Key to Art History

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Baroque & Rococo

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There is a general consensus that Art during the Baroque period (1600's) was more ornate and dramatic than the austere classicism of the Renaissance, but less distorted and theatrical than Mannerism. Baroque artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Caravaggio were extremely interested in painting the effects of light on their subject matter. This interest may have been influenced by the relatively new science of "optics." Rembrandt and Caravaggio both used a dramatic lighting that left some of the picture in deep shadow.

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Caravaggio's
"Crucifixion of St. Peter" (fragment)

Bernini, Italy's most prolific Baroque sculptor, tried to capture the most dramatic and emotional moments in his depiction of religious figures. But the most progressive artistic development during the Baroque period was the democratization of subject matter and access to art objects. Unlike the Renaissance, the painters Rembrandt, Vermeer and Caravaggio felt free to use middle and lower class subjects for their paintings. New techniques for reproduction, such as printmaking, made pictures available to the middle class.

The Baroque was not a homogeneous style. Throughout Europe, it was a combination of Mannerist excess and Renaissance austerity. The Baroque style differed from country to country. Italian artists, rejecting Mannerism, generally tended toward naturalism. In Holland, where the middle class was growing without the baggage of an entrenched and powerful aristocracy, subject matter and style was influenced by the new middle class market. Elsewhere, Ruebens, Bernini, Velazquez and others continued the tradition of church and aristocratic patronage.

The 1700's saw the rise, especially in France, of strong centralized monarchies. This wealthy oligarchy produced a style of art, known as the Rococo, that mirrored the royalty's sumptuous, self-indulgent tastes. It possessed much of the anti-classical linearity and excessive decoration of Hellenism and Mannerism. Rococo painting is best characterized by three artists: Fragonard, Watteau and Boucher. Many of the aristocrats, whose wealth supported an extravagant life style, were later to die in the violent revolution that produced the French Republic and the style of art known as Neoclassical.

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Fragonard's
"The Reader" (fragment)

Additional Resources

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Read more about Rembrandt and see some of his works.

bulletView Velazquez most famous painting "Las Meninas"
bullet Find out about Artists of the Baroque period.
bullet View examples of the French Rococo style . 
bulletView a chronological list of 18th century French artists

[ Baroque & RococoThings to Know ] [ Baroque & Rococo Questions ] [ Baroque & Rococo Critical Thinking ]

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