Today let's deal with the most interesting baroque art style. Its emergence was influenced by two important events of the Middle Ages. Firstly, this is a change in worldview ideas about the universe and man, associated with epochal scientific discoveries that time. And secondly, with the need for those in power to imitate their own greatness against the backdrop of material impoverishment. And the use of an artistic style that glorifies the power of the nobility and the church was most welcome. But against the background of mercantile tasks, the spirit of freedom, sensuality and self-awareness of a person as a doer and creator broke into the style itself.
- (Italian barocco - bizarre, strange, prone to excesses; port. perola barroca - a pearl with a vice) - a characteristic of European cultures XVII-XVIII centuries, centered on Italy. The Baroque style appeared in the XVI-XVII centuries in Italian cities: Rome, Mantua, Venice, Florence. The Baroque era is considered to be the beginning of the triumphal procession " Western civilization". opposed to classicism and rationalism. 
In the 17th century, Italy lost its economic and political power. Foreigners, the Spaniards and the French, begin to manage on its territory. But exhausted Italy has not lost the height of its positions - it still remains cultural center Europe. The nobility and the church needed everyone to see their strength and viability, but since there was no money for new buildings, they turned to art to create the illusion of power and wealth. This is how the baroque appeared in Italy. 
Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, the desire for grandeur and splendor, for the combination of reality and illusion. During this period, thanks to the discoveries of Copernicus, the idea of the world as a rational and constant unity, as well as of man as a most rational being, changed. In the words of Pascal, a person began to realize himself "something in between everything and nothing", "one who catches only the appearance of phenomena, but is not able to understand either their beginning or their end." 
The Baroque style in painting is characterized by the dynamism of compositions, the “flatness” and pomp of forms, the aristocracy and originality of subjects. Most character traits baroque - catchy flamboyance and dynamism. A vivid example is creativity with their riot of feelings and naturalism in the depiction of people and events. 
Caravaggio is considered the most significant master among Italian artists who created at the end of the XVI century. new style in painting. His paintings, painted on religious subjects, resemble realistic scenes of the author's contemporary life, creating a contrast between late antiquity and modern times. The heroes are depicted in twilight, from which the rays of light snatch out the expressive gestures of the characters, contrastingly writing out their specificity. 
IN Italian painting baroque eras developed different genres, but mostly they were allegories, mythological genre. Pietro da Cortona, Andrea del Pozzo, the Carracci brothers (Agostino and Lodovico) succeeded in this direction. became famous Venetian school, where the genre of veduta, or urban landscape, gained great popularity. The most famous author of such works is the artist. 
Rubens combined in his canvases the natural and the supernatural, reality and fantasy, learning and spirituality. Beyond Rubens international recognition achieved another master of the Flemish Baroque -. With the work of Rubens, a new style came to Holland, where it was picked up and. In Spain, Diego Velasquez worked in the style of Caravaggio, and in France, Nicolas Poussin, in Russia, Ivan Nikitin and Alexei Antropov. 
Baroque artists opened up to art new methods of spatial interpretation of form in its ever-changing vital dynamics, and activated their life position. The unity of life in the sensual-bodily joy of being, in tragic conflicts forms the basis of beauty in baroque art. The idealization of images is combined with turbulent dynamics, reality with fantasy, and religious affectation with emphasized sensuality. 
Closely associated with the monarchy, the aristocracy and the church, baroque art was intended to glorify and promote their power. At the same time, it reflected new ideas about the unity, infinity and diversity of the world, about its dramatic complexity and eternal variability, interest in the environment, in the human environment, in the natural elements. Man no longer appears as the center of the Universe, but as a multifaceted personality, with a complex world of experiences, involved in the circulation and conflicts of the environment. 
In Russia, the development of the Baroque falls in the first half of the 18th century. Russian baroque was free from the exaltation and mysticism characteristic of Catholic countries, and had a number of national characteristics such as a sense of pride in the successes of the state and the people. In architecture, baroque reached majestic proportions in the city and estate ensembles of St. Petersburg, Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo. In the visual arts, freed from medieval religious fetters, they turned to secular social themes, to the image of a human figure. Baroque everywhere evolves towards the graceful lightness of the Rococo style, coexists and intertwines with it, and from the 1760s. superseded by classicism. 
Baroque
(ital. barocco - lit. artsy) - art style end of the 16th century - mid-eighteenth in., his homeland is Italy. Clothing of this style is characterized by decorativeness, splendor, for example, spectacular lines of dresses, dark raincoats, large white collars, which were combined with intricate hairstyles and wigs.
(Terminological dictionary of clothes. Orlenko L.V., 1996)
Culturology. Dictionary-reference
Baroque
(ital. barocco - strange, bizarre), one of the main style directions in the art of Europe and America con. XVI - ser. 18th century B. is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, affectation, the desire for grandeur and pomp, for the combination of reality and illusion, for the fusion of the arts (urban and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres (concerto grosso, sonata, suite in instrumental music). Associated with the noble-church culture of mature absolutism, gravitates towards the solemn "great style". Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, the desire for grandeur and splendor, for the combination of reality and illusion. It has become widespread in architecture, sculpture and painting.
