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ART RECOGNITION

By SIMO JELAČA, Ph.D.

BAROQUE

Baroque art spans the 17th and early 18th centuries. Geographically, it covers all of Europe and Latin America. The forms of Baroque differ from country to country. The reasons for these differences are historical. Baroque was born in Rome at the beginning of the 17th century. Baroque was a kind of fashion. Spreading from Italy, it existed in some countries as a national art. Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velázquez are known in Baroque painting. They surpassed their original models. One of the characteristics of Baroque is its vagueness. Baroque artists declared themselves the heirs of the Renaissance and accepted its rules.

ARCHITECTURE

Baroque architecture is widespread throughout Europe and Latin America. There are certain differences in individual countries. The differences from Renaissance architecture are that in Baroque churches, the central part of the facade has an elegant semicircular portal. Baroque still retains columns, arches, gables, and friezes. On the facade, the gables or the upper parts of the windows and doors are in the shape of a triangle or a circular arch. Churches and palaces were built in the Baroque style. Ellipses or patterns from geometric images are characteristic of the Baroque. The Italian Francesco Castelli-Borromini designed concave and convex walls, and by no means straight. Complexity was sought, rejecting simplicity. The Baroque was dominated by the model of curves. Bernini also proposed wavy columns. Baroque architecture aspired to reach an infinite dimension, which is achieved through the play of light. When the building is a single block, the facade is important, and the floors above and below the facade are more important than the side rooms. Contrasts are expressed through light. Light works differently on bricks than on marble walls. The German and Austrian Baroque was inspired by the Italian and French. Lights are best when they are monochrome. Light is focused on certain areas, while others are kept dark. This is achieved by contrasting strong protrusions and uneven surfaces of the walls. In the Baroque, almost all walls are decorated. Thus, in addition to the five styles (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite), wavy ones are added. The so-called "Giant" style is also popular, with columns up to two or three stories high. The Baroque style of architecture also spread to streets, squares, and parks. The school example and the highest achievement of the Baroque in France is the Palace of Versailles, built for King Louis XIV.

Parks in France, according to the ingenious architect Le Nôtre, became a profit and a masterpiece. The Versailles Park has a royal palace built in its center. Baroque in Spain and Portugal is full of decorations. From them, it was transferred to the South. America. Baroque urban planners used this style for city planning. In cities, they planned spacious squares, monuments, churches, palaces, fountains, and connected all this with straight and long avenues. Galleries were planned with decorated corridors, in which they placed famous sculptures and paintings.

PAINTING

The most popular theme of Baroque painting is the illusionistic decoration of walls. Baroque painters use church walls or ceilings as spacious scenes. Baroque features are grandeur, movement, technical skill, and illusion. Combining all these Baroque features - grandeur, theatricality, playfulness, the desire to depict the infinite, as well as mastery of technique - illusionistic paintings are distinguished by descriptions of the lives of saints, the history of dynasties, legends about heroes, and stories about mythological figures. During the Baroque, painting on canvas was particularly developed. Light and shadows are present. The Italian Caravaggio marked the beginning of a new era in painting. Before him, painting had achieved a perfectly accurate depiction of nature, and Caravaggio began a search that corresponded to the time. His paintings depict ordinary people, innkeepers, and gamblers, which deviates from the aristocracy. The light is distributed sporadically, not evenly, which corresponds to the spirit of the era. Rubens' paintings represent the splendor of the human body. The Flemish created a painting genre that faithfully depicts reality. This art of oil painting on canvas, in which Rubens and Rembrandt stand out, is lush, decorative, and full of energy. Rubens's student Anthony Van Dyck specialized in portraits and was very successful in it. Rembrandt is the greatest Dutch painter. Spanish Baroque painting was inspired by Caravaggio's use of light. The peak is reached in the works of Velázquez.

SCULPTURE

There is not much Baroque sculpture, and it is not significant. Baroque works in the field of sculpture are intended to decorate and complement architecture. Lower walls are used to place figures at uniform intervals. In Austria and Germany, female figures of the "Caryatids" and male "Atlantes" were created, and all were associated with architectural works on bridges. Thus, the sculpture fits into the buildings. In addition, Baroque sculptures went along with tombs, altars, monuments of famous personalities, and the like. Sculptures of people were depicted as if they were in theaters. These sculptures were technically perfect, as if captured in motion. Human bodies were much more slender than in the Renaissance. Figures were always depicted in motion. Many Baroque works can be found in fountains and as decorations on staircases, in galleries, halls, churches, and in every interior. Thus, the Baroque experienced its triumph.

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