Caravaggio. Bacchus. 1595–1596. 37 × 33 1/2”.
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi Dei Francesi.
Paintings by Caravaggio 1599–1602.
Caravaggio. The Calling of St. Matthew. 1599–1600. 10’ 7 1/2" × 11’ 2”.
Caravaggio. The Conversion of St. Paul. c. 1601. 7’ 6" × 5’ 8”.
Artemisia Gentileschi. Judith and Her
Maidservant with head of Holofernes. 1625
Diego Velázquez. Water Carrier of Seville. c. 1619. 41 1/2 × 31 1/2”.
Diego Velázquez. Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor). 1656. 10’ 5" × 9’ 1/2”.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. The Immaculate Conception.
c. 1660–1665. 81 1/8 × 56 5/8”.
Sebastian Salcedo. Our Lady of Guadalupe.
1779
Peter Paul Rubens. The Raising of the Cross
(Left Wing, Center Panel, and Right Wing). 1610–1611.
Center panel 15’ 1 7/8" × 11’ 1 1/2”; each wing 15’ 1 7/8" × 4’ 11”.
Peter Paul Rubens. Henry IV Receiving the Portrait of Marie de’ Medici.
1621–1625. 12’ 11 1/8" × 9’ 8 1/8”.
Jan Brueghel and Peter Paul Rubens. Allegory of Sight.
c. 1617–1618. 25 5/8 × 43”.
Frans Hals. Catharina Hooft and Her Nurse. c. 1620. 33 3/4 × 25 1/2”.
Rembrandt van Rijn. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.
1632. 5’ 3 3/4" × 7’ 1 1/4”.
Rembrandt van Rijn. The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq
(The Night Watch). 1642. 11’ 11" × 14’ 4”.
Rembrandt van Rijn. Self-Portrait. 1658. 52 5/8 × 40 7/8”.
Judith Leyster. Self-Portrait. 1635. 29 3/8 × 25 5/8”.
Johannes Vermeer. View of Delft. c. 1662. 38 1/2 × 46 1/4”.
Johannes Vermeer. Woman Holding a Balance. c. 1664. 15 7/8 × 14”.
Rachel Ruysch. Flower Still Life. After 1700. 30 × 24”.
Hyacinthe Rigaud. Louis XIV. 1701. 9’ 2" × 7’ 10 3/4”.
Nicolas Poussin. Landscape with St. Matthew and the Angel.
1639–1640. 39 × 53 1/8”.
Nicolas Poussin. Landscape with St. John on Patmos. 1640. 40 × 53 1/2”.
Michelangelo Caravaggio was an Italian artist active inRome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between
1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both
physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on
the Baroque school of painting. Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan under a master who had
himself trained under Titian. In his early twenties Caravaggio moved to Rome where, during the late
16th and early 17th centuries, many huge new churches and palazzi were being built and paintings
were needed to fill them. During the Counter-Reformation the Roman Catholic Church searched
for religious art with which to counter the threat ofProtestantism, and for this task the artificial
conventions of Mannerism, which had ruled art for almost a century, no longer seemed adequate.
Caravaggio's novelty was a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a
dramatic, even theatrical, use ofchiaroscuro. This came to be known as Tenebrism, the shift from
light to dark with little intermediate value.
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in
the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period,
important as a portrait artist. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural
significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European
figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656).
From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for
the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern
artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, as well as the Anglo-Irish painter Francis
Bacon, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered
one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in
Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement
that historians call the Dutch Golden Age, when Dutch Golden Age painting, although in many ways
is counter to the Baroque style that dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative.
Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by
personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout
his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many
important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his
portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His selfportraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity
and with the utmost sincerity.
Nicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features
clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the
dominant Baroque style of the 17th century. Until the 20th century he remained the major
inspiration for such classically oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres and Paul Cézanne. He spent most of his working life in Rome, except for a short period
when Cardinal Richelieu ordered him back to France to serve as First Painter to the King.
Exam II pp. 379-412 Baroque Period
Artists:
1. Caravaggio
2. Artemesia
3. Velasquez
4. Murillo
5. Salcedo
6. Rubens
7. Hals
8. Rembrandt
9. Leyster
10. Vermeer
11. Rigaud
12. Poussin
15 Points: 15 Multiple Choice Questions on these artists and the period
5 Points: 5 Image ID’s (match artist name to artwork)
10 Points: Essay on The Baroque
Describe the work and ideas of the 3 major artists of the Baroque Period
Caravaggio, Velasquez, and Rembrandt. Tell me what they were famous for and how
their work inspired everyone else. Provide key facts and make larger connections.