Category: Uncategorized (Page 24 of 48)

In our last class before spring break we talked about the Baroque in France and England. These were cool chapters to read and discuss in class, as we hadn’t spent much time in France since the start of the semester and this is only our second time reading about art in England (though we didn’t discuss it in class).

We started off with talking about one of the most magnificent palatial compounds in the world – Versailles. Obviously I had heard of Versailles before we talked about but I knew practically nothing about its construction. It certainly takes inspiration from High Renaissance architectural forms with the balance and repeating temple-like figures – but the sheer size and opulence of the compound convey Baroque ideals about the magnanimity of the French Crown. I knew Louis XIV was called the Sun King but I didn’t realize how seriously he took that moniker, and how he wove solar imagery into the layout and motifs of his humongous gardens.

We then talked a bit about the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture. It seems as though the school was established to help French artists catch up to the artistic advances made in the Italian peninsula over the past hundred or so years. In my opinion, I think the school overstated the importance of design in creating beautiful works of art, and I’m not personally a fan of how they decided to tier particular genres of art. I think artists like Poussin, who was a great influence on the curriculum of the Academy, use drawing and Hellenistic styles well in their work (and given Poussin’s background in archaeology it would make sense that his paintings are very sculptural) but if every artist coming out of France decided to do so it would just sterilize the individual styles that artists might develop.

Class on Wednesday, March 13th, we had the opportunity to visit the Colby College Museum of Art Special Collections with Professor Plesch. It was an amazing opportunity, and I am thankful we have the privilege to do this.

During our visit to the museum, Professor Plesch taught us about a few techniques and showed us works portraying these techniques. Our class focused on painted-over woodcuts, relief, intaglio, cross-hatching, drypoint needling, and finally etching. We looked at one woodcut: Albrecht Dürer’s Passio Christi and Hendrik Goltzius’s Mucius Scaevola which displayed the cross-hatching technique that ultimately holds a wide range of line-width throughout the work. Mucius Scaevola also held lines portraying complex shapes; not exact straightness, yet the lines held arches and arcs, with varying amounts of space between each line. We looked at Colby College students’ etchings and drypoint needling, where one sketches on varnished metal and then places the metal into an acid bath. We also discussed Jacques Callot’s Dwarf with Big Belly, which showed as an example of a printmaker hoping to depict an engraving. We continued class looking at Rembrandt van Rijn’s The Goldweigher’s Field, a simple-looking etching, Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Vedutta Della Bascilica, E Piazza Di S.Pietro in Vaticano, another etching on paper. Many of these works showed intricate details in the faces of the people. Ultimately these works brought me to modern day cartoons, which show harsh facial expressions through intricate detail and multiple lines. 

During class on Monday, March 11th, we continued our studies on Italian Baroque Art. For the majority of the beginning of class, Professor Plesch focused on Italian sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini. Bernini served as a member of the Borghese family and fulfilled the Basilica of St. Peters and the beautification system in Rome. We looked at a few of Bernini’s works, including David, a life size portrayal of David from the biblical text, David and Goliath. Bernini astonishingly completed the sculpture in a span of seven months (a short period of time for a detailed sculptor of that size). The sculptor conveys realism, as David stands in an athletic position, holding an intense focus as he throws a stone. Given this work was commissioned by Scipione Borghese, a former Cardinal in Italy, I ponder the question of how much direction the cardinals or popes gave the artists when asking them to commission a work for them?

We continued our study of Bernini, noting his The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, representing a complex depiction of vision and coextensive space, along with his Baldacchino and Piazza before St. Peter’s. Each of Bernini’s sculptures that we focused on depict an intense representation and an in-depth portrayal of space and religious motive sought through various church’s ideals and cardinal or pope motives. Following our studies on Bernini, we focused on a few other artists at the time, including Giovanni Battista Gauli, Francesco Borromini, Juan Sánchez Cotán, Jusepe de Ribera (“Lo Spagnoletto”), Francisco de Zurbarán, and lastly Diego Velázquez. Giovanni Battista Gauli incorporated a usage of mixed media works and a representation of the Jesuit order, specifically we saw this through his Triumph of the Name of Jesus. Francesco Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane draws multiple geometrical and complex illusions to the eye, exemplifying vast differences to Juan Sánchez Cotán’s Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber. Cotán paints a simple and managed work. The work seems to be much more tame than that of Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. Lastly, we studied three more works during this class period: Jusepe de Ribera’s The Club-Footed Boy, Francisco de Zurbarán’s St. Serapion, and finally Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas. The Club-Footed Boy depicts a young beggar, but the young boy is almost laughing, sending the message that light-heartedness is the only way to overcome lack of rights, meagerness, or just hardships. The low horizon allows the reader to look up at the figure, perhaps alluding to the ability for the lower class to gain equality to the middle or upper classes. Finally, Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas is one of the grandest spectacles of art in the world, as it conveys “A theory of painting.” This painting nicely wrapped up our class of tricky, dynamic, and clever works we focused on in this class period. 