Architectural Dictionary
Baroque
(from ital. barocco - literally bizarre, strange)
originated in Italy, one of the dominant styles in European architecture and art of the late 16th-mid 18th centuries. Baroque embodied new ideas about the unity, infinity and diversity of the world, about its dramatic complexity and eternal variability, interest in the real environment, human environment natural element. A person in baroque art appears as a multifaceted personality, with a complex inner world involved in the cycle and conflicts of the environment. Characterized by grandiosity, pomp and dynamics, pathetic elation, intensity of feelings, addiction to spectacular spectacles, the combination of illusory and real, strong contrasts of scales and rhythms, materials and textures, light and shadow.
style developed at the end of the 16th century. in the era of the late Renaissance and prevailing in European art to the middle (in some countries almost to the end) of the 18th century. Classical forms and motifs were combined with lush rich decor, complex composition, as well as skillful use of space and perspective.
(Architecture: An Illustrated Guide, 2005)
(it. barocco - strange, wrong, bizarre) architectural style countries of Europe in the 16th and 18th centuries. Baroque was associated with the noble culture of the heyday of absolutism. The main idea of baroque is beauty, solemnity, grandiloquence. Hence his exaggerated pathos of theatricality, which in architecture is expressed by the complexity of forms and magnificent decorativeness. The facades are characterized by strongly protruding cornices, semi-columns and niches broken by pediments, which create restless light and shade effects. Often the planes of the facades have curvilinear shapes. The interior decoration is dominated by multicolored colored marble and STUCCO gilded bronze painting - all this gives the premises a festive character. It is enhanced by picturesque plafonds with illusory constructions.
(Dictionary of terms of architecture. Yusupov E.S., 1994)
Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism
Baroque
(ital. barocco, lit. - strange, bizarre) - one of the main stylistic trends in the art of Europe and America at the end of the 16th and the middle of the 18th centuries. Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, affectation, the desire for grandeur and splendor, for the combination of reality and illusion.
Rb: style
Genus: style (in art)
Ass: art direction
Persian: G. Grimmelshausen (Germany), P. Calderon (Spain), M. Lomonosov, Simeon Polotsky (Russia), A. d'Aubigne (France), T. Tasso (Italy)
* "The Baroque style was mainly manifested in architecture and fine arts ... In the 20th century, the term "Baroque" was also referred to by many scholars as literature, meaning that literature can convey with particular force the tragic feeling of life, the bizarre play of contrasts. .. A vivid idea of the baroque style in poetry is given by some of M. Lomonosov's odes, which are distinguished by increased allegoricalness, an abundance of vivid and unexpected comparisons ... "(A.S. Suleimanov). *
Gasparov. Entries and extracts
Baroque
♦ It was difficult for me to perceive fiction (and especially drama and cinema), because I had no plot expectations, confirmed or refuted: I knew that it was equally likely whether Shatov would hit Stavrogin or Stavrogin Shatov: as the author wanted, that's all. This is like a baroque perception: everything is in every moment, and the connection of moments is not important.
Philosophical Dictionary (Comte-Sponville)
Baroque
Baroque
♦ Baroque
The art of maximalism or striving for maximalism; aesthetics of excess and amazement. The art of the Baroque strives for one hundred percent disclosure of its nature, which consists in decoration, and itself is intoxicated with its own wealth. All art is excessive (meaning is always excess), and the fact that it exists is amazing in itself, therefore, art in general is the baroque of our world. Baroque is also a set of rules for any kind of art, and classicism is the only exception to this rule.
In the history of art, the term "Baroque" is understood as certain period(approximately from the end of the XVI to early XVIII century), and a style that is characterized by complexity, courage, abundance, which favors curved lines, movement, imbalance or pathos of forms and has a weakness for spectacle, unusualness, even optical illusion and artificiality. Quite often baroque is opposed to classicism, as hyperbole is opposed to litote. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the Baroque is a different expression of classicism, sometimes following it (as in Italy), sometimes preceding it (as in France). One thing is clear: without the Baroque, Classicism would never have acquired that rigor and that poise which, in contrast and retrospectively, are its defining features. Classicism, as Francis Ponge (***) famously said, is "the tightest string of the baroque." Using the reverse method, it is not difficult to give a definition of baroque as classicism, which has weakened its tension, accumulating strength, referring to itself with a share of frivolity, refusing perfection for the pleasure of surprising or impressing, and finally allowing itself a free search for itself. Classicism, I repeat, can be regarded as a rule only because it is, first of all, an exception to the rule and is able to strike our imagination only when it has achieved obvious success. Its limit is baroque, which needs strangeness, excess and virtuosity in order not to fall into banality.
Francis Ponge (1899-1988) - French poet who maintained a close friendship with Picasso and others famous artists and sculptors, author of the book "Modern Workshop", dedicated to reflections on the relationship of the artist with his material - paint, stone or word.
