The 4 Most Important Characteristics Of The Baroque
When we think of Baroque art, those twisted and dramatic images of churches come to mind, where we can see either a suffering Christ or a Magdalene in penance with her eyes filled with tears.
Yes, Baroque art is often an excessive art (we must admit it), and also pathetic (in its most authentic meaning, that is, highly expressive). Frequently, this style awakens attraction and rejection in us in equal parts.
But what is Baroque really? What is your language? What are you trying to convey to us? What is your aesthetic ideal?
In this article we will try to put thread to the needle and briefly describe the essence and the most important characteristics of the Baroque
We call Baroque art style that developed in Europe from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 18th century Despite being established in a very specific period in history, it did not have the same characteristics in all European countries.
The Catholic Church of Rome played a fundamental role in its development, a role that we will explain later. As a summary, we can say that the Baroque (specifically, the Catholic Baroque, from southern Europe) sought to move the faithful through expression, exalted emotion and drama.
But first, let’s stop at its origins, since otherwise we will not understand how this style was created.
The origins of the Baroque
Before starting to address the characteristics of the Baroque, which can help us recognize and understand it, we are going to briefly review some aspects of its origin.
1. The name
As with many other words that are now used academically without any problem, the term “Baroque” was born in the Enlightenment as a more or less pejorative concept It was used to designate something “extravagant” or “confusing”, in clear opposition to the “balanced” and “clean” style of the late 18th century, which recovered the classical canons.
Thus, in the same way that initially the term “Gothic” was used to disparage the art of the second Middle Ages (an art of Goths, of barbarians, they said), “baroque” in turn served to name those styles. excesses of the centuries preceding the Enlightenment.
Because the Baroque was created at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, and the scene of its birth is clear and concrete. Let’s see what historical, social and ideological events paved the way for its appearance.
2. The Baroque and the Counter-Reformation
One hundred years earlier, at the beginning of the 16th century, A German monk named Martin Luther had nailed his 95 theses to the doors of the Wittenberg Palace Church of a religious nature, where, among other things, he fiercely attacked the Church for its excessive greed and corruption.
Specifically, the target of his criticism was the indulgences that the Church sold in those years in exchange for the remission of punishment for sins. Let us remember that The Vatican was financing the construction of the new St. Peter’s Basilica and such work required always full coffers.
Luther’s rebellion forever split the Western Church. Gradually, the German princes aligned themselves with his cause, and once the Reformation was concluded, Rome only had the loyalty of southern Europe, especially France, Italy and Spain.
It was then that the Roman Church deployed an authentic religious propaganda campaign to preserve the Catholics who were still faithful to it This response, which received the name Counter-Reformation for obvious reasons, had its greatest and best vehicle of expression in Baroque art.
The Baroque: a new art for an old faith
Indeed, The Vatican imbued this new style with all its ideological artillery The objective was for the faithful, when contemplating a canvas or a sculpture, to receive an impact of faith, of the “true faith”, of course, and thus distance them from any Lutheran “deviation”.
How did Baroque art manage to move its audience in this way? Through various techniques and various resources that we will detail below.
1. Emotionality
Baroque is a highly dramatic language, there is no doubt about that His main objective was, as already noted, to move his audience. Therefore, he had to feel identified with what he saw captured before his eyes.
For this end, the expressions are dramatized to the maximum Saints in martyrdom suffer, and they suffer a lot. Christ himself truly agonizes on the Cross. You can perceive each of his sores, each of his drops of blood and all of the convulsions of his body. The penitent Magdalene’s face is swollen and red from crying so much. Some sculptures even included elements such as natural hair or glass tears to accentuate the realistic effect of the images, and also their pathos.
We can easily imagine the reaction of the faithful when contemplating such works. The saint is no longer a mystical, unattainable being, who shows no sign of pain; He is a human being like him, who bleeds, moans and suffers. Even more powerful is the image of Christ. The Son of God has his forehead full of blood, his sides full of wounds; Christ is not only God, he is also a man.
2. Theatricality
The Spanish and Italian Baroque takes this drama to the maximum, to the point that The figures and scenes seem taken from a stage
The theater enjoyed great fame in the baroque world and, related to it, the abrupt contrasts of light and shadow on the canvases. Very often we have the sensation of finding ourselves not in front of a painting, but in front of a theatrical scene frozen in time. The arrangement of the figures, their grandiloquent gestures and, above all, that powerful unreal light source responsible for the famous baroque chiaroscuro, are some of the elements that help convey that feeling.
