Baroque Art And Renaissance

The Baroque era began in the year 1600, at the end of the Renaissance period (Kamien 99). The word Baroque has had several different meanings. Back in its time, the word Baroque has meant: Bizarre, Flamboyant, and Elaborately ornamented. Historians, however, used this word to indicate the particular style in all different forms of art that fills space; which includes canvas, stone, or sound (Kamien 99). The Baroque Period is also known as “the age of absolutism” because so many different rulers of the time used and abused their royal power to control their subjects. For example, in Germany, the duke of Weimar imprisoned the famous Johann Sebastian Bach into prison for a month just because Bach asked to leave his job as the Duke’s musician (Kamien 99). This era in time was also home to scientific discoveries by Newton and Galileo. The Baroque era has shaped the world, as they knew it, to what the people of the twenty-first century all know and love.

The Baroque period can be described by many events including the American Revolution. However, what distinguishes the period is the work or art that was done during that time. The Baroque was a period of a particular artistic style that exaggerated emotions. The art of that time produced grandeur, drama, tension, and exuberance. The forms of art included painting, sculpture, architecture, theatre, and music. The style began in Italy, and it eventually spread to other parts of Europe . Nonetheless, it was mostly practiced in Rome. The baroque style of art made popular by the Roman Catholic Church. The church employed the style during the Protestant Reformation to stop the religious group from spreading their reach. There was a deliberate intention

The Baroque period of the 1600 and 1750s began in Europe and defined the art of the time (Stechow 111). Spain’s quest for the unity and assimilation to Spanish culture of its subjects in the Americas led to the systematic suppression and destruction of the indigenous cultures of the regions, such as the Aztecs and the Incans. Baroque art was only supposed to be another aspect of Spanish culture for the indigenous population to assimilate to (Gauvin 4, 33-34). However, the Baroque period created an atmosphere in the Americas that led to a blending of the Spanish and indigenous cultures. The subsequent art and architecture that was created was a hybrid formed from the cultures coinhabiting the area. This hybrid form has been characterized as “a hidden inscription of difference within the fictional sameness of official culture, as rebellious graffiti camouflaged in the forest of baroque symbols” (Salgado 317-318). It provided a place for the people of Latin America to subtly celebrate and preserve their heritage that Spain was threatening. To understand the significance of the cultural impact that the hybridization of Baroque art had on culture in the Spanish colonies of the New World, we must first define what hybridization of an art form means. Then we will investigate what constitutes baroque art and why it was so conducive to being hybridized. To further the understanding of the hybridization, we will examine the painting Our Lady of Guapulo and the architecture

The 16th and 17th century consisted of Baroque art, in everything from paintings, statues and architecture. The term was thought to have derived from the portugese word "barroco" which meant "irregularly shaped pearl." It was orginally used to criticise something, so anything that looked unusual or preposterous was considered Baroque. Baroque art was dynamic, emotionally intense, naturalistic

During the Baroque period, there were great, powerful monarchies that were said to be made “rulers by God.” This notion of divine commandment for these people to have power then made them nearly invincible was given supreme political power and was able to make national and economic laws, and end quarrels between factions. The Baroque era was a time when simplicity and embellishment were combined, and when science and faith were conflicted. Architecture became more elaborate and decorated, Buildings had painted ceilings, creating the illusion that the room continued into the heavens, with paintings of

The period of Baroque art was from 1600 to 1750, and relates to the style

Baroque style can be recognized through its use of vibrant colors, exaggerated movement and with a distortion of traditional shapes. With a countenance that emphasizes theatricality over conservatism, The Baroque style is a direct result of the Catholic reformation that originated in Italy. The Roman Catholic Church suffered the loss of many believers to the new Protestant movement that was jettisoned into motion by Martin Luther’s Theses’. In response to this the Roman Catholics launched the Counter-Reformation spearheaded by the Baroque style. The Baroque style began as a Catholic Revolution and eventually became a movement that carried the same influential power that ignited it.

