Art Appreciation/Education series II class #4: Art of the Baroque

1/23/06 | republicanprofessor

[Rembrandt_fan]

Rembrandt's last self-portrait is one of my favorites (the one above with the circles on the wall behind him), but it's the portraits he painted of his mistress/common-law wife Hendrickje that I treasure most, particularly the one where she's bathing in a river--it's a painting full of life and love. I also don't think Rembrandt's work should be categorized as Baroque, although I suppose he must go somewhere. Rembrandt employed an economy of means, a lack of superfluity, that runs counter to the somewhat ornate, elaborate 'feel' I get from Baroque. I could gladly spend a lifetime studying his work and make a new discovery every day.

[KC_Conspirator]

Very good.

[Republicanprofessor]

Actually, the kid in the first piece is Venus' son Cupid...not exactly a normal mother/son relationship.:)

[retrokitten]

Wow! Thanks for all of the links. I know I missed some of the series and now I can go back.

I'm really looking forward to the lecture on romanticism.

[retrokitten]

Oh and I have a question already about romanticism. How is it different from expressionism? Both seem to be painting what they feel instead of what actually "is". Is that a dumb question?

[MinuteGal]

I'm overwhelmed and grateful for the work you do for us in your absorbing posts.

As yo Bahama Mama, I'm tied up right now with the FReeps Ahoy 4 cruise and have little time to post comments in depth on this or other threads. But I have to let you know how much I appreciate your efforts.

I wish you could come on the cruise with us. I'd arrange for an art lecture by you for our freepers in some quiet ship's salon.

What could be more enjoyable than to hear you speak while a gently-waving sapphire-blue seascape rolls past as we gaze out the picture windows.

Leni

[Republicanprofessor]

Let me know about your next cruise. That could be fun.

Hey, the places I really want to cruise are the Greek Islands and Istanbul. I am dying to see Hagia Sophia, and I think this could be a great way to see it.

For future thoughts....

Have fun on your cruise. We miss your insights, but life intervenes quite often...

[Republicanprofessor]

I have a question already about romanticism. How is it different from expressionism?

Good question.

Romanticism is the 19th century reaction to Neoclassicism, adding a freedom of color and expression. The broken color will influence the Impressionists.

One of my favorite comparisons: Odalisques (Harem women) by the Neoclassical Ingres and the Romantic Delacroix. Also a quite abstract work of the Burning of the Houses of Parliament by Turner, who took Romanticism as far toward abstraction as it could go back then.

Expressionism is a more extreme 20th century movement. Yes, it does express emotion through color and loose brushstrokes.

The Street by Kirchner, and two by Kandinsky: one an early one and one much later and quite non-objective (with no basis in the real world at all). You can see that the use of color and shape is more extreme than the earlier Romanticism.

[x]

Thanks for the information. I vaguely remember an art history student once telling me that the French love of geometrical patterns in gardening may have had something to do with the new developments in fortification at the time. It sounded like an interesting theory.

[PGalt]

Thank for this thread and the ping. Great artwork.

[retrokitten]

Thank you! That really answered my question.

[P.O.E.]

Some awesome paintings of St. Paul's Conversion.

[Republicanprofessor]

Thank you for the link. I had not known of the other Caravaggio until I did a search for this very post. That Michelangelo is a very unusual work by him, rather Mannerist and anti-Renaissance. It is surprising that it is at the Vatican. The other, early Medieval piece was new to me.

Thanks again.

[Blind Eye Jones]

I love it! There is a light technique associated with Caravaggio called ciricocho (?) or some such thing that was used in the movie Blade Runner according to a postmodern prof I had in comparative literature that would make us read Stephen King novels as literature and host of other trashy books that I can't remember to save my life. But I do remember the reference to the light technique which I thought Caravaggio would never have dreamed that art students would be talking about 100s of years later unless he was in a bar and lucidly prophetic to the temptations of sin and seeing Gods plan for all sinners unfold into the future to the point where postmodern sinners could talk without any reservation about God grand mastery of light that reveals humans, as not politically correct, but as obscured as their words and deeds... no light there on the surface.

[Republicanprofessor]

Are you thinking of chiaroscuro? Light/Dark? Leonardo was the first to use such dramatic contrasts, but Caravaggio took it to a new, dramatically lit height.

[TradicalRC]

Certain things could be touched upon in more detail: the influence of Michelangelo on Carravaggio, the contrast between the sumptuous Catholic paintings of Flanders versus the simpler pious paintings of Holland, and Rembrandt contributing a milestone to the art world with his "painterliness".