GOING FOR BAROQUE Into the Bin - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

8.
Pier Francesco Mola
(North Italian, 1612-1666)
The Rest on the Flight
into Egypt,
ca.
1645-47
Oil on copper, 9 x 11 in. x (22.9 27.9 cm)
Wrightsman Fund, 1993 (1993.20)
9
Domenichino
(Domenico Zampieri; Italian, Bologna, 1581-1641)
Landscape
with Moses and the Burning Bush, ca. 1610-12
Oil on
copper, 17% x 13% in. (45.1 x 34 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Wrightsman, 1976 (1976.155.2)
painting
have been acquired
since 1970. Fine though
these are?and the collection includes
an enviable number of real can masterpieces?they hardly
claim to represent the richness of
the period. And, of course, to experience
the brilliance of those frescoed
ceilings
and domes
that are the glory
of Baroque
illusionism it is still necessary to visit Rome, Bologna,
and
Naples. Nonetheless, the Metropolitan's holdings
do give
the a neophyte sampling
of the
pleasures
in store, and offer rewards as well for the initiate. The collection includes works
by
a significant
number of the premier players: Caravaggio,
Annibale and Ludovico Carracci,
Guercino, Guido Reni, Ribera, and a host of only slightly
lesser talents. Some of these paint
ings elucidate the issues of naturalism, expression,
and the nature of so representation
central
to Baroque painting.
Others are bravado demonstrations of artistic
virtuosity (fig. 7) or
on a
explore
diminutive scale an aesthetic of jewel-like perfection (figs. 8,9).
Some
(figs. 10,
11) exemplify
the special qualities
of a particular region,
for in as painting
in food
Italy is
incomparably
varied. This
publication
focuses on a selection of works in an effort to examine
some of the themes and ideas that informed the world of Baroque artists, particularly
in
Bologna, Rome, and Naples.
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