Moscow. Encyclopedic reference
Baroque
style in architecture of the late 16th - mid-18th centuries, characterized by decorative splendor. Baroque architecture is characterized by the picturesque plasticity of the facades, the rich play of chiaroscuro, complex curvilinear plans, lush decorative stucco molding and rich coloring of buildings. The so-called Moscow baroque of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. (the Church of the Intercession in Fili and the Church of the Trinity in Trinity-Lykovo, etc.) was still closely connected with the traditions of ancient Russian architecture. Closer to the European baroque are the monuments of Moscow architecture of the first half and the middle of the 18th century, in which numerous borrowings from Western European and Eastern European (especially Ukrainian) baroque architecture are combined with compositional techniques that develop the principles of Russian architecture of the 17th century. (for example, the buildings of I.P. Zarudny - "Menshikov Tower", the Church of John the Warrior). The Apraksin-Trubetskoy house, the Church of Pope Clement, the Grotto in Kuskovo (1755-75, architect F.S. Argunov), some churches designed by K.I. Blanca and others.
Literature: Vipper B.R., Russian Baroque Architecture, M., 1978.
encyclopedic Dictionary
Baroque
(Italian barocco, lit. - strange, bizarre), one of the main styles in the art of Europe and America con. 16 - ser. 18th century Baroque, gravitating towards the solemn "great style", at the same time reflected progressive ideas about the complexity, diversity, and variability of the world. Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, affectation, the desire for grandeur and pomp, for the combination of reality and illusion, for the fusion of arts (urban and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres (concerto grosso, sonata, suite in instrumental music). Baroque architecture (L. Bernini, F. Borromini in Italy, V. V. Rastrelli in Russia) is characterized by spatial scope, fusion, fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms, for sculpture (Bernini) and painting (P. P. Rubens, A van Dyck in Flanders) - spectacular decorative compositions, ceremonial portraits. Baroque principles were refracted in literature (P. Calderon in Spain, T. Tasso in Italy, A. d "Aubigne in France, Simeon Polotsky, M. V. Lomonosov in Russia), theater, music (G. Gabrieli, G. Frescobaldi, A. Honor in Italy, D. Buxtehude, R. Kaiser in Germany) There are various national versions of the Baroque (for example, the baroque of the Slavic countries).
The architectural style that has dominated Europe since the end of the era of high Italian Renaissance almost to the end of the 18th century. The origin of the word B. remains unclear: some derive it from the Portuguese "barroco", the name of unfinished, irregularly shaped pearls, others - from the word "roc", rock. The main features of this style, which spread in different countries at different times, consist in the excessive development and protrusion of all the weight-bearing parts of the structure, in the transformation of straight lines into capriciously broken, curved and interrupted, in an excess of intricate decorations and, in general, in a bizarre violation of the principles classical architecture. This style sometimes produced very elegant structures, but it also reached tasteless pretentiousness. The name B. passed from architecture and to other branches of art - to sculpture, ornamentation and painting of the same time as her, who took the same direction as she did.
Style, see Art. Architecture and Art. Renaissance style.
Russian language dictionaries
The emergence of the Baroque:
baroque architecture - a period in the development of architecture in Europe and America (especially in Central and South), covering approximately 150-200 years. The period began at the end of the 16th century and ended in late XVIII. Baroque (as a style) embraced all art forms, but was most clearly reflected in painting, theater (and related literature, music) and architecture.
Brief description of the architectural style of the Baroque:
Characteristic features: symmetry in the style of space. Lots of stucco. The complex surfaces of the plane in the buildings are large and new in the columns, the frenziedly finished ceilings with recessed parts.
Dominant colors: muted pastel shades; red pink white blue with yellow accent.
Lines: bizarre convex-concave asymmetric pattern; in the forms of a semicircle, a rectangle, an oval; vertical lines columns; pronounced horizontal division.
Shape: vaulted domed and rectangular; towers balconies bay windows.
Interior elements: striving for grandeur and splendor; massive front stairs; columns pilasters sculptures stucco and painting carved ornament; relationship of design elements.
Designs: contrasting tense dynamic; pretentious on the facade and at the same time massive and stable.
Windows: semicircular and rectangular; with floral decoration around the perimeter.
Doors: arched openings with columns; vegetable decor.
From Baroque Mannerism, art inherited dynamism and deep emotionality, and from the Renaissance - solidity and pomp: the features of both styles harmoniously merged into one single whole. Baroque , gravitating toward the solemn "grand style", at the same time reflected progressive ideas about the complexity, diversity, and variability of the world.
Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, affectation, the desire for grandeur and pomp, for the combination of reality and illusion, for the fusion of arts (urban and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres. Baroque architecture served to affirm the ideas of Catholicism and absolutism, but it reflected the progressive trends in architecture, which were revealed in the planning of cities, squares, buildings, designed for the masses of the people.
It is characteristic that in the Baroque era, the facades of Romanesque churches were remade into Baroque ones, since they seemed insufficiently expressive, while the Gothic ones remained intact. In many European cities, ancient cathedrals have towers with a new baroque finish and the same baroque portals, in the interiors - baroque altars. Both Gothic and Baroque are united by expression, an irrational understanding of architectural space.
