March 15
Baroque

 

No class next week. Have a great Spring Break!

 

The Baroque era in Spain

 

 

Water Carrier of Seville

Diego Velazquez. Water Carrier of Seville. c. 1619.

 

 

 

 

 

Maids of Honor

Diego Velazquez. Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor). 1656.

 

 

Detail of Velazquez

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Baroque era in France

 

 

Historical Context
1610 Assassination of King Henry XIV
1610-1643 Reign of Louis XIII
1643-1715 Reign of Louis XIV

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louis XIV

Hyacinthe Rigaud. Louis XIV. 1701.
Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Twelfth ed. Vol. 1. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2005. 2 vols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Versailles

Louis Le-Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Palais de Versailles. 1668-85.

 

 

 

Versailles

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hall of Mirrors

Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Charles Le Brun. Hall of Mirrors, Palais de Versailles. Begun 1678.

 

 

The Hall of Mirrors virtual tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caravaggism in France

 

 

Magdalen with Smoking Flame

Georges de La Tour. Magdalen with the Smoking Flame. c. 1640.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph the Carpenter

Georges de La Tour. Joseph the Carpenter. c. 1645.
Janson, H.W. and Anthony F. Janson. History of Art. 6th Ed. Vol. 2. North Carolina: Prentice Hall and Harry N. Abrams, 2001. 2 vols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicolas Poussin
1593 - 1665

 

 

"My nature leads me to seek out and cherish things that are well-ordered, shunning confusion which is contrary and menacing to me as dark shadows are to the light of day." - Nicolas Poussin

 

 

The Arcadian Shepherds

Nicolas Poussin. The Arcadian Shepherds. c. 1638.
Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Twelfth ed. Vol. 1. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2005. 2 vols.

 

 

Et in Arcadia Ego" = even in Arcadia, I, Death, am also present

 

 

 

 

Characteristics of Poussin's Style:
Severe, intellectual style
Figures frozen in action like statues
Events portrayed not as they really happened, but how they would have happened if nature was perfect
Art should appeal to the mind rather than the senses
Form and composition stressed over color and emotion
 
Highest aim of art = to represent noble human actions