|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baroque and Rococo
|
|
Baroque and Rococo
Art Map |
|
|
|
Evaristo Baschenis
Andrea Pozzo
see collection:
Annibale Carracci
Agostino
Carracci
Ludovico Carracci
Francesco Albani
Domenichino
Guercino
Guido Reni
Jusepe de Ribera
Giovanni Lanfranco
Mattia
Preti
Luca Giordano
Pietro da Cortona
Battistello Caracciolo
Massimo Stanzione
Bernardo Cavallino
|
| |
Painting in Italy
The foundations of Baroque painting, laid in Rome during the last
decade of the 16th century, were based on two fundamentally
different approaches: classicism, espoused by
Annibale Carracci
(1560-1609.), and realism, associated with
Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio (1571-1610). Throughout the entire 17th century and
beyond, the means of expression and stylistic options of European
painters revolved around these two poles as they aimed at a fusion
of all the arts, whether through grand illusionistic effects or by
capturing the reality of daily life.
Annibale Carracci arrived in
Rome in 1595. In his decoration of the Palazzo Farnese (1598-1601),
he adapted the compositional solutions of
Michelangelo's ceiling for
the Sistine Chapel and was also influenced by
Raphael, especially by
his frescos in the Farnesina. In the Farnese cycle, which depicts
the loves of the gods, Carracci reinterpreted
Correggio's evocative
and sensual style through a more detailed exploration of natural
reality. It was a more mature sequel to his earlier work in the
Accademia degli Incamminati in Bologna, which he had executed with
his brother Agostino (1557-1602) and his cousin
Ludovico
(1555-1619). Carracci's art combined the pursuit of ideal beauty
with a close observation of natural reality, and a breadth of vision
inspired by classical models both ancient and contemporary; his
success drew other artists from northern Italy to Rome:
Francesco Albani (1578— 1660);
Domenico Zampieri, or
Domenichino (1581-1641).
who brought a lyrical element to classicism;
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, or
Guercino (1591-1666), with his melancholy evocations of
antiquity: and Guido Reni, the chief exponent of an elevated style
that proved much to the taste of the Academicians and won him many
commissions. The young Caravaggio arrived in Rome in 1593 and began
producing the first "anti-Academic" pictures, still lifes, and genre
paintings blending moral values with naturalistic glimpses that had
an extraordinary visual lucidity. Outraged opposition to what came
to be known as Camvaggismo (Caravaggism), greeted the
artist's paintings in San Luigi dei Francesi (1599-1602) and Santa
Maria del Popolo (1600-01). In these, scriptural stories are
depicted with brutal reality, heightened by strong chiaroscuro and
an apparent lack of any divine element. The paintings express an
extremely radical and anti-conformist moral stance, which had its
roots in the work of Charles and Frederic Borromeo in Milan. The
first phase of Caravaggio's career, when he painted in vivid, glossy colours, was followed by work in which light effects became
increasingly dramatic and accurately observed.
Caravaggio's
pictorial sensitivity, based on the study of reality rather than the
observation of academic rules, appeared diametrically opposed to the
assimilation by the Carracci brothers of classical and Renaissance
models. The unrestrained use of light and shade to evoke atmosphere,
imagery, and emotions, excited the admiration of
Caravaggio's
contemporaries and became a style in itself, "in the manner of
Caravaggio" or "Caravaggesque".
Caravaggio's influence, although
extensive, is difficult to pinpoint as he never had his own workshop
or pupils in the formal sense. Those painters who were influenced by
his work, the Caravaggisti, attracted by his dark and
mesmerizing settings and by his brutal realism, often conveyed no
more than a superficial echo of the master's depth and drama. Most
of his followers lacked the necessary perception to capture the
subtle portrayal of tragedy and human suffering that made
Caravaggio's work truly great. In Naples.
