Art History
Italian Baroque
Watch/read and respond to the following:
1) Bernini: How do Bernini’s two sculptures (David and Ecstasy of Saint Teresa) express the goals and aims of the Counter-Reformation in Italy?
2) Caravaggio: Identify and explain 2 (two) elements in the painting of the Calling of St. Matthew Caravaggio uses to draw the viewer’s eye to Matthew and Christ?
3) Caravaggio: From what famous painting by what famous artist does Caravaggio take the gesture of Christ pointing to Matthew? Why do you think the artist is quoting this particular gesture by this specific artist? What point is he trying to make?
4) Gentileschi: Recount the narrative of Judith and Holofernes; based on the description of the Italian Baroque in the introduction of Baroque Art linked below, how is this painting an example of baroque style?
5) Gentileschi: From the video and the article, how is Gentileschi’s version of the subject similar to Caravaggio’s? How is it different?
6) Gentileschi: Judith is sometimes referred to as Gentileschi’s “alter-ego;” explain this using both the subject of the painting and the painter’s biography.
Baroque Art, an Introduction https://smarthistory.org/a-beginners-guide-to-baroque-art/
Bernini’s David https://smarthistory.org/bernini-david-2/
Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa https://smarthistory.org/bernini-ecstasy-of-st-teresa/
Caravaggio Calling of St. Matthew https://smarthistory.org/caravaggio-calling-of-st-matthew/
Artemisia Gentileschi https://smarthistory.org/gentileschi-judith-slaying-holofernes/
Dutch Baroque
Read and watch and respond:
1) Read the following article and explain the differences between the Dutch approach to art and the Italian approach to art in the Baroque period (following the Protestant Reformation).
2) View the following video and suggest the meaning or intention of Vermeer in his painting, The Allegory of the Art of Painting.
3) Define “vanitas” painting and identify at least three references to death in Kalf’s Still Life with a Silver Ewer.
4) Explain the significance of landscape as a subject of genre paintings in the Dutch Baroque period. Explain the prominence of the sky and the significance of the church on the horizon.
5) Read and Watch the following video and article and answer the following: a) What is the subject of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch? b) How did Rembrandt paint his subjects differently than his contemporary painters? c) Rembrandt was influenced by an Italian painter; who was that painter and what do we see in the painting that shows this influence?
6) Watch the following video on Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait. Write a short paragraph describing how Rembrandt paint’s himself differently than Vermeer in his The Allegory of the Art of Painting?
Baroque Art, an Introduction https://smarthistory.org/a-beginners-guide-to-baroque-art/
Vermeer’s Allegory of the Art of Painting https://smarthistory.org/johannes-vermeer-the-art-of-painting/
Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Silver Ewer and a Porcelain Bowl https://smarthistory.org/kalf-ewer/
Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem https://smarthistory.org/ruisdael-view-of-haarlem/
Frans Hals, The Women Regents https://smarthistory.org/hals-women/
Rembrandt’s Night Watch https://smarthistory.org/rembrandt-the-night-watch/
Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait (1659) https://smarthistory.org/rembrandt-van-rijn-self-portrait-1659/
Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait (1659) https://smarthistory.org/rembrandt-self-portrait-kenwood/
