Class
notes
Late Renaissance / Mannerism; Baroque: Caravaggio
PERIODIZATION:
High
Renaissance
(1500-1520):
Classic art,
harmony, balance, calm repose/restraint, idealized beauty (nude),
full recuperation of classical and monumental forms
Late
Renaissance/Mannerism (1520-1600)
Takes
art not nature as its model and distorts Renaissance harmony to display
intellectual virtuosity—maniera / conceit (concetto)
--distortion of
proportions, elongated forms, affected grace, studied instability
BAROQUE
(Barocco) (1600-1750)
--negative
term, falling away from classicism for the bizarre and exaggerated,
linked to Papal obscurantism
--art form
of Counter-Reformation Church, overtly emotional and sensory
appeal to the faithful to impress splendor of the divine and the Church
--influences
by the new Science, Copernican universe of movement and
infinite space, faith in sensory experience
Seven
elements of the Baroque:
--Classicism
--Naturalism
--Psychology
(passions of the soul)
--Space
--Time
--Light
--Theatricality
Major
Baroque Artists in
Rome:
Annibale CARACCI (1560-1609)
--renunciation of Mannerism and recuperation of Renaissance classicism
Michelangelo Merisi da CARAVAGGIO
(1573-1610)
--pittore selvaggio (wild painter); gritty
naturalism; lack of decorum;
chiaroscuro (contrast of light & dark) and
tenebrism (use of shadows)
Gianlorenzo
BERNINI (1598-1680)
--The
Michelangelo of Baroque Rome
--plasticity and movement to sculpture; theatricality, meraviglia (the
marvelous),
fusion of the arts in major Church commissions
BAROQUE
ART IN ROME
MANNERISM:
1520s – 1600
(Style looks not to nature but to art, based on intellectual distortion of
classic forms)
--Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus and Medusa, 1549-1554
--Salt
Cellar with Neptune and Earth, 1540-44.
--Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Mazzola), Madonna of
the Long Neck, 1535 /
compared
with Michelangelo’s Pietà (1497-1500)
BAROQUE:
1600-1750
--Annibale Carracci (1560-1609): Loves of the Gods, Palazzo
Farnese ceiling
decoration (c1600) with
detail panels of Jupiter & Juno, Anchises & Venus
Return to ancient and Renaissance classical idealism.
--Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)
--Basket of Fruit, 1596
--Boy with Basket of
Fruit, 1593
--Boy bitten by a
lizard, 1595
--Calling of St.
Matthew, 1601
--Saint Matthew and the
Angel, 1601
--Entombment of Christ,
1602-04
--Supper at Emmaus, 1606
--The Incredulity of St.
Thomas, ?
--Crucifixion of St.
Peter, 1601
--Conversion of St.
Paul, 1601
--Madonna of the
Pilgrims (Madonna of Loreto) (1604);
contrasted
with Raphael, Sistine Madonna (1513)
--Madonna of the
Serpent, 1606
--Death of the Virgin,
1606
--The Martyrdom of St.
Matthew, 1601
--Judith Beheading
Holofernes, 1595-96
--David with the Head of
Goliath, 1606
(Goliath’s
severed head is portrait of Caravaggio)
--Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
--Damned Soul
(c. 1619) (self-portrait)
--Cardinal Scipione
Borghese, 1632 (about to speak)
--Goat Amaltea with baby
Zeus and baby Faun, c. 1613
--Putto Wrestling with
Dragon, c. 1613
Borghese Gallery statues:
--Aneas, Anchises and
Ascanius, 1618-19
--Pluto and
Proserpina,1621-22
--Apollo and Daphne,
1622-23
--David (1623-24),
(self-portrait)
contrasted
with Michelangelo’s David (1501-1503)
Coronaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria with the
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
of Avila, 1647-1652
St.