Battistello Caracciolo
(1570-1637) was the most faithful of the Caravaggisti, but
Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652), from Valencia in Spain, was more
innovative. He aimed for a depiction of reality that confronted the
grotesque and deformed, breaking the rules of decorum in order to
show harsh reality even in the poorest settings. Between 1630 and
1640, the painters Domenichino,
Reni, and
Giovanni Lanfranco
(1582-1647) were summoned successively to Naples to decorate the
sumptuous Cappella San Gennaro in the cathedral. Their classicizing
style was embraced by local artists, such as
Massimo Stanzione
(1585-1656) and Bernardo Cavallino (1616-56), and reached its most
fervently Baroque and monumental expression in the work of
Mattia
Preti (1613-99) and Luca Giordano (1634-1705). In Rome, a third
variety of the Baroque style was led by
Pietro da Cortona
(1596-1669) who executed the magnificent ceiling decoration of the
gallery in the Palazzo Barberini (1632-39). Here, a dynastic
allegory of the Triumph of Divine Providence occupies the central
field and appears to be played out in the open sky, so that the
spectator feels that the interior of the palace has been invaded by
a cast of supernatural characters both sacred and profane. The
illusionism of Giovan Battista Gaulli, who painted the ceiling of
the church of the Gesu, and of
Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709), in the
church of St Ignatius (1691-94), is a synthesis of many genres of
art - such as hamhochades (peasant scenes), battle scenes,
land and seascapes, and official or "display" portraits - which
anticipate the 18th century.
|
|
____________________________
____________________________
|
Annibale Carracci
born Nov. 3, 1560, Bologna, Papal States [Italy]
died July 15, 1609, Rome
Italian painter who was influential in recovering the classicizing
tradition of the HighRenaissance from the affectations of Mannerism.
He was the most talented of the three painters of the Carracci
family.
The sons of a tailor, Annibale and his older brother Agostino were
at first guided by their older cousin Lodovico, a painter who
persuaded them to follow him in his profession. Annibale's
precocious talents developed in a tour of northern Italy in the
1580s, his visit to Venice being of special significance. He is said
to have lodged in that city with the painter Jacopo Bassano, whose
style of painting influenced him for a time. Annibale may be
credited with the rediscovery of the early 16th-century painter
Correggio, who had been effectively forgotten outside Parma for a
generation; Annibale's “Baptism of Christ” (1585) for the Church of
San Gregorio in Bologna is a brilliant tribute to this Parmese
master.
Back in Bologna, Annibale joined Agostino and Lodovico in founding a
school for artists called the Accademia degli Incamminati. The
“Enthroned Madonna with St. Matthew” (1588) Annibale painted for the
Church of San Prospero, Reggio, displays two of the most persistent
characteristics of his art: a noble classicizing strain combined
with a genial and bucolic tone. By the time Annibale collaborated
with the other two Carracci on frescoes in the Palazzo Magnani (now
the Palazzo Salem; 1588–90) and two other noble houses in Bologna,
he had become the leading master among them. His orderly and airy
landscapes in these palaces helped initiate that genre as a
principal subject in Italian fresco painting.
In 1595 Annibale went to Rome to work for the rich young cardinal
Odoardo Farnese, who wanted to decorate with frescoes the principal
floor of his palace, which was one of the most splendid in Rome. In
that city Annibale turned eagerly to the study of Michelangelo,
Raphael, and ancient Greek and Roman art in order to adapt the style
he had formed in the artistic centres of northern Italy to his new
surroundings. Having decorated the Camerino (study) in the Palazzo
Farnese, he was joined (1597) by Agostino in the chief enterprise of
his career—painting the frescoes of the coved ceiling of the
Galleria (1597–1603/04) with love fables from Ovid. These
decorations, which interweave various illusions of reality in a way
that was more complex even than Raphael's famous paintings in the
Vatican loggia, were a triumph of classicism tempered with humanity.
