The Baroque Research Paper
THE BAROQUE
Historical Background
Welcome to “History through Art”. Today we’ll be looking at the history, culture and art of the Baroque, a period of turbulence that began about 1545. It was a time when the Renaissance celebration of all humanity switched its focus to the rich, self-centered privileged class who could afford to sponsor artists to immortalize their opulent life-style. The wealthy also were patrons to artists who depicted both religious and secular scenes with great motion, light, and sensuality. Today, you can see the Baroque influence in the ornate curlicues around the doors of old buildings and antique picture frames, and even in the string quartets and chamber groups that play at formal weddings and parties. As is usually the case, the art, music, and writing of the Baroque reflect the world in which they were created. The Baroque period was one of great turmoil, particularly in two intertwined areas: politics and religion. For instance, Elizabeth I, England’s Protestant queen, was busy fighting Phillip II, Spain’s Catholic king. You can get a sense of the Queen’s wealth and power just by looking at this portrait of hers. When the Queen’s navy defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, it was considered a religious as well as a political victory. Meanwhile, both …show more content…
countries’ explorers were competing for land with the French in the New World. In 1643, France’s King Louis XIV joined the race for wealth and power in both Europe and the New World. Again as you can see the King’s clothing and manner reflect the opulence that was so highly regarded during the Baroque. Europe’s conflicts were compounded by religious unrest. In 1517, Martin Luther sparked the religious upheaval by suggesting that the Catholic church reform itself by correcting the corrupt practices it had developed over the years. By 1545, the Catholic church had rejected Luther’s reforms at the Council of Trent, but began to institute some reforms of its own. Meanwhile, Protestants and Catholics clashed in France until the Edict of Nantes legalized Protestantism in 1589. When the Edict was later reversed, violence resumed. During this chaotic period, the Catholic church sought to hold on to the faithful by designing splendid rituals and building soul inspiring churches that were decorated with ornate, gilded sculpture and flamboyant, vibrant paintings. In this way, art became the servant of the church and subtly mirrored the conflicts of the time. This ostentatious Baroque style continued throughout the 17th century and into the 18th century in Europe, most notably in Spain, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, often called Holland. Baroque art showed little restraint compared with past styles, and these extravagances were soon emulated in the palaces of the nobility and in the wonderfully intricate, motion-filled music of such composers as Vivaldi and Handel. Obviously, this extravagant style still appeals to people today because certain Baroque musical works are embedded in our cultural heritage. A Christmas season never goes by without many performances of Handel’s Messiah. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is another musical favorite in the Baroque style. The Baroque era reached its most whimsical point with the development of a playful, sensual style called Rococo. This style lingered on among the nobility even after some artists, scholars, and philosophers had entered the Age of Enlightenment. As you will see in this programme, Baroque artists have contributed much to what is considered lush and sumptuous in Western civilization today.
Part I
“When that sweet Huntsman from above First wounded me and left me prone, Into the very arms of love My stricken soul forthwith was thrown The dart wherewith He wounded me Was all embarbed round with love, And thus my spirit came to be One with its Maker, God above.”
Dynamic. Dramatic. Splendid. Sensuous. Turbulent. Tempestuous. The 16th century nurtured a period of great conflicts and confusions – religious, political, and intellectual. The ship of the church was storm-tossed on a sea of controversy. Luther and the Protestant Reformation set Europe ablaze. Men set the torch to one another with religious passion. The Catholic Counter-Reformation brought with it the dread Inquisition and a great outburst of religious art. The French armies of Francis I swept into the Italy of the Renaissance. And Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, in his running feud with the Popes, sacked Rome in 1527. His troops set fire to the city – one of the greatest monuments of Christendom. The discoveries of unknown continents and their resources during the early 16th century led to fierce competition for political power and economic riches – for Empire! – in the late 16th and 17th centuries. In France and Germany one civil war followed another, until those two countries were splintered into numerous hostile factions. As if these religious and political upheavals weren’t enough for Europe, Western man’s intellectual attitudes were also challenged and upset. Renaissance man had believed the earth to be the center of the universe. But Copernicus, in 1543, published a book setting man’s globe on a whirling path around