1. Read the text and fill in the chart below about the main features of the Baroque and Rococo Baroque and Rococo
Baroque and late Baroque, or Rococo, are terms applied to European art of the period from the early 17th century to the mid 18th century.
The word “baroque” was derived from the Italian word “baroque”. This word also meant irregular or imperfect form, especially with reference to pearl.
The Baroque style is characterized by spatially complex compositions, interpenetration11 of oval spaces, curved surfaces and remarkable use of decoration broken pediments, paired or coupled columns or pilasters. The Baroque art was essentially concerned with vivid12 colours, hidden13 light sources, luxurious materials and elaborate14, contrasting surface textures. There was a tremendous richness of motifs-festoons of flowers and fruits, masks, scrolls, wreaths and weapons. During the Baroque period, architecture, painting and sculpture were integrated into decorative ensembles. Architects used sculpture to support the members of a building, painters decorated the walls and vaults of churches with false architectural perspectives, sculptors introduced colour in their works in the spirit of a painter.
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Baroque rapidly developed into two separate forms: the strongly Roman
Catholic counties (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, Bohemia,
Southern Germany, Australia and Poland) tended toward freer and more
active architectural forms and surfaces; in Protestant regions
(England, the Netherlands and the remainder of Northern Europe)
architecture was more restrained15
and developed a quiet monumentality impressive in its refinement16.
The greatest works of this style are Dome des Invalides by Hardouin-Mansart 17(1); the church of Santa Susanna (2); Versailles (3); Royal Palace in Madrid (4); Royal Palace at Caserta (5).
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The Rococo is assumed to have been the late phase of the Baroque, primarily French in origin. The style was first inspired by the shell-encrusted artificial fountains and grottoes at Versailles. This style refined the robust18 architecture of the 17th century to suit elegant 18th century tastes. Vivid colours were replaced by pastel shades; diffuse19 light flooded the building volume; violent surface relief was replaced by smooth flowing masses with emphasis only at isolated points. One can find intermingling20 of shells, C - and S - scrolls21, rocks, seaweed22, ribbons and carving and irregular acanthus foliation23. Churches and palaces still demonstrated an integration of the three arts, but the building structure was lightened to render interiors graceful and ethereal24. Rococo architects reduced column size to a minimum. In churches, the ceilings of side aisles were raised to the height of the nave ceiling unify the space from wall to wall.
The finest examples of the Rococo style are Church of the "Madonna del Carmine", Turin, Italy (1732) (1); The Steinhausen Church of Pilgrimage, Germany (1728) (2); Saint - Jacques, Luneville, France (1730) (3).
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