The powerfully modeled figures in these frescoes are set in a highly
complex composition whose illusionistic devices represent an
imaginative response to Michelangelo's frescoes on the Sistine
Ceiling. Despite their elaborate organization, the frescoes are
capable of direct appeal owing to their rich colours and the vigour
and dynamism of their entire approach. The Galleria Farnese soon
became and remained a virtually indispensable study for young
painters until well into the 18th century and was an especially rich
feeding ground for the Baroque imaginations of Peter Paul Rubens and
Gianlorenzo Bernini, among others.
Annibale's long and intense labours in the Palazzo Farnese had been
dismally underpaid by Cardinal Farnese, and the painter never fully
recovered from the ingratitude of his patron. He quit work
altogether on the Palazzo Farnese in 1605 but subsequently produced
some of his finest religious paintings, notably “Domine, Quo Vadis?”
(c. 1601; National Gallery, London) and the “Pieta” (c. 1607; Louvre
Museum, Paris). These works feature weighty, powerful figures in
dramatically simple compositions. The lunette-shaped landscapes that
Annibale painted for the Palazzo Aldobrandini, especially the
“Flight into Egypt” and the “Entombment” (both c. 1604; Doria
Pamphili Gallery, Rome),proved important in the subsequent evolution
of the heroic landscape as painted in Rome by Domenichino and
Nicolas Poussin.
Annibale died in Rome after several years of
melancholic sickness and intermittent production.
|
|
Annibale Carracci
Flight into Egyot
c. 1604
Doria Pamphili
Gallery, Home.
Carraccl's work foreshadows the landscapes of Nicolas
Poussin and Claude Lorrain. |
____________________________
____________________________
|
Agostino Carracci
A Satyr Approaching a Sleeping Nymph
|
Agostino
Carracci
(baptized Aug. 16, 1557, Bologna, Papal States [Italy]—d. Feb. 23,
1602, Parma), Italian painter and printmaker.
Agostino was the older brother of the painter Annibale Carracci,
with whom he traveled in northern Italy, visiting Venice and Parma.
Agostino's “Adoration of the Shepherds” (1584) demonstrates the
influence of the Venetian painters Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. He
subsequently followed the lead of his brother Annibale, whom he
helped decorate the Galleria of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome from
1597 to 1599. In the latter year Agostino left Annibale to serve as
court painter for Ranuccio Farnese in Parma; he died there without
completing his own major endeavour in fresco, the decoration of a
room in the Palazzo del Giardino. Agostino's painterly style was
drier and less proficient than that of his brother. Engraving formed
a major part of his output from 1580, however. His prints after
paintings by Federico Barocci, Tintoretto, and Titian circulated
widely throughout Europe and were appreciated by Rembrandt, among
other artists.
|
Agostino Carracci
Ecce Homo
|
|
|
|
|
____________________________
____________________________
|
Ludovico Carracci
Susannah and the Elders
|
Ludovico
Carracci
baptized April 21, 1555, Bologna, Papal States [Italy]
died Nov. 13?, 1619, Bologna
Italian painter and printmaker noted for his religious compositions and for the
art academy he helped found in Bologna about 1585, which helped renew Italian
art in the wake of Mannerism.
The son of a butcher, Lodovico was the older cousin of the painters Annibale and
Agostino Carracci. After working under the painter Prospero Fontana in Bologna,
Lodovico visited Florence, Parma, and Venice before returning to his native
Bologna. There, about 1585, he and his cousins founded the Accademia degli
Incamminati, an art school that became the most progressive and influential
institution of its kind in Italy. Lodovico led this school for the next 20
years, during which time he and his cousins trained some of the leading Italian
artists of the younger generation, notably Guido Reni and Domenichino. The
teaching techniques of the Carraccis' academy were based on frequent observation
of nature, the study and revision of poses from life, and boldness of scale in
drawing figures with chalk.
In his own paintings of religious subjects, Lodovico gave his figures strong
gestures amid flickering plays of light in order to communicate a sense of
mystery and passionate spiritual emotion. The “Madonna and Child with St.