And, again, let’s imagine the reaction of the faithful when faced with something similar. Like the ancient Greek theater, These effects were supposed to produce a catharsis inside She was then certain that she was facing something supernatural, divine, true. It was the “authentic” faith displayed before him. That was neither more nor less the intention of the Church of Rome, and that is why he squeezed all the possibilities of this new style and brought it closer to his cause.
3. Chiaroscuro
We have already commented on it in the previous point; In baroque paintings from the Mediterranean (that is, Catholic) area, the play of light and shadow is usually abrupt and violent.
From one corner of the canvas a powerful beam of light appears, similar to what a modern theater or cinema spotlight would give In some paintings, the chiaroscuro that this beam of light causes is so intense that many of the characters are almost in the dark. This intense and direct light serves to highlight the main character or some important expression in the narration of the story.
In Caravaggio’s “Emmaus Supper”, the light makes the magnificent face of Christ shine, while the disciples remain in darkness around him. It is not known exactly where the light source comes from; Perhaps from a bonfire located at the far left of the painting, which we cannot see? From the flickering light of a candle?
With Baroque art we always have that vague sensation of unreality, of vision, of scenography And this despite the fact that quite a few artists, like Caravaggio himself, took their models from the lowest strata of society and placed their characters in everyday and simple environments.
4. Exaggeration (and confusion) of feelings
One of the common denominators in Catholic baroque art is exaggeration. The pain is multiplied by a thousand, the wounds bleed more than normal, the facial expressions seem taken from a stage. And even more: feelings and emotions are not only exacerbated, but sometimes confused
Take as an example Bernini’s famous sculpture “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa”. The saint is receiving a divine ray in her heart, which an angel throws at her. Her face breaks down into mystical ecstasy. But… it could very well be the face of a woman who is feeling intense sexual pleasure.
The Baroque constantly deceives us, it gives us ephemeral illusions, as if everything were part of a great set, an enormous farce, an eternal play. “Life is a dream”, as stated in Calderón’s famous work, baroque by the way.
Light-shadow, mysticism-sensuality, pain-pleasure… In the baroque world, the binomials, the dichotomies, apparently irreconcilable, always find a point of union and they are often confused with each other.
The different “Baroque”
Up to this point we have mainly talked about the Baroque of the Catholic area, that is, those who made the movement the vehicle of expression for the Counter-Reformation. The truth is that there is no single Baroque (as happens in all styles), since in northern Europe, mostly Lutheran, it developed in a completely different way. Let’s see it.
1. The Golden Age of the Netherlands
In the Dutch area, Baroque is intimacy. Lutheranism had brought greater introspection and greater individualism by stating that only personal faith can save us.
Besides, In Protestant countries there was no strong Church , as was that of Rome, that could promote the great works of the Baroque, which were promoted in Spain or Italy. The result was a production of very intimate canvases with a simple theme (never religious), which the bourgeoisie of the cities commissioned to decorate their rooms. It is in this context that we must place the exquisite Dutch interiors, masterfully executed by painters such as Vermeer and Jan Steen.
These works are very far from the grandiose epics of the baroque (and universal) genius that was Rubens. Indeed, Rubens painted mainly for Spain, a country that was at the forefront of the Counter-Reformation from the beginning For this reason, much of the artist’s work is imbued with that southern baroque air, pompous and affected, which has nothing to do with the withdrawn Dutch or English expression.
2. France and classicism
France, a country halfway between Catholic and Protestant Europe, developed a much more classic Baroque than the Spanish one. Especially during the reign of Louis XIV, that is, in the middle and end of the 17th century, The French baroque expression was contained and balanced, highly inspired by classical models As an example, we can cite the works of Nicolas Poussin.
baroque architecture
Architecture did not undergo transformations as crucial as in the case of painting or sculpture. Classical construction elements (pilasters, tympanum, capitals, columns…) were maintained, especially in the case of France, with classicist examples such as the wonderful Palace of Versailles.
Of course, the Baroque He introduced a series of modifications in architecture that departed from the Greek and Roman canons and that they were not always well received. For example, classical elements were given a new arrangement, and from them, the baroque found its own original and unique form of expression.
But, we must repeat it, typical baroque architecture is essentially classical. We will have to wait until the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th century to find truly innovative styles, such as the Spanish churrigueresque style, unique in the history of art.
