THE

BAROQUE
PERIOD
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Baroque is a period of artistic style that started around 1600 in Rome , Italy, and spread
throughout the majority of Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. In informal usage, the word
baroque describes something that is elaborate and highly detailed.

The most important factors during the Baroque era were the Reformation and the Counter-
Reformation, with the development of the Baroque style considered to be linked closely with the
Catholic Church. The popularity of the style was in fact encouraged by the Catholic Church, which
had decided at the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes and direct
emotional involvement in response to the Protestant Reformation. Baroque art manifested itself
differently in various European countries owing to their unique political and cultural climates.
BAROQUE
ARCHITECTURE
AND SCULPTURE
 The arts present an unusual diversity in the Baroque period, chiefly because

ITALY
currents of naturalism and classicism coexisted and intermingled with the typical
Baroque style. Indeed, Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio, the two Italian painters
who decisively broke with Mannerism in the 1590s and thus helped usher in the
Baroque style, painted, respectively, in classicist and realist modes. Among his
many innovations, Caravaggio is noted for popularizing tenebrism, the use of
extreme contrast of light and dark. His most famous pupil, Artemisia Gentileschi,
employed this technique to great effect in her history paintings, an unusual theme
among contemporary women artists. A specifically Baroque style of painting
arose in Rome in the 1620s and culminated in the monumental painted ceilings
and other church decorations of Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni, Il Guercino,
Domenichino, and countless lesser artists. The greatest of the Baroque sculptor-
architects was Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who designed both the baldachin with spiral
columns above the altar of St. Peter’s in Rome and the vast colonnade fronting
that church. Baroque architecture as developed by Bernini, Carlo Maderno,
Francesco Borromini, and Guarino Guarini emphasized massiveness and
monumentality, movement, dramatic spatial and lighting sequences, and a rich
interior decoration using contrasting surface textures, vivid colours, and luxurious
materials to heighten the structure’s physical immediacy and evoke sensual
delight.
 The greatest of the Spanish builders, José Benito
Churriguera, shows most fully the Spanish interest
in surface textures and lush detail. He attracted
SPAIN
many followers, and their adaptations of his style,
labeled Churrigueresque, spread throughout
Spain’s colonies in the Americas and elsewhere.
(For a detailed discussion of the Baroque in Latin
America, see Latin American art.) Diego
Velázquez and other 17th-century Spanish
painters used a sombre but powerful naturalistic
approach that bore little direct relation to the
mainstream of Baroque painting.
 The last flowering of the Baroque was in
largely Roman Catholic southern Germany and
Austria, where the native architects broke GERMANY
away from Italian building models in the
1720s. In ornate churches, monasteries, and
palaces designed by J.B. Fischer von Erlach,
J.L. von Hildebrandt, Balthasar Neumann,
Dominikus Zimmermann, and brothers
Cosmas Damian Asam and Egid Quirin Asam,
an extraordinarily rich but delicate style of
stucco decoration was used in combination
with painted surfaces to evoke subtle
illusionistic effects.
 The most notable landmarks are the abbey
church and the former monastic buildings. The SWITZERLAND
church (1755–72), one of the finest Baroque
structures in Switzerland, is now the Roman
Catholic cathedral. The library (1758–67), with
its unique Rococo hall, contains about 2,000
manuscripts, as well as numerous incunabula
and books dating from the Carolingian and
Ottonian empires. There is a commercial
university, schools of textiles, embroidery, and
fashion, several museums, a theatre, and a
concert hall.
BAROQUE PAINTINGS
CARAVAGGIO
Caravaggio (1571–1610), born and trained in Milan, stands as
one of the most original and influential contributors to late 16th
century and early 17th century European painting. He was known
for painting figures, even those of classical or religious themes, in
contemporary clothing, or as ordinary men and women. His
inclusion of the seedier side of life was in marked contrast to the
trends of the time. He used tenebrism and stark contrasts between
partially lit figures and dark backgrounds to dramatize the effect.

