What is baroque definition. What is baroque? What is baroque style

The history of the appearance of style

The Baroque art style originated in Italy at the end of the 16th century. The history of the name is associated with the Portuguese sailors, who used the word barocco to designate defective pearls of irregular shape. The Italians readily adopted the term, combining them with the artsy and strange manifestations of a new cultural trend.

The emergence of the Baroque is associated with the fading of the Renaissance: having abandoned the notions of classical harmony and a strict world order, the creators focused on the struggle between reason and feelings. From now on, the focus of their attention is the forces of the elements, expression, mysticism.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, baroque in architecture, art and music spread widely across Europe and America, and came to Russia. The heyday of the style coincided with the strengthening of absolute monarchies, the development of colonies, and the strengthening of Catholicism. It is logical that in urban planning it manifested itself in scale and monumentality.

Characteristic features of the Baroque

The solemn, complex, richly decorated style was used in the construction of city palaces, residences, and monasteries. The architectural solutions of court architects are subject to one idea: to surprise and delight.

Form

The main feature of the Baroque is the creation of a curved space, where planes and volumes are curvilinear and flow into each other, ellipses and rectangles predominate in the plans.

In the design of facades, rake-out is widely used, when part of the wall is exposed a little forward or, on the contrary, is deepened along with all the elements. It turns out the alternation of convex and concave sections with the effect of spatial illusion. All kinds of bay windows, towers and balconies make the facade composition even more expressive.

Order

A distinctive feature of baroque buildings is a deliberate violation of proportions in the antique order system.

Parts of the order (base, entablature, capital) are stretched, superimposed on each other, twisted; a previously harmonious structure (commensurate with a person) acquires massiveness and a ragged rhythm.

Exterior and interior decor

The main features of the Baroque also include excessive embellishment, which gave many reasons for accusations of bad taste.

The walls practically disappear under stucco, paintings, carved panels, sculptures, columns, mirrors. The desire for gigantism is manifested in heavy furniture, huge wardrobes, stairs. If we talk about baroque briefly, then this is a style of excesses. Due to the alternation of illuminated and shaded areas, customizable side lighting, the craftsmen created optical effects of expanding space. Golden, blue, pink colors set a solemn atmosphere.

Communication with the surrounding space

Our description of the Baroque style would be incomplete without an emphasis on the union of buildings with the surrounding area: a city square, a park, a garden. It was a progressive trend, buildings began to be perceived as one with the landscape: from now on, fountains, sculptural compositions, broken paths and lawns are a full part of the palace ensembles.

Baroque architectural elements

Baroque facades are actively decorated with columns, voluminous large relief, arched gables.

Richly trimmed platbands are necessarily equipped with a keystone. Windows are made in the form of ovals, hemispheres, rectangular openings. Instead of columns to support beam ceilings, balustrades and roof vaults, statues of caryatids and Atlanteans are installed.

Monumental sculptural compositions are one of the characteristic elements of the style.

The posture and facial expressions of the mythological and biblical figures convey the emotional tension, the drama of the plot, which corresponds to the concept of the complex structure of the world and human passions.

Traditional baroque ornaments include arabesques, garlands, shells, cartouches, flower vases, cornucopias, and musical instruments.

Every detail is richly framed. In a bunch of historically close styles of baroque, rococo and classicism, the first one is significantly distinguished by its love for excessive decor. Rococo would then pick up this feature, placing more emphasis on grace and sophistication.

One of the features of the architectural Baroque is the active use of mascarons in the facade design (a mask in the form of a human face or an animal's muzzle, located full face).

They were made of stone and plaster, placed above the front door, window openings, arches. Each mask has its own character: calm, frightening, comical. Thematic mascarons were chosen in accordance with the profile of the institution: images of the goddess of justice, lion heads were hung on the court, dramatic characters were hung on the theater, angels and children were hung on the church.

Baroque style in Italy

In each of the countries, a new architectural style manifested itself under the influence of political, social and cultural conditions. In this regard, we can talk about the national types of baroque: Italian, French, Spanish, German, English, Russian.

In the world heritage, the Italian Baroque is considered the primary source and inspiration. The leading role in the development of architecture was assumed by the Vatican. The Catholic Church in the 16th century began the active construction of temples and cathedrals, and not so much impressive in scale as majestic and emotionally charged in design.

Among the first created the famous church of Il Gesu, the project of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. Several orders are combined in the design of the main façade. Wide wavy volutes on the sides connect both facade tiers, such a decision has become a textbook for the churches of this period.

