Baroque Art: Sculpture and Painting of the 17th Century
Baroque Sculpture
Baroque sculpture is a highly expressive movement, characterized by dramatic faces and detailed clothing.
Bernini
Ecstasy of St. Teresa: Bernini’s grand and monumental sculptures prioritized expressive emotion. His masterful use of various materials, including marble and bronze, showcases his technical skill.
Painterly Effects
Baroque sculptors employed polychrome (in Spain) and various colored marbles to achieve painterly effects. Many works appear staged, as if for a theatrical presentation to the viewer.
Composition and Movement
Baroque sculpture is known for its dynamic compositions and the use of the serpentinata, a sinuous, twisting pose.
Apollo and Daphne
This work, commissioned from Bernini by Cardinal Borghese, depicts Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne, who transforms into a laurel tree to escape him. Bernini captures the fleeting moment of transformation, as Daphne’s arm becomes a branch and her legs and torso turn to bark.
Movement is key; the arms and legs appear separated from the torsos.
Pedro Roldán’s Holy Burial
Realism is another defining characteristic. Note Daphne’s open mouth, expressing fear.
While Italy and France developed sculpture primarily in marble and bronze, often depicting allegorical and mythological subjects, Spain favored polychrome wood sculpture with deeply religious themes.
The imagery of Holy Week processions is a prime example.
Holy Burial
This work is a portrait-like altarpiece. Its architectural structure is divided into horizontal and vertical sections by columns with plain and twisted shafts. Pedro Roldán creates a sense of dramatic movement in the figures’ garments.
Baroque Painting
Baroque painting, one of the richest and most varied artistic movements of the 17th century, was used by the Church and states to disseminate religious and political ideologies.
Light and Shadow
Light is a hallmark of Baroque painting. The use of strong contrasts of light and shadow, known as tenebrism, is a defining characteristic.
Depth and Color
Baroque painters often emphasized the foreground, making the background appear distant. Light is used to draw the viewer’s eye to distant areas. Color is applied in a way that sometimes downplays the drawing’s lines.
Tenebrism in Italy: Caravaggio
Caravaggio‘s use of dramatic contrasts of light and shadow created a fashionable style. Figures emerge strongly illuminated from a dark background.
Caravaggio depicted everyday life and popular types. His Death of the Virgin, rejected by the clergy for not adhering to Tridentine rules, featured a model based on a drowned woman. The realism continues in the faces of the Apostles, emerging from shadow.
Flemish Painting
Flemish painting is known for its vitalistic sense. Peter Paul Rubens is a leading figure of the 17th-century Flemish school and a giant of universal painting history.
Palace Painting in France
French courtly art focused on royal portraits that glorified the king. It’s a very classical form of Baroque, without excessive ornamentation.
Portrait and Landscape in the Netherlands
The Dutch school flourished, with Rembrandt at its head. He created numerous group portraits (Anatomy Lesson, Night Watch, and The Syndics of the Drapers).
Religious Themes in Spain
The 17th century was the Golden Age of Spanish painting, producing many great masters, such as Velázquez.
José de Ribera
Martyrdom of Saint Philip: Ribera was a master of tenebrism.
Francisco de Zurbarán
Zurbarán focused on religious subjects, particularly monks, and also painted still lifes. He was an admirable painter of fabrics, such as satins and velvets.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Murillo was a leading painter of religious scenes. He depicted human subjects in simple settings (Sagrada Familia Pajarito) and sought to portray everyday life. He also painted heavenly visions with cherubs and clouds, notably in his depictions of the Immaculate Conception.
Diego Velázquez
Velázquez, born in Seville in the late 16th century, had a decidedly naturalistic style in his early works. Simple compositions, seeking expression of serenity and beauty, and achieving masterful effects with light and color are characteristic. His portrait of Philip IV secured his position as court painter.
His court work focused mainly on portraits of the palace’s inhabitants.