Peter’s Cathedral
--Bramante
chief architect, 1505-1514
--Michelangelo chief architect, 1546-1564
--Maderno’s façade, 1612
--Bernini’s Bronze Baldacchino, 1624-33,
--Bernini’s St. Peter’s Throne or Cathedra Petri, 1656-65
--Bernini’s Colonnade (1657-1678)
High
Renaissance (1500-1520/27)
--Classical art,
harmony, balance, organized by single-point perspective, idealized (nude)
beauty,
full recuperation of classical and monumental forms; the representational
problems of the early Renaissance have been solved
Late
Renaissance/Mannerism (1520s-1600)
--Takes art, not
nature as its model and distorts Renaissance harmony to display
intellectual virtuosity, individual expressionism
and unconventionality—characterized by maniera (manner), concetto (conceit),
allegoria (allegory)
--Proportions
are distorted, forms elongated and twisted, the illusion of space is
unrealistic, there is an affected grace and a studied instability
--16th-century
artists took the formal vocabulary of the High Renaissance as their point of
departure but used it in ways that were diametrically
opposed to the harmonious ideal it originally served. Instead of nature
as their teacher, Mannerist artists took art. While Renaissance artists
sought nature to find their style, the Mannerists looked first for a style and
found a manner. This art calls into question classical principles,
normative proportions and lucid space of the High Renaissance. It puts
into question the Renaissance idea of man at the center of the world in
secure, complete control of his destiny. Figures tend to become distorted
in the interest of expressionism, elongated in particular. It is a highly
intellectualized art distinguished by its very self-conscious cultivation of
artificial grace, eclectic borrowings, complex iconologies and abstract
symbolism.
--In
Mannerist paintings, compositions can have no focal point, space can be
ambiguous, figures can be characterized by an athletic bending
and twisting with distortions, exaggerations, an elastic elongation of the
limbs, bizarre posturing on one hand, graceful posturing on the other hand,
and a rendering of the heads as uniformly small and oval. Mannerist artwork
seeks instability and restlessness. There is also a fondness for allegories
that have lascivious undertones. We see some examples of it in
Parmigianino’s Madonna of the Long Neck and Benvenuto Cellini’s Salt
Cellar for
Francis I and Perseus for Cosimo dei Medici.
Baroque
Art in
--Baroque/barocco—negative term, a falling away from classicism for the bizarre and exaggerated; but also a hightened naturalism
--Art
form of Counter-Reformation Church, spirituality conveyed via an
overtly emotional and sensory appeal to the faithful (passions of the
soul;
emphasis on ecstatic visionary experience and martyrdoms) to impress splendor
of the Catholic faith and Church; linked to papal obscurantism
--Influences
of the New Science; a Copernican universe of movement, infinite
and expanding space (broken cornice, trompe l’oeil) expressive effects
of light (chiaroscuro, use of natural light), dramatic theatricality (work
of art as multi-sensorial staged representation)
Baroque Art
has had a bad reputation passed on from 18th-century Neoclassicism
as irregular, bizarre, or otherwise departing from established rules
and proportions. The word perhaps derived from Portuguese barroco,
used to describe an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl. It became the
official
art of the
the public’s faith in the Church. To this end the Church adopted a
conscious artistic program whose art products would make an overtly emotional
and
sensory appeal to the faithful. The Baroque style that evolved from this
program was paradoxically both sensuous and spiritual; while a naturalistic
treatment
rendered the religious image more accessible to the average churchgoer,
dramatic and illusory effects were used to stimulate his piety and devotion and
convey to him an impression of the splendor of the divine. Baroque church
ceilings thus dissolved into painted scenes that presented vivid views of the
infinite to the observer and directed him through his senses toward heavenly
concerns.
Some
characteristics of Baroque Art:
1) Naturalism. Unlike the
portrayal of reality in terms of a rationalist derivation of the most beautiful
aspects of nature or as an neoplatonist ideal of
beauty as perceived in the mind’s eye of the artist (Michelangelo), Baroque
artists took a more naturalistic approach to reality, depicting it in all of
its varied
and individualized aspects. Caravaggio’s paintings are the most extreme
form of this trend with his use of gritty models from the Roman streets
and his motto
that the best painter is the one who knows how “to imitate natural things
well.”
2) Interest in “Passions
of the Soul”—getting
into psychology of soul. Saintly visions and ecstasies, scenes of martyrdom.