the sun. In the 15th century, Renaissance man had discovered an orderly world. His art reflects this. Renaissance painters used architectural backgrounds to create a feeling of geometric clarity and order. A Renaissance poet said, “God has formed the world in a goodly pattern.” In contrast, the men of the 16th century saw their world in violent motion. Baroque art expresses this feeling for the dynamic and the dramatic. The poet John Donne, commenting on the spirit of the Baroque era, wrote, “And new philosophy calls all in doubt… ‘Tis all in pieces, … all coherence gone…” Clarity gave way to mystery and vagueness. The deep shadows in Baroque paintings reflect a new awareness of the unknown, the mysterious. This use of dramatic contrasts of light and shadow is called chiaroscuro. We can see it in the following examples. In this study of a philosopher, the painter Rembrandt achieves a theatrical effect by placing his figure in the window-lighted corner of a dark room. Michelangelo Buonarroti dominated the arts of the 16th century. He stood with one foot in the Renaissance and the other in the Baroque. His early works were filled with subjects from classical Greek and Roman mythology, or, like this early Pieta, were composed in an orderly, balanced form, like a triangle. But Michelangelo’s later works incorporate a new vision of the world: twisting, falling forms and rough, exciting surfaces. Michelangelo’s early Pieta is on the left. A later carving of the same subject is on the right. Here is a detail from the early work. This one is from the later, Baroque example. Let us make a more extreme comparison. On the left is Michelangelo’s David – typical of the High Renaissance. On the right is the same subject – David – by the Baroque sculptor Bernini. But look at the difference! Bernini’s David unleashes anger and violence. Ben Johnson, a 17th-century dramatist, said: “That which is tortured is counted the more exquisite; nothing is fashionable ‘til it is deformed.” Michelangelo carefully arranged the Sistine ceiling into a geometry of frames: squares and triangles punctuated by prophets and classical figures. It is in the spirit of the Renaissance. However, when he completed the Last Judgment 30 years later, Michelangelo had filled the wall with a vast and terrible panorama. Everywhere, we see bewilderment, chaos, despair. Rome, the city of Michelangelo’s triumphs, was the birthplace of the Baroque.
Painters, sculptors, and architects from all over the world flocked there to study the monuments of the city and to make their own special contributions to the sacred beauty of Rome. There was Bernini, the sculptor, and Borromini, the disturbed and imaginative architect. Caravaggio came from northern Italy, and Peter Paul Rubens journeyed from Flanders. There was Nicolas Poussin, a Frenchman and El Greco, the Greek on his way to Spain. The works of these artists made Rome into an inspiring and magnificent center for the new Catholic church – embarked on its campaign of
Counter-Reformation.
STEP 1: Understanding the Information
Historical Background
• Give the proper English equivalents 1) буйность (непокорность)
2) сосредоточить свое внимание
3) поддерживать (субсидировать)
4) богатый образ жизни
5) чувственность
6) суматоха (беспорядок)
7) взаимосвязанные области
8) смешивать (соединять)
9) богато украшенный (витиеватый)
10) позолоченный; трепещущий
11) нарочитый (показной) стиль Барокко
12) демонстрировать сдержанность
13) соперничать
14) запечатлеваться в культурном наследии
15) достигать самой причудливой точки
16) задержаться
17) пышный и великолепный
• Answer the questions. Use the topical vocabulary
1) What was the characteristic features of the period discussed?
2) Where can we see the Baroque influence nowadays?
3) What was the essence of religious and political conflicts of that time?
4) What adjectives and word-combinations can be used to describe Baroque art?
• Place Europe’s Baroque period in its correct historical and geographical setting
• Fill in the gaps. Use the above given words and word combinations. Translate the utterances into good Russian. Reproduce them in a look-up-and-say manner
1) The Baroque, which began about 1545, was a period of _____________.
2) It was a time when the Renaissance celebration of all humanity __________________the rich, self-centered privileged class who could afford _________________ artists to immortalize their _____________.
3) As is usually the case, the art, music, and writing of the Baroque reflect the world in which they were created, and that world was one of _________________________________________________________.
4) Baroque art ___________________ compared with past styles, and these extravagances were soon ______________ in the palaces of the nobility.
5) Obviously, this extravagant style still appeals to people today because certain Baroque musical works ________________________________.
6) The Baroque style ______________________ with the development of a playful, sensual style called Rococo.
7) This style ______________________ among the nobility even after some artists, scholars and philosophers had entered the Age of Enlightenment.
8) All in all, Baroque artists have contributed much to what is considered ________________________________in Western civilization today.
