Baroque art
Baroque was a flowery, dynamic style in art and architecture. This style arose about 1600 AD in Italy and reached most other European countries after 1650 AD.
Baroque arose under the influence of the Counter-Reformation, a reform movement inside the Catholic Church, founded against hostile Protestantism. The Protestant Church was sober and the Catholic Church wanted to support the religious people by making the church wealthy. Catholic Churches became a symbol of heaven. Therefore the countries, where baroque arose, were mostly catholic and under absolute rule. Baroque was pre-eminently a style for the colourful, positive doctrines of Catholicism and the political principles of the absolute monarchy. The principals (people who give orders to make something) were monarchs, popes, prelates, nobility and the representatives of religious orders.
These reformations were attended by the foundation of new religious orders. The principal new order was the order of the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556).
Baroque means 'absurd' or 'grotesque'. This term was used by people who thought that the forms of the classical buildings should never have been used in times after Greek and Roman periods. For, in baroque the classical forms were used, like in Renaissance and the mannerism.
The intention of baroque was to make the transitory life on earth special and beautiful. Symmetry was very important. Baroque was a heavy style; many swelling forms, excessive ornaments, wealthy and glossy materials (a lot of colourful marble, gilding and bronze). There were a lot of movements in the sculptures and paintings; angels flew, saints rose heavenward, people moved and fought. There were many ceiling paintings and paintings of crowds.
Baroque has borrowed many things from Renaissance and mannerism, but there are certainly differences.
The style of the churches changed, too. The best known changed or built churches of the baroque are the St.-Peter, Il Gésu and St. Ignazius.
Late in the 16th century the art was used to support the religious people. That was possible, because the style was realistic and dynamic. After 1620 AD more and more an appeal was made to the art; not only for religion, but also for the proclamation of the power and glory of the church. The artists were busy with the embellishment of churches. The best known is the St.-Peter, the lifework of Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680).
Other great architects were:
-Francesco Borromini (1599-1667)
-Pietra da Cortona (1596-1669)
-Carlo Maderna (1556-1629)
The classical forms were used soberly in the Renaissance, with especial attention on clearness and realism. Mannerism wasn't sober; there were decorative and complicated effects. Baroque churches were beautified with decorative and complicative effects, but were also very realistic. That was expressed in a new way. In painting the leading figures were put in the forefront. In the art of sculpture dynamic exercises were expressed with round forms and many details. There was much variety in composition and the bodies were very expressive. In architecture, there were heavy pillars, overlapping pilasters (flat, rectangular wallpillars) and deeply carved ornaments. Curved façades, oval groundplans and broken frontons replaced straight façades, rectangular or circular groundplans and simple triangular or segmental (part of a arc of a circle, cut off by a straight line) frontons.
The arts of sculpture, painting and architecture became a completion to each other. In churches architectonish ornaments ran over in painted planes.
Marked, turbulent colours and straight lightconstrast were often used.
Changes in the style of the church
In churches, the altar was often in the middle of the church; the visitor's look 'bumped' against this table and rose further to the dome. Therefore the architects paid much attention to the form of the dome. It was no longer a centre of repose, like in Renaissance, but a centre of motions. Domes acted as symbols of heaven. These symbols were emphasized by harmonious paintings. The architects often made sure domes and arches looked higher than they were in reality. Parts of buildings and reliefs ran over in painted planes. Façades got many sculptures.
Il Gésu
Il Gésu (1568-1575) was built by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1541-1604). It is the principal Jesuit church in Rome and the outstanding example of the sumptuous style to which the order has given its name. The church was built at the expense of Alessandro Farnese. Both the façade (by Giacomo della Porta) and the interior (by Vignola) were important to the development of the design of Baroque churches in Rome. It was the example for S. Andrea della Vallo and S. Ignazius and many other Baroque churches, as we will see in the streets of Rome.
The church was a modern version of the early-Christian basilica. The construction was imitated by many catholic churches. The idea of round or symmetrically built churches (from the Renaissance) was rejected; the church is cruciform and is crowned by a high, stately dome. On both sides of the nave there is a row of little chapels, each with its own altar. On the end of the cross there are two great chapels.
The Jesuits wanted to give all the religious people a view of the altar and the pulpit. That's why the nave became more spacious and the side-aisles were replaced by shallow chapels, which were only used for private ceremonies and prayers. The attention was called to the altar. Therefore more light fell on the altar than on the rest of the church through the dome in front of the altar. The interior consists of a varied pattern. That was spread all over the world during the 17th century. The altar was at the greatest distance from the main entrance. People were kept at a distance by a space in front of the altar. Il Gésu is a combination of a central building (round a central point) and an axial building (round an axis). The most common groundplan for a church consisted of a central nave with two side-aisles. In Il Gésu there is no joining of arts; paintings contrast strongly with the architectonic décor.
The vaultfresco (1674-1679) was made by Giovanni Battista Gaulli in a late stadium of baroquepainting. He has worked much with clear-obscure. As a result it seems the figures whirl over the painting.
The fa çade consists of pilasters. On the pilasters is the upper story and they bear the beam of the cornice. The architects had used the classical architecture; a main entrance in the middle, framed and flanked by two smaller entrances. Each column or pilaster is redoubled to give a greater wealth and variation to the whole church. The artist has tried to avoid repetition and monotony and to arrange the parts in such a way that they reach a climax towards the middle. There are many curved lines and spirals, which caused much criticism.
Bernini
He was born as a son of a sculptor in Naples and he was interested in sculptures at an early age. He went to Rome as a boy, in 1605. There, he attracted the attention of the pope's cousin, for whom he made sculptures, like 'The robbery of Persephone' and 'David'. He was very adroit in fashioning marble. Bernini has made a great monument in Il Gésu for H. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the order of the Jesuits. This monument is decorated with many precious stones, typical Baroque. Bernini was appointed architect of the St.-Peter in 1629. He worked for Urban VIII, Innocentius X and Alexander VII. He went to France in 1665, at the invitation of Louis XIV. He died in 1680, which roughly meant for the end of the baroque.
Maderna
Carlo Maderna was born in Capolago at the lake of Lugano. He was assistant to his uncle Domenico Fontana in Rome from 1588. When he was busy with the façade of Sta. Susanna, he was appointed architect of the St.-Peter. Here he added the middle nave and the façade to Michelangelo's building plan (1607-1612): a Baroque church arose from a Renaissance church. Other works are Palazzo Mattei (1598-1618) and the design for Palazzo Barberini, which was finished by Bernini after his death, and some fountains in Rome.