Francis, St. Joseph, and Donors” (1591; Municipal Art Gallery, Cento) is typical
of his early work. Lodovico's imaginative approach to religious sentiment and his
emphasis on mood would influence various Italian Baroque painters. Lodovico
collaborated with his cousins on various fresco commissions, and, after the
death of Annibale in 1609, he remained active in Bologna, where he painted a
succession of altarpieces in an increasingly grandiose and heavily mannered
style until his own death in 1619.
|
|
|
____________________________
____________________________
|
|
Andrea Pozzo
The Apotheose of S. Ignazio
1688-90
Fresco
Sant'Ignazio, Rome
The illusionistic perspectives created in this fresco are
highly convincing. |
Andrea
Pozzo
(b Trento, 30 Nov 1642; d Vienna, 31 Aug
1709).
Italian painter, architect and stage designer. He was a
brilliant quadratura painter, whose most celebrated
works, such as the decoration of the church of S Ignazio
in Rome, unite painting, architecture and sculpture in
effects of overwhelming illusionism and are among the
high-points of Baroque church art. He was a Jesuit lay
brother and produced his most significant work for the
Society of Jesus. This affiliation was fundamental to his
conception of art and to his heightened awareness of the
artist’s role as instrumental in proclaiming the faith and
stimulating religious fervour. The methods he used were
those of Counter-Reformation rhetoric, as represented in
Ignatius Loyola’s Spirited Exercises (1548). His
architectural works are eclectic, and his unconventional
combination of varied sources led to bold experiments with
both space and structure. His ideas were spread by his
highly successful two-volume treatise, Perspectiva
pictorum et architectorum (1693–1700).
Andrea Pozzo
The Apotheose of S. Ignazio, detail: The
Continents
1688-90
Fresco
Sant'Ignazio, Rome
|
|
|
|
|
Andrea Pozzo
The Apotheose of S. Ignazio (detail)
1688-90
Fresco
Sant'Ignazio, Rome
|
Andrea Pozzo
The Apotheose of S. Ignazio (detail)
1688-90
Fresco
Sant'Ignazio, Rome
|
Andrea Pozzo
S. Ignazio Cures Victims of the Plague
1688-90
Fresco
Sant'Ignazio, Rome
|
|
Andrea Pozzo
Altar of St Ignatius Loyola
1695-99
Marble, bronze
Il Gesu, Rome
|
|
____________________________
____________________________
|
GUIDO RENI
The Bolognese painter Guido Reni (1575-1642), influenced by Mannerism and the
Carracci brothers, was considered a great master in his day, rivalling even
Raphael. A thoughtful painter who balanced widely differing influences, he
created his own, classicist version of the Caravaggist style in the Crucifixion
of St Peter (1604-05). His extensive frescos in Rome culminated in his Aurora
(1612-14) for the Casino Rospigliosi, and his re-interpretation of the
Renaissance reached its high point with his Massacre of the Innocents (1611-12),
Atalanta and Hippomenes, and the Labours of Hercules for the Gonzagas. A
disturbing undercurrent in his images of the Magdalene can also be found in his
masterly, bravura treatment of David with the Head of Goliath (1604-05). This
echoes Caravaggio's gruesome treatment of the subject.
|
|
Guido Reni
Atalanta and Hippomenes
1618-19
Museo del Prado, Madrid
This large painting is constructed with intersecting diagonal lines,
interruptions, and re-adjustments of the rhythm. The Mannerist
elements are tempered by Reni's graceful classicism.
|
Guido Reni
born Nov. 4, 1575, Bologna, Papal States [Italy]
died Aug. 18, 1642, Bologna
Early Italian Baroque painter noted for the classical idealism of his renderings
of mythological and religious subjects.