Class on Wednesday, March 6th, we continued our studies on Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Originally from the Netherlands, Bruegel joined the Antwerp painters’ guild in 1551. Bruegel’s collections contained various ranges, specifically containing sketches of mountainous views and proverbs seen through vignettes. Bruegel encouraged the interconnectedness between humanism: ultimately the similarities, differences, and harmony between human beings and nature. We focused on a few works of Bruegel’s, including The Blind Leading the Blind, Harvesters and The Return of the Hunters. Bruegel’s The Blind Leading the Blind paints a modern setting, though a diagonal composition in comparison to the people located in the work. The work portrays a message from a biblical text reading, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides [of the blind]. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”— Matthew 15:13-14. Bruegel’s work conveys the idea of unrevealed knowledge, perhaps leading human beings to be “blind,” in a world of uncertainty.

Lastly, as we brought the study of Bruegel to an end for the week, we looked at one more of his works, Harvesters and The Return of the Hunters. The work contains a rich, lively landscape, illustrating human figures, and adding virtue and meaning to the natural landscape. Some researchers believe that this work consisted of multiple sketches from his travels combined into a central work. One of the most interesting aspects of Bruegel’s work was that they were painting or sketches composed to be sold at an open market, allowing and encouraging new ideas and questions to arise from the public. 

We continued class on the 6th by beginning our studies on the Italian Baroque period. We focused on multiple different aspects of this period, including artists reaction to Mannerism, counter reformation, crisis with the Church, and discussing some works and artists that are necessary to talk about, given their grande impact on the period. The artists we focused on involved Guercino and Agostino Tassi’s Love of the Gods, a fresco painting located in the Palazzo Farnese. Michelangelo Merisi (also known as Caravaggio) and his The Calling of Matthew, illustrated the biblical time when Christ encourages Matthew to follow in his footsteps. Lastly, we looked at Artemisia Gentileschi. Looking at the works of Artemisia, though, we see the challenges women artists faced at the time and the animosity women faced. 

This last class we finished a conversation about landscape, skyscape, and genre art in Holland, and began a discussion about the Baroque period in French art.

Without the influence and patrons of the Catholic Church, artists in Holland began to specialize in scenes, styles, and messages in order to set themselves apart from the rest of the market. There was, however, a hierarchy of art genres, and landscapes were near the bottom. Despite this, many landscapes made at the time are indicative of the Baroque period–they capture a moment between actions, or a moment that will never be the same again. Additionally, the role of religion in art fundamentally changes. Rather than depicting religious figures or scenes, art starts expressing moralizing scenes (whose themes are ultimately based in religion), and praises of “protestant work ethic.”

The ill-named Genre genre of paintings also emerged at this time, and they too were rife with moralizing messages. Vanitas in particular was hugely popular among protestants–who considered the ostentatiousness of the Catholic Church to be sinful and gaudy. Jan Vermeer was a Genre painter, with many of his paintings taking place in the same studio with the same props. They also share a similar structure. In his process, he used a camera obscurer to sketch the images of the figures before painting. This was a new technology at the time, and he was one of the first to utilize it.

As for Baroque art in France, Versailles is an architectural wonder that rings of the period. Calculated and grandiose, the palace was made to reflect Louis XIV’s sun motif, and inspire awe and loyalty in his noblemen. The Hall of Mirrors in particular aims to capture each moment of sunlight and preserve it endlessly in an infinite loop of mirrored light–even when the sun is down, candles are light to emulate the effect. The display of power and wealth that is Versailles speaks to its careful construction and the Baroque emphasis on the audience.

We spent the first half of this class finishing up our discussion of Baroque art in the Netherlands. We discussed three different genres of painting: landscape, still life, and genre. One example of a landscape that we looked at was Jacob van Ruisdael’s Bleaching Grounds near Haarlem. Ruisdael creates an expansive landscape, highlighting the flatness of the low country. Additionally, the influence of Baroque art is evident by the clouds in motion, and the contrast of light caused by them. When talking about still life’s emphasis was placed on a message being portrayed by them. Our discussion about Baroque art in the Netherlands ended with Jan Vermeer’s genre paintings. Vermeer used everyday people and objects to tell a story through his paintings.

The second part of class was spent discussing Louis XIV and the Palace of Versailles. Louis XIV transformed Versailles into a shrine to himself as the Sun God. It served as an overwhelming sense of wealth and power to keep the nobles of France in line. Hyacinthe Rigaud’s Portrait of Louis XIV created a grand portrait of Louis XIV looking down on the viewer. The diagonals created by the positioning of Louis’s body created a feeling of importance and called to the rays of the sun, tying back to Louis’s title as the Sun God.