The era known as the Baroque period includes the seventeenth and most of the eighteenth centuries in Europe. The Baroque style was a style in which the art and artists of the time focused upon details and intricate designs. Their art often appeals to the mind by way of the heart. During this time the portraits began to portray modern life, and artists turned their backs on classical tradition. Much of the art shows great energy and feeling, and a dramatic use of light, scale, and balance (Preble 302). Buildings were more elaborate and ornately decorated. These works of art created history and altered the progress of Western Civilization. Architecture such as the palace of Versailles, and artists like

•The creation of the baroque style—an art style full of emotion, flamboyancy, symbolism, vigor, and subtlety—largely as a product of the Catholic Church patronage of the arts

The Renaissance time period was home to many new ideas in art. This includes new artists bringing forth ideas that had yet to be discovered and made popular. New themes and types of art were also being brought forward during this period.

A number of modern artists have focused on reflecting personal perception of the world through a contemporary Baroque style in art. The increasing popularity of Baroque nowadays is due to the complex processes that took place in society and the solutions the modern culture has to offer to resolve them. Truly, through the history, the emergence of Baroque elements has always reflected the complexity of human life, followed by technological progress and cultural exchange. Eventually, Baroque, the style characterized by extravagance and drama, has been defined as anti-classical, innovative and experimental, intended to touch directly the beholder, individual of diverse and pluralistic society.

It is hard to believe that what began during the Renaissance would be followed by what we refer to as the Baroque period beginning in the 1600’s and later the Rococo. The term Baroque was first used in the eighteenth-century by critics in a negative way. “To the eyes of these critics, who favored the restraint and order of Neoclassicism, the works of Bernini, Borromini, and Pietro da Cortona appeared bizarre, absurd, even diseased—in other words, misshapen, like an imperfect pearl” (Camara, E., n.d. para. 12). Stylistic style differs in the Baroque period with the use of interrupted contours, dynamism, and instability. In addition, artists were moving toward a more realistic subject matter and not the idealized portrayals we saw in the Renaissance period.

Understanding the various forms of baroque art requires knowledge of its historical context. The 17th century could be called the first modern age. Human awareness of the world was continuously expanding. Many scientific discoveries influenced art; Galileo's investigations of the planets, for example, account for astronomical accuracy in many paintings of the time. BAROQUE STYLE--emphasized movement, contrast and variety as with the painter Caravaggio who used dark' s in background in contrast to lights in the foreground As in his picture " The Three Musicians". The center figure tunes a stringed instrument while the musician on the right sets down his violin to study some sheet music. The assistant on the left is reaching for grapes and the third player in the background holds a flute. All of this dipicts movement in the entire picture and a variety of different figures doing different things. In the 1700's, rulers were anxious to show off their power and wealth. The most powerful of these was Louis XIV of France. Beginning in Louis's court, the Baroque style under went a transformation. First , it changed from bold and dramic to festive and decorative and eventually, to a new, lighter and more graceful art style know as the Rococo Style.

The Seventeenth Century was a new era for painters. This era was unique and known for its variety and new styles. France at the time was an absolute monarchy, a lot of the power is consolidated with the single ruler, the king. France became a very dominant artistic force in the Europe and western Culture replacing Italy and developing a much newer artistic catalog with their Art Academies where a lot of categories came in such as history painting, portrait painting and gender painting. France at the time was a class separation where the society was much divided. Government life was under the fifth republic and now more than ever after King Louis was declared new ruler of France.

The three most well-known, and arguably most important, musical eras in western civilizations would be the; medieval, Renaissance and Baroque time periods. With the basics of music with Gregorian chant and organum from the medieval era to the newfound polyphony texture from the Renaissance and the equal temperament and major-minor tonality of the baroque era; Each time period brings a part of the foundation that most past, present, and future music is and will be based on. While it may seem that these three eras or completely different, they do contain several underlying similarities.