Baroque Art

            During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Renaissance and the Reformation society was growing accustomed to change in the religious world as well as the scientific one. The shattering of the Roman Catholic Church brought many people to interpret the Bible their own way and led many like Martin Luther to a new way of approaching Christianity. Protestantism came forth in many versions and many artists now had opportunities to seek patrons not only in religious sects, but in secular ones as well. As time approached to the seventeenth century, many of the landscapes changed to the new majority of Protestants. Most of Northern Europe converted to Protestantism and Southern Europe clung to Catholicism. Science also changed the perception of the world, now that the knowledge that the world was not the center of the universe had come out, many saw that world around them was much more complicated. From all this change came the style of art called Baroque. Baroque incorporated and rejected many of the ideals of the Renaissance. Humanism was incorporated into the art in the Baroque period by portraying humans in different everyday activities, not only that but unlike the Renaissance artists the Baroque artists conveyed the humans in more emotional aspects. Unlike the Baroque period, Idealism was the dominant style in art during the Renaissance. Many of the Renaissance artists valued idealism and this left the viewers of the art to only observe the art not interact with it. Baroque art was the exact opposite, the artists emphasized movement, emotion, and energy to incorporate the viewer to interact with the piece. Naturalism also was incorporated in the Baroque period, but unlike the Renaissance the artists wanted to portray nature in a more emotive way. Still life’s and genre paintings depicted everyday objects and scenes so the viewer can relate to the piece and is more inclined to be responsive to the piece. Visual Harmony was used in a more dynamic and interactive way during the Baroque period as well. Instead of the usual pyramidal composition or symmetrical composition, many Baroque artists utilized asymmetrical balance to establish their compositions. This made the pieced much more interesting to look at and receive a greater emotive reaction from the viewer.

            Bernini’s David and Michelangelo’s David share some similarities in artistic style, but unlike Michelangelo’s Renaissance David, Bernini’s Baroque David has some different styles that pay homage to the Baroque period. Bernini’s David shares the ideals of humanism, naturalism, and idealism with Michelangelo’s David. For humanism, both pieces share the promotion of human achievement; they both wish to convey the best of the human being and portray the human body reminiscent of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The difference between Bernini’s David and Michelangelo’s David was Bernini’s David was a much more humanistic David, Michelangelo’s David is more idealistic. Bernini portrays David in movement, his body twisting as he is ready to launch the rock at Goliath. The viewer is forced to interact with the piece, to envision what is to come next. Michelangelo’s on the other hand is very stable, calm, and resolved. His David looks like he is contemplating the situation, so this leads the viewer only to think in an unemotional way. Both Davids exhibit the ideal of idealism though with the musculature of David although, Bernini’s David is much more mature and built. Bernini’s David shows tension in his muscles, unlike Michelangelo’s. Since Bernini’s David and Michelangelo’s David have similar visions of the human body, I can say that both the periods of the Renaissance and the Baroque periods had a similar style in naturalism. Both periods wanted to show the world in empirical means, but the Baroque wanted a more emotive response to how the world should be looked at. Renaissance art only showed an idealistic look at the natural world, so the viewer could not connect with the piece. In the Bernini’s David naturalism is shown by the way David would actually react to the action at the time. Michelangelo’s David looks more like hes walking on runway showing off his greatness. Bernini’s David is crouched, ready to attack his opponent in a serious and determined manner. Lastly, visual harmony in Bernini’s David is different that Michelangelo’s David by the way it is juxtaposed. Michelangelo’s David is in a balanced weighted pose that was popular in the Renaissance period. Called the Canon of Polykleitos, many of the sculptures at the Renaissance time had a proportionate body in a balanced posed. The body was commonly in an ‘S’ shape with one of the legs weighted against the other. Michelangelo’s David copies these canons of proportions and so does Bernini, but Bernini’s goes away from some of the traditions. For instance, Bernini’s David is proportioned correctly, but his body is not balanced in an upright symmetrical way. Bernini’s David is twisting in different directions implying asymmetrical balance. By doing this Bernini’s David exhumes more energy and movement. Visual harmony is still reached, but Baroque art molds visual harmony with the emotive senses to convey a more stimulating experience.