Addresses the senses directly and
reaches the intellect through the emotions rather than through reason.
The emotional range is prodigiously expanded (v. Renaissance containment).
3) Interest in
Copernicanism and the New Science leads to the exploration movement in space
and expansion of spatial boundaries. Renaissance single-point
perspective implies an assumption of a fixed distance between observer and
subject that creates a window onto space. With naroque art the space
between the
picture or sculpture and the viewer are broken as the image reaches out to us
(the broken cornice and trompe l’oeil). As a result of such efforts to
achieve an
integration of real and fictional space, the observer becomes an active
participant in the spatial-psychological field created by the work of
art. An interest in the
infinity of space. Form is no longer closed and contained but opens up.
4) Light and its expressive
effects. It is one of the principal expressive means of the baroque
artist beginning with Caravaggio’s notion of “chiaroscuro.”
In decoration of churches real light is frequently introduced to denote divine
intervention (dove of the holy
spirit in St. Peter’s).
5) Theatricality: the art piece as a
multi-sensorial staged representation.
Architecture
Il Gesu’, 1568-1584
(Jesuit Style)
--Council of
surge in church construction during the Counter-Reformation. One of the
requirements: a return of hierarchy, an implied separation of the priest from
the congregation
was to be reflected in architecture as well, the Renaissance central church
plan being rejected in favor of a modified Latin cross plan.
--The most
important of these churches, the Gesu’, was designed according to the dictates
of the Counter-Reformation. Begun in 1568 it was the mother church of the
Society of
Jesus and would become the most influential
chapels, a series of identical square modules, each with its own altar, allowed
for the worship of individual saints and could be owned by private
families. Under this
arrangement, the congregation was directed architecturally toward the high
altar in the apse, which was illuminated by light from the dome. Since
the only other source
of light in the Gesu’ was the clerestory of the nave, the crossing became the
most illuminated space in the church. The light at the crossing thus
contributed to the dramatic
character of the high altar. Wide nave and barrel vault was to provide
space for a large congregation and to improve the acoustics. This enabled
worshipers to identify spiritually
with the text and music of the Mass, as desired by the council of
into a trancelike state that would bring the heavens before their eyes. The splendor of the
vision which increased by the lavish decorations and trompe l’oeil ceiling
paintings.
Francesco
Borromini (1599-1667) was he most unorthodox and revolutionary of the Baroque architects.
With San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane sets the
facade of the church into an architectural motion, making a counterpoint of
concave and convex on two levels, while emphasizing the sculptural effect with
deeply recessed niches.
The wall undulates, creating a sense of organic pressure pushing in and out
against the surface. The lower section is a series of three curves:
concave, convex, concave. The upper
wall is composed of three concave sections framed by a second set of large
columns. Instead of the continuous cornice on the first level this one is
broken by the large medallion held
aloft by angels. Above the medallion, the balustrade crowning the wall
rises to a peak, carrying one’s gaze skyward. This façade is no longer the
traditional, flat frontispiece that defines
a building’s outer limits; it is a pulsating membrane inserted between interior
and exterior space, designed not to separate but to provide a fluid transition
between the two.
Painting:
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610)
--pittore
selvaggio; a gritty (but devotional) naturalism, street models, accused of lack
of decorum; 1st artist to disregard High Renaissance notion that the object of
a work of art is to
be beautiful; “imitare bene le cose naturali;
--manipulation
of light and dark through tenebrismo and chiaroscuro; disruption of the frame
--Michelangelo
Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610): Has become famous as a painter maudit,
indecorous, licentious, violent, slovenly behavior, prophet of realism, creator
of an
aesthetic revolution. Giovanni Pietro Bellori, the most influential critic of
the age felt that Caravaggio’s refusal to emulate the models of his
distinguished predecessors threatened the
whole Classical
tradition of Italian painting that had reached its climax in Raphael. Yet
many paid Caravaggio the genuine compliment of borrowing from his innovations
and his influence
on later artists, as much outside
to the individual model, depicting the truth of a particular experience.
