Differences Between Renaissance And Baroque: How To Distinguish Them
The Renaissance and the Baroque were two artistic movements that developed after the end of the Middle Ages, one of the darkest periods of Western civilization.
In this article we will address the historical context that was the cause of these two artistic movements, in addition to explain how the Baroque and Renaissance are different and how baroque artists sought to differentiate themselves from the Renaissance artists who had preceded them.
Historical context of these two artistic movements
The end of the Middle Ages was the result of a great cultural, political and social change in Europe. Painters, sculptors, composers and other artists, through their art, shaped and reflected society in which they lived, witnessing great scientific advances and seeing how humanity evolved and expanded its knowledge.
In 1418, Gutenberg invented the printing press, with which it was possible to mass produce books, allowing the expansion of knowledge more easily as well as encouraging more and more literate people. In that same century, in 1492, Christopher Columbus made the trip that would later confirm the discovery of a new continent for Europeans: America
Furthermore, in 1543 Nicholas Copernicus published his work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, where he set out his heliocentric theory, that is, that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
These, along with other knowledge, motivated the society of the time, and encouraged creativity and the desire for discoveries, considering the capacity of human beings as unlimited. However, not everything was positive for Europe. In 1453 Constantinople, one of the most important cities on the continent, fell into the hands of the Turks, dealing a severe blow to all of Christianity.
All these events were the triggers for changes in medieval thought. A new vision was acquired about the human being, taking a perspective that he could do everything and downplaying some importance to religion This led to the emergence of the great artistic movement that was the Renaissance, which took place between the 15th and 16th centuries.
The end of the Renaissance
This movement did not last forever. Already from 1527 the Renaissance movement began to suffer ups and downs, given that The vision that had been acquired about the human being, idealized and perfect, was beginning to crack
The new European regimes, faced with the fear of Islam and the almost perpetual fight against this religion, began measures to expel Muslims, especially in Spain.
This population had been a true economic engine, working the land, contributing to the health of the crops and being an exchange of knowledge between Christianity and Islamic countries. This led to lower agricultural production around the year 1609, which involved famine, diseases such as the plague, and high mortality.
Society became pessimistic and this influenced art itself. The idea that man could do everything faded, recovering in a certain way a medieval vision of the world but without disregarding the technological advances of the previous century.
The Catholic world suffered a schism Luther, faced with the abuses exercised by the papal authorities, proposed a reform of Catholic Christianity, which evolved into the creation of Protestantism. In turn, faced with this audacity, the Catholic leadership began the Counter-Reformation, with the intention of persecuting those who disagreed and fought against papal power.
Art became a propaganda weapon against heresy being used by the papacy to prevent the population from turning to the side of pagans and atheists.
The Baroque was an artistic movement that turned again to medieval thought, focusing on religiosity and beliefs, taking God again as the center of everything It covered the entire 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century.
Differences between the Renaissance and the Baroque
Once the historical background of these two movements has been explained, let’s see in depth what the differences were between the Baroque and the Renaissance in terms of painting, architecture, music and poetry, in addition to seeing their vision of the world.
1. Philosophical approach
During the Renaissance humanism developed a movement that takes the human being himself as the focus of attention, that is, it acquires an anthropocentric vision.
Classical culture is revalued, considering it the pinnacle of perfection of Western civilization. Besides, a critical movement emerges that defends the use of reason to approach the truth ; This is why the Renaissance was a time of great scientific advances, although religion was not completely abandoned.
Ideas that were already present during the Middle Ages are revalued, such as beauty and love, but acquiring a perspective closer to Greco-Latin, addressing symmetry and homogeneity as earthly forms to approach perfection, an abstract and metaphysics.
The Baroque chooses to focus on everyday contexts, in everyday elements. He understands that human beings are not perfect and aims to find beauty in it.
Artists and thinkers belonging to this era try to surpass the previous period through originality. Many Baroque artists considered that in some ways the Renaissance movement had quickly become outdated limiting itself to imitating itself and being a replica of classical art.
