Topic 1

The Baroque and the Spanish Golden Era

The term• Baroque is the name given to European

culture in the period which started in the 17th cent and lasted for most of the 18th cent

Influenced by the religious conflicts

Catholic countries• Intense spirituality

• Crisis (Spain)

Protestant countries

• Individualistic way

• Economic success

The Milkmaid by Vermeer

Culture

• Inspired in classical forms

• But different

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Reality as it was

• No hiding defects

• No idealisation

• Movement

• Contrast

Literature

• Shakespeare

• Molière

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-_QlzUJBbU&feature=related

Spanish Golden Era

• Calderón de la Barca

• Lope de Vega

• Cervantes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WyO7yDvaJk&feature=related

Music

• Vivaldi

• Händel

• Bach

Summerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0FTIPilHx8&feature=related

Science• Empiricism– Observation+Experimentation

• Rationalism– Use of reason

• Galileo

• Kepler

• Newton

Academies of sciencesGalileo before the Holy Office

Baroque in art

Architecture• Buildings were built to attract the attention

of passers-by

How?

• Curved lines

• Solomonic and spiral columns

• Light effects– Recesses and projections– Broken pediments– Light and shade

• Rich ornamentation

• Combination of painting+sculpture+architecture

Transparenteof Narciso

Tomé in the Cathedral of

Toledo

PaintingRembrandt

The Nightwatch

Rome, capital of Baroque

• Originated in Rome• Reconstruction of

Rome after Council of Trent

• Objective: Reinforce the idea of Rome as capital of the Christianity

• Also a symbol of the Counter-Reformation

How?

• Constructing large churches

• Squares

• Avenues leading to the main religious buildings

The best ones…

• Gian Lorenzo Bernini

• Francesco Borromini

Bernini

• Chosen by the Popes

• Redesigned the Saint Peter’s square and Basilica– 2 great colonnades– Baldachin (=pillared

canopy)

Piazza Navona

Borromini

• San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

Saint Ivo alla Sapienza

Spread of the style: Spain

• Rich ornamentation

• José de Churriguera– Churrigueresque

style

• Town squares (Salamanca)

Town square in Salamanca

Spread of the style: France

• Great palaces

• Versailles is the largest and the most famous