Some of Caravaggio’s most famous paintings include The

Calling of St. Mathew, St. Thomas, The Conversion of St. Paul,
The Entombment, and The Crowning of the Christ. His use of
light and shadow was emulated by the Caravaggisti, the followers
of Caravaggio, such as Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639),
Artemisia Gentileschi (1592–1652/3), Mattia Preti, Carlo
Saraceni, and Bartolomeo Manfredi.
RUBENS AND Peter Paul Rubens was the dominant painter in
this category, though his student Anthony Van
VAN DYCK Dyck also became prominent. More than in any
other category, Flemish history painters continued
to draw influence from Italian painting. Rubens
spent nine years in Italy studying the work of the
masters, and he introduced the monumental
hunting scene to painting. This is exemplified in
his work Wolf and Fox Hunt, which depicts a
noble battle on a large scale and was inspired by
his study of classical antiquity .
 Frans Hals the Elder (c. 1582—1666) was most notable for
his loose painterly brushwork, a lively style he helped

FRANS HALS introduce into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the
evolution of 17th century group portraiture. He is perhaps
best known for his portraits, which were primarily of
wealthy citizens and prominent merchants like Pieter van
den Broecke and Isaac Massa. He also painted large group
portraits for local civic guards and the regents of local
hospitals. His pictures illustrate the various strata of
society: banquets or meetings of officers, guildsmen, local
councilmen from mayors to clerks, itinerant players and
singers, gentlefolk, fishwives, and tavern heroes. In his
group portraits, such as the The Officers of the St Adrian
Militia Company, Hals captures each character in a
different manner. Hals was fond of daylight and silvery
sheen, in contrast to Rembrandt’s use of golden glow
effects.
 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606—
REMBRANDT 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher during the
Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and
cultural achievement. Though Rembrandt’s
later years were marked by personal tragedy
and financial hardship, his etchings and
paintings were popular throughout his lifetime,
earning him an excellent reputation as an artist
and teacher. In 1626, Rembrandt produced his
first etchings, the wide dissemination of which
would largely account for his international
fame.
 OTHER DUTCH ARTIST
TER Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (1588—1629) was a Dutch painter
BRUGGHEN and a leading member of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio, or
the Dutch Caravaggisti. Ter Brugghen began painting at the age
of 13, studying with Abraham Bloemaert, a history painter
trained in Mannerism . Around 1604, ter Brugghen traveled to
Italy to expand his skills like many of his Dutch counterparts.
While in Rome , he could have been in direct contact with
Caravaggio. He certainly studied his work, as well as that of his
followers, known as the Italian Caravaggisti. Upon returning to
the Dutch city of Utrecht, he worked with Gerard van Honthorst,
another member of the Dutch Caravaggisti
 VAN Gerard van Honthorst (1590—1656) was born in Utrecht and
also studied under Abraham Bloemaert. In 1616, Honthorst also
traveled to Italy and was deeply influenced by the recent art he
HONTHORST encountered there. Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620 and
went on to build a considerable reputation, both in the Dutch
Republic and abroad.

Honthorst briefly became a court painter to Charles I in

England in 1628. His popularity in the Netherlands was such
that he opened a second studio in The Hague, where he painted
portraits of members of the court and taught drawing. Honthorst
cultivated the style of Caravaggio and had great skill at
chiaroscuro , often painting scenes illuminated by a single
candle. Apart from portraiture, he is known for painting tavern
scenes with musicians, gamblers, and people eating.

LEYSTER Judith Jans Leyster (1609—1660) was one of three

significant women artists in Dutch Golden Age
painting. The other two, Rachel Ruysch and Maria
van Oosterwijk, were specialized painters of
flower still lifes, while Leyster painted genre
works, a few portraits, and a single still life .
Leyster largely gave up painting after her
marriage, which produced five children. Leyster
was particularly innovative in her domestic genre
scenes . In them, she creates quiet scenes of
women at home, which were not a popular theme
in Holland until the 1650s.
 Other artists whose common
VEEMEER subjects were intimate interior
scenes included Nicolaes Maes,
Gerard ter Borch, and Pieter de
Hooch. Jan Vermeer specialized in
domestic interior scenes of middle
class life; though he was long a
very obscure figure, he is now the
most highly regarded genre painter
of Dutch history.
 Diego Velázquez is widely regarded as one of Spain’s

