Baroque: A Glimpse at Florid, Classical, and Restrained

The Baroque took place from 1600-1750 and spanned across the Western world. The term Baroque means “an irregular pearl” and was given to this time period by eighteenth century artists (Matthews and Platt 383). It is a time characterized by opulence, great splendor, and theatrics that often strive for dazzling effects. The artists of this period were concerned with dramatic scenes and capturing characters at a precise moment of emotional uniqueness. Disgusted with late Mannerism, the Florid, Restrained, and Classical artists sought to develop a personal style through the use of realism and controlled lighting effects.

The Florid Baroque began due to the Catholic Church’s dislike of Protestant reformation. In an attempt to eradicate the Protestants, the Catholics sought to make their church a place of assurance, and great power. Determined to convince non-believers, the Catholic Church once again turned to the arts as a means to show their influence and holiness. Above all, the Church strived to make itself the hand of God and established many new schools of art to help achieve their appeal. Learning from past Renaissance painting and architecture the Florid artists recreated their idea of painting through the intense use of “rich color and unusual lighting effects” (Matthews and Platt 391). The artisans patronized by the church painted numerous new dramatic scenes with emotional intensity and motion by non-symmetrical compositions and emphasis on the diagonal. Many artists developed their own individual styles, but the birth of the Florid can be attributed to Michelangelo Caravaggio and Diego Velasquez.

The Penguin Dictionary of Art defines Caravaggio as a man “transgressed and radical both in his personal life as well as his public art” (Frazier 115). His obsession with realism drove him to abandon the ideas of late Mannerism in pursuit of a new way of painting, Baroque. He chose subjects of regular status and placed them in environments with intense lighting. This lighting only heightened each character’s unique emotional expression. Commissioned mainly by the Roman Catholic church, Caravaggio created an astounding amount of paintings during his life. In 1600, Caravaggio was commissioned to complete two paintings for the family chapel of Tiberio Cerasi. Conversion of St. Paul (Fig. 1) and the Crucifixion of St. Peter (Fig. 2), two themes already treated by Michelangelo, where his most memorable works (Sewter 377).

The Conversion of St. Paul reflects Caravaggio’s magnificent realism and chiaroscuro. Through his controlled use of lighting and diagonal, he portrays a scene of genius. Saul has just fallen from his horse, and is blinded by the light of Christ. Nothing is visible beyond the enormous horse and the lighting reveals only one other person in the painting. As Sewter points out, “Neither horse nor servant is aware of the significance of the event; the apparition of Christ takes place only within the chosen disciple.” (Sewter 377).

In the Crucifixion of St. Peter, Caravaggio shows true signs of Baroque by displaying St. Peter as an average male in a very painful situation. In contrast to Michelangelo’s St. Peter, the scene is very grim and portrays Peter not as a man of God, but rather a simple man in fear of death. Two of the figures are turned away from the viewer, while one figure’s face remains hidden in darkness. Once again the characters involved are displayed diagonally suggesting that the subjects are in action.

Velasquez is most known for his use of a new type of image, illusionism. Through the masterful use of mirrors and doors Velasquez developed a new way to enhance the dimensions in his paintings. He was commissioned both by Florid and Classical patrons. Velasquez focused primarily on portraits and displays his enigmatic abilities in both the Las Meninas (Fig. 3) and Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Mary and Martha.

Las Meninas, or The Maids of Honor, expresses Velasquez’s superb illusionism. He uses a mirror on the back wall, reflecting the King and Queen, to enhance the feeling of the scene. By introducing a staircase and door next to the mirror, the portrait is given an additional sense of space. On the left he depicts himself in the picture with brush and paint. He seems to be gazing at the couple, or perhaps the viewer, as if he is painting what the subject would see, rather than the subject directly.

The Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Mary and Martha is another great example of illusionism. Much like The Maids, a portrait is used to enhance the depth of the scene. This painting captures elements of still life and ordinary people mainly seen in Classical Baroque. There has been no explanation of the content of this painting, but Sewter suggests that the painting might contain a reference to the remark of St. Teresa that Christ was to be found among the kitchen pots (Sewter 414).

The Classical Baroque is best exemplified by the artists of Versailles in France. Although this period focused more on architecture, painting was equally important. The artists embraced the opulence of the Baroque, but the influence King Louis XIV’s absolutism restricted the subject matter of their paintings. Paintings were mainly commissioned by aristocrats and were either portraits or mythological in substance. The Sun King commissioned Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart to design the grand Versailles Palace and over 38,000 artists and builders were employed to help construct this massive work of art. Of them, Nicholas Poussin was commissioned to decorate the palace with his most famous works.

Nicolas Poussin was no fan of Caravaggio and quickly turned away from his style, only to develop his own unique way of painting. Poussin concentrated on using bright colors and fabulous landscapes to achieve a perfect balance of Classical simplicity. His most famous works included Et in Arcadia Ego (Fig. 4) and Stormy Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe (Fig. 5).

Et in Arcadia Ego is a great example of Poussin’s personally detached style. In this painting, four Roman shepherds are placed in a beautiful environment and are crowding around a tombstone with the engraving, “I too once dwelled in Arcadia.”. It is a peaceful scene that astounds the observer with its amazingly bright colors and harmonious feeling about the subject of death. The limbs and faces of the shepards cast an aura that clearly defines Poussin’s great use of chiaroscuro; the most significant characteristic of Baroque (Matthews and Platt 397).