Part I
• Give the proper English equivalents. Learn the active vocabulary
1) бурный (буйный)
2) воспитывать (выращивать)
3) разрываемый штормом в море споров
4) длительная непримиримая вражда
5) ужасная инквизиция
6) грабить
7) неистовая борьба
8) религиозные и политические перевороты
9) распределение светотени
10) соединять (включать)
11) давать волю гневу
12) замешательство, хаос и отчаяние
13) родина Барокко
14) стекаться со всего мира
15) вступить в кампанию по контрреформации
• Read out the proper names ➢ Copernicus ➢ John Donne ➢ Rembrandt ➢ Michelangelo Buonarroti ➢ Bernini ➢ Borromini ➢ Caravaggio ➢ Peter Paul Rubens ➢ Nicolas Poussin ➢ El Greco
Questions to answer
1) What religious conflicts created unrest during the Baroque? What was the Reformation? What was the Counter-Reformation? What was the cause and effect of the Sack of Rome?
2) How did the Renaissance era explorations of men like Columbus contribute to political unrest in the Baroque period? How did religious unrest lead to political unrest in Europe?
3) How did the scientific discoveries of people like Copernicus upset the orderly world subscribed to by Renaissance intellectuals? How does this upset reveal itself in Baroque art?
4) What is the meaning of the word chiaroscuro, and how does it relate to Baroque art?
5) How did Michelangelo’s work change from the Renaissance to the Baroque? What new vision of the world did these changes reflect?
6) Where was the birthplace of the Baroque, and who were some of the Baroque’s most famous artists?
• Fill in the gaps. Use the above given words and word combinations. Translate the utterances into good Russian. Use the above given words and word combinations. Reproduce them in a look-up-and-say manner
1) The 16th century _____________ a period of great conflicts and confusions – religious, political, and intellectual.
2) The Catholic Counter-Reformation brought with it _________________and a great outburst of religious art.
3) The discoveries of unknown continents and their resources during the early 16th century led to ____________________ for political power and economic riches…
4) As if these ______________________________________ weren’t enough for Europe, Western man’s intellectual attitudes were also challenged and upset.
5) Renaissance painters used architectural backgrounds to create ________________________________________________________.
6) In contrast, the men of the 16th century ______________________________.
7) Everywhere we see _____________________________________________.
8) Rome, the city of Michelangelo’s triumphs, was ______________________.
9) Painters, sculptors, and architects ____________________________to study the monuments of the city and to make their own special contributions to the sacred beauty of Rome.
Historical Background
Welcome to “History through Art”. Today we’ll be looking at the history, culture and art of the Baroque, a period of turbulence that began about 1545. It was a time when the Renaissance celebration of all humanity switched its focus to the rich, self-centered privileged class who could afford to sponsor artists to immortalize their opulent life-style. The wealthy also were patrons to artists who depicted both religious and secular scenes with great motion, light, and sensuality. Today, you can see the Baroque influence in the ornate curlicues around the doors of old buildings and antique picture frames, and even in the string quartets and chamber groups that play at formal weddings and parties. As is usually the case, the art, music, and writing of the Baroque reflect the world in which they were created. The Baroque period was one of great turmoil, particularly in two intertwined areas: politics and religion. For instance, Elizabeth I, England’s Protestant queen, was busy fighting Phillip II, Spain’s Catholic king. You can get a sense of the Queen’s wealth and power just by looking at this portrait of hers. When the Queen’s navy defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, it was considered a religious as well as a political victory. Meanwhile, both …show more content…
countries’ explorers were competing for land with the French in the New World. In 1643, France’s King Louis XIV joined the race for wealth and power in both Europe and the New World. Again as you can see the King’s clothing and manner reflect the opulence that was so highly regarded during the Baroque. Europe’s conflicts were compounded by religious unrest. In 1517, Martin Luther sparked the religious upheaval by suggesting that the Catholic church reform itself by correcting the corrupt practices it had developed over the years. By 1545, the Catholic church had rejected Luther’s reforms at the Council of Trent, but began to institute some reforms of its own. Meanwhile, Protestants and Catholics clashed in France until the Edict of Nantes legalized Protestantism in 1589. When the Edict was later reversed, violence resumed. During this chaotic period, the Catholic church sought to hold on to the faithful by designing splendid rituals and building soul inspiring churches that were decorated with ornate, gilded sculpture and flamboyant, vibrant paintings. In this way, art became the servant of the church and subtly mirrored the conflicts of the time. This ostentatious Baroque style continued throughout the 17th century and into the 18th century in Europe, most notably in Spain, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, often called Holland. Baroque art showed little restraint compared with past styles, and these extravagances were soon emulated in the palaces of the nobility and in the wonderfully intricate, motion-filled music of such composers as Vivaldi and Handel. Obviously, this extravagant style still appeals to people today because certain Baroque musical works are embedded in our cultural heritage. A Christmas season never goes by without many performances of Handel’s Messiah. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is another musical favorite in the Baroque style. The Baroque era reached its most whimsical point with the development of a playful, sensual style called Rococo. This style lingered on among the nobility even after some artists, scholars, and philosophers had entered the Age of Enlightenment. As you will see in this programme, Baroque artists have contributed much to what is considered lush and sumptuous in Western civilization today.