VELASQUEZ most important and influential artists. He was an

individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period
and most well-known as a portrait artist. In addition to
numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural
significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish
royal family, other notable European figures, and
commoners, culminating in the production of his
masterpiece Las Meninas (1656). Velázquez was a court
painter for King Philip IV and found increasingly high
demand for his portraits from statesmen, aristocrats, and
clergymen across Europe. His portraits of the King, his
chief minister, the Count-duke of Olivares, and the Pope
himself demonstrated a belief in artistic realism and a
style comparable to many of the Dutch masters.
BAROQUE MUSIC
 ITALIAN OPERA
Opera was born in Italy (first opera house = Venice)
• Combination of Renaissance theatrical tradition & musical experimentation
• 3 Acts
• Plots
• Greek mythology (typical subject)
• History (later operas)

in Western Europe
• Italian operas gained Popularity

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567–1643): - singer, gambist

• Perhaps greatest Italian composer in baroque
• Wrote nine books if madrigals
• First great master of opera
 ENGLISH OPERA
• Masque - an early type of entertainment for combined vocal and instrumental styles with poetry and
dance
• England adopted the italian model for opera and wrote libreto in english

HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695)- organist

• Dido and Aeneas (1689) among his first written in the english language
• Libreto: Nahum Tate
• Based on Virgil's Aeneid
• Known for its climactic final scene
• recitative "Thy Hand Belinda"
• aria = "Dido's Lament" - a.k.a "When i am laid"
• 5 measure ground bass - astinato
 FRENCH OPERA
• French opera in five acts incorporating ballet, chorus and lavish sets.
• French tradition was founded by the Italian Jean-Baptiste Lully at the court of King
Louis XIV.

.
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687):
• One of the most dominant figures of the French baroque
• he began work at the Court of Louis XIV as an instrumental
composer and dancer.
• started writing comédies-ballets with the playwright Molière
 GERMAN OPERA
• The first German opera was Dafne, composed by Heinrich Schütz in 1627
• German-language opera characterized by spoken dialogue that alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads,
and arias that were often strophic, or folklike.
.

MICHAEL PRAETORIUS (1571–1621): organist

• student of Martin Luther, Praetorius was theorganist at the
Marienkirche in Frankfurt
• his talents as a conductor, organist and knowledgeable expert
on practical music and on musical instruments.
• surviving secular work is Terpsichore, a set of 312 dances.
 CHURCH MUSIC
A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD
This composition is a paraphrase of psalm 46. Written by Luther, it is composed in a simple style, with a lyrical
melody and memorable tune. Its rhythmic patterns fit the text of the work particularly well. This appeal was exactly
what Luther was aiming at. At the time of its composition, this hymn became one of the rallying works for protestant
and Lutheran believers. It remains a favorite and is still sung frequently in churches today, though it is almost four
hundred years old.

SONATA PIAN E FORTE

This work has become famous for the presence of notated dynamics in the score. By writing out his composition so clearly, Gabrieli
conveyed a work in a way that went against the practice of the time. Most players would have assumed where dynamic markings
belonged, but the simple fact that Gabrieli wrote them in mean that his vision was clear in his head. The markings left nothing to chance.
Also of note is the fact that Gabrieli notes the specific instruments in the score. The rise of new instruments in the time leaves more
options for the composer, and Gabrieli is again conveying a clear idea from his head on paper. His works clearly have a defined method of
performance. This recording has performers playing on period instruments.
 INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
SUITE:
It's a group of dancers with different character. The move frequent dance are: allemande,
polonaise, sarabande, minuct, buorre, etc.

FUGUE:
It is a form in counterpoint style: a theme is exposed by one of the voice and imitated later by
the other voices.

CONCERTO:
Concerto grosso: when the contrast is produced between a group of soloists (concertino) and
the rest of the orchestra (tutti).
Solo concerto: when only one soloist contrast with the orchestra
 BAROQUE
LITERATURE


PICARESQUE TALES

Picaresque novel, early form of novel, usually a first-person narrative, relating the adventures of a rogue or lowborn
adventurer (Spanish pícaro) as he drifts from place to place and from one social milieu to another in his effort to
survive.

POETRY

The artistic production of poetry was one of the most important processes for the development of universal literature
at this time, since its proximity and impact with the poet will be decisive to examine the concerns alive in its authors.
However, it will be a poetry with many artifices and literary resources that will later trigger the emergence of
currents such as conceptismo and culteranismo, styles that you can examine in our Literature section.

DRAMA

As for the dramatic genre of the time, the biblical stories dictated by the Church, as well as comedy plays, continued
to be performed. In this sense, the comic plays allow the tragic to be linked to the comedy, which gives it a more
revealing tinge to the feeling of the conditions that Spain was facing at this time.