Baroque masters:
Borromini (1599-1667), Yuvara, Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), Francesco Caratti (? −1675), Santino Solari, M. G. Zemtsov, V. V. Rastrelli, D. V. Ukhtomsky and others.
Examples:
Church of Pope Clement, architect Pietro-Antonio Trezzini, Zamoskvorechye, Russia.
Baroque Baroque
(Italian barocco, literally - bizarre, strange), one of the dominant styles in European architecture and art of the late 16th - mid-18th centuries. Baroque was established in an era of intensive composition of nations and nation states(mainly absolute monarchies) and became most widespread in countries where feudal Catholic reaction played a particularly active role. Closely associated with aristocratic circles and the church, baroque art was designed to glorify and promote their power. At the same time, it is unreasonable to limit the baroque to the framework of the counter-reformation and feudal reaction. The art of the Baroque indirectly reflected both the anti-feudal protest and the national liberation movements of peoples against monarchical tyranny, which sometimes introduced into it a stream of democratic rebellious aspirations. Baroque embodied new ideas about the unity, infinity and diversity of the world, about its dramatic complexity and eternal variability, interest in the real environment, in the natural elements surrounding man. The Baroque replaced the humanistic artistic culture of the Renaissance and the sophisticated subjectivism of Mannerist art. Rejecting the notions inherent in classical Renaissance culture about harmony and the strict regularity of being, about the unlimited possibilities of man, his will and mind, Baroque aesthetics was built on the collision of man and the world, ideal and sensual principles, reason and the power of irrational forces. A person in baroque art appears as a multifaceted personality, with a complex inner world, involved in the cycle and conflicts of the environment.
Baroque art is characterized by grandiosity, pomp and dynamics, pathetic elation, intensity of feelings, passion for spectacular spectacles, the combination of the illusory and the real, strong contrasts of scales and rhythms, materials and textures, light and shadow.
The synthesis of arts in the Baroque, which is comprehensive and affects almost all strata of society (from the state and the aristocracy to the urban lower classes and partly the peasantry), is characterized by a solemn monumental and decorative unity that strikes the imagination with its scope. The city ensemble, the street, the square, the park, the estate began to be understood as an organized artistic whole, developing in space, unfolding in front of the viewer in a variety of ways. The palaces and churches of the Baroque, thanks to the luxurious, bizarre plasticity of the facades, the restless play of chiaroscuro, complex curvilinear plans and outlines, acquired picturesqueness and dynamism and, as it were, poured into the surrounding space. The ceremonial interiors of Baroque buildings were decorated with multicolored sculpture, molding, and carving; mirrors and murals illusoryly expanded the space, and ceiling paintings created the illusion of yawning vaults.
In the fine arts of the Baroque, virtuosic decorative compositions of a religious, mythological or allegorical nature, ceremonial portraits, emphasizing the privileged social position of a person, predominate. The idealization of images is combined in them with stormy dynamics, unexpected compositional and optical effects, reality with fantasy, religious affectation with emphasized sensuality, and often with sharp naturalness and materiality of forms, bordering on illusory. Baroque works of art sometimes include real objects and materials (statues with real hair and teeth, bone chapels, etc.). In painting great importance they acquire an emotional, rhythmic and coloristic unity of the whole, often the unconstrained freedom of a stroke, in sculpture - a picturesque fluidity of form, a sense of the variability of the formation of an image, a wealth of aspects and impressions. In Italy, the birthplace of the Baroque, some of its premises and techniques appeared in the 16th century. in the easel and decorative painting of Correggio, the work of Caravaggio imbued with democratic rebelliousness, the buildings of G. Vignola (a type of early Baroque church), and the sculpture of Giambologna. The baroque style found its most complete and vivid embodiment in the works of the architect and sculptor L. Bernini, the architect F. Borromini, and the painter Pietro da Cortona, full of religious and sensual affectation. Later, the Italian Baroque evolved to the fantastic buildings of G. Guarini, the bravura painting of S. Rosa and A. Magnasco, the dizzying lightness of the paintings by G. B. Tiepolo. In Flanders, the worldview born of the Dutch bourgeois revolution of 1566-1602 introduced powerful life-affirming realistic and sometimes folk principles into Baroque art (painting by P. P. Rubens, A. van Dyck, J. Jordaens). Spain in the 17th century some features of the Baroque appeared in the ascetic architecture of the school of J. B. de Herrera, in the realistic painting of J. de Ribera and F. Zurbaran, and in the sculpture of J. Montañez. In the XVIII century. in the buildings of the circle of J. B. de Churriguera, baroque forms reached extraordinary complexity and decorative sophistication (even more hypertrophied in the "ultra-baroque" of Latin America). The Baroque style received a peculiar interpretation in Austria, where it was combined with rococo trends (architects J. B. Fischer von Erlach and I. L. Hildebrandt, painter F. A. Maulberch), and the absolutist states of Germany (architects and sculptors B. Neumann, A. Schluter, M. D. Peppelman, the Azam brothers, the Dientzenhofer family of architects, who also worked in the Czech Republic), in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Western Ukraine, Lithuania. In France, where the leading style in the XVII century. became classicism, the baroque remained a side trend until the middle of the century, but with the complete triumph of absolutism, both directions merged into a single pompous so-called grand style (decoration of the halls of Versailles, painting by Ch. Lebrun). The concept of "Baroque" is sometimes unduly extended to the entire artistic culture XVII century, including phenomena that are far from baroque in content and style (for example, the Naryshkin baroque, or "Moscow baroque", in Russian architecture of the late 17th century, cm. Naryshkin style). In many European countries in the XVII century. there were also bright national realistic schools, based both on the methods of caravagism and on local artistic traditions realism. They were most clearly expressed in the uniquely original work of the great masters (D. Velasquez in Spain, F. Hals, J. Vermeer of Delft, Rembrandt in Holland, etc.), which is fundamentally different, and sometimes deliberately opposed artistic concepts baroque.