Part I
“When that sweet Huntsman from above First wounded me and left me prone, Into the very arms of love My stricken soul forthwith was thrown The dart wherewith He wounded me Was all embarbed round with love, And thus my spirit came to be One with its Maker, God above.”
Dynamic. Dramatic. Splendid. Sensuous. Turbulent. Tempestuous. The 16th century nurtured a period of great conflicts and confusions – religious, political, and intellectual. The ship of the church was storm-tossed on a sea of controversy. Luther and the Protestant Reformation set Europe ablaze. Men set the torch to one another with religious passion. The Catholic Counter-Reformation brought with it the dread Inquisition and a great outburst of religious art. The French armies of Francis I swept into the Italy of the Renaissance. And Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, in his running feud with the Popes, sacked Rome in 1527. His troops set fire to the city – one of the greatest monuments of Christendom. The discoveries of unknown continents and their resources during the early 16th century led to fierce competition for political power and economic riches – for Empire! – in the late 16th and 17th centuries. In France and Germany one civil war followed another, until those two countries were splintered into numerous hostile factions. As if these religious and political upheavals weren’t enough for Europe, Western man’s intellectual attitudes were also challenged and upset. Renaissance man had believed the earth to be the center of the universe. But Copernicus, in 1543, published a book setting man’s globe on a whirling path around the sun. In the 15th century, Renaissance man had discovered an orderly world. His art reflects this. Renaissance painters used architectural backgrounds to create a feeling of geometric clarity and order. A Renaissance poet said, “God has formed the world in a goodly pattern.” In contrast, the men of the 16th century saw their world in violent motion. Baroque art expresses this feeling for the dynamic and the dramatic. The poet John Donne, commenting on the spirit of the Baroque era, wrote, “And new philosophy calls all in doubt… ‘Tis all in pieces, … all coherence gone…” Clarity gave way to mystery and vagueness. The deep shadows in Baroque paintings reflect a new awareness of the unknown, the mysterious. This use of dramatic contrasts of light and shadow is called chiaroscuro. We can see it in the following examples. In this study of a philosopher, the painter Rembrandt achieves a theatrical effect by placing his figure in the window-lighted corner of a dark room. Michelangelo Buonarroti dominated the arts of the 16th century. He stood with one foot in the Renaissance and the other in the Baroque. His early works were filled with subjects from classical Greek and Roman mythology, or, like this early Pieta, were composed in an orderly, balanced form, like a triangle. But Michelangelo’s later works incorporate a new vision of the world: twisting, falling forms and rough, exciting surfaces. Michelangelo’s early Pieta is on the left. A later carving of the same subject is on the right. Here is a detail from the early work. This one is from the later, Baroque example. Let us make a more extreme comparison. On the left is Michelangelo’s David – typical of the High Renaissance. On the right is the same subject – David – by the Baroque sculptor Bernini. But look at the difference! Bernini’s David unleashes anger and violence. Ben Johnson, a 17th-century dramatist, said: “That which is tortured is counted the more exquisite; nothing is fashionable ‘til it is deformed.” Michelangelo carefully arranged the Sistine ceiling into a geometry of frames: squares and triangles punctuated by prophets and classical figures. It is in the spirit of the Renaissance. However, when he completed the Last Judgment 30 years later, Michelangelo had filled the wall with a vast and terrible panorama. Everywhere, we see bewilderment, chaos, despair. Rome, the city of Michelangelo’s triumphs, was the birthplace of the Baroque.
Painters, sculptors, and architects from all over the world flocked there to study the monuments of the city and to make their own special contributions to the sacred beauty of Rome. There was Bernini, the sculptor, and Borromini, the disturbed and imaginative architect. Caravaggio came from northern Italy, and Peter Paul Rubens journeyed from Flanders. There was Nicolas Poussin, a Frenchman and El Greco, the Greek on his way to Spain. The works of these artists made Rome into an inspiring and magnificent center for the new Catholic church – embarked on its campaign of
Counter-Reformation.
