The Baroque age
Baroque period, era in the history of the Western arts roughly coinciding
with the 17th century. Its first expressions, which appeared in Italy,
date from the latter decades of the 16th century, while in some regions,
notably Germany and colonial South America, certain of its culminating
achievements did not occur until the 18th century. The work that distinguishes
the Baroque period is stylistically complicated, even contradictory.
In general, however, the desire to excite emotional states by appealing
to the senses, often in dramatic ways, underlies its manifestations.
The Baroque style used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted
detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture,
painting, literature, dance, and music. Some of the qualities most frequently
associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality,
movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions
between the various arts.
The baroque style is characterized by its importance on unity among the arts. With technical brilliance, the baroque artist got a notable harmony wherein painting, sculpture, and architecture were brought together in new spatial relationships, both real and illusionary, often with spectacular visual effects. Although the restrained and classical works created by most French and English artists look very different from the exuberant works favored in central and southern Europe and in the New World, both trends in baroque art tend to engage the viewer, both physically and emotionally. In painting and sculpture this was achieved by means of highly developed naturalistic illusionism, usually heightened by dramatic lighting effects, creating an unequaled sense of theatricality, energy, and movement of forms. Architecture, departing from the classical canon revived during the Renaissance, took on the fluid, plastic aspects of sculpture.
The Painters and sculptors built and extended on the naturalistic way reestablished during the Renaissance. Although religious painting, history painting, allegories, and portraits were still considered the most noble subjects, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes were painted by such artists as Claude Lorrain, Jacob van Ruisdael, Willem Kalf, and Jan Vermeer. Caravaggio and his early followers were especially significant for their naturalistic treatment of unidealized, ordinary people. The illusionistic effects of deep space interested many painters, including Il Guercino and Andrea Pozzo. Other baroque painters opened up interior spaces by representing long files of rooms, often with extended views through doors, windows, or mirrors, as in the works of Diego Velázquez and Vermeer.
Color was handled for its emotional effects, ranging from the clear
calm tones of Nicholas Poussin, to the warm and shimmering colors of
Pietro da Cortona, to the more vivid hues of Peter Paul Rubens. A heightened
sense of drama was achieved through chiaroscuro in the works of Caravaggio
and Rembrandt. Carracci and Poussin portrayed restrained feeling in accordance
with the academic principles of dignity and decorum. Others, including
Caravaggio, Rubens, and Rembrandt depicted religious ecstasy, physical
sensuality, or individual psychology in their paintings.