In Russia, the development of baroque art, which reflected the growth and strengthening of the absolute monarchy of the nobility, falls on the first half of the 18th century. The Baroque style in Russia was free from exaltation and mysticism (characteristic of the art of Catholic countries) and had a number of national features. Russian baroque architecture, which reached majestic proportions in the city and estate ensembles of St. Petersburg, Peterhof ( cm. Petrodvorets), Tsarskoye Selo ( cm. Pushkin) and others, distinguished by solemn clarity and integrity of the composition of buildings and architectural complexes (architects M. G. Zemtsov, V. V. Rastrelli, D. V. Ukhtomsky, S. I. Chevakinsky); the fine arts turned to secular, social themes, and the portrait was developed (sculpture by B. K. Rastrelli and others).
The Baroque era is marked everywhere by the rise of monumental art and arts and crafts, closely related to architecture. In the first half of the XVIII century. baroque evolves to the graceful lightness of the rococo style, coexists and intertwines with it, and from the 1770s. everywhere superseded by classicism.
P. P. Rubens. "Adoration of the Magi". 1624. Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Antwerp.
Source: Popular art encyclopedia." Ed. Field V.M.; M.: Publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986.)
baroque(from Italian barocco - bizarre, strange), an artistic style that has occupied a leading position in European art since the end. 16 to ser. 18th century Born in Italy. The term was introduced in con. 19th century Swiss art critics J. Burkhardt and G. Wölfflin. The style embraced all types of creativity: literature, music, theater, but was especially pronounced in architecture, fine and decorative arts. The Renaissance sense of the clear harmony of the universe was replaced by a dramatic understanding of the conflict of being, the infinite diversity, the immensity and constant variability of the surrounding world, the power of powerful natural elements over a person. The expressiveness of baroque works is often built on contrasts, dramatic clashes between the sublime and the base, the majestic and the insignificant, the beautiful and the ugly, the illusory and the real, light and darkness. Tendency to compose complex and verbose allegories side by side with the utmost naturalism. Baroque works of art were distinguished by redundancy of forms, passion and intensity of images. As never before, there was a strong feeling of the “theater of life”: fireworks, masquerades, a passion for dressing up, reincarnations, all kinds of “tricks” brought a playful beginning, unprecedented entertainment and bright festivity into a person’s life.
Baroque masters sought to synthesize various kinds arts (architecture, sculpture, painting), to the creation of an ensemble, which often included elements of wildlife, transformed by the artist’s imagination: water, vegetation, wild stones, thoughtful effects of natural and artificial lighting, which caused a flourishing landscape architecture
. The structure of the architectural order was preserved in the Baroque buildings, but instead of the clear orderliness, calmness and regularity characteristic of the classics, the forms became fluid, mobile, and acquired complex, curvilinear outlines. straight lines cornices"torn"; the walls were crushed gathered in bundles columns and lavish sculptures. Buildings and squares actively interacted with the surrounding space (D.L. Bernini. Ensemble of the square of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, 1657-63; church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome, 1653-58; F. Borromini. Church of San Carlo alle Cuatro Fontane in Rome, 1634-67; G. Guarino. Church of San Lorenzo in Turin, 1668–87).
Baroque sculpture is characterized by a special tactility, materiality in the interpretation of forms, virtuoso, reaching the illusory, demonstration of the texture of the depicted objects, the use of various materials (bronze, gilding, multi-colored marbles), contrasts of light and shadow, violent emotions and movements, pathos of gestures and facial expressions ( D. L. Bernini, brothers K. D. and E. K. Azam).
