Part Three - Renaissance & Baroque

In 1347 a merchant ship drew into the busy port at Messina in Sicily, returning laden with goods from the Crimea as it had done many times before. But this time was different. As the desperately sick crew dragged themselves ashore they scarcely noticed the cargo being unloaded onto the dock. Little did they realize that what they had travelled with for hundreds of miles was to be the cause of death to their friends and families, and millions more besides. The Black Death had landed and immediately began to spread, becoming the catalyst for years of death and destruction throughout the Western world.

Yet from this near total disaster, a new spirit arose. The desire born out of desperation to create a new society inspired intellectuals in northern Italy to seek a new beginning. Medieval society and the method of the past was, in their eyes dead, and the only hope was a rebirth of society, which later came to be known as the Renaissance.

As the troubled populations saw their misery start to subside they grasped the opportunity to make changes that would create a better future for themselves. The receding horror of the the Plague prompted those who fled the cities and towns to return, which in turn helped reverse the economic depression which gripped Europe at that time. Out of this crisis new opportunities in business and trade emerged and led to a regrowth in prosperity, creating a new “middle class” of wealthy merchants as a result.

This changed the pattern of relations between classes over the next two hundred years and helped to stabilize the structure of feudal relations by making them less oppressive on the poor. This introduced a level of popular participation in local and national government, setting in train the rise of a political class of gentry which was to challenge the political power of the traditional aristocracy.

There is a general consensus that the Renaissance began in Tuscany in the 14th century. Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at the time; its political structure; the patronage of its dominant family, the Medici; and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

This was an exciting time for scholars and free thinkers who found a less oppressive environment in which they could disseminate their ideas. The desire to progress led to curiosity about the physical world, the awareness of Classical antiquity, and the growing desire to study and imitate nature. For the Italians, the blueprints for the basis of a new society lay in the ancient architecture and writings of their ancestors, and thus the Classical orders became a reference point from which Renaissance artists and scholars could draw their inspiration from.

The control and influence of the Church, which was at its lowest ebb after the Great Schism saw the rise of Humanistic ideas as a threat, and utilized their most violent tactic, the Inquisition, to regain their dominance. This effort would ultimately not succeed as many profound discoveries were being made that would contradict the Church’s teachings with irrefutable proof.

The Renaissance world was literally turned upside down when the discovery was made that it was not flat, and that the Heavens did not revolve around the earth. The Church had a hard task trying to convince otherwise, especially against such solid evidence. The ruthless attempts to suppress knowledge made the Renaissance a dangerous as well as exiting time for scholars and free-thinkers, and this nervous air undoubtedly slowed the advancment of that time.

The invention of the printing press in 1439 allowed these new ideas to spread quickly and is a key factor in the development of the European Renaissance.

Italian Renaissance architects based their theories and practices on Classical Roman examples. The Renaissance revival of Classical Rome was as important in architecture as it was in literature. A pilgrimage to Rome to study the ancient buildings and ruins, especially the Colosseum and Pantheon, was considered essential to an architect’s training. Classical orders and architectural elements such as columns, pilasters, pediments, entablatures, arches, and domes form the vocabulary of Renaissance buildings. Vitruvius’s writings on architecture also influenced the Renaissance definition of beauty in architecture. As in the Classical world, Renaissance architecture is characterized by harmonious form, mathematical proportion, and a unit of measurement based on the human scale.

During the Renaissance, architects trained as humanists helped raise the status of their profession from skilled labourer to artist. They hoped to create structures that would appeal to both emotion and reason. Three key figures in Renaissance architecture were Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Andrea Palladio, and influence of the Classical are clearly to be seen in their work.

Renaissance interiors began to make use of a greater number of specialized rooms such as dining, music and reception rooms. The internal layout was typically over three stories, with the courtyard and service area on ground level, the family residing on the ‘piano nobile’ on the middle floor, and the servants quarters located under the roof.