We began with a continued investigation of the work of the “Little Masters” in Holland, who all had niche specialties for paintings. One section was known as skyscapes, created on horizontal canvases. Using a 1/3 land, 2/3 sky composition, a visually pleasing ratio, landscapes were used to show everyday activities or views of the land. The smaller the figures, the larger the land appeared. Interior landscapes were also a subject, with the interiors of churches being painted to display their architectural details. Traditionally, in the hierarchy of painting, landscapes were low. Even below these were still lives. However, still lives gained respect in the Baroque era for Holland. Many incorporated the idea of Vanitas, a reminder that life is fleeting, to evoke emotions from simple objects such as dishes or flowers.

Transitioning to France, King Louis XIV was a big supporter of art. He commissioned the building of the palace of Versailles, with a rational, clean facade, artfully crafted gardens, and lavishly decorated rooms. A relief of the king himself decorates his Salon of War to glorify him, and his famous Hall of Mirrors works to open up the room and mirror the space and riches. Louis XIV’s portrait by Rigaud sums up perfectly the grandness he emitted. Painted in full length, the king looks down on his viewer surrounded by symbols of his power – the crown, scepters, ermine fur, and the Fleur-de-lis. His positioning gestures outwards and makes him appear dominating, projecting an image of a rich, strong nation and King.

Class 13

We started class 13 by reviewing the ideas behind landscapes. A smaller scale will provide more information within the landscape, like zooming out on a camera, you will capture more and less. The field of view will be wider and capture more but the detail will lessen. This same idea goes the other way as well. These landscapes are often found in a 1/3 POV  2/3 of which are usually sky… (skyscapes) the light from these skys shown in patches that would potentially shift in paintings adds a baroque mood as it shows spontaneity.  Within still lifes, another category of paintings. Imperfect details were added to comment on the transience of life and the idea that you can’t bring material items with you when you die. In France, an attempt to remove the king’s power essentially backfired, so the kings got paranoid and seized complete control. This resulted in an absolute monarchy and absolutism. This was reflected in the construction of the Palace of Versailles. A grandly modified hunting home away from homes outside Paris, it became a grand palace surrounded by seemingly large grounds filled with gardens statues, fountains, and canals. Loui the 14th was known as the sun king, the palace was oriented east to west and had a strong axis. Claude Lorrain paints landscapes with some small figures with perfect proportions in 1/3 composition. Nicolar Puassion made similar paints but with more education behind them. 

I was not here for this class due to illness, but here are my thoughts on some of the works included in the Powerpoint.

Rubens seems to seamlessly blend northern realism and Baroque dynamism in The Raising of the Cross. You can clearly see his Baroque inspirations from just the subject matter — the act of raising something– a movement that he highlights via muscular figures that resemble the heroic nudes we’ve observed in Hellenistic sculptures. The poses of the figures reminded me of Giotto’s Lamentation from the Arena Chapel, in the way that the postures of the figures hold such strong emotion. The unstable, non-pyramidal composition of this piece (also like the Lamentation), further convey movement. Beyond the heroic muscularity of the subject, this piece just screams heroism via its Caravaggio-esque lighting, life-size scale, and color. Furthermore, Rubens seems to reference works from the Renaissance in the background of one of the wings. It looks almost identical to Titian’s Bacchanal. Rubens’ northern roots are not erased, however, and are seen through his detail-orientation: the textures of the foliage, the lighting of the armor, and the fur of the dog particularly stand out as realist elements of this painting.

I really enjoyed how Rubens’ Marie de Medici Landing in Marseilles blended a historical event and mythology — it really adds to the untouchable-ness of the Royal Family. It reminds me how, in ancient art (ex. The Hammurabi’s Code Stele), people in power would often depict themselves associating with supernatural beings to stress the divine right to rule.

I really liked how Frans Hals combined portraiture with genre painting in Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Civic Guard. Although it is not believed to be a depiction of an actual historical event, it seems to be, due to its intense realism (the candid posing, life-size scale, and 3-D effect created by the usage of strokes of varied width and length). Additionally, the Baroque color palette really compliments the depiction of prosperity in the painting– the red of the uniforms provides a stark contrast to the black and white.

Class 12 

Today in class we discussed Baroque art in Flanders and Holland. The Netherlands we know now was divided. The north was protestant and the south portion was Catholic this created a strong catholic pride along the border creating a strong concentration of churches along the northern border of the southern region. Peter Paul Rubens was a distinguished artist from Antwerp at age 13 he learned to live in high society while being a page for the windowed countess. He then traveled to Rome where he learned and observed Caravaggio he was a very learned person, studying archeology, the study of coins as well as knowing 5 languages. He painted religious and non-religiously with dynamic body and spatial movement. 

Frans Hals paints the jolly topper and dynamic non-graded like group portraits from studies and wax figures. He would go back through after completing the complex spontaneous-looking compositions and add brush marks that looked like they were applied with a heist to create the illusion of how quickly the paint was made. He called them his writing, as this move was a signature. 

Rembrandt paints many self-portraits and portraits. He shows an element of self-exploration. 

A new idea is the specification of painters. Some would focus on one subject and perfect that to create a niche in the open art market for themselves.