Baroque painting is characterized by monumentality and spectacular decorativeness, the neighborhood of the ideally sublime (brothers Carraci, G. Reni, Gverchino) and mundane everyday ( Caravaggio). Baroque principles were most fully manifested in magnificent ceremonial portraits (A. Van Dyck, G. Rigaud); in luxurious still lifes, which showed the abundant gifts of nature (F. Snyders); in allegorical compositions, where the figures of rulers and nobles coexisted with images of ancient gods, personifying the virtues of those portrayed (P.P. Rubens). Plafond (ceiling) painting experienced a bright flowering (frescoes of the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome by A. del Pozzo, 1685-99; ceiling of the Barberini Palace in Rome by P. da Cortona, 1633-39; paintings of the Palazzo Labia in Venice by J. B. Tiepolo, OK. 1750). Baroque plafonds created the illusion of the disappearance of the roof, a “breakthrough” into the sky with swirling clouds, where crowds of mythological and biblical characters were carried away in a swift colorful whirlpool. Contacts with baroque style are found in the works of the greatest masters of the 17th century: D. Velazquez, Rembrandt, F. Khalsa and etc.
In Russia, baroque elements appeared later than in Europe - in the second half. 17th century - in the paintings of Yaroslavl churches, in decorative applied arts, in the buildings of the so-called. Naryshkin baroque, whose traditions were developed in his work by IP Zarudny ("Menshikov Tower" in Moscow, 1704-07). An active penetration of style into Russian culture occurs with the beginning of the Petrine reforms in the first decades of the 18th century; in the 1760s baroque gives way classicism. At the invitation of Peter I, many foreign masters come to Russia: architects D. Trezzini, A. Schluter, G. I. Mattarnovi, N. Michetti, sculptors N. Pino, B. K. Rastrelli, painters I. G. Tannauer, L. Caravak, engravers A. Shkhonebek, P. Picard and others.
In accordance with Peter's personal tastes, visiting and domestic artists were guided mainly by a more restrained version of the baroque that had developed in Holland; Russian art remained alien to the mystical exaltation of works Italian masters. In Russia, the baroque side by side (and often intertwined) not with classicism, as was the case in Europe, but with the emerging rococo. Portrait became the leading genre of painting. The baroque style permeated the entire system of decorating holidays and celebrations of the early 18th century, which took shape in the reign of Peter I (illuminations, fireworks, erected from temporary materials triumphal arches
richly decorated decorative painting and sculpture). The leading baroque sculpture in Russia was the Italian B. K. Rastrelli. In his portraits and monuments, the solemn elation of the image, the complexity spatial composition are combined with jewelry subtlety in the execution of details (“Empress Anna Ioannovna with a black child”, 1741). bright pattern Baroque naturalism - created by Rastrelli "Wax Person" of Peter I (1725).
In Russian painting of the Petrine era (I.N. Nikitin, A. M. Matveev) the influence of the Baroque is felt in a special elation, increased internal energy of portrait images.
The heyday of the Baroque in Russia fell on the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna (1741-61). The most striking embodiment of style in architecture was the solemn buildings full of life-affirming pathos created by B.F. Rastrelli(Winter Palace, 1732-33; palaces of M. I. Vorontsov, 1749-57, and S. G. Stroganov, 1752-54, in St. Petersburg). The grandiose garden and park ensembles in Peterhof (1747-52) and Tsarskoye Selo (1752-57) fully embodied the synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting, arts and crafts and landscape art. Bright - blue, white, gold - the colors of the palace facades; water cascades and fountains in the parks, with their incessant noise and the incessant movement of falling water, reflecting the glare of the sun during the day, and at night the ghostly lights of fireworks, all created a festive spectacle. In the church architecture of Rastrelli, the traditions of European baroque and ancient Russian architecture were combined (Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg, 1748-54). Leading baroque architects of the mid-18th century. there were also S. I. Chevakinsky, who worked in St. Petersburg (Nikolsky Naval Cathedral, 1753-62), and D. V. Ukhtomsky, who built in Moscow (Red Gate, 1753-57).
In plafond painting, the most recognized masters were the Italians D. Valeriani and A. Perezinotti, who also successfully worked in the genre of theatrical and decorative art. In the work of Russian masters, the portrait remained the leading genre. In the works of A.P. Antropov, the baroque was embodied in the images of the portrayed, saturated with power and strength, the contrast of internal energy and external immobility, stiffness, in natural authenticity of individual, carefully written details, in bright, decorative colorfulness.
Russian engraving baroque era (A. F. Zubov) combined rationalism, efficiency with showiness in the image naval battles, solemn processions, parade views of the new capital of Russia. Engravers ser. 18th century often turned to the urban landscape (ceremonial views of St. Petersburg, made according to the originals of M. I. Makhaev), as well as to scientific, geographical maps, projects decorative design triumphal gates, fireworks and illuminations, teaching aids, atlases and book illustrations). In these graphic works combined documentary thoroughness in the image the smallest details and abundance decorative elements- cartouches with inscriptions, vignettes, rich and abundant ornamentation.
The Baroque style with its dynamic forms, contrasts and restless play of chiaroscuro comes to life again in the era of romanticism.
The history of the appearance of style
The Baroque art style originated in Italy at the end of the 16th century. The history of the name is associated with the Portuguese sailors, who used the word barocco to designate defective pearls of irregular shape. The Italians readily adopted the term, combining them with the artsy and strange manifestations of a new cultural trend.