The classical orders were widely used in ornament, and appeared on vases, candelabra, roundels, cornucopiae, shells, masks, wreathes, swags, acanthus leaves, putti, and enriched mouldings borrowed from sarcophagi, arches, and other remnants of antiquity. The development of the Grotesque, much used by Raphael and Michelangelo, introduced a new flexible system of ornament supplementing the Early Renaissance repertoire. Rich marquetry, imaginative carving, and the use of walnut in place of oak characterized the more flamboyant efforts of the 1500’s. A greater variety of forms and richer ornament were employed than in earlier periods, and this trend would grow in increasing complexity through to Baroque and Rococo styles. Portable folding chairs were revived, with seats of tapestry or leather, and side chairs were developed that had carved backs and solid carved panels instead of legs. The first innovation in Italian Renaissance furniture was the cassone, a chest with elaborate carved and gilt or painted decoration.

All of these, however, were enjoyed only by the wealthy, the ordinary folk living in basic conditions with sparse decoration and little or no furniture. The Renaissance, for all of its advances and discovery and vision of a golden age of rebirth did not present to all. For the vast majority trying to eke out more than a meagre existence, life carried on regardless.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw a great increase in scientific and philosophical advances. Following the Mannerist movement in Italy in the 16th century, the Renaissance tended toward more and more elaborate decoration until it developed a distinctly recognizable style, which was eventually called Baroque. This style was a natural progression that stemmed from developments of the Renaissance, which were based on new dicoveries and thinking in the sciences and humanities, and continued to evolve with the ever emerging stream of new ideas that were prevelant at that time. A new emphasis was placed on sculptured and painted forms, with shapes from nature, like leaves and shells, or scrolls being added to the Renaissance style with greater detail and more lavish ornamentation.

The Renaissance had encouraged a new interest in all branches of the arts, and this continued to grow and seek new directions as more artists influenced each other and shared their new skills. Many new opportunities in business made it possible for people outside the Church or nobility to generate vast amounts of wealth, and these often became patrons of the arts, sponsoring artists and financing ambitious projects.

Many artists began to rebel against the High Renaissance strict rules regarding that style, as thet felt their creativity was being hampered, and so payed little regard to the constraints of High Renaissance rules and often deliberately set out to break them. Square, circular and other orderly shapes became more curved and elliptical in building forms, switching from simplicity and limpidity to complexity and mystery. Many sculptors were also architects and this is clearly seen in the shift from architectural to more artistic shapes and forms.

As projects took many years to complete, some buildings display a shift through the various developments in styles, often in stark contrast, which added even more to the dramatic effect of the Baroque. St. Peter’s in Rome is an example of the mixture of diferrent styles ranging from Early through High Renaissance, ending at the Baroque.

As people began to learn more about science, medicine, and about the physical world around them, they began to question what they viewed as the rather simplistic and mistaken teachings of the Church. For centuries before, the Church thrived as long as people remained ignorant, fearful, and deprived. In their desperation they were easy to control and subdue with promises expounded by the clergy of eternal happiness and life after death. This shift in public conciousness was recognized by the Church, and realized that in order to keep its congregation it would have to change its image to suit. It did this in a number of ways through cleverly revamping its image and decoration of it’s churches to capture the imagination and wonder of the people. Vivid, highly realistic paintings of biblical scenes, mesmerizing decoration, colossal proportions, unusual, fantastical, and bizarre shapes, forms and images were used to create an overwhelming supramundane atmosphere.

The Inquisitions were another more sinister way for the Church to exert it’s power and influence, and rejected many of the new ideas in the sciences that contradicted the Church’s own teachings. Therefore, Baroque reached its peak in the austere, religious environment of the Church, and spread in predominately Catholic regions. It flourished in Italy, Austria, parts of south Germany, in adjacent regions of Europe, and in Spain and Portugal in the 17th century.

