Baroque

17th - 18th century It is an art form that encompasses European art, architecture, music, and literature. It is a word derived from the Portuguese word 'pérola barroca', meaning 'distorted pearl ', and began to appear in the letters of French traveler Charles de Bros and in the memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon . In fact, it was a derogatory title in the sense of a large architectural style, and it was a derogatory term like gothic that lost its derogatory meaning over time.

The Baroque style itself developed after the Council of Trent and Protestantism . It started in Italy and spread throughout Europe in response to the beginning of the Catholic self-purification movement against the Reformation , but in fact , the name Baroque appeared to refer to the previous era only in the late 18th century .

This was because Britain, which was developing by pioneering North American colonies, broke away from the French culture (Baroque and Rococo ) that seemed too flashy and decadent and tried to follow the ancient Greek / Roman culture that seemed purer, which gave rise to Neoclassicism . From the perspective of Neoclassicism, one of the derogatory terms used to attack the culture of the previous era was Baroque. Afterwards, Neoclassicism spread throughout Europe and, ironically, reached its peak in post- Napoleonic France.

The Baroque style can be divided into courtly Baroque, which was actively supported by monarchs, and bourgeois Baroque, which emerged in a relatively free environment.

The center of courtly baroque was the 17th century. It was the Kingdom of France under the Bourbon Dynasty . Courtly baroque was an art that was fostered to win the competition between countries that arose when countries became enemies based on religion during the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War . Therefore, it was an artistic trend with a very strong image of an absolute monarchy such as Louis XIV . Overall, we aimed for a large and flashy, yet dark and solemn atmosphere. This was an atmosphere that emerged under the trend that, with the establishment of absolute monarchy, certain forms of art should be superior to all other forms.

The Academy of Fine Arts, which first appeared during the Renaissance, became an authoritative institution supported by the state around this time, establishing the art style desired by the state and nurturing artists for it.

Meanwhile, not only Christian countries but also the Ottoman Empire have been enthusiastic about the Baroque mosque construction. This was also fused, and it lasted longer than the Baroque era of other European countries, including Nuruos Many Moscow and Dolmabahce Palace . The courtyard Baroque has since been over to the Rococo style , which is a more delicate, complex decorative, light and bright atmosphere with Louis XVI 's death.

Bourgeois Baroque appeared in the Spanish Netherlands ( Flanders ) and the Dutch Republic, the most liberal parts of Europe at the time . Although the two are grouped together, the two regions at the time were in completely different political environments, with the Netherlands having just achieved independence and Flanders eventually becoming dependent on Spain . However, the social and economic environments of the two regions were similar, and in both regions, the influence of the bourgeois class, such as economically powerful citizens and merchants, was stronger than anywhere else in Europe at the time.

In this environment, genre paintings , portraits , landscape paintings, still life paintings, etc., which are not related to absolutism , were able to develop in earnest, and compared to other countries, more classes of society became interested in purchasing art works. Rubens and Rembrandt are the representative painters of this era, and Rubens produced works like a factory with numerous disciples while running a huge workshop. Rembrandt, more than any other artist of his time, focused on the personal aspect of painting, and thanks to that, he spent his last years of misfortune, but later gained immortal fame.

see baroque music .

Baroque art focuses on capturing dynamic forms and maximizing the contrast between light and darkness, and emphasizes the balance through the harmony of the parts that are subordinate.

Although it cannot be compared to the overall balance of the Renaissance in its heyday, it was closer to the balance of the Renaissance than the intentional disharmony of Mannerism or the fragmentation of Rococo, and the harmony pursued by Baroque art went beyond the formal and self-satisfying dimension, and was achieved through various means. Its purpose is to induce mental participation by having the viewer participate physically, and it appeals to the sense of volume, brilliance, and dynamism about the harmony, balance, and completeness of the 16th century Renaissance, and is characterized by a radical sense of movement and dramatic effects.

