Renaissance & Baroque

The Renaissance was a period in history beginning around 14th century and ending close to the 17th century.  Before the Renaissance, the Middle Ages riddled Europe with territorial battles and lacked focus on much else. The meaning of the word Renaissance is “born anew” which accurately describes this period since it is one of the most significant times of growth leading mankind into modern history. Another equally important era for art especially was between the Renaissance and modern times which is called the Baroque period.

During the Renaissance and continuing into the Baroque period, new techniques and forms of expression through artwork birthed that people had never seen before. Secularism was introduced in this time period which allowed for people to explore art, literature, philosophy, music, politics, science, and religion with different eyes. With all these new ideas being introduced, Renaissance scholars guided their studies through a humanist scope, which led to depictions of real life forms and human emotion in art created during this time. Humanism was a distinct cultural movement because it broke the medieval tradition of having solely a devout religious motivation for creating art or literature. Humanists were concerned with secular subjects rather than just religious themes which was a huge change. There are certain people in history who were key to the expansion of these new ideas. The Medici family were the most important and influential besides the artist themselves during this period in Italy. The Medici’s are dubbed the “Godfathers of the Renaissance” due to their funding of crucial architectural projects and artwork. A pirate wishing to become a part of the Vatican was the catalyst to the rise of the Medici’s who ended up repaying the family heavily when he later became Pope John the 23rd.

Diana Bathing 1565

In the painting “Diana Bathing” by François Clouet, we see classic and important Renaissance methods used. This mythological scene represents Diane de Poitiers, Henri II’s mistress surrounded by nymphs and satyrs. In the background on the left the imaginary equestrian portrait of Henri II is painted. Henri II was born in the Royal Château at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France and he is the son of François I and Claude de France. Catherine de' Medici, who was the daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne, was arranged to marry Henri II on October 28th 1533 when both were 14 years old. Henri II and Diane continued their affair well into his marriage to Catherine. This painting represents the rise to power of the Guise family years later as Henri II lay on his death bed. The Guises were the most powerful family in France after the death of the last Valois King, Henri II. Through the family’s influence with the French crown, Marie Guise had been chosen to marry James V of Scotland leading to the birth of Mary Queen of Scots.

This painting was a reference to a story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the story, Diana the huntress, seen in the middle being robed, was disturbed by the hunter, Acteon who is on the left painted as Henri II on the horse, as she bathed in a forest stream. She turned him into a stag and he was killed by his own hounds. The dead stag is seen on the right side of the painting. Clouet used political satire which was introduced during the Renaissance by the book Dante’s Inferno. Clouet shows Marie, who is depicted as Diana, naked and being clothed by nymphs in Royal crimson robes. Catherine is depicted naked also, sitting and weeping due to her husband Henri II’s death (the dead stag). The others, dressing Diana, are thought to be Anne d’Este, the young Duchess of Guise and Marie’s mother who is also naked.  They are surrounded by the Guise brothers as satyrs praising Diana’s actions. It was dangerous to paint people in the nude, especially those of royal decent, which probably represents how the artist felt of the Guise’s quick rise to power.

The influences of Humanism are seen in this painting as well. We see can point out individual figures being depicted instead of just stereotyped symbolic figures. The figures look very realistic and emotion can be seen on their faces in contrast to Byzantine art which was nonrealistic and had no use of perspective. Also, instead of just religious figures being painted, the use of real people like in “Diana Bathing” reflected the growing idea that man and the Divine are allowed to be merged. Clouet played with the exploration of virtue and the almost dangerous portrayal of the events happening around him in this oil painting. 

           Baroque is the term used to describe European art created from about 1600 to 1750.  Classic Baroque works depict reality and also are characterized with being extremely dramatic and rich with emotion and vivid colors. Baroque artists made a point to focus on size, lighting patterns, and interior decoration. They also used bold colors, a variety of materials and many other techniques to appeal to the viewer’s senses and perception. One of the Baroque period’s most famous artists was Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), an architect, sculptor, theater set designer and painter. He was also the person who reintroduced the baldachin to architect, the spiral columns that are on top of the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and the walkway in front of that church. Another famous Baroque artist is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio was very talented and created many paintings during this period. As his success grew so did his inner turmoil. The painter was known to be violent and had issues with drinking and gambling which led to him killing a man during a bar fight.

David with the Head of Goliath 1610

In Caravaggio’s painting “David with the Head of Goliath” he uses classic Baroque techniques. The center is the brightest part with extreme contrast to the almost black background and corners. On the faces of these two figures we see a lot of emotion which was a key element used to create Baroque art. Caravaggio depicted light being shed on parts of David’s body and a part of Goliath’s head to bring focus there. This illuminated/white light quality is seen in a lot of Baroque styled art to control focal points. There is immense detail in this painting to create a very vivid life like quality and evoke emotional responses. Baroque art is identified as being very dramatic and during the time period art was used to restore Catholicism as the dominant religion.  Here we see a story from the bible, David the young true King of Israel looks sad holding the head of the slayed giant Goliath. It seems as if he is not pleased with his victory of defeating his enemy. It is said that in this painting Goliath is actually a self-portrait of Caravaggio himself. Some argue that both figures are representative of Caravaggio. For that viewpoint they say young David represents young Caravaggio, and the bloody head of Goliath represents Caravaggio as an adult. We see how Renaissance art introduced a more realistic detailed mindset for artists while Baroque art added on to that as even more realistic with a focus more on dramatic elements and intense emotion.