Part II

The Catholic church turned to art – Baroque art – as propaganda to counter the Reformation, to bring back its confused children. It appealed to the emotions and made its believers feel the power of God. The painting called Christ Driving the Money-changers from the Temple shows an angry, militant Christ driving out the corruption from His church. The message of the painting was not lost on 16^th-century Catholics. The mother-church, St. Peter’s in Rome, was Michelangelo’s greatest triumph. The church was built during the High Renaissance, according to Michelangelo’s plans and was extended during the 16^th century. It was completed with the embracing arms of the great colonnade by Bernini. Inside St. Peter’s, the twisting spiral columns of the canopy – called a baldachino – loom over the altar. The harmonious grandeur of the mother-church was to have its influence throughout Europe. New churches were built everywhere – with exciting, rippling facades, with brilliantly decorated interiors, like stage sets and with dazzling domes. Ceiling painters created breathtaking illusions of the church roof blasted away to reveal miraculous views of Paradise. The Counter-Reformation painters of the Baroque aimed at the emotions, not the intellect. The eyes of their saints are filled with mystical visions and religious ecstasy. From their brushes flowed heart-rending images of martyrdom and suffering. How calm and reasonable is this Renaissance crucifixion when compared with these, by artists of the Baroque era. The Baroque style had blossomed in the Rome of Michelangelo. From there it spread to Venice, Queen of the Adriatic Sea. Let us visit 16^th-century Venice, a colorful and exciting city, floating on a sparkling sea, its streets a shimmer of canals. Tintoretto, who painted this Annunciation, and the other Venetian painters of the 16^th century break with the order and precision of the Renaissance.

Venetian painting in the 16^th century is alive with rich brushwork and textures of paint. Let us make some comparisons. This Madonna by the Venetian painter Giorgione is in the Renaissance style. Like Michelangelo’s early Pieta, its composition is based on a balanced triangle. A later work by Giorgione has two figures mysteriously set back into a dark and stormy landscape. The subject of the painting is unclear. Renaissance paintings, on the other hand, always had clear and meaningful subjects. But for the later Giorgione, the mysterious and dramatic landscape is enough. In Titian’s Presentation of the Virgin Mary at the Temple, the subject is in the foreground and moves from left to right, parallel to the picture plane. A generation later, Tintoretto painted the same subject – The Presentation – in a circular, swirling composition. Where is the principal subject – the young Virgin? She is not in the spotlighted foreground – but halfway up the winding stairs … a dramatic device, which builds anticipation and creates tension in the viewer.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci is balanced and symmetrical. Although the painting is nearly ruined today, one can still see that all lines converge and focus on the head of Christ. The composition is typical of the High Renaissance. Tintoretto of Venice also painted a Last Supper, but now the sweeping diagonal lines lend an air of excitement. The scene is dark, while a theatrical luminescence spotlights the apostles and a radiant Christ. The painting is in the new 16^th century spirit. The artistic creations of Venice and Rome dazzled the world. The Baroque style spread to Counter-Reformation Spain and northward in the 17^th century to the aristocratic court at Versailles and to the prosperous, bourgeois Netherlands, where patrons of the arts were Protestants and seafarers.

Part III

The Baroque in Spain. The Spanish Kings saw themselves as defenders of the new Church – militant and triumphant over the reformers. King Philip II had floated the mightiest of fleets – the Armada – hoping to conquer the Protestant protectress – Elizabeth I of England. The palace of the kings – the Escorial – was their home, but it was also a church and monastery and a symbol of the power and glory of Spain. The life of the Spanish court is revealed to us by its official painter, Diego Velasquez.

In The Maids of Honor, Velasquez manipulates light and shadow – revealing, in this way, a variety of textures and surfaces.

The mystic zeal of Spanish Catholicism inspired paintings of dying saints and of saints experiencing visions. This religious passion characterizes El Greco’s figures who seem to be aflame with religious ecstasy. A new religious order, the Society of Jesus, was enthusiastically supported by the Spanish kings. The Jesuits were dedicated teachers and answered the Church’s need for committed men of action. Spain and her kings were loyal disciples of the Church. In Spain, the Catholic reforms had their proving ground – for the benefit of all 16^th century Catholics.

The Baroque in Holland. The religious upheavals of the 16^th century triggered the political and social upheavals of the 17^th century. The Protestant Dutch threw off the yoke of the Spanish, Catholic king. The Dutch were proud of their hard-won freedom and of their tiny, flat country. They delighted in its rich land, its surrounding ocean, and its vast skies. The Dutch became merchants and shipbuilders to the world and amassed fortunes through hard work and thrift. These new international businessmen wanted paintings to adorn their homes. They ordered paintings of themselves and of their homes and families in sunny rooms, busy at household chores. They were proud of their tables, laden with food and with elaborate arrangements of flowers.

The Baroque in France. In France, the new King, Louis XIV, had his own answer to the political chaos which had plagued his country. He devised a plan to glorify his person and his position, thus gathering all the power in France to himself. His schemes for power included the building of a vast palace at Versailles, with acres of carefully planned gardens. Louis developed the ritual revolving around his personal life. He exaggerated the importance of his every act, thus drawing the attention of the French nobles away from the fact that he was usurping all their power. Versailles and Paris became centers of artistic life. The grand palaces of France, with their enormous rooms and sumptuous furniture, their miles of garden walks, and elaborate fountains, provided a glorious setting for the new monarch and his court.

What, then, are the elements of the Baroque style? It is not an art of lines and edges, like Renaissance art, but an art of color, light, and shadow. The subject is not parallel to the picture plane and in the center foreground, as in this Renaissance Flight into Egypt, but is tucked away in one corner, like this Baroque Flight into Egypt. The space thrusts out one side and recedes deeply into the other. Mystery and drama set the mood.

This Renaissance portrait seems dignified and serene when compared to this gay, action-filled portrait by a Baroque painter. The setting is a tavern, where a man and his sweetheart are laughing at a joke. The light catches the flush of their faces and creates a feeling of movement.

Baroque art is an art of motion, not repose, of restless imbalances, of violence and spectacle. Baroque art is sensuous and sensual. Baroque art is aristocratic, but it is also the art of the common man. It is the art of the Catholic church and of the new Protestant churches. While the Renaissance restored an emphasis on the physical world, it was the 16^th century, which saw the full flowering of the arts of the senses. Baroque art reflects the love of feasts, the love of music, and the enjoyment of the pleasures of the flesh. At the height of the Baroque, the philosopher Leibnitz described the services of the Catholic church and captured, thereby, the entire spirit of the Baroque: “…the sweet concord of voices, …the blaze of lights, …the fragrant perfumes, …the rich vestments, …the sacred vessels … adorned with precious stones, …the statues and pictures which awaken holy thoughts, …the glorious creations of architectural genius … with their effects of height and distance, …the music of the bells”.