Baroque painters made a deliberate effort to differentiate themselves from the painters of the Renaissance and the Mannerist period that followed. In their palettes, they used intense, warm colors, especially the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow, often placing all three colors close together. They avoided the uniform lighting of Renaissance paintings and used strong contrasts of light and dark in certain parts of the picture to focus attention on central action or figures. In their compositions, they avoided the still scenes of Renaissance paintings and chose moments of greatest movement and drama. Unlike the still faces of Renaissance paintings, the faces of Baroque paintings were clearly expressive of emotion. Baroque painters often used asymmetrical compositions off-center in the picture, creating axes that were neither vertical nor horizontal but tilted to the left or right, giving the impression of instability and movement. They also reinforced this impression of movement by having the characters’ costumes blow in the wind or move with their gestures. The overall impression was one of movement, emotion, and drama. Another essential element of Baroque painting was allegory. Every painting told a story and had a message, often encoded in symbols and allegorical characters that an educated viewer would be expected to know and read.

In the case of painting, the overall characteristics are diagonal composition, perspective, foreshortening, and the use of deceptive effects. Baroque painting was created by Caravaggio in Italy in the early 17th century, and his influence spread to Spain and Northern Europe. Representative painters of the Baroque period include Rubens and Rembrandt .

However, advocates of the revival of classicism, such as Johann Winckelmann, a German art historian in the 18th century, criticized Baroque art as a decline of Renaissance art, and unlike Renaissance art, which emphasized ideal proportion and balance, it was overly exaggerated, distorted, and like pearls that lost value. The reason why the art of this era began to be re-evaluated was because of the work of defending the baroque by Wölflin and others as modern art history was established in the 20th century.

It is characterized by splendor, exaggerated emotions, dynamism, and fantastic technique, breaking away from the classical harmony and balance of the Renaissance . During this period, there was a somewhat gloomy atmosphere reflecting the chaotic times of the 17th century, so many works that considered the transience of life were produced.

Baroque architecture was undergoing dynamic changes in Europe in the second half of the 16th century. It began to be formed with the emergence of the Counter-Reformation and the revival of Catholicism , modernism and Aristotelianism, the emergence of absolute monarchy, changes in the concept of time and space due to the development of astronomy, and the popularity of desire and play culture. Additionally, a movement to break the conflict between the Renaissance and Mannerism in the 16th century led to the late Renaissance with excessive decoration, which was the late style of the Old Renaissance, and the Baroque architectural style that inherited the excessive decoration of the late Renaissance and the anti-classicism of Mannerism. It appeared and began in Rome under the support of the Catholic Church, which was on the defensive due to the Reformation.

Italian Baroque architecture began with the reconstruction of Rome, which was devastated after the Sacco di Roma in 1585. At a time when religious wars were sweeping Europe, Rome was rebuilt in the Baroque style by architects such as Vignola and Porta. Starting with the Basilica of the Gesù, the headquarters of the Jesuits , the four Popes of Rome St. Peter's Basilica , one of the great basilicas ,[1] The Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre were rebuilt during this period, forming the foundations of the Vatican and the Old City of Rome that we know today. They broke away from the mannerism that had been popular until then, actively utilized the grammar of Roman classicism, and established a splendid Baroque style for dramatic and exciting productions in order to revive the authority of the Catholic Church that had declined at the time.

During the heyday of the Italian Baroque style, represented by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, the two formed a rivalry and produced various buildings. Bernini , represented by St. Peter's Square, used ovals, forests of columns, and the grammar of orthodox classicism, while Borromini was the antipode of this, using a variety of grammars encompassing classicism, medieval architecture, and mannerism through the dynamic overlap of various irregular geometric shapes. was used.

In the later period, the center of Baroque architecture moved from Rome to Turin, the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia . The Kingdom of Sardinia has been strongly influenced by French culture since the days of its predecessor , the Principality of Savoy, and a baroque old town was built during the reign of Carlo Emanuele II, whose mother was the French princess Christine Marie . Buildings mainly influenced by Borromini's irregularism were created, and even more than Borromini, they used architecture based on free geometric drawing without being bound by a framework. The styles of Turin that blossomed during the reigns of Vittorio Amedeo II and Carlo Emanuele III served as a stopover for the Italian Baroque style to transition to the French and German Baroque styles, and conversely, they also served as a window for accepting styles from the North. Representative examples include the Stupinigi Hunting Palace (Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi) and Palazzo Madama, which were used as palaces of the Savoy family at the time .