The largest Italian Baroque architects of the 17th century are Lorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, Gvarino Guarini, Carlo Rainaldi. The whole world knows St. Peter's Square in Rome - the project of L. Bernini, where the colonnade creates an artificial perspective and visually increases the size of the cathedral.

french baroque

The main characteristics of the Baroque in France manifested themselves more in the interior decoration, while classicism dominates in the facade decoration.

A striking example of this approach is the Palace of Versailles, designed by Louis Leveau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The baroque theme in the design of the facade is indicated only by sculptures, which contrast with the direct geometry of the building with expressive forms.

Luxurious baroque decoration prevails in palace interiors, especially in the halls of War and Peace, the Mirror Gallery.

French architects combine baroque and classicism in the design of city mansions and country residences. Artistic fantasy gives way to the leading role of the severity of forms. The main architects of the period are Jacques Lemercier, Francois Mansart, Louis Leveau.

Castle architecture moves from traditional quadrangular fortresses to ensembles of a central building and side wings, with access roads and cultivated gardens. The volumes are simplified, the number of stucco on the facade is reduced, the dimensions become more modest - these are examples of baroque in the design of the castles of Vaud, Montmorency, Chanet, Maison-Lafitte.

Architecture of Spain, Portugal and Latin America

The baroque direction was most clearly manifested in the works of the Spanish brothers Churriguera (17-18 century), their work even got its own name - churrigueresque.

Facades and interiors abound with lavish decorations and are oversaturated with details: broken pediments, undulating cornices, curls, garlands, balustrades. The most famous building of this baroque style is the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela.

Another part of Spanish architecture developed under the influence of Italian and French traditions. A typical example is the Royal Palace in Madrid, built in the likeness of Versailles by architects from Italy: Filippo Yuvarra, Giovanni Sacchetti, Francesco Sabatini. Classically austere facades are combined here with magnificent baroque interior decoration.

Portuguese baroque palaces are part of the world cultural heritage:

The facade of the Rayo Palace (designed by Andre Soares) is richly decorated with stucco, due to the variety of forms, a dynamic effect is created.

The largest royal palace in the country, Mafra, combines a basilica, a grandiose library and a Franciscan monastery.

The Mateus Palace (designed by the Italian Nicolau Nasoni) has the status of the National Monument of Portugal, a park with marble sculptures is laid out around.

Having spread to the New World, the Baroque style won supporters from Argentina to Mexico. Typical examples are the cathedrals in Taxco and Mexico City, overloaded with decor, with exaggerated corner towers.

Russian baroque

In the Russian Empire, the architectural style developed in a special way. Taking as a basis the traditions of Russian architecture, he enriched himself with Western European canons during the time of Peter the Great. The highest point came in the middle of the 18th century, when the West was already abandoning pomp in favor of the severity of classicism.

Features of the Baroque style in Russia:

Architectural plans and three-dimensional compositions are characterized by simplicity and a clearer structure.
The main material for facade decoration is plaster with gypsum details, and not stone, as in the West. Therefore, there is a greater emphasis on ornamental modeling and color schemes.
The buildings of the Russian baroque are made in bright and contrasting colors (blue, white, yellow, red, blue), covered with gilding, complex roofs are made of tinplate. The complex creates a festive, major character.

In the development of domestic architecture, it is customary to distinguish several historical stages.

Moscow baroque, late 17th century

This includes destinations named after patrons.

Characteristic features of the Naryshkin baroque style: symmetry, tieredness, centricity, white details on a red background. It combines the technique of ancient Russian wooden and stone construction with European Gothic, Mannerism, Renaissance. The famous multi-tiered Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Fili was designed in this form.

The Golitsyn direction uses only baroque decor in interior decoration. The architectural heritage is the Church of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubrovitsy.

Stroganov buildings have a five-domed silhouette (traditional for a Russian church). The baroque decor here is extremely rich and detailed. An example is the Smolensk Church in Nizhny Novgorod.

Peter's baroque at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries

Under Peter the Great, foreign architects worked in Russia, transferring European experience to domestic craftsmen. The German Andreas Schlüter creates the Grotto in the Summer Garden of St. Petersburg. Johann Gottfried Schedel, also from Germany, supervised the construction of the Menshikov Palace on Vasilyevsky Island, in Oranienbaum, Strelna, Kronstadt. There is baroque solemnity in the projects, but the walls are flat, without twisted illusions.

The first Russian architect to receive a formal education was Mikhail Grigoryevich Zemtsov. Working in the Russian baroque style, he designed and built the Anichkov Palace, summer residences, park pavilions in St. Petersburg, the palace in Revel, and participated in the construction of the bell tower in the complex of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Baroque architecture of the mid-18th century

In the era of the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1740-1750s), a period of mature baroque begins, it is called Elizabethan. At this time they create B.F. Rastrelli, D. Ukhtomsky, S. Chevakinsky.

