Baroque magazine is an online publication that covers everything baroque related, from how it started until how it has evolved. It gives modern baroque artists more recognition with a digital visual format for readers to enjoy. Baroque magazine was centrally formed by me for Ms. Leny to not only mark this assignment but to also obtain more understanding on what the baroque period really is and what it has become, and for other viewers to relish and enjoy.
I chose the baroque period for the main concept of this magazine because I am a fond of the style and most of the artworks that I make are baroque based/inspired style. What makes me interested at first is the reason I learned to draw and paint realistically in my previous school. The class I chose was an Art and Design class which I later on found out while attending the class that it mainly focuses on realistic art styles rather than using the student’s own creativity to make their own imaginative artwork. Instead we were trained to use reference photos and make an artwork out of it, like making a replica of a photo, however, we made it with each of our own skills and talent. I didn’t receive good and acceptable scores, yet I learned and adapted to the class’ expectations and gained more knowledge on how to make artworks which they envision us on what the output should be.
Currently my art style has changed to realistic styles from adapting to the class’ expectations, which lead me to finding the baroque period and it has inspired me to make realistic and semi-realistic artworks. The baroque period is said to have a deep meaning on each painting which is what I love about the period, however the style has evolved and changed, artists nowadays are mostly inspired by baroque works rather than making a baroque work and that leads me on covering modern baroque artists. Modern baroque artists are quite rare because of how the art community have been more open-minded and accept various types of art styles. Nowadays young artists make a more simplified/cartooned style in preference of realistic art styles because of how complex realistic are. Nevertheless, simplified styles are complex too, artists must learn a lot about body proportions and how the human body moves and environments around them. Despite many artists now making more simplified style of works, there are still some artists who enjoy making realistic artworks including myself.
The Milkmaid,1658 by Johannes Vermeer
The Baroque period started around the 1600, created by a famous Italian sculpture, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. To understand everything about the Baroque period, one must understand Bernini, since he was one of the key players of the Baroque period. The word baroque comes from a Portuguese word baroco meaning a misshapen pearl. The Baroque begins in Rome, in Saint Peter’s Square, also known as Bernini’s Piazza because of the fact that Bernini redesigned the square.
The Baroque isn’t like other art movements, it doesn’t just wait and assumed that artists and viewers would be interested in them. But it knows you and chases the viewers, impressing us with its greatness and magnificence. The Baroque gives off a dark and edgy, vicious and violent theme, not only they spawned paintings, but they also made a new genre of music, architecture, sculpture, dance and so much more. The Baroque goes everywhere, it spent the entire 17th century traveling across Europe and what makes the Baroque so unique is that every where it went, it adopted the local customs, making the art more diverse.
The Baroque painting started to climb its way up since the 16th century and has come to its highest peak in the17th century where the art style has traveled across Europe. Its art is seen with drama, vibrant and deep colours, and dark backgrounds. Trento, a city in Northern Italy played an important role in the Baroque period. An art war started in Trento of a waspish church defending themselves with baroque art. In that time Trento wasn’t in Italy, instead they were located in Austria. For almost 20 years the Trent gathered in a cathedral in Trento to plan the catholic riposte. The Lutherans were against art, they see it as something to worship to false idols. However, the catholic church believed in art, as it is a way for people to know what they are worshiping, which is why the baroque is heavily associated with the catholic church.
There are thousands of baroque artists that has played a key role in the period, but one of which who stood out was Caravaggio. He painted what the Council of Trent instructed to artists, to grab people’s attention with their paintings. Caravaggio took this instruction and had people’s attention by taking dramatic use of the dark and make paintings into drama. Unfortunately, for 300 years he has been forgotten and the 20th century came, they began to misunderstood him and insulted him in awful ways, they saw him as the ripper of Rome. Now, researchers have corrected all false accusations and we can finally see who Caravaggio really was.
The Baroque period went through and created a lot of conflicts, but everything has come to an end. In the late 17th century, the Baroque style started to fall, as well as where it started in Italy. By that, a new style came, which originated in France. It was delicate, light-hearted, airy and exquisite. It started to rise and various forms of art started to come out with the style, which lead to the end of the Baroque and started a new style, it is what is known as Rococo.
A lot of people tend to get confused about the difference between the baroque and rococo period. Both maybe similar, in art styles and colours, however, they are actually quite the opposite of each other. The Baroque period came before Rococo, which is why Rococo is also known as Late Baroque. Rococo came right after the Baroque period started to fall, and by then the Rococo period started to gain interest from artists across Europe. So, what makes a baroque, Baroque and what makes a rococo, Rococo?
The Baroque period started in the late 16th century in Rome and lasted in around the mid-18thcentury and it is frequently perceived as something alluring and even overstated. It wasn’t a tidy movement, but it spawned some of the greatest art. The Baroque period aren’t just paintings, they roped in all the other arts, such as architecture, sculpture, music and so much more. Baroque are usually portrayed as dark, brutal, vicious and the nudes were much more rounded than Rococo. There are thousands of famous known paintings that depict baroque as it is, like ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’ by Caravaggio, ‘The Night Watch’ by Rembrandt and so much more. These paintings have a deeper meaning in them and like how baroque is, it is violent yet beautiful. Most baroque paintings portray scenery of religious moments. When looking into a Baroque painting, it gives off a dark feeling and unsettling vibes, but because of how it looks elegant and smooth, each painting doesn’t give a very creepy feeling giving that it looks vibrant and detailed. Baroque paintings usually focus on the subject they paint, and because of that most baroque artists would use really dark colours for the background for viewers to focus more on the subject and scenery instead of what’s behind it, making the viewers more curious on what is behind the painting, what makes it so special and different. Artists like Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Vermeer are some of the greatest artists that depict baroque as it is.
Now that we have discussed about Baroque, what makes a rococo, Rococo? Again, Rococo is the opposite of Baroque, it is so different in characteristics, however its also painted in a realistic style like the baroque, the only difference is what the painting shows. The Rococo period started during the mid-18th century, and it started just right after the Baroque period fell. Artists moved from the Baroque style to Rococo in around 1750 until 1780. Unlike Baroque which has a violent and dark theme, Rococo gives a joyful, merry, pastoral and sweet perspective of their surroundings. The Rococo period lasted in the late 18thcentury, which is quite short. However, the Rococo period spawned quite a lot of iconic and historic paintings. Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s ‘The Swing’ is one of Rococo’s masterpieces and one of the most known Rococo paintings even until now. The painting can be found in modern popular culture, like in the animated Disney film ‘Frozen’, Fragonard’s painting was shown in a scene from the film where Anna, the protagonist, sang a song in one of the first scenes. Despite on how short the period lasted, it created one of the most unforgettable artworks that ever existed.