French Baroque architecture began with the newly established Bourbon dynasty after the turmoil caused by the Huguenot Wars . A building boom occurred during the reign of Henry IV as he implemented the Paris redevelopment plan, which reached its peak during the reign of Louis XIV and then gave way to the Rococo period . French Baroque had the same purpose to some extent as its origin, Italian Baroque, in that it had the purpose of exalting the authority of the absolute monarchy .

French Baroque architecture can be largely divided into religious and non-religious buildings. In religious buildings such as churches, conservative styles represented by Bernini's orthodox classicism became the mainstream, reflecting the history of returning to Catholicism after the religious wars. As for non-religious buildings, thanks to the royal family, which was a patron of Baroque architecture at the time, various buildings for secular purposes, from various palaces to hotels and castles, were built. done The royal family even established the Royal Academy and began to control the architectural style on a national basis, but in this era, it was not yet fully established, and the architectural tastes of famous ministers such as Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert were also reflected . Based on this trend, the unique French Baroque style was completed, combining classicism derived from Italy and French tradition from the Middle Ages. Numerous landmarks in France, such as the Luxembourg Palace , the Louvre Palace, the Palace of Versailles , and the Conde Hotel, were born during this period.

Due to geographical reasons, the introduction of Italian Renaissance architectural styles was slow in England. Instead, during this period, a unique British architectural style called the Tudor style was introduced, but due to the chaotic political situation caused by the Puritan Revolution , it was not until the Restoration of Charles II that the Baroque style took root. Meanwhile, much of the city was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and work to restore it was necessary. Similar to France, the Baroque style in England was created by importing cutting-edge architectural styles at the time to establish national authority, and the social atmosphere at the time when England was growing into a global empire demanded a unique British style. Through a compromise between the two, the English Baroque style was born.

Christopher Wren, who directed the restoration of the Great Fire of London, could be said to be the center of British Baroque. Growing up in the era of the Scientific Revolution, Christopher left behind works for Cambridge University 's Emmanuel College, Trinity College Library, Greenwich Royal Naval Hospital, and St. Paul's Cathedral . The greatest feature of British Baroque, created by Christopher, is 'scientific', and it continuously introduced new ideas based on scientific thinking without imbibing the grammar customarily used by architects of the past. Afterwards, British Baroque was followed by the disciples of Christopher Wren.

The German Baroque style was in fact directly connected to the Rococo , and as a result, it showed a level of decoration that could be said to be extreme in the late period. The Holy Roman Empire began in earnest in the late 17th century, around the same time as England. The Baroque style was also introduced to British countries , and around this time, various buildings, mainly churches and palaces, were created in accordance with the various regional traditions of the various countries within the empire, which were semi-independent countries.

In Vienna , Austria, which was the center of the empire , palaces representing the authority of the Habsburg family were the mainstay, and horizontal expansion was noticeable under the influence of the Palace of Versailles. Austria's Baroque architecture was grander than that of other parts of the empire. In the Electorate of Bavaria, where the Catholic revival took place, Baroque architecture developed centering on churches. Due to the influence of French Rococo and the inclinations of major architects who were craftsmen, the unique decorative tendencies and solemnity and mysticism unique to German churches were developed. Two forms of the proposed trend emerged.

In the southeastern Electorate of Saxony, the classical order style lost most of its meaning and a form of architecture with more decoration emerged. The Zwinger Palace in Dresden is a representative example, and this trend continued in the Rococo style in northern Germany, such as the Sanssouci Palace .

The Baroque style declined after the death of Louis XIV in the 1700s. Around the mid-19th century, the neo-baroque style, a modern reinterpretation of the baroque style, began to become popular. This can also be seen as a reaction against neoclassicism. The main players who led the neo-Baroque style were Napoleon III 's French Second Empire and later Otto von Bismarck 's German Empire . Accordingly, it is also called the Second Empire. Neo-Baroque style was popular from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, then gave way to Art Nouveau style.