chiaroscuro - Frank Joubert Art Centre

• 16 th century
• Throughout Europe = religious tension -
Protestants broke away from Roman Catholic
Church.
• response to the Protestant Reformation, Catholic
Church initiated the Counter Reformation Program.
• used art on a grand scale in attempt to reach the
largest possible audience.
• Art was seen as a means to endorse the authority of
the church by making the scriptures a reality to the
people through emotional realism.
BAROQUE ART
“Irregular Pear or Stone”

The court Painter to the Monarchs
• Artists were employed
by the Kings and Queens
of Europe
• Painted portraits,
commemorative events
• means of impressing
visitors and showing
power (palaces, courts
etc)
A Tribute to a Great King :
Versailles (France

The Artist on the Open Market -
Holland
• Neither Catholic nor
ruled by a monarch –
thus these two patrons
of the arts did not apply.
• Artists painted for
ordinary people,
ordinary subjects, and
sold works through
dealers and on the open
market.
• Subject matter:
portraits, still life,
genre painting
Woman Holding a Water Pitcher, Dutch Baroque
oil on canvas, 1664-5
by Vermeer

• Baroque is not clearly defined, not all art
during this time considered Baroque
• Classified as an artistic style rather than a
period in art.
• The term Baroque –
first used
disapprovingly

Characteristics
• Dramatic composition –
diagonal lines, circular to add
movement, energy and tension
• Repoussoir figure – pointing
• Spirituality present in the work
(Europe), realistic approach
• Observable reality (Dutch)
• Infinite space – no longer
contained
• Use of Chiaroscuro

• ‘chiaro’ = light
‘scuro’ = dark
Chiaroscuro
• A painting technique
developed in Italy by
Leonardo da Vinci, which is
used to produce dramatic
effects by modeling forms
with strong contrast in dark
and light.
The Death of the Virgin, 1608, 370x244cm

Subject Matter
• Dramatic and grand visions
• religious ecstasies and
conversions
• death
• Landscape and still-life’s.
• A sense of spectacle
• Opulent displays of
exuberance
•
• A great theme was that of
rape
The Rape of the Daughters
of Leucippus

Composition
• Adherence to linear
perspective that typified the
Renaissance was no longer
so stringently followed,
allowing asymmetry
• On the walls & ceilings of
churches & palaces they
painted vast, busy scenes
which tend to produce upon
the spectator the
impression that the walls no
longer exist, or that they
open out in an exciting way.
Narcissus

Michelangelo Merisi
• Rejection of lengthy
traditional ideals of
mannerism – focuses
on nature
• works in oils directly
• Chiaroscuro – tension
• Lines are clean
• Solids making a form
seem more rounded
and three- dimensional
• Often featured in his
own works
- da Caravaggio
David and Goliath

The
Entombment
of Christ
• “Spotlight” effect
• Gestures bring
figures closer to
spectator

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 75)
“little Dutch master”
• Pioneer for the taking on
Baroque style in Holland
• Composed neat, quietly
opulent interiors of Dutch
middle class merchants
• men, women and children
engaged in household tasks–
actions totally common -
reflective of the values
• Composed mainly single
figure

Girl with the Pearl Earring
• Universally recognized as one of Vermeer's absolute
masterworks
• Not only one of the most beautiful in Holland, but
the most satisfying and exquisite product of brush
and color
• During the time this work was being painted the
world was plagued with evolutions and tragedies. The
young girl in the painting shows no such stress from
the world - painted with such ease and concealment
of effort.
• Though the paint evoked life rather than
counterfeited it.
• The line of the right cheek is has been said to be the
sweetest line ever suggested.

Massacre of the Innocents

Comprehension Question: Baroque
• How did the Italian Baroque differ form the
Dutch Baroque. Refer to the subject matter in
your answer.
• What does the word chiaroscuro mean and
how does it apply to the Baroque style?