A HIGHLY INFORMATIVE ONLINE MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO THE ARTIST AND THE ART LOVER
If you like this site then Recommend
It!
A HIGHLY INFORMATIVE ONLINE MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO THE ARTIST AND THE ART LOVERIf you like this site then Recommend It!
ART TALKS
The Baroque, Rococo and Neo-classical:an Introduction by Way of Versace - Part One
by Susanne Reece
In April of this year, Sotheby's held an auction of art, furniture and couture from the estate of the late designer Gianni Versace. At the time of his murder in 1997, Versace controlled a fashion empire. He designed haute couture collections and several ready-to-wear lines that were sold in his boutiques all over the world . He also created designs for the home, and spent years decorating his Miami mansion with a combination of his own furniture, textile and ceramic designs and his large collection of antiques. His flamboyant style embodied the excesses of the 1980's and provided a much-needed alternative to the stark minimalism of the 1990's.
At the time of the auction, articles abounded about the late designer, his beautiful home, and the glittering collection of objects he amassed during his too-short lifetime. In the press, various stylistic labels were attached to Mr. Versace. His style was described as Baroque by one, as Rococo by another, and as Neo-classical by yet another. While none of these styles really accurately describes Versace's work, particularly not his fashion designs, and they do share some similarities, they are essentially different in some important ways. And their appearance in mainstream media provides an excellent opportunity for a brief introduction the Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classicism. These are three major art movements that every interior designer should appreciate.
Baroque, a word derived, according to tradition, from the Italian for "irregular pearl," denotes a style that dominated Western Europe throughout the seventeenth century. The style itself was born in Rome. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the prevailing style was Mannerism. Mannerists rejected the clarity and geometry of the High Renaissance, and created works that were often disturbing and bizarre, like Jacopo Pontormo's Deposition (c.1525, Santa Felicita, Florence; http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/pontormo/index.html ), which shows Christ being removed from the cross. Pontormo's scene is a jumble of oddly-proportioned figures, rendered in contorted poses and acidic colors. An altarpiece, the work's function is to serve as a focus for religious ceremony and devotion. But the viewer is hard-pressed to even locate Christ in this painting.
Artists and the Catholic Church, the major patron for art in this period, rebelled against the Mannerist style. Painters and sculptors began to look back to the great Renaissance masters and to the art of Classical Greece and Rome for inspiration. The Catholic Church set forth requirements for religious painting – it should to be clear, understandable and involve the viewer emotionally.
The great master of the Baroque style was the Italian sculptor and architect Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). His Ecstasy of St. Teresa (1647-52, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome; http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bernini/teresa.jpg.html ) epitomizes the Baroque. The sculpture adorns a private family chapel and depicts a scene from the life of St. Teresa of Avila, a mystic nun who had a vision that an angel appeared to her and pierced her heart with a flaming arrow, a symbol of her passion for Christ. (This may sound tame by today's standards, but this was pretty spicy stuff for a saint's life back then.)Although carved of marble, the figures seem to float in midair. To make the work even more dramatic, Bernini designed the sculpture to incorporate natural light from a concealed window. The light shines on gilded metal rods and illuminates the group. He also included sculptures of the family to whom the chapel belonged, perched in balconies on either side of the chapel, watching the miracle unfold with amazement.
The painting and architecture of the period are equally powerful. Caravaggio's ( 1573-1610) The Calling of St. Matthew (c.1599, San Luigi dei Francesci, Rome; http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/caravagg/p-carava25.htm) shows Christ coming into a tavern where St. Matthew, a tax collector, sits counting money. Matthew and his companions are real, everyday people, not idealized and otherworldly. Caravaggio places some figures with their backs to the viewer, creating a physical link between painted and real space. He also incorporated a natural light source in the chapel for which this painting was created. Real light from a window in the chapel flooded the painting in exactly the way the window in the painting does. All of this helps make the scene palpably real and believable.
Buildings in the Baroque relied on elements taken from Classical Geek and Roman architecture, like columns and pediments, but architects enlivened their structures with curving, undulating lines, like the cupola of Francesco Borromini's (1599-1667) St. Ivo in Rome (1642-50; http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/S._Ivo_della_Sapienza.html). Baroque buildings seem to reach out and physically interact with the viewer in much the same way that Bernini's sculptures and Caravaggio's paintings do.
Artists and architects in France, Spain, Flanders and Holland, influenced by the developments in Italy, developed their own versions of the Baroque. In France, the style is inextricably linked with the rule of Louis XIV, the Sun King. His Palace of Versailles (1678-1684), the collaborative effort of architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun, and landscape architect Andre Le Notre, is the very essence of the Baroque style. Its Hall of Mirrors ( http://hometown.aol.com/NKnechtel/index.html ) is a bombast of gilded stucco, mirrors, crystal and marble.
Next month, we'll turn from the "Irregular Pearl" of Baroque Art to the styles that superceded it. After describing the essence of Rococo and Neo-Classical Art, we'll come back to Gianni Versace and his bold, eclectic taste.
For more info:
Baroque and Rococo (World of Art Series), Germain Bazin, 1985.
Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Fred S. Kleiner et al., 2001.
Neo-Classicism, Hugh Honour, 1996.
The Visual Arts, A History. Hugh Honour and John Fleming, 1999.
This article was reprinted with permission from the Sheffield School of Design web site at http://www.sheffield.edu.
Not receiving our free Newsletter and Updates? Then don't miss out - sign up now! All we need is your e-mail address and we'll keep you posted to all the latest events, articles, forum topics, live chats and more! This will be the beginning of your participation in all the exciting interchanges of creative ideas taking place here on The Artistic Forum. We respect your privacy and will only send you e-mail pertaining to the Artistic Forum and our sister web sites: Winstanley-Roark Fine Art, Masterfulart Free Online Postcards, and Devon's Page. We do not sell or share our e-mail database with outside web sites or mailing lists. NOTE: If you'd like, please e-mail us your ideas or submit an article for upcoming featured articles. We will review all suggestions and select pertinent topics related to any of the written, visual or performing fine arts. Please include your name and email address along with your suggested topic. Thank you!
Previous ART TALKS Current ART TALKS
LINKS
FREE NEWSLETTER & UPDATES
KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE FINE ARTSSite Map What's New Search
Please visit our Sponsors who help support the fine arts by supporting The Artistic Forum!
Copyrighted @ January 1, 1999 The Artistic Forum. All rights reserved. Reproductions in whole or part in any form or medium without express written permission of The Artistic Forum and or its parent Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts is prohibited. Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts, Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts logo, The Artistic Forum and The Artistic Forum logo, The Artistic Forum Web site, Masterfulart Digital Postcards, Masterfulart Digital Postcards logo, and all related titles are copyrighted & owned by the Artistic Forum and WRFAWeb Designs. User Agreement, Disclaimers, Submission, Copyright Information, Privacy Policy. This page is updated monthly and is created by WRFA Web Designs
courtesy of Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts.