During the Baroque Art period in Flanders and Holand, each country was choosing sides with the reformation or the counter reformation. The Netherlands was intensely Catholic and showed this through the creating of many churches. Peter Paul Rubens came from a rich family. He grew up to learn many different languages and achieved great success in his lifetime. He eventually had his own sort of company with many people working for him. His work, Elevation of the Cross, depicted Christ nailed to the cross being hoisted up by a group of people. On the left frame his followers are looking onto the scene with fear and sadness while on the right soldiers are looking with satisfaction. The musculature of the people hosting the cross is similar to Michaelangelo’s depiction of people in the Last Judgment. Throughout this work there are diagonals created through the contrast of light and dark. The work is an old-fashioned type of work showing an allegiance to tradition.
The next group of works we looked at showed a continuation of many of the artistic qualities of Elevation of the Cross, such as works by Anthony Van Dyck, who was a student of Rubin who started by working in his studio painting portraits. His style was very similar because of this. Also, Rembrandt van Rijin’s use of light and dark contrast.
Lastly the little masters were artists who focused on a singular subject. This helped build their brand leading to a more profitable Carrer. This seems to still be a pattern in the artwork today as artist who stick to a certain niche have more success than those who bounce around.