In Rococo style there are almost no religious subjects. While some churches were decorated and built in the Rococo style, especially in Austria and Germany, there is almost no evidence of religion in paintings. Rococo was in vogue during the eighteenth century, although the Rococo style is much more real world oriented than Baroque.

The style of the Rococo period embraced life and was secular, exuberant and enjoyable, rather than the Baroque austerity with its solemn, religious overtones.

Baroque furniture shared many style characteristics with Baroque paintings and architecture, displaying similar elements, and strong contrasts of light and dark, textures and shape, often made with exotic materials.

In contrast to the heavier themes and darker colors of the Baroque, the Rococo style was characterized by grace, frivolity, playfulness, and lightness. Rococo still, however, maintained the Baroque taste for complex forms and intricate patterns.

While the Baroque style focused mainly on Europe, Rococo enjoyed a sense of the exotic. Decorative influences from the East began to be seen during the Baroque period, but Eastern art did not become popular in Europe until the Rococo period. One of the most dominant Eastern imports during the Rococo period was the pagoda. Cinoiserie, singerie, and far Eastern decoration of furniture were especially popular.

While many believe that Rococo is merely a refinement due to the similarities between them, the themes and the general attitude of Rococo suggests that it is independent of Baroque.

In Italy, the Baroque style is reflected in dramatically ostentatious churches with irregular shapes and extravagant surface decoration. In France, the highly ornamented Baroque style combines with Classical restraint to become the more elegant Rococo. Russian aristorcrats were impressed by Versailles in France, and incorporated Baroque ideas in the building of St. Petersburg and likewise, elements of the Baroque influence and style are found extensively throughout Europe. In Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and Russia, Baroque ideas were often applied with a lighter touch. Pale colors and curving shell shapes gave buildings the delicate appearance of a frosted cake. The term Rococo is often used in these regions to describe these softer versions of the Baroque style.

Baroque and Rococo styles reflect the changing times of the 17th and 18th centuries. The movement from absolutism towards the Enlightenment swept throughout Europe, bringing new ideas and styles to new places. In Spain, Italy, and France, kings sponsored colossal projects and colonial expansions to demonstate their absolute power. In Baroque Spain, the Escorial Palace bridged the gap between Renaissance and Baroque styles. The entire scheme borrowed from Michelangelo’s design for St. Peter’s in Rome.

Different countries developed different styles of Baroque in both religious and secular buildings. In Southern predominantly Catholic Europe the style was pushed to excess, in contrast to Northern Europe (especially England) where the overall aesthetic of the style remained more subdued. But everywhere, the Baroque was associated with the confident assertion of power.

Italian Baroque: The Catholic Church in Italy wanted architecture to express its holy splendour. They commissioned churches with enormous domes, swirling forms, huge spiraled columns, multicolored marble, and lavish murals. The same exuberance was expressed in non-religious buildings, as in The Trevi Fountain in Rome.

French Baroque: The Baroque style became more restrained in France. While lavish details were used, French buildings were usually symmetrical and orderly. The Palace of Versailles, built under the reign of Louis XIV, is a prime example of French Baroque architecture. It was balanced and slightly restrained in its design, yet simultaneously extravagant in its scale and decoration. The unified design of the palace and grounds physically expressed Louis XIV’s desire for absolute control over the nation, and even nature.

English Baroque: Baroque architecture emerged in England after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Architect Christopher Wren used restrained Baroque styling when he helped rebuild the city, and in particular St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Spain and Latin America: Builders in Spain, Mexico, and South America combined Baroque ideas with exuberant sculptures, Moorish details, and extreme contrasts between light and dark. Called Churrigueresque after a Spanish family of sculptors and architects, Spanish Baroque architecture was used through the mid-1700s, and continued to be imitated much later.

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FROM:

The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc; 1994).

http://blog.beliefnet.com/feilerfaster/God2-Sistine_Chapel.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/itar/hd_itar.htm

Hamlin, A.D.F.; History of Architecture

Pile, John, A History of Interior Design