First apprenticed to the Flemish painter Denis Calvaert at the age of 10, Reni
was later influenced by the novel naturalism of the Carracci, a Bolognese family
of painters. In 1599 he was received into the guild of painters, and after 1601
he divided his time between his studios in Bologna and Rome. Upon gaining
prominence Reni surrounded himself with helpers—such as Giovanni Lanfranco,
Francesco Albani, and Antonio Carracci—who were fascinated by his noble if
somewhat tyrannical personality.
In his early career Reni executed important commissions for Pope Paul V and
Scipione Cardinal Borghese, painting numerous frescoes in chapels for these and
other patrons. Among these works is the celebrated fresco “Aurora” (1613–14). In
his religious and mythological paintings, Reni evolved a style that tempered
Baroque exuberance and complexity with classical restraint. Such compositions as
“Atalanta and Hippomenes” (1625) show his preference for gracefully posed
figures that mirror antique ideals. In the later part of his career, Reni
employed lighter tones, softer colours, and extremely free brushwork.
Except for the work of the Carracci family, the frescoes of Raphael and ancient
Greek sculptures were the main inspiration for Reni's art. He strove toward a
classical harmony in which reality is presented in idealized proportions. The
mood of his paintings is calm and serene, as are the studied softness of colour
and form. His religious compositions made him one of the most famous painters of
his day in Europe, and a model for other Italian Baroque artists.
(Encyclopaedia
Britannica)
|
|
____________________________
____________________________
|
|
|
|
STILL LIFE
Fede Galizia
(1578-1630)
Still Life
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana,
Milan.
The particular tranquillity of Lombard realism is revealed in
this skilful composition of pears and flowers.
One of the most popular genres of 17th-century painting takes its
name from the Dutch still leven, used to describe paintings of
inanimate objects. Still lifes enjoyed great success all over
Europe, including Spain, France, Flanders, and Germany. In Italy.
the genre was reinvigorated by
Caravaggio and his followers, who saw
still lifes as an opportunity to express the ideal values of
painting. They depicted rarefied, almost abstract, compositions,
which touched on the moralizing theme of vanitas — the contemplation
of death, the passage of time and the transitory nature of life, and
the fading of the senses. This can be seen in the celebrated still
lifes of musical instruments by
Evaristo Baschenis (1607-77).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Caravaggio
Basket of Fruit, 1596. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana,
Milan.
Against a dazzling yellow background, the artist depicts 8
wicker basket of freshly picked fruit in vibrant colours. The
seemingly haphazard arrangement of fresh and drooping leaves
symbolizes the fullness of life on the brink of decomposition.
|
|
|
|
|
|
____________________________
____________________________
|
|
|
Evaristo
Baschenis
(b Bergamo, 7 Dec 1617; d Bergamo, 16 March 1677).
Italian painter. He came from a family of painters originally from
Averara, Lombardy, but with different branches active in the
provinces of Bergamo and Trentino, mostly specializing in fresco
decoration of churches. He probably started working within the same
regional tradition but soon came to specialize in still-lifes and
moved beyond his family’s limited and provincial style to create a
richer and more complex art.
|
|
|
Evaristo Baschenis
Still-life with Musical Instruments
c. 1650, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
The trompe-l'oeil effect of Baschenis' still lifes has tended
to overshadow his talent for composition. In this late work, each
voluptuously rendered object is like a still life in its own right.
|
|
|
Evaristo Baschenis
Still-Life with Musical Instruments
c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 97 x 147 cm
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
|
|
|
Evaristo Baschenis
Musical Instruments
Oil on canvas, 98,5 x 147 cm
Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
|
|
|
Evaristo Baschenis
Still-Life with Musical Instruments and a Small Classical Statue
c. 1645
Oil on canvas
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
|
|
see collection:
Annibale Carracci
Agostino
Carracci
Ludovico Carracci
Francesco Albani
Domenichino
Guercino
Guido Reni
Jusepe de Ribera
Giovanni Lanfranco
Mattia
Preti
Luca Giordano
Pietro da Cortona
Battistello Caracciolo
Massimo Stanzione
Bernardo Cavallino
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