STEP 1: Understanding the Information
Historical Background
• Give the proper English equivalents 1) буйность (непокорность)
2) сосредоточить свое внимание
3) поддерживать (субсидировать)
4) богатый образ жизни
5) чувственность
6) суматоха (беспорядок)
7) взаимосвязанные области
8) смешивать (соединять)
9) богато украшенный (витиеватый)
10) позолоченный; трепещущий
11) нарочитый (показной) стиль Барокко
12) демонстрировать сдержанность
13) соперничать
14) запечатлеваться в культурном наследии
15) достигать самой причудливой точки
16) задержаться
17) пышный и великолепный
• Answer the questions. Use the topical vocabulary
1) What was the characteristic features of the period discussed?
2) Where can we see the Baroque influence nowadays?
3) What was the essence of religious and political conflicts of that time?
4) What adjectives and word-combinations can be used to describe Baroque art?
• Place Europe’s Baroque period in its correct historical and geographical setting
• Fill in the gaps. Use the above given words and word combinations. Translate the utterances into good Russian. Reproduce them in a look-up-and-say manner
1) The Baroque, which began about 1545, was a period of _____________.
2) It was a time when the Renaissance celebration of all humanity __________________the rich, self-centered privileged class who could afford _________________ artists to immortalize their _____________.
3) As is usually the case, the art, music, and writing of the Baroque reflect the world in which they were created, and that world was one of _________________________________________________________.
4) Baroque art ___________________ compared with past styles, and these extravagances were soon ______________ in the palaces of the nobility.
5) Obviously, this extravagant style still appeals to people today because certain Baroque musical works ________________________________.
6) The Baroque style ______________________ with the development of a playful, sensual style called Rococo.
7) This style ______________________ among the nobility even after some artists, scholars and philosophers had entered the Age of Enlightenment.
8) All in all, Baroque artists have contributed much to what is considered ________________________________in Western civilization today.
Part I
• Give the proper English equivalents. Learn the active vocabulary
1) бурный (буйный)
2) воспитывать (выращивать)
3) разрываемый штормом в море споров
4) длительная непримиримая вражда
5) ужасная инквизиция
6) грабить
7) неистовая борьба
8) религиозные и политические перевороты
9) распределение светотени
10) соединять (включать)
11) давать волю гневу
12) замешательство, хаос и отчаяние
13) родина Барокко
14) стекаться со всего мира
15) вступить в кампанию по контрреформации
• Read out the proper names ➢ Copernicus ➢ John Donne ➢ Rembrandt ➢ Michelangelo Buonarroti ➢ Bernini ➢ Borromini ➢ Caravaggio ➢ Peter Paul Rubens ➢ Nicolas Poussin ➢ El Greco
Questions to answer
1) What religious conflicts created unrest during the Baroque? What was the Reformation? What was the Counter-Reformation? What was the cause and effect of the Sack of Rome?
2) How did the Renaissance era explorations of men like Columbus contribute to political unrest in the Baroque period? How did religious unrest lead to political unrest in Europe?
3) How did the scientific discoveries of people like Copernicus upset the orderly world subscribed to by Renaissance intellectuals? How does this upset reveal itself in Baroque art?
4) What is the meaning of the word chiaroscuro, and how does it relate to Baroque art?
5) How did Michelangelo’s work change from the Renaissance to the Baroque? What new vision of the world did these changes reflect?
6) Where was the birthplace of the Baroque, and who were some of the Baroque’s most famous artists?
• Fill in the gaps. Use the above given words and word combinations. Translate the utterances into good Russian. Use the above given words and word combinations. Reproduce them in a look-up-and-say manner
1) The 16th century _____________ a period of great conflicts and confusions – religious, political, and intellectual.
2) The Catholic Counter-Reformation brought with it _________________and a great outburst of religious art.
3) The discoveries of unknown continents and their resources during the early 16th century led to ____________________ for political power and economic riches…
4) As if these ______________________________________ weren’t enough for Europe, Western man’s intellectual attitudes were also challenged and upset.
5) Renaissance painters used architectural backgrounds to create ________________________________________________________.
6) In contrast, the men of the 16th century ______________________________.
7) Everywhere we see _____________________________________________.
8) Rome, the city of Michelangelo’s triumphs, was ______________________.
9) Painters, sculptors, and architects ____________________________to study the monuments of the city and to make their own special contributions to the sacred beauty of Rome.