The Baroque in Italy and Spain Essay -- Essays Papers

The fancy in Italy and SpainThe period called churrigueresco cannot easily be classified. The work that distinguishes this period is stylistically complex and even contradictory. While Baroque was born in Rome during the final years of the sixteenth vitamin C, it was not specifically Italian. Nor was it confined to religious art. While Baroque did have ties to the Counter-Reformation, it promptly entered the Protestant North where it was applied primarily to secular subjects. It would also be difficult to claim that Baroque is the style of absolutism, because Baroque flourished in the burgess Holland no less than in the absolutist monarchies. Nor do we see the libertine history of the era reflected in Baroque art. While the seventeenth century was one of almost continuous warfare, these wars had practically no effect on Baroque imagery. It is equally difficult to relate Baroque art to the science and philosophy of the period. While a flat link did exist in the Early and High R enaissance, when an artist could also be a do-gooder and scientist, this changed in the seventeenth century. During this time, scientific and philosophical thought became too complex, abstract, and domineering for the artists to share. Still, there is a subtle but an important relationship betwixt Baroque art and science. The complex metaphysics of the humanists, which gave everything religious, meaning, was replaced by a new physics. military man awareness of the world was continuously expanding and the cosmology of such men as Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo broke the ties between sensory perception and science. By placing the sun, not the domain at the center of the universe, it contradicted what our eyes told us that the sun revolves around the earth. The world... ...r to a greater extent subtle. Velazquez explored the optical qualities of light more fully than any other mountain lion of his time. Francisco de Zurbarn (1598-1664) stands out among the painters of Seville f or his quiet intensity. Zurbarn worked almost exclusively for monastical orders and his most impressive baroque compositions are deeply moving for their direct and realistic approach to religious subject matter. The work of Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) is the most cosmopolitan, as well as accessible, of any Spanish Baroque artist. His Virgin and tiddler (1675-1680) unites the influence of the Northern artists and Italians in an image that nevertheless retains an unmistakably Spanish character. Religion, politics, and philosophy all played a part in Baroque art. This interplay of passion, intellect, and spirituality make it one of the most compelling periods of Western art.