Baroque Sculpture and Painting: Bernini and Caravaggio
The Dawn of Baroque Sculpture and Painting in Italy
Baroque Sculpture: From Mannerism to Bernini
The cradle of Baroque sculpture lies in Mannerist Italy. Mannerist sculptors introduced innovations in their works, including Stefano Maderno, Pietro Bernini, and Camillo Mariani. However, the most significant figure to emerge was Francesco Mochi, who paved the way for Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Baroque sculpture is characterized by:
- Expressing motion through the treatment of drapery and a sense of dynamism.
- A theatrical play of light and shadows.
- Human expressions imbued with drama.
- A focus on the nude form.
- A taste for diverse subjects, including religious and mythological themes.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
Bernini’s talent as a sculptor was evident early on. He was surrounded by a large workshop of collaborators due to his extensive workload. His style became the model for the century. Bernini translated drama and intense emotion, capturing a taste for the instant in time, movement, realism, and detail. He masterfully represented anatomy, faces, skin, and clothing.
Bernini’s career as a sculptor can be divided into several phases:
- 1615-1617: The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun, and Saint Lawrence. These works show Mannerist influence, along with free energy and perfection.
- 1618-1624: The Rape of Proserpina, David, and Apollo and Daphne. These works reveal Bernini’s true personality.
- From 1624: Saint Longinus and Saint Bibiana. These pieces demonstrate the sensitivity of the 1600s, with outrageous plays of light and shadow.
- From 1630: The Tomb of Countess Matilda and Head of Medusa.
- Classical Period (1640-1650): Tomb of Urban VIII and Fountain of the Four Rivers. These are mature works that showcase a more personal style.
- From 1660: Daniel and Mary Magdalene. These works feature delicate garments, and the figures are elongated and pronounced.
Baroque Painting: Classicism and Naturalism
Baroque painting laid the foundations for two artistic movements that spread throughout Western Europe: Classicism and Naturalism. These are represented by Annibale Carracci and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
Annibale Carracci
Carracci’s work involved the participation of two of his relatives, with whom he opened a private academy in Bologna. He received many commissions, and his fame led him to Rome in 1595 at the request of Cardinal Farnese.
In Rome, Carracci began to paint in a grand manner, drawing from nature, classical antiquity, and the influence of Raphael and Michelangelo. His first job was in a small room of the Farnese Palace, the Camerino, where he painted mythological and allegorical stories of Hercules and Ulysses. He then painted one of his most important works in the same building, representing mythological scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The central panel of the dome features The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne.
Despite his monumental fresco programs, Carracci continued to engage in easel painting. Among his canvas works, The Assumption of the Virgin, painted for the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, stands out.
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s style shows a marked evolution based on two pillars: realism and tenebrism. His realism led him to represent characters as they were, without idealizing their faces, anatomy, or clothing. Tenebrism involved taking the technique of chiaroscuro to its ultimate consequences. The backgrounds of his compositions are dark, and only the figures or parts of them in the foreground are illuminated.
Caravaggio’s artistic development began in a workshop linked to Milanese Mannerist canons. In mid-1592, he moved to Rome, where he worked for second-tier painters. His early paintings were far from dark; the backgrounds were clear, and the figures were well-illuminated.