baroque - Italy

Question 1

historical background

Answer 1

Counter-reformation by Catholic Church
shift of cultural center from Rome to France
Holland declared independence

Question 2

Baroque meaning

Answer 2

misshapen pearl

Question 3

Baroque characteristics

Answer 3

exaggerated contrasts, dynamic, dramatic and rich in ornamentation, appealing to senses not intellect

Question 4

critique

Answer 4

over-dramatic, over-sensual and insincere

Question 5

development

Answer 5

development of classicism into classical idealism - give rise to academic theory
realism is combined with drama and movement to serve religious and political purposes
started in italy, spread to spain, france, flanders and netherlands

Question 6

Major-ism in Italy

Answer 6

1. academic classicism
2. realism/ Naturalism
3. Tenebrism
4. Illusionistic Ceiling frescoes

Question 7

academic classicism background and characteristics

Answer 7

1. development of art academies
2. rejects mannerism for its artificiality adn irrationality
3. follow the grand manner of Renaissance - achieves perfection and harmony through idealization
4. methodology of artistic creation - drawing based on accurate study and truthful reproduction of nature
   5.combines Florentine linearism and Venetian colourism and drama of composition
5. point of reference - Da vince, Raphael, Giorgione, Titan

Question 8

academic classicism - academy

Answer 8

1. academy of drawing (Florence), first art academy
2. academy of St.Luke (Rome)
3. academy of the progressives (Bologna) (Annibale Carracci and guido Reni)

Question 9

Annibale Carracci - girl carrying a basket

Answer 9

1. Carracci family founded the Academy of the Progressives in Bologna - art can be taught systematically
2. instruction includes learning from classical and Renaissance Traditions
3. focus - training in anatomy and life drawing

Question 10

Annibale Carracci - loves of the gods

Answer 10

1. narrative scnes are creatde as “quadri riportati” carried paintings, i.e. fresco inserted into illusionistic picture frames
2. Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne - combined Raphael’s drawing style and Titan’s sensuous and animated figures

Question 11

Annibale Carracci - Flight into Egypt

Answer 11

1.birth of “classical ideal landscape”
2. recurrent motifs 0 framed, restful setting, idealized antiquity, gently undulating panes extending to the distant horizon, boat floating on a peaceful river
3. constructed pastoral scene with idealized antiquity and poetic, idyllic life
4. diminished religious figures - narrative becomes subordinate

Question 12

guido reni - david with the head of goliath

Answer 12

1. trained in Carracci’s academy
   2.met Caravaggio in Rome
2. Classical moment - calm and thoughtful

Question 13

Guido Reni - Atalanta and Hippomenes

Answer 13

1. in search of classical beauty and perfection through diagonal composition
2. movement is balanced by careful composition

Question 14

realism / naturalism characteristics

Answer 14

1. transform religious and mythological themes into everyday life scenes with rough-looking common people
2. unidealized figures and obects from contemporary and real life increases the immediacy of human drama and has stronger emotional impact on the viewer
3. composition occupies mostly the foreground - viewer is confronted by the drama and drawn into the painted space
   dramatic moment - extreme cruelty - depicts pain and sufferings to infect the viewer
   point of reference - flemish painting, Michelangelo

Question 15

Tenebrism characteristics

Answer 15

1. “shadowy manner”
2. beyond Michelangelesque chiaroscuro (sculptural figures) to apply extreme chiaroscuro in the composition in order to sharpen the focus of narration
3. resembles stage lighting effect
4. builds up theatricality and mystery

Question 16

Caravaggio background

Answer 16

1. trained in Milan
2. Active in Rome
3. frequent legal disputes despite huge success in his career
4. killed a man and exile in southern italy, malta then sicily
5. died when returning to rome
6. most influential baroque painter - spanish painting, dutch utrecht school

Question 17

Caravaggio - boy with a basket of fruit

Answer 17

influence form flemish painting - still life rendered with meticulous realism

Question 18

Caravaggio - boy bitten by a lizard

Answer 18

1.dramatic expression of reality revealed by strong chiaroscuro
2. Michelangelesque agitation and flemish window and reflection on glass
3. Flemish influences - extremely fine details - meticulous realism on hand, and window + reflection on glass