The emergence of the Baroque is associated with the fading of the Renaissance: having abandoned the notions of classical harmony and a strict world order, the creators focused on the struggle between reason and feelings. From now on, the focus of their attention is the forces of the elements, expression, mysticism.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, baroque in architecture, art and music spread widely across Europe and America, and came to Russia. The heyday of the style coincided with the strengthening of absolute monarchies, the development of colonies, and the strengthening of Catholicism. It is logical that in urban planning it manifested itself in scale and monumentality.
Characteristic features of the Baroque
Solemn, complex, richly decorated style was used in the construction of city palaces, residences, monasteries. The architectural solutions of court architects are subject to one idea: to surprise and delight.
Form
The main feature of Baroque is the creation of a curved space, where planes and volumes are curvilinear and flow into each other, ellipses and rectangles predominate in plans.
In the design of facades, rake-out is widely used, when part of the wall is exposed a little forward or, on the contrary, is deepened along with all the elements. It turns out the alternation of convex and concave sections with the effect of spatial illusion. All kinds of bay windows, towers and balconies make the facade composition even more expressive.
Order
A distinctive feature of baroque buildings is a deliberate violation of proportions in the antique order system.
Parts of the order (base, entablature, capital) are stretched, superimposed on each other, twisted; a previously harmonious structure (commensurate with a person) acquires massiveness and a ragged rhythm.
Exterior and interior decor
The main features of the Baroque also include excessive embellishment, which gave many reasons for accusations of bad taste.
The walls practically disappear under stucco, paintings, carved panels, sculptures, columns, mirrors. The desire for gigantism is manifested in heavy furniture, huge wardrobes, stairs. If we talk about baroque briefly, then this is a style of excesses. Due to the alternation of illuminated and shaded areas, customizable side lighting, the craftsmen created optical effects of expanding space. golden, blue, pink colors set a festive atmosphere.
Communication with the surrounding space
Our description of the Baroque style would be incomplete without an emphasis on the union of buildings with the surrounding area: a city square, a park, a garden. It was progressive trend, buildings began to be perceived as one with the landscape: from now on, fountains, sculptural compositions, broken paths and lawns - a full part of the palace ensembles.
Baroque architectural elements
- Baroque facades are actively decorated with columns, voluminous large relief, arched gables.
Richly trimmed platbands are necessarily equipped with a keystone. Windows are made in the form of ovals, hemispheres, rectangular openings. Instead of columns to support beam ceilings, balustrades and roof vaults, statues of caryatids and Atlanteans are installed.
- Monumental sculptural compositions are one of the characteristic elements of the style.
The posture and facial expressions of the mythological and biblical figures convey the emotional tension, the drama of the plot, which corresponds to the concept of the complex structure of the world and human passions.
- Traditional baroque ornaments include arabesques, garlands, shells, cartouches, flower vases, cornucopias, and musical instruments.
Every detail is richly framed. In a bunch of historically close styles of baroque, rococo and classicism, the first one is significantly distinguished by its love for excessive decor. Rococo would then pick up this feature, placing more emphasis on grace and sophistication.
- One of the features of the architectural Baroque is the active use of mascarons in the facade design (a mask in the form of a human face or an animal's muzzle, located full face).
They were made of stone and plaster, placed above the front door, window openings, arches. Each mask has its own character: calm, frightening, comical. Thematic mascarons were chosen in accordance with the profile of the institution: images of the goddess of justice, lion heads were hung on the court, dramatic characters were hung on the theater, angels and children were hung on the church.
Baroque style in Italy
In each of the countries, a new architectural style manifested itself under the influence of political, social and cultural conditions. In this regard, we can talk about the national types of baroque: Italian, French, Spanish, German, English, Russian.
In the world heritage, the Italian Baroque is considered the primary source and inspiration. The leading role in the development of architecture was assumed by the Vatican. Catholic Church in the 16th century, active construction of temples and cathedrals began, and not so much impressive in scale, but majestic and emotionally charged in design.
Among the first created the famous church of Il Gesu, the project of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. Several orders are combined in the design of the main façade. Wide wavy volutes on the sides connect both facade tiers, such a decision has become a textbook for the churches of this period.
The largest Italian Baroque architects of the 17th century are Lorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, Gvarino Guarini, Carlo Rainaldi. The whole world knows St. Peter's Square in Rome - the project of L. Bernini, where the colonnade creates an artificial perspective and visually increases the size of the cathedral.
french baroque
The main characteristics of the Baroque in France manifested themselves more in the interior decoration, while classicism dominates in the facade decoration.
A striking example of this approach is the Palace of Versailles, designed by Louis Leveau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The baroque theme in the design of the facade is indicated only by sculptures, which contrast with the direct geometry of the building with expressive forms.
Luxurious baroque decoration prevails in palace interiors, especially in the halls of War and Peace, the Mirror Gallery.
