Baroque Art: Italian, Flemish, and Dutch Masters
Baroque Art: 17th and 18th Century European Painting
The Baroque period began in the late 16th century and extended into the 18th century. Originating in Italy, it quickly spread throughout Europe. This style emerged during a period of crisis, characterized by brilliant, flamboyant art that expressed the power of great kings and the prosperous situation of the Catholic Church. The variety of socioeconomic, political, and religious factors gave rise to different forms of Baroque: a courtly, Catholic style used as a propaganda instrument by the Church and absolute states (Italy, France, Spain), and a bourgeois, Protestant style (England and the Netherlands).
Baroque Painting in Italy
Techniques included tempera in mural painting and oil on canvas. Brushwork varied by artist but tended to be loose and open. Line lost importance, with color predominating over drawing, defining forms through patches of color. Modeling often featured highly theatrical, violent contrasts. Depth was emphasized, creating a sense of three dimensions through converging lines, glimpses of dark foregrounds, and strategic use of light.
Light played a crucial role. Baroque art is about capturing light, and shadow, therefore, played an unprecedented role, especially in tenebrism. Form was subject to light, with shapes fading or strengthening depending on the intensity of the light. Asymmetrical composition replaced Renaissance symmetry. Imbalance was preferred, achieved through diagonal lines or shapes that suggested not everything fit within the frame. Diagonals created a dynamic first impression, reinforced by unstable, undulating figures. Foreshortening and naturalistic forms of expression were common, with varied themes, including genre painting, still life, and landscapes.
In late 16th-century Italy, two artists emerged who would shape European painting in the first half of the 17th century: Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci.
The Classical School of Bologna
In Bologna, a movement developed that rejected over-idealized forms but also immediate reality with its imperfections. It aimed to paint things not as they were but as they should be, seeking ideal beauty. There was a strong interest in nature, leading to a type of landscape painting of great beauty and balance. Although Michelangelo used the quadrature scheme, the masters of Bologna dedicated themselves to it.
The Carracci established an academy to provide artists with technical knowledge, literary and humanistic preparation to enrich their skills. Annibale (1560-1619) was the most prominent. His masterpiece is the decoration of the large room in the Farnese Palace. Guido Reni (1575-1642) was an important follower of the Carracci and the classical current. His work Hippomenes and Atalanta is particularly noteworthy.
Caravaggio and Naturalism
Caravaggio is a stellar figure in the history of painting. He was a flamboyant and violent individual. He used street models for all types of compositions, from mythological to religious, without idealization. This was very effective because the Christian Church was easily recognized in his paintings. Saints were depicted as ordinary men, making the path of holiness seem more accessible and the Gospel episodes more understandable. However, the excessive vulgarity of his models led to the rejection of some of his works.
Along with his emphasis on realism, Caravaggio employed an important resource: tenebrism. He presented characters and objects against a dark background, highlighting them with a focused, violent light, like a theatrical spotlight, which clarified gestures and objects, bringing them to a kind of stage. He ignored gloomy landscapes but greatly appreciated still life. The psychology of his characters is also important in his still lifes and compositions.
He painted popular types, but his masterpieces are large religious paintings in which the deliberate vulgarity of the models does not detract from the grandeur and emotion of what is represented. Notable works include The Calling of St. Matthew, The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, The Conversion of St. Paul, The Martyrdom of St. Peter, and The Entombment of Christ.
Baroque Painting in Flanders and the Netherlands
The development of painting in the Netherlands was influenced by social, economic, political, and religious factors. Religious reform resulted in a complete separation of artistic ideals, reflected in painting. There was a Catholic, aristocratic, and monarchical area under Spanish rule (Flanders) and a Protestant, democratic, and bourgeois area (Netherlands).
Flemish Painting
Large religious altar paintings multiplied, emphasizing the lives of saints and representations of the sacraments, which Protestants rejected. Mythological themes were also represented on a large scale to decorate royal palaces and the homes of the high nobility. Portraits were cumbersome and solemn, reflecting the high status of the sitter.
Van Dyck (1599-1641) was primarily a painter of the aristocracy, whom he flattered with portraits that had a distinctive stamp. He attached great importance to clothing, slim shapes, and effeminate figures. Notable portraits include Charles I of England.
Jordaens (1593-1678) followed Rubens’ influence but preferred popular themes with a humorous tone, such as in The King Drinks.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1628)
Rubens is the most prominent figure in Flemish painting, known for his dynamism, vitality, and exuberance. His warm colors were learned from the Venetians, and his compositions were arranged on diagonal patterns that gave them a sense of movement extending beyond the frame. He depicted manly, muscular, or effeminate bodies, thick, fleshy, and sensual models, grouped in turbulent, twisting shapes.
Rubens worked with equal skill in all genres. As a religious painter, he created a series of large compositions with an extraordinary sense of spectacle in service to the triumphant Church, such as The Descent from the Cross and The Raising of the Cross. Among his historical paintings, the Marie de’ Medici series, consisting of twenty-one canvases, stands out. As a mythological painter, he masterfully interpreted the sensuality of the gods in works like The Three Graces, The Garden of Love, The Judgment of Paris, and Venus at Her Toilet. He also excelled in portraiture, creating a courtly style inspired by the Venetians, as seen in his portrait of the Duke of Lerma.
Dutch Painting
Religious altar painting completely disappeared due to the rejection of image worship. Small religious pictures were created for contemplation and meditation in the homes of the bourgeoisie. Mythological themes were rarely addressed, and when they were, they often had an allegorical or moralizing intention. Portraits took on a tone of intimacy, simplicity, and realism.
The most characteristic feature of Dutch painting was realistic genre scenes, catering to bourgeois taste with small-sized paintings for home decoration. These also adorned the palaces of the nobility, seeking convenience and comfort. Paintings depicted interiors with domestic scenes, animals, pure landscapes, and still lifes.
Frans Hals (1580-1666) was the most intimate portraitist of his generation, a special interpreter of Dutch liveliness and joy. He crystallized the group portrait of members of a corporation, as seen in The Regents of the Haarlem Hospital. His individual portraits, such as The Gypsy Girl, are also important.
Vermeer of Delft (1632-1675) was the grand master of the typically Dutch interior genre. His paintings, of extraordinary simplicity in composition, are characterized by light and the beauty of colors, with an almost pointillist technique, making him a very bold, modern artist. Notable works include The Milkmaid and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)
Rembrandt is the most complex character in Dutch art. A true genius of painting, he covered all fields: portrait, landscape, interior, religious painting, and mythological subjects. He was also one of the greatest writers of all time. His style leaned towards tenebrism, but unlike Caravaggio, he preferred a mysterious, golden shadow, which is a huge attraction in his work. The Flayed Ox is one of the most brilliant still lifes ever painted.
Rembrandt’s main series of paintings consists of portraits. He painted both individual and group portraits, using them to study light and facial expressions. Notable group portraits include the dramatic and mysterious Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and The Night Watch, commissioned by the musketeers of Amsterdam. The latter depicts the preparation of weapons, with characters ready to start an action, illuminated by a blinding light. The Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild, his masterpiece, is a unified composition full of powerful inner life and a greater sense of idealism.