BAROQUE ART - By Autumn Boyet-Stinton (Original Article Written 7/28/2008)

Painted vividly into the pages of ART history around the early 1600’s, BAROQUE ART is defined greatly by it’s striking depiction of drama and all things grand.  BAROQUE paintings, done as ARTISTS experimented with repeated and varied patterns, show an abundance of detail.   The paintings were more about an overall sense of awe than the depiction of realistic subjects.  This is quite fitting as the root words (whether from the Portuguese, Spanish, or French languages) associated with the BAROQUE school of ART can simply mean that something is elaborate containing many details.  It goes without saying therefore that the term BAROQUE ART, while we may most easily think of painting, may also apply to sculpture, literature, dance, music and even architecture. 

The BAROQUE ART era was about the handling of paint and compositions as well as the depiction of space and movement.  It was found to be in stark contrast to the Renaissance era.  BAROQUE ART described works of art or craft that was thought to be excessive, complex, indirect, or obscure to the extent that the ARTIST may have had a hidden agenda in concealing or confusing the meaning of an expression.  Obviously then, the term “BAROQUE” was initially used with a derogatory meaning. 

A piece that fits within this school of BAROQUE ART, offers us an ARTIST’S rendering of great emotion and intensity.  We see convincing detail and renderings of skin, cloth and other textures, yet we find great individualism and meanings that may be hidden leaving the interpretation of BAROQUE masterpieces in question.  This adds an interesting twist to this period and begs consideration as to the hidden meanings and contradictions that BAROQUE ART brings to light.    

FOR EXAMPLE:

It seems that we are quick to associate ART with “free thinking” and “progressive thought.”  However, the development of the BAROQUE ART STYLE was in fact promoted and encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, who kept tight reins on society in the 1600’s in Italy.  Rome and surrounding areas found itself and many of it’s clergy members caught up in the materialistic pursuit of ART and the ARTISTS that could create such elaborate masterpieces as a “showy display” as to their means.  Scandals were rampant; however, members of the clergy were quick to “sweep under the rug” any such instances that would blemish their public appearances.  But their greed, moral debauchery and lust for status were characteristics that were unable to be hidden.  It was under the hypocritical eyes and jeweled fingers of the clergy, that churches were adorned with elaborate frescos. 

Ironically, the very paintings that were commissioned to boost their egos, are in fact the masterpieces that may have undermined their authority and depicted the true colors of these men.  As a matter of fact, one might argue that these paintings, if examined and interpreted as the artist had intended, would tell a story different than that which the commissioner had intended.  Could it be that the ARTIST did in fact have the final say by expressing “a hidden agenda in concealing or confusing the meaning of an expression” that was not only public for all to see, but would write itself into ART history. 

I would venture that this type of ART, as complex as it is in definition is, and the ARTISTS of this period should be credited with more than simple place in ART HISTORY.  This era or ART, whether is be by means of underlying agendas in paintings, unusual metaphors and paradoxical poetry,  theatre containing elaborate plots and architectural spaces, elaborate and monumental staircases and such of architecture, or sculpture that showed dynamic movement and energy of human forms spiraling around an empty central vortex, or reached outwards into the surrounding space – No matter what the form of BAROQUE ART was, it brought new angles and views into the ART world and therefore this makes the BAROQUE period one of the most compelling periods of Western ART! 


TOPIC FOR CONVERSATION:  HIDDEN AGENDAS - Do you express thought or emotion that you can't readily express in your ARTt?  HOW?