Spanish Baroque

S pain's major gift to world art was Diego Velazquez. Extraordinarily precocious, while still in his teens he painted pictures demonstrating total technical mastery. Velazquez's royal portraits were masterpieces of visual realism, but opposite of linear precision. No outlines are visible in his portraits; he created forms with fluid brushstrokes and by applying spots of light and color, a precursor of Impressionism. Velazquez differed from most Baroque artists in the simplicity and earthiness of his work. He never succumbed to the pompous style of strewing allegorical symbols and Classical bric-a-brac about his paintings. Instead, he depicted the world as it appeared to his eyes. His early paintings portrayed even holy or mythological figures as real people, drawn against a neutral background. He presented his subjects with dignity and, in all cases, factuality. His approach humanized the stiff, formal court portrait tradition by setting models in more natural poses without fussy accessories. Although Velazquez is considered a master of realism, he achieved his effects with loose brushstrokes that, when scrutinized at close range, seem to melt into blurred daubs of paint.

French Baroque

In the seventeenth century, France was the most powerful country in Europe, and Louis XIV tapped the finest talents to glorify his monarchy with a palace of unparalleled splendor.

P oussin. The most famous French painter of the seventeenth century, Nicolas Poussin worked not in France but in Rome. He based his paintings on ancient Roman myths, history, and Greek sculpture. The widespread influence of Poussin's work revived this ancient style, which became the dominant artistic influence for the next 200 years. Left to his own devices, Poussin chose to paint in what he called «la manieramagnifica» (the grand manner) – is that the subject and the narrative should be grandiose, such as battles, heroic actions, and religious themes.

The pinnacle of Baroque opulence was the magnificent chateau of Versailles, transformed from a modest hunting lodge to the largest palace in the world. Versailles' hundreds of rooms were adorned with crystal chandeliers, multicolored marble, solid–silver furniture, and crimson velvet hangings embroidered in gold. The king himself, covered in gold, diamonds, and feathers, received important guests seated on a nine–foot, canopied silver throne. His royal rising (lever) and retiring (coucher) were attended by flocks of courtiers in formal rituals as important to the court as the rising and setting of the sun.

Rococo

Rococo was born in Paris, where it coincided with the reign of Louis XV (1723–74). By 1760, it was considered outmoded in France but was in vogue until the end of the century for luxurious castles and churches throughout Germany, Austria, and Central Europe. Rococo was primarily a form of interior decoration, the name deriving from the «rocaille» motif of shellwork and pebbles ornamenting grottoes and fountains. In some ways, the Rococo style looks like the word itself. The decorative arts were the special display ground for its curvilinear, delicate ornamentation. Floors were inlaid in complicated patterns of wood veneer, furniture was richly carved and decorated with Gobelin upholstery and inlays of ivory and tortoiseshell. Clothing, silverwork, and china were also overwrought with curlicues as well as flowers, shells, and leaves. Even carriage designers avoided straight lines for carved swirls and scrolls, and horses wore immense plumes and bejeweled harnesses. Rococo art was as decorative and n onfunctional as the effete aristocracy that embraced it.

In Watteau's «Pilgrimage to Cythera» romantic couples frolic on an enchanted isle of eternal youth and love. Boucher's style was artificial in the extreme; he refused to paint from life, saying nature was «too green and badly lit». His pretty pink nudes in seductive poses earned him great success among the decadent aristocracy.

ROCOCO ART
MOOD:	Playful, superficial, alive with energy
INTERIOR DECOR:	Gilded woodwork, painted panels, enormous wall mirrors
SHAPES:	Sinuous S– and C–curves, arabesques, ribbonlike scrolls
STYLE:	Light, graceful, delicate
COLORS:	White, silver, gold, light pinks, blues, greens