Art with Amruta.. Baroque and Rococo!

So Amrita / Amrika / Amruta …whatever your name .. How come this newfound obsession with art? Newfound ???!

Heavens no..!

Art is the sole surviving relic of centuries past.. People pass on , animals die … Art lives forever…

Ok ok ! So what do you have for us today. .. ”BAROQUE art”… .. Alright Amrita ..Go ahead….Make your point…

Baroque art started in 1600 in Rome ,Italy and spread all over Europe carrying on right upto the 1700’s.

Baroque means imperfect pebble … It was an exuberant , dramatic ,elaborate art style full of emotion and movement … Look at some baroque paintings … You will realise there is richness and very real figures illuminated in an amazing manner ..called chiaroscuro ..And above all…movement ..of all types… Pushing , pulling , lifting, tugging….Full action!!!No stillness ,as seen in the RENAISSANCE paintings before this …..

Caravaggio was the greatest Baroque painter … Painting themes religious in nature fully encouraged by the Catholic Church .. Here is a picture of the Crucifixion of Peter … Peter is lying

upside down on a cross being pulled by three others .. All in bold dynamic postures displaying intense emotions.. Background in most baroque works dulled out with complete emphasis on the drama of the subject

Movement / energy the main thing … See the following two statues… Of the same subject ”David”.

Michelangelos ‘David from the Renaissance period is a beautiful figure of a male nude … With his sling poised to defeat the mighty Goliath

Very real, but ‘still’ and

contemplative ….

Bernini’s ” David” of the Baroque period .. On the other hand ,displays a powerful expressive body in full swing and drama…Ready to catapult the pebble and knock goliaths head off!!!

So much movement , so much detail, so much colour, so ornate ,so dramatic … All these qualities evident in the frescoes of basilicas of this period … Beautiful figures in full motion scrambling up to the ”open to the sky”

Ceiling..

Have a look…

Baroque art known also as Jesuit art because of the often religious themes… But …By the 1700’s..People wanted something less serious ,more flippant ,more lah -di-dah…!So was born ‘late Baroque’ or ROCOCO art .. This was centred in France and had themes lighthearted and entertaining of the French aristocracy .. Full of romance and amorous encounters…using soft colours and curvy lines….

Like so…..

Rococo art thrived in its extravagant detailing and exaggerated decoration…To illustrate.. See the following two pictures .. First of ‘lovers’ in the baroque period .. Then of ‘lovers’ in the rococo….. So much happening all over in the rococo picture..,,!

All flounce ,flair….Background / foreground everywhere !!!

Even if the subject was ”still life ” rococo artists would ‘overdo’ in every way … One would be lost .. As to what the subject was in the first place ..!!