French architects combine baroque and classicism in the design of city mansions and country residences. Artistic fantasy gives way to the leading role of the severity of forms. The main architects of the period are Jacques Lemercier, Francois Mansart, Louis Leveau.
Castle architecture moves from traditional quadrangular fortresses to ensembles of a central building and side wings, with access roads and cultivated gardens. The volumes are simplified, the number of stucco on the facade is reduced, the dimensions become more modest - these are examples of baroque in the design of the castles of Vaud, Montmorency, Chanet, Maison-Lafitte.
Architecture of Spain, Portugal and Latin America
The baroque direction was most clearly manifested in the works of the Spanish brothers Churriguera (17-18 century), their work even got its own name - churrigueresco.
Facades and interiors abound with lavish decorations and are oversaturated with details: broken pediments, undulating cornices, curls, garlands, balustrades. The most famous building of this baroque style is the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela.
Another part of Spanish architecture developed under the influence of Italian and French traditions. A typical example is the Royal Palace in Madrid, built in the likeness of Versailles by architects from Italy: Filippo Yuvarra, Giovanni Sacchetti, Francesco Sabatini. Classically austere facades are combined here with magnificent baroque interior decoration.
Portuguese baroque palaces are part of the world cultural heritage:
- The facade of the Rayo Palace (designed by Andre Soares) is richly decorated with stucco, due to the variety of forms, a dynamic effect is created.
- The largest royal palace in the country, Mafra, combines a basilica, a grandiose library and a Franciscan monastery.
- The Mateus Palace (designed by the Italian Nicolau Nasoni) has the status of the National Monument of Portugal, a park with marble sculptures is laid out around.
Having spread to the New World, the Baroque style won supporters from Argentina to Mexico. Typical examples are the cathedrals in Taxco and Mexico City, overloaded with decor, with exaggerated corner towers.
Russian baroque
IN Russian empire architectural style developed in a special way. Taking as a basis the traditions of Russian architecture, he enriched himself with Western European canons during the time of Peter the Great. The highest point came in the middle of the 18th century, when the West was already abandoning pomp in favor of the severity of classicism.
Features of the Baroque style in Russia:
- Architectural plans and three-dimensional compositions are characterized by simplicity and a clearer structure.
- The main material for facade decoration is plaster with gypsum details, and not stone, as in the West. Therefore, there is a greater emphasis on ornamental modeling and color schemes.
- The buildings of the Russian Baroque are made in bright and contrasting colors (blue, white, yellow, red, blue), covered with gilding, complex roofs are made of tinplate. The complex creates a festive, major character.
In the development of domestic architecture, it is customary to distinguish several historical stages.
Moscow baroque, late 17th century
This includes destinations named after patrons.
Characteristic features of the Naryshkin baroque style: symmetry, tieredness, centricity, white details on a red background. It combines the technique of ancient Russian wooden and stone construction with European Gothic, Mannerism, Renaissance. The famous multi-tiered Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Fili was designed in this form.
The Golitsyn direction uses only baroque decor in interior decoration. The architectural heritage is the Church of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubrovitsy.
Stroganov buildings have a five-domed silhouette (traditional for a Russian church). The baroque decor here is extremely rich and detailed. An example is the Smolensk Church in Nizhny Novgorod.
Peter's baroque at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries
Under Peter the Great, foreign architects worked in Russia, transferring European experience to domestic craftsmen. The German Andreas Schlüter creates the Grotto in summer garden Petersburg. Johann Gottfried Schedel, also from Germany, supervised the construction of the Menshikov Palace on Vasilyevsky Island, in Oranienbaum, Strelna, Kronstadt. There is baroque solemnity in the projects, but the walls are flat, without twisted illusions.
The first Russian architect to receive a formal education was Mikhail Grigoryevich Zemtsov. Working in the style of Russian baroque, he designed and built the Anichkov Palace, summer residences, park pavilions in St. Petersburg, the palace in Revel, and participated in the construction of the bell tower in the complex of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Baroque architecture of the mid-18th century
In the era of the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1740-1750s), a period of mature baroque begins, it is called Elizabethan. At this time they create B.F. Rastrelli, D. Ukhtomsky, S. Chevakinsky.
The construction of monumental complexes is called upon to strengthen the prestige of the imperial and noble authorities: palaces, cathedrals, monasteries, country residences. Palace apartments are planned according to the enfilade principle, the halls inside are decorated with gilded carvings, stucco molding, mirrors, and type-setting parquet. The situation is exclusively ceremonial.
The baroque style that reached its apogee in Russia at that time is associated with the work of Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. Its authorship belongs to Tsarskoye Selo Catherine Palace, Smolny Monastery, Stroganov, Vorontsov and Winter Palaces.
The architectural style of the Baroque did not last long in the Russian state. At the end of the 18th century, luxury and excess were replaced by the rational beauty of classicism. But created during this time palace ensembles to this day they admire the scale of the idea and the splendor of the decoration. The architecture of Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo and St. Petersburg is a source of inspiration for modern baroque, realized in private country mansions. Complex forms and extraordinary decorativeness are still valued here.
modern baroque
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