His religious art has no heroes, no idealized Christ or saints, and sacred
events are shown taking place in squalid
surroundings. Perhaps
the 1st artist to disregard the High Renaissance notion that the
object of a work of art was to be beautiful.
Nevertheless, his art is devotional in that it is an
intensely serious treatment of the subject at hand.
Early works:
studies of young boys and still lifes. Boy with a basket of fruit (1593-94).
Sensuality of boy, accurate depiction of fruit and attention to detail, including
marks of age and decay on fruit. Perhaps a young friend, perhaps a self
portrait. Boy bitten by a lizard (before 1595): interpreted
as an allegory of the senses—from the wound of love
to that of pleasure that is quickly transformed into pain, to the fleetingness
of youth and life. Sensuous
nature of boy (uncovered shoulder and flower in hair) and all of the sensual
display
of being
bitten by the lizard, still life detail of bowl and flowers.
Contrast of boy’s expression and beautiful still life—interesting recoiling
movement of his body, away from classical repose.
Sick
Bacchus (1591, Augenti 222)—corruption of the beautiful, pale-greenish-blue skin
tone of a boy in a state of sickness or perhaps as an allegory for the state of
the soul, the so-called
“furor lunare” thanks to which artists of melancholic temperament were able to
create their best works; perhaps of self-portrait of Caravaggio made with a
mirror when he was suffering from malaria.
Sickness shown also yellowed leaves and bare grey slab which is reminiscent of
a tomb slab.
--Madonna di Loreto (1604-5): Compare with
Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. Applauded
by the public but criticized by the official critics. Here the Madonna is
brought down into
the street, notice feet of worshipers that are dirty. In fact, the dirty
feet seem to thrust right out above the heads of the viewers standing in the
chapel. By dwelling on grimy feet and threadbare
clothing, he likened his pilgrims to the paupers, or worse, beggars in Rome who
were described by one observer in 1601 as “so numerous that it is impossible to
go anywhere in the city without
being surrounded by them.” If objectionable on Roman Streets, beggars were
downright unseemly in a holy altarpiece.” Neither saints nor wealthy
donors, these anonymous worshippers turn their
faces away from the viewer, their whole beings intent on the vision. The
travertine moldings suggest a Roman façade and the crumbling stucco on the wall
to the right perhaps evokes the poverty in
which Christ grew up.”
--Calling
of St. Matthew (1601): Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi (The
painting depicts the moment in which Matthew abandons his trade as a tax
collector to follow
Christ. It is a classic example of Caravaggio’s use
chiaroscuro / tenebrism, his “dark manner.” The sharp and sudden relief
it gives to the forms and the details of form emphasizes their reality
in a way than an even or subtly modulated light never could. Dark next to
light is naturally dramatic. The technique goes quite well with material
that is realistic and is another mode of Baroque
illusionism by which the eye is almost forced to acknowledge the visual reality
of what it sees. In the hands of Caravaggio, tenebrism also contributes
mightily to the essential meaning of his pictures.
A piercing ray of light illuminating a world of darkness and bearing a
spiritual message is a central feature of the Calling. The setting
is typical Caravaggio, a dingy tavern of the sort that the artist
frequented himself. Into this mundane environment, cloaked in mysterious
shadow and almost unseen, Christ, identifiable initially only by his indistinct
halo, enters from the right, with only one
disciple, Peter. With a commanding gesture (picked up by the ray of light and
other hands) he summons Matthew to a higher calling. The astonished tax
collector, whose face is highlighted for
the viewer by the beam of light emanating from an unspecific source above the
head of Christ and outside the picture points to himself in disbelief:
“Can it be I that you call?” He seems to say.
Crucifixion of St. Peter,
1601 (S. Maria del
Popolo)--Diagonal
composition. Scene
without any reference whatsoever to the sublime. Three men,
without faces and
with strong muscles, lift a cross, and the emphasis is on the physical strain
of lifting the cross. The
face of Peter noble but course and tinged with fear. The
picture portrays the grim death of an
old man without any glorifying or uplifting mediation.