Pyramus and Thisbe was created at time when Poussin was deeply concerned with the problems of landscape. In one of the few large-format paintings created, Poussin portrays Pyramus and Thisbe in a stormy land filled with large hills and a murky lake in the center. Pyramus has just inflicted as fatal wound upon himself believing his love has been killed by a lioness, and Thisbe is seen rushing toward her dying companion. The weather almost seems to be a part of the dramatic scene, as bolts of thunder and clouds of rain fill the sky. The painting reflects the helplessness of humanity and the overwhelming power of nature (Sewter 387)

Jules Hardouin-Mansart was patronized by the great Sun King to rebuild the Palace of Versailles. Jules combined Renaissance and modern ideals of architecture to reconstruct one of the most magnificent buildings of the time. The most famous room in the palace is the Hall of Mirrors, designed by Fancois Mansart. This seventy-five-meter-long room with its tunnel-vaulted ceilings, consists of numerous mirrors that reflect the sunlight, and fulfill the metaphor, “Sun King.” The two-mile garden, designed by Andre Le Notre, is filled with “a rich display of fountains, reflecting pools, flower beds and graveled walks.” (Matthews and Platt 397) Versailles, among many other great buildings patronized by Louis XIV, are great remainders of Classical Baroque.

It was not until the latter part of the 17^th century that the Baroque emerged in the Netherlands and England. It was significantly less flamboyant than the Italian Florid style and sought to restrain art in order to reflect the modern life. Through the use of portraits, domestic scenes and still lifes, restrained artists attempted to make things simpler and more reflective of the middle-class Protestant sensibilities. Architecture was based primarily on the influence of Classical tradition and will not be further mentioned. Of the famous artists responsible for the Restrained Baroque period, Rembrandt Van Rijn and Jan Vermeer are the two names most associated with this time. Both of these artists came from the same Dutch school of arts and studied many of works by Caravaggio.

Rembrandt was the most famous artists that existed during the Restrained. As the toothpaste derives its name from, Rembrandt is most known for his use of black canvasses and primarily only using white. The Night Watch (Fig 6) and various Self-Portraits (Fig 7) are great examples of Rembrandt’s Restrained characteristics, light and shadow creating dramatic scenes of movement.

The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq was not nicknamed The Night Watch until the nineteenth century. (Matthews and Platt 399) In it, Captain Cocq’s lieutenant and a young girl in the crowd are dressed in a bright shade of yellow, while the Captain and spectators are painted with darker shades. Although the canvas is black, Rembrandt displays the crowd in a daylight setting, revealing his spectacular use of light and dark color. Each character in the background have their own unique emotional expression and are closely confined, almost bursting out of the scene.

After Night Watch, Rembrandt’s career went into a decline, most notably because of his bad attitude. He utilized his down time by creating numerous self portraits, more than eighty in total (Sewter 443). In 1669 he created his last self-portrait using the most popular theme of the Baroque, feelings of sorrow and pity. Once again, the canvas is black, and he uses white and a little red to recreate his image in a depressed state expressed through his aging face and his cool dark eyes.

Jan Vermeer is most known for his domestic scenes. His favorite colors, yellow and blue, are used throughout his works to create a frozen moment of everyday events. As Frazier explains, “Muted tones, soft light, harmony, balance and subtlety characterize Vermeer’s paintings.” (Frazier 696). Vermeer shows his mastery of the Baroque style of painting in both the Kitchen Maid (Fig 8) and Woman with Scales (Fig 9).

The Kitchen Maid provides not only a portrait of an oblivious maid, but rather it creates a mood within the observer. The woman takes up a great portion of the scene and is portrayed with the fine yellow and blue that Vermeer enjoyed. The use of still life in this portrait is a distinct characteristic of the domestic simplicity in his works. The light from the window on the right illuminates the pale white wall behind the maid, wonderfully contrasting her brightly colored clothing and the still life.

In the Woman with Scales, Vermeer utilizes light and darkness rather than concentrating on color as seen in his previous painting. It firmly enforces the control of lighting in Baroque painting. This painting has numerous symbolic elements and has been called an allegory. Sewter says that the woman is weighing her own actions and the mirror on the wall is a sign of self-knowledge (Sewter 465). The woman is believed to be Vermeer’s wife, and the light creates an aura around her face and hands possibly signifying her importance to him. Although he had no contact with Velasquez, Vermeer seems to employ the same illusionism techniques by placing a picture within the painting. This portrait only adds to the depth and complexity of this already enigmatic scene.

The overall importance of the Baroque may not be fully appreciated for centuries to come; however, great artists such as Caravaggio, Poussin, and Rembrandt clearly show they are capable of mastering both light and color to achieve an irregular concept of art. This period of time should be remembered for its uniqueness and brilliance captured through scenes of drama, domestic simplicity, and action.

Frazier, Nancy. The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History. New York: Penguin Group, 2000. Pp. 115, 696.

Matthews, Roy T and Dewitt F. Platt. The Western Humanities Volume 2: The Renaissance to the Present. New York: McGraw Hill, 2004. Pp. 391-397.

Sewter, A.C. Baroque and Rocco. London: Thames and Hudson LTD, 1972 Pp. 377, 387, 413, 443, 465.

Pioch, Nicolas. Web Museum, Paris. 2002. 24 October 2004 <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/>.

Kren, Emil and Daniel Marx. Web Gallery of Art. 1996. 24 October 2004

<http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/p/poussin/biograph.html>.