Baroque Art Research Paper

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The Baroque Period, beginning in c. 1590 in Rome, Italy, was an elaborate and highly detailed art period that spread throughout Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Baroque style, often including religious themes, was encouraged by the Catholic Church to diminish Protestant Reformation. Depending on the location, baroque art manifested differently contingent on the political influences, religious influences, and cultural climates. No matter the location, baroque art never ceased to have grandeur, elaborate, and elegant factors that created the entire Baroque aesthetic. Two more factors that contributed to baroque art were its clear and exaggerated detail meant to, “[…] produce drama, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, …show more content…

Caravaggio used chiaroscuro, the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting, in many of his works which later influenced many other painters. Chiaroscuro had been used previously to Caravaggio; however, he was the one who defined the technique. Caravaggio’s observation of the psychological and psychical reality is one of the factors that gave him popularity, but also caused problems for him. Another problem that Caravaggio was faced with was idolization of his subjects, because rather than creating them from muse, he just used models as a reference. During the Catholic Counter Reformation, the Catholic Church renovated many old churches which needed to be decorated or adorned with art. Caravaggio and many other artists fulfilled this need. Caravaggio’s interest in scientific naturalism caused him to develop a style of “unflinching realism, unprecedented approachability, and a direct appeal to the emotions,” which, in result, directly and indirectly affected many famous artists such as Rubens, Bernini, and Rembrandt. Artist Peter Paul Rubens, like Caravaggio, was exposed to the Catholic Counter Reformation, and was likewise impacted by the …show more content…

The bodies usually depicted in Rubens’ paintings were either nude or had cloth lavishly laying over them. He made baroque art an international art form and heavily impacted the art of the nude and classic antiquity. Rembrandt van Rijn was a notable portraitist, and a pioneer in the Dutch Baroque Movement. Rembrandt, like other artists before him, used the popular technique chiaroscuro with lavish brushwork, and a richer color palette in which he mastered. Rembrandts broad brushstrokes and glazes gave his paintings depth and originality. Rembrandt also took to the idea of human emotion, however instead of using the body to depict emotion like Rubens, he used his subjects face as a medium instead like in his work Portrait of Agatha Bas (1641)(detail). Gian Lorenzo Bernini changed the art style of Rome and influenced if not created the style that dominated the 17th century Italian Sculpture. The majority of Bernini’s works often had a religious or mythological subject or theme. Bernini used spirals and swirling composition to create a dramatic affect by drawing your eyes upward. Bernini also made his sculptures visually dynamic to invite in viewers from all directions and multiple viewpoints at once as seen in Apollo and Daphne

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