thus
it becomes one of the
"symbolic forms" of the
Baroque.
Fontana del Tritone, 1624-43
Travertine, over life-size
Piazza Barberini, Rome

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• The Fountain of Trevi may or may not be the most beautiful
fountain in Rome but it is without doubt the most famous.
• The imaginative concept, the theatrical composition, the sober and
imposing beauty of the sculptured marble figures make it a true
masterpiece both of sculpture and of architecture.

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• The greatest single example of Bernini's mature art is the
Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria, in Rome, which
completes the evolution begun early in his career.
• The chapel, commissioned by Cardinal Federigo Cornaro, is in a
shallow transept in the small church.
• Its focal point is his sculpture of
The Ecstasy of St Teresa (1645-52), a depiction of a mystical
experience of the great Spanish Carmelite reformer Teresa of
Ávila.

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• In the Cornaro Chapel, Bernini
employed a combination of
architecture, sculpture, and painting
to create an appropriate dramatic
tension for the mystical drama of the
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa.
• Bernini combines a painted ceiling,
a marble sculpture, bronze rays of
light and a carefully placed window
to create this highly dramatic
interpretation of The Ecstasy of
St. Theresa.
Bernini, Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1645-53.
Marble, 11 1/2 ‘ h.,
Coronaro Chapel,
Santa Maria della
Vittoria, Rome.

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• The white marble group
of swooning saint and
smiling angel appears to
float as a vision might in
the cleverly illuminated
central niche.

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Caravaggio (1571-1610)
• Caravaggio, byname of Michelangelo Merisi, was a painter whose
revolutionary technique of tenebrism, or dramatic, selective
illumination of form out of deep shadow, became a hallmark of
Baroque painting.
• Scorning the traditional idealized interpretation of religious subjects,
he took his models from the streets and painted them
naturalistically.
• His three paintings of St Matthew (c. 1597-1602) caused a
sensation and were followed by such masterpieces as The Supper
at Emmaus (1601-02) and Death of the Virgin (1605-06).

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• Caravaggio shocked his patrons by placing religious figure in common,
earthy settings.
• This ability to make us seem as if we were in the painting is called
naturalism.
• The subjects in The Supper at Emmaus are brilliantly lit by a single
source of light.
Caravaggio, The Supper at Emmaus, 1597, Oil on canvas, 54 x 76”

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In The Conversion of St.
Paul - Caravaggio uses
both tenebroso and dramatic
placement of the figures to
engage the viewer.
According to the bible, on the
way to Damascus Saul (Paul
the Apostle) fell to the ground
when he heard the voice of
Christ saying to him, 'Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute
me?' and temporarily lost his
sight.
It was reasonable to assume
that Saul had fallen from a
horse.
The Conversion on the Way to Damascus,
1600, Oil on canvas, 230 x 175 cm, Cerasi
Chapel,, Rome

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• In his naturalistic treatment of the Conversion of Saint
Paul, Caravaggio employs dramatic chiaroscuro effects,
called tenebrism, with sharply lit figures seen emerging
from a dark background.
• The dramatic spotlight-like light illuminates the figure of
Saint Paul and at the same time serves as the divine
source of his conversion.
• Light also carries this double meaning in the dramatically
lit commonplace setting of Caravaggio's Calling of
Saint Matthew.

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Caravaggio
Calling of Saint
Matthew, ca.
1597-1601.
Oil on canvas,
11' 1" x
11' 5". Contarelli
Chapel,
San Luigi dei
Francesi,
Rome.

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• The Calling of St Matthew shows the moment at which two men
and two worlds confront each other:
• Christ, in a burst of light, entering the room of the toll collector,
and
• Matthew, intent on counting coins in the midst of a group of gaily
dressed men with swords at their sides.
• In the glance between the two men, Matthew's world is
dissolved.

30. 30The Calling of Saint Matthew (detail), 1599-1600, Oil on canvas,
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

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• The tax-gatherer Levi (Saint Matthew's name before he
became the apostle) was seated at a table with his four
assistants, counting the day's proceeds.
• Surprised by the intrusion and perhaps dazzled by the sudden
light from the just-opened door, Levi draws back and gestures
toward himself with his left hand as if to say, "Who, me?", his
right hand remaining on the coin he had been counting before
Christ's entrance.

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Italian Baroque Architecture

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Maderno is best known for his work between 1606-1612 on facade
and nave of St. Peter's basilica.
The building event of the great cathedral allowed Maderno to
illustrate his talents of Renaissance application of classical
elements and proportions.
• Although Bernini grafted completely new sculptural forms onto
Renaissance buildings, he maintained a continuity with the original
serenity of the Renaissance ideal.

35. 35View of the piazza and colonnades from St. Peters

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View facing the Piazza and Colonnade
of St. Peter’s Rome,
designed 1657.
The monumental piazza in
front of Saint Peter's,
designed by Gianlorenzo
Bernini, is in the form of a
vast oval embraced by two
colonnades of huge Tuscan
columns and joined to the
façade of the church by two
diverging wings.

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Francesco Borromini (1599-1667)
• When Maderno died in 1629, Borromini joined the workshop of
Bernini.
• Under Bernini he gained more experience as a draftsman and
designer.
• In 1634 he began work as an independent architect with his
reconstruction of the monastery and church of St. Carlo
Borromeo.

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• Borromini created a
dynamic counterpoint of
concave and convex
elements in the façade
of San Carlo alle
Quattro Fontane in
Rome.
Francesco Borromini,
façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rome, 1665–1676.

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• The church is small, and
the plan and proportions
are said to be based on
one of the piers supporting
the dome of St Peter's.
• Because of its size, it is
also known as San Carlino
alle Quattro Fontane, Little
St Charles' at the Four
Fountains.
• This refers to the four
fountains at the corners of
the intersection where the
church stands.

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• The centrally
planned
interior space
molds a Greek
cross design
into an oval
shape.
Plan of San Carlo
alle Quattro
Fontane,
1638–1641.

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• The term Baroque, originally used in a pejorative sense, is employed
today generally as a period designation. But no commonalities can be
ascribed to all of the art and cultures of this period.
• The coordination of long-distance trade and the expansion of markets
contributed to the intense economic competition between European
countries.
• Stimulated by the energy and demands of the Catholic Counter-
Reformation, Italian Baroque art developed a new dynamic and
spectacular style that is characterized by dramatic theatricality,
grandiose scale, and elaborate ornateness.

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• The monumental piazza in front of Saint Peter's, designed by
Gianlorenzo Bernini, is in the form of a vast oval. Bernini's marble
statue of David catches the figure in a dramatic moment of split-second
action.
• The Italian Baroque architect Francesco Borromini created a dynamic
counterpoint of concave and convex elements in his façades.
• The manipulation of space and the creation of theatrical effects are also
evident in Baroque painting, notably in the work of Caravaggio. His
unidealized figures and naturalistic treatment of subject matter
influenced many later artists.

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• In contrast to Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci and his followers studied
and emulated the masters of the Renaissance period and developed a
classically ordered style.
• As a predominantly Catholic country, Counter-Reformation imperatives
encouraged Spanish Baroque artists to produce art that moved
viewers towards greater devotion and piety.
• After he became official court painter to Philip IV, Velázquez painted in
a style that relies less on Caravaggio and more on Titian and Rubens.