The Stages of the baroque Are the different periods characteristic of this artistic and cultural movement with so much presence in the history of the arts.
He baroque Was born in Europe, developing mainly in Italy in the early seventeenth century, extending until the mid-eighteenth century. Although of European origin, this movement had great influence in the American colonies existing for the time.
The Baroque movement includes practices and expressions such as architecture, music, painting, sculpture, literature, dance and theater.
It is considered that its influence for the time went much beyond being an artistic style or current, with determined social and political implications. It was considered by the aristocracy as a means to surprise.
The Baroque was promoted by the Catholic Church, mainly in Europe. The main artistic manifestations began to adopt religious themes and opulent in their contents, with victories and presence of divine personages.
This movement was divided in three main stages throughout its existence: baroque early or primitive, between the years 1590 and 1625; Baroque, between 1625 and 1660; And baroque late, between 1660 and 1725, last stage that gave way to the other movement: the rococo.
Baroque manifestations or versions influenced by more modern currents can still be appreciated today.
You may be interested Top 10 Baroque Representatives .
Different Stages of the Baroque
Early Baroque (1590 - 1625)
Baroque originated in Italy, and one of the first expressive ways to adopt its elements was painting.
It arises under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, whose internal reforms allowed to implement new guidelines towards the contents of the arts and their function.
By that time, the most recognized painters constantly competed for the commissions assigned by the Church, so they were the first to adopt these new aesthetic changes.
Among these changes, an iconography much more direct, obvious and theatrical, that exalt ecclesiastical values and that was able to reach not only the intellectuals, but the illiterate.
According to experts, the Baroque began as a reaction of the Church to revolutionary cultural movements and with more liberal ideas.
Nevertheless, Rome was the epicenter of its successful development, where architecture took a greater role in public spaces and marked the urban identity of the moment, conserved until today.
In the first plastic manifestations of the baroque dominated the asymmetry, the centralization instead of the composition.
The intensity and importance of the color gave a distinctive feature to other works of the moment. Caravaggio is one of the representatives of this first stage.
The theater would give a timid first steps at the beginning of the baroque, not knowing that it would be heading towards its consolidation during the following stages, to the point of becoming a multisensory experience.
Full Baroque (1625 - 1660)
During this period, the baroque was consolidated as a movement in a greater quantity of arts, as well as of countries.
Baroque architecture began to manifest in all its splendor in different cities of Italy and Spain. Painting proliferated throughout Europe; Diego Velázquez was one of the most prominent painters of this period and the Baroque in general.
Baroque architecture marked the trend of a large number of European and even Latin American buildings.
He focused on large ornaments, as well as fixing domes and highly ornate interiors, with successions of spacious rooms ending in a master bedroom.
Literature brought new possibilities to this current. Some of the highest European representatives came from England, Spain and France, such as William Shakespeare, Pedro Calderon de la Barca and Jean Racine. Between the Most popular literary genres Were the dramaturgy and the poetry.
The case of Spain is particular, since it is considered that during the time of the baroque one developed what would be known as the Golden Age of Spanish Literature , With the appearance of, among other authors, Miguel de Cervantes, the first novelist.
The full baroque period not only focused on expressive arts; Its elements were taken as objects of study and reflection by a generation of philosophers as Rene Descartes , John Locke , Francis Bacon .
It was a stage in which mixed thinking developed: the combination of new ideas with the old religious traditions.
Late Baroque (1660 - 1725)
According to some historians, the third and final stage of the baroque is sometimes not considered as such, but as the beginning of the next movement: the rococo.
However, there are those who claim that there were manifestations during this period considered essentially Baroque. Certain characteristics have been found in the works of this transition stage.
Almost all the arts maintained their level of importance and production during this stage, with a greater historical importance for painting, music and theater.
The first one maintained its epicenter in cities like Rome and Venice, with painters like Luca Giordano and Sebastiano Ricci. Most of the frescoes of the main regional churches were made during this period.
In the case of music, it is considered that most of the compositions made during the baroque were performed during this stage in even a little later.
Unlike other arts, it is debated whether Baroque music shares the same aesthetic and conceptual concepts pursued by other artistic manifestations.
The main musical forms that emerged, or became popular, during the Baroque, and more specifically this last period, were the concert and the symphony, as well as the sonata and the cantata. The musical experimentation during this stage was very related to the theater.
The performing arts were consolidated at this stage, and would become increasingly important in the international arena.
Following the religious conceptions that gave rise to the baroque, the theater made the gods and divinities down to the stage, and the technology offered the possibility of a much more intimate experience, without the presence of the machinery used.
Although the Baroque ended as an artistic movement, today the term is still used to describe the physical attributes or stages of development of other artistic or expressive pieces.
References
- Bonds, M.E. (2013). A History of Music in Western Culture. Pearson.
- Bury, J.B. (1956). Late Baroque and Rococo in North Portugal. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians , 7-15.
- Gilmore, E. (1982). A Documentary History of Art, Volume 2: Michelangelo and the Mannerists, The Baroque and the Eighteenth Century. Princeton University Press.
- Maravall, J.A. (1986). Culture of the Baroque: Analysis of a Historical Structure. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Price, C. (1993). The Early Baroque Era: From the late 16th century to the 1660s. London: Macmillan.