Impressionism versus Baroque Art

Impressionism, a style of art that formally made its entrance into the art world in 1874 adopted it’s name from a harsh review done on a painting created by one of the style’s founders and forefathers, Claude Monet.   In the critique, author, Louis Leroy wrote “Impression—I was certain of it. I was just  telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in  it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic  state is more finished than that seascape.” (http://www.impressionism.org).  Despite the unsavory description, this style of art characterized by ordinary subject matter (often of landscapes), thin, broken yet visible brush strokes, bright colors, accurate depictions of transient light, and the appearance of rapid movement, began to grow in popularity first, throughout France and eventually around the world.

Impression: Sunrise, Claude Monet, 1874.

I don’t nessesarilly share Louis Leroy’s sentiments, however I must admit that Impressionism is one of my least favorite art styles.  With that being said, there are a number of Impressionism paintings I have come across, over this last week that do capture my attention and appreciation but the majority of the style’s paintings fail to make any sort of lasting “impression” on me (pun intended).   I am more a fan of artwork from the Baroque period which began in the year 1600 and ended just a little more than a hundred years before Impressionism made its debut.  I am much more drawn to the paintings of the Baroque mainly due to the heavy use of the techniques chiaroscuro and tenebrism.  Another charactertistic of Baroque style paintings that I love was the incredible use of emotions shown on the subjects of the paintings.

It is amazing how these two styles can change so drastically in just a little over a century.  Despite the drastic differences, Baroque and Impressionism art show some similarities between them in terms of subject matter.   Impressionism is known for using ordinary objects and people as subject matter, yet it was not the first time  such subject matter was embraced.  The Baroque period was a time of painters creating artwork not just for the upper class and royalty but for the merchant class as well.  As a result, the artists of this era painted ordinary people doing everyday activities.  Still life’s were another popular subject matter shared between these two very different styles.

http://www.impressionism.org

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/

The Baroque Art Movement: Artists and Artwork of the 17th Century

http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth110/arth110_sl17.html

The Death Of Socrates, 1787
By: Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Socrates masterpiece is one of the few pictures I remember from my elementary history books.  I believe this piece stuck with me for so long because of incredible sadness I felt for this amazing historical character.  Socrates is depicted in this painting moments before his death.  Socrates was sentenced to die for expressing his beliefs despite the fact that they went against the government he lived under.  In this scene, he is about to take the poison that he was ordered to take upon his sentencing.  This is the first painting I chose to use in my blog on Morality and the Classical Arts due to the message being sent by the artist through his piece.  He is showing the absurdity of this death sentence, the government killing one of the greatest minds in history due to him standing up for what he believes in.

Watson And The Shark, 1778
By:John Singleton Copley

http://www.abcgallery.com/H/hogarth/hogarth.html#Marriage%20a%20la

http://books.google.com/books?id=Sw8EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=sarah+malcolm+murders+evidence&source=bl&ots=nWDP7pRdBF&sig=LY-cytxoS5Zn9vlmVIUvMe7XP8w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uylAUYWaBYSCqQGOp4HgCA&ved=0CF8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=sarah%20malcolm%20murders%20evidence&f=false

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

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/neocl_dav_soc.html

Woman With A Water Jug

Music Lesson

Girl With A Pearl Earring

Gentleman and Lady Drinking Wine

Mary’s Blog on ….

This amazing masterpiece as well as other paintings from the artist, stand apart from all the other paintings of their time for numerous reasons.  I would first like to introduce to you the man behind this interesting artwork, Jeroen Anthonissen van Aken.  Jeroen was the grandson of a painter who had five kids, four of whom became painters themselves.  Aken’s father was one of those four and was more than likely the one who taught his son the art of painting.  You may never have heard of Jereon Anthonissen Van Aken due to the fact that at some point he began signing his work as Hieronymus Bosch (derived from his birthplace, ‘s-Hertogenbosch).  Hieronymus is the name that stuck with him from that point on.  Hieronymus, a dutchman lived in the “Low Countries” and this is presumably where he created pieces such as The Garden Of Earthly Delights.  He lived from 1450 to 1516 but the dates of his paintings are all a mystery as he never dated them.

     To give you, the reader a little insight into his artwork, Mr. Bosch was a humanist and conveyed his beliefs through his art.  

Humanism is defined as “a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values; especially : a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual’s dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason” (Merriam-Webster, 2012).

Consistant with humanism, the art serves as warning to its viewers.  The Garden of Earthly Delights focuses on mankind and how the actions of mankind will affect their hereafter.  The first extensive critique done on this piece was in 1605 by a man named José de Sigüenza in his work, History of the Order of St. Jerome.  In his critique he mentioned that the panels “are a satirical comment on the shame and sinfulness of mankind”(Wikipedia,2013)  I felt this was a fair and appropriate description.
Hieronymus Bosch argues through his imagery that humans have the power to choose their destiny and if they opt to live sinfully, consequences will be awaiting them in the afterlife. These consequences are depicted on the far right panel, in what appears to be damnation or hell.  It is the final of three panels in this triptych – a piece of artwork divided into three sections.  

Displayed on the left is an image of the Left Panel.

On this side, Bosch painted the picture of Paradise. The focal point in this panel is of Adam and Eve being introduced by God. Directly above them, Hieronymus painted the Fountain of Knowledge.  Almost everything in this panel appears to be innocent and good.