Question 19

Caravaggio - the fortune teller

Answer 19

1. realism: art inspired by current affairs

Question 20

Caravaggio - repose in the flight into egypt

Answer 20

1. naturalism: immersed in nature, sacred figures are humans with no different from ordinary people

Question 21

Caravaggio - Judith beheading Holofernes

Answer 21

1. dark subject - revenge
2. atrocity is presented like a stage performance
3. use of tenebrism to extreme
4. jewish widow Judith took revenge by killing the Assyrian general Holofernes
5. extreme cruelty - beheading - leitmotif of Caravaggio’s art

Question 22

Caravaggio - The calling of St.Matthew

Answer 22

1. light directs our attention to matthew without a group of people
2. resembles stage lighting
   3.hand of christ recalls Gods and Adams hand in Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel

Question 23

Caravaggio - Deposition

Answer 23

1. Plebeian (common people) figure types, stark use of darks and lights
2. diagonal composition - heightened drama toward upper right
3. Stone slab seems to extend into the viewer’s space
4. referenced Michelangelo’s Pieta (holding the body)
5. Nicodemus is indicating where to deposit Christ’s body, his hard labour seems to be felt by the viewer

Question 24

Caravaggio - David with the Head of Goliath

Answer 24

1. created when in exile
2. darkness encroaches more the painted surface in the last phase of exile
3. Goliath - self-portrait of Caravaggio

Question 25

Artemisia Gentileschi - Judith Beheading Holofernes

Answer 25

1. follower of Caravaggio - a successful female painter 2. heroic female - her favourite subject 3. focused composition - all forces directed to the head of Holofernes

Question 26

Illusionistic ceiling frescoes - background and characteristics

Answer 26

1. art became a powerful tool of Counter-Reformation - consolidate catholic faith and conquer new territories (colonies) 2. trompe-l'oeil ceiling frescoes - sacred drama taking place in front of the viewer 3. grand scale and at considerable height, viewer is induced with a feeling of awe 4. quadratura uses elaborate illusionistic architecture to link up heaven and earth - Heaven is reachable 5. points of reference: andrea Mantegna, Michelangelo

Question 27

Andrea Mantegna - Oculus (illusory ceiling opening)(not baroque)

Answer 27

1. foreshortened architecture opens into a fake naturalistic sky, enlivened by the cheerful gazes of the maids, the puttis and a peacock 2 perspective di sotto in su - seen from below

Question 28

Petro da cortona

Answer 28

1. painter, sculptor and architect 2. worked with Gianlorenzo Bernini in some important projects

Question 29

Giovanni Battista Gaulli Pietro da Cortona

Answer 29

1. active in the circle of bernini

Question 30

Andrea Pozzo

Answer 30

1. a Jesuit monk active in northern italy bordering Austria

Question 31

Pietro da Cortona - Triumph of divine Providence

Answer 31

1. quadratura - illusory architectural and sculptural frame blends perfectly with the painting 2. presents a drama for the propaganda of the papacy of Barberini, Pope Urban VIII 3. bees - symbol of the Barberini family 4. divine providence directs immortality to bestow eternal life on the family of the pope

Question 32

Giacomo da Vignola and Giacomo della Porta - mother church of the Jesuit order

Answer 32

1. representative of Counter-reformation 2. glorify and expand the power of the catholic church 3. glorify and expand the power of catholic church 4. transcendental spiritual environment created by architecture, stucco (sculpture)and painting 5. a total work 6.. Gian Lorenzo Bernini: architecture is a place for sacred drama to take place

Question 33

Giovanni Battista Gaulli - triumph of the name of jesus

Answer 33

1. nave vault 2. holy cross and IHS(monogram of jesus) in the center 3. shades are added on the painted figures to create the illusion of real mass of the painted figures 4. stucco figures

Question 34

Andrea pozzo - painted dome

Answer 34

1. painted a dome so no need to build it due to lack of budget 2. illusion works ony at a certain viewpoint 3. architectural clay model displayed in the church to explain the illusory effect of the painting 4. projection drawing