Painting Part 1

“Known as the symbol of genius and insanity, He broke all rules risking his own life”

~ Alessio Boni

Supper at Emmaus

So this next one is going to be a two-part thing but both comparing and contrasting two styles of painting with the ones that occurred before them.  I promise it will make more sense once I start. 

The Entombment of Christ

And yes, I am finally going to talk about my favorite form of art and trust me I have a lot to say! Lets start off with the Baroque period.  Which happened to follow the Renaissance and mannerist periods.  This period is most related to the deep contrast of lighting and deep displays of emotions.  The dramatics of the lighting and content makes this my favorite period and contains my favorite artist Caravaggio.   

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Like the Renaissance the baroque period was full of amazing painters who mastered the art form making everything look very realistic and colorful.  But the baroque period developed into a time to show ones ability to master color, brightness, and shadow.  This was shown by all the beautiful paintings that came form this time period.  The Renaissance was a time period displaying the advances Europe had made intellectually, philosophically, and artistically.  It was the basis for all that followed including the Baroque time, which played on the basics of Renaissance paintings and then built upon it.  The paintings themselves still related to either religion or Greek antiquity but tells even more dramatic stories and the lighting just enhances that even more. 

Boy with a Basket of Fruit

Now the master of the this period to me is Caravaggio, whose personal life fell into the troubled artist stereotype but also made for some deeply emotional paintings showing the most expressive emotions.  Even with a troubled personal life involving many fights and a price on his head he still managed to create surprisingly realistic paintings with natural life like characters.  The dramatics of his life, which involved a warrant from the pope, helped to aid in the dramatics of his paintings showing the great emotion going on inside his head.  Influencing many different artists after his death he is considered a father of the baroque movement.  His paintings are distinct in the way that the shadows are drawn out and the subject is always in the light making the subject easy to find.  Another aspect is that there is always and opening, meaning that is several of his paintings it seems there is a place for the viewer in the painting.  Whether it be an open seat or at a table there is always an opening for the view to feel as if they are a part of the painting. 

The Calling of St. Matthew

I discovered Caravaggio rather late compared to my other favorite artists.  I discovered him in my high school art history class.  Where I completely fell in love with his use of light.  The shadows of the painting were almost black and the light showed off the subject.  They were almost always highly dramatic or theatrical and had a natural realistic take to them.  His use of lighting and dramatics influenced my love for the baroque and actually was the start of it.  He showed that it was ok for me to be dramatic my art sometimes and was a role model for how I should not live my life in the future even if it will give me an artistic edge. 

St. Jerome

How do you feel about the dramatics of the Baroque period? Is it something you find interesting like me?