2. Architecture
The Renaissance buildings are divided into sections. These parts are based on Greco-Latin art, in which everything followed an order and was shown with homogeneous clarity.
Renaissance architecture does not intend for the observer to focus on a specific part of the structure, since most of the building is identical, with no details that highlight one section above the others. Thus, the Renaissanceists sought to make their buildings as symmetrical as possible, predominating horizontal elements over vertical ones, drawing inspiration from the architecture of the temples of ancient Greece and Rome.
Instead, the architecture of the Baroque is less clear Everything is treated as if it were a continuum, but it is not divided into clear and equal parts, but instead details are incorporated that could seem to be facing a somewhat chaotic structure.
Baroque facades usually have elements that are concentrated in a very rich and striking way, such as columns, arches, statues, low and high relief, and curved walls.
Some examples of baroque buildings are the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the Palace of Versailles and St. Peter’s Basilica.
3. Painting
During the Renaissance innumerable schools of painting arose which, despite their divergences, influenced each other.
Renaissance painting improves perspective compared to medieval art. The human anatomy is represented in great detail, thanks to the improvement of painting techniques and the use of a new painting style: oil. It is intended to be represented in the most realistic, but idealized and symmetrical way to man and his environment.
The Quattrocento was the moment of success of great painters like Masaccio, who is considered the first to apply the laws of scientific perspective and a new concept of expressivity in painting. His work was revolutionary, especially for his use of light. During the Cinquecento, the greats of the Renaissance emerged: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
Everyone knows da Vinci’s famous Vitruvian Man, a very reliable representation of human anatomy, in addition to his well-known work the Mona Lisa. Raphael’s work is considered the stereotypical painting of the Renaissance, for its perfection, use of perspective and color. On the other hand, the figures in Renaissance painting are characterized by their dynamism, lots of color and grandiloquence.
In Spain we have El Greco, whose work represents the combination of the Byzantine knowledge acquired in his youth along with Renaissance trends. His figures are very expressive, elongated and somewhat shadowy. Although he is considered a Renaissance man, his work is one step away from Baroque.
On the other hand, the baroque painter captures reality as he sees and feels it, with its limits, violent postures, diagonal compositions. It focuses on the individual human being. Art becomes less distant from the public.
The church uses painting to send a less distant and bombastic message, which had been the norm during the Renaissance.
Caravaggio is one of the representatives of the Baroque. His work is more human, without resorting too much to solemnity. The drama is highly accentuated, showing psychological realism
Diego Velázquez, painter of Philip IV, painted great works such as the Surrender of Breda, the portrait of Pope Innocent VII. His last two masterpieces are the Meninas and the Hiladeras, with a large number of characters placed at different distances from the front.
These painters show chiaroscuro environments, realistic people, with their strengths and weaknesses. The Baroques had no qualms about showing the paleness or signs of illness of some of their patrons.
4. Music and poetry
Renaissance music is characterized by its polyphonic texture following the laws of counterpoint, and with a certain legacy from Gregorian chant.
The poetry of the Renaissance follows the style of the lyric of the songbook, talking about aspects such as love, beauty in the divine and to a certain extent mythological aspects recovered from classical civilizations. Great Renaissance poets were Fray Luis de León, Garcilaso de la Vega and Petrarca.
Baroque music gave humanity one of the great musical genres: opera It is the period in which it is traditionally related to what we understand today as classical music, in addition to later periods.
During the Baroque, tonality and the use of basso continuo appear, in addition to the sonata and the concerto.
Great musicians of this period were Georg Friedrich Händel, Antonio Vivaldi and the composer whose death ended the Baroque, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Baroque poetryembroiders themes such as disappointment, disgust at continuing to live, desperation, love themes or non-conformity, with touches of acceptance that it is really difficult for human beings to be successful and can only wait for death as the inevitable end. It is a very ornate poetry, which aims to excite sensitivity and intelligence. Baroque writers seek originality and surprise.