The construction of monumental complexes is called upon to strengthen the prestige of the imperial and noble authorities: palaces, cathedrals, monasteries, country residences. Palace apartments are planned according to the enfilade principle, the halls inside are decorated with gilded carvings, stucco molding, mirrors, and type-setting parquet. The situation is exclusively ceremonial.

The baroque style that reached its apogee in Russia at that time is associated with the work of Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. His authorship belongs to the Tsarskoye Selo Catherine Palace, the Smolny Monastery, the Stroganov, Vorontsov and Winter Palaces.

The architectural style of the Baroque did not last long in the Russian state. At the end of the 18th century, luxury and excess were replaced by the rational beauty of classicism. But the palace ensembles created during this time still amaze with the scale of the idea and the splendor of decoration. The architecture of Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo and St. Petersburg is a source of inspiration for modern baroque, realized in private country mansions. Complex forms and extraordinary decorativeness are still valued here.

modern baroque

For ardent fans of style who want to have their own modern baroque house, we offer, implemented in the architectural office.

Baroque (Italian barocco - whimsical) is an artistic style that prevailed from the end of the 16th to the middle of the 18th centuries. in European art. This style originated in Italy and spread to other countries after the Renaissance. The main features of the Baroque are splendor, solemnity, splendor, dynamism, life-affirming character. Baroque art is characterized by bold contrasts of scale, light and shadow, color, a combination of reality and fantasy. It is especially necessary to note in the Baroque style the fusion of various arts in a single ensemble, a large degree of interpenetration of architecture, sculpture, painting and decorative art. This desire for a synthesis of the arts is a fundamental feature of the Baroque. The Baroque style was intended to glorify and promote the power of power, the nobility and the church, but at the same time it expressed progressive ideas about the complexity of the universe, the infinity and diversity of the world, its variability. A person in baroque art is perceived as part of the world, as a complex personality experiencing dramatic conflicts. A feature of the Baroque is not observing the Renaissance harmony for the sake of more emotional contact with the viewer. Baroque architecture is distinguished by its spatial scope, the fluidity of curvilinear forms, the merging of volumes into a dynamic mass, rich sculptural decoration, and connection with the surrounding space. Bernini's most prominent Italian contemporaries during the mature Baroque period were the architect Borromini and the painter and architect Pietro da Cortona. Somewhat later, Andrea del Pozzo (1642-1709) worked; the plafond painted by him in the church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome (the Apotheosis of St. Ignatius of Loyola) is the culmination of the Baroque trend towards pompous splendor. In the 17th century, Rome was the art capital of the world, attracting artists from all over Europe, and Baroque art soon spread beyond the "eternal city". In each Baroque country, art was fueled by local traditions. In some countries it became more extravagant, as, for example, in Spain and Latin America, where a style of architectural decoration called churrigueresco developed; in others it was toned down to suit more conservative tastes. In Catholic Flanders, Baroque art flourished in the work of Rubens; in Protestant Holland, it had a less noticeable influence. True, the mature works of Rembrandt, extremely lively and dynamic, are clearly marked by the influence of Baroque art. In France it expressed itself most clearly in the service of the monarchy, and not of the church. Louis XIV understood the importance of art as a means of glorifying royalty. His adviser in this area was Charles Lebrun, who directed the painters and decorators who worked at Louis's palace at Versailles. Versailles, with its grandiose combination of opulent architecture, sculpture, painting, decorative and landscape art, was one of the most impressive examples of the fusion of the arts. In the first half of the 18th century - partly as a late phase of the Baroque, partly (in France) as an independent phenomenon - the Rococo style takes shape.

Art (Baroque art.), a style of European art and architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries. At different times, different content was put into the term "baroque" - "bizarre", "strange", "prone to excesses". At first, it had an offensive connotation, implying absurdity, absurdity (perhaps it goes back to the Portuguese word for an ugly pearl). It is currently used in art criticism to determine the style that dominated European art between mannerism and rococo, that is, from about 1600 to the beginning of the 18th century. From the mannerism of the Baroque, art inherited dynamism and deep emotionality, and from the Renaissance - solidity and splendor: the features of both styles harmoniously merged into one single whole.

Baroque. (Clementinum Library, Prague, Czech Republic).

The most characteristic features - catchy flamboyance and dynamism - corresponded to the self-confidence and aplomb of the newly regained strength of the Roman Catholic Church. Outside of Italy, the Baroque style had its deepest roots in Catholic countries, and in Britain, for example, its influence was negligible. At the origins of the tradition of Baroque art in painting are two great Italian artists - Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, who created the most significant works in the last decade of the 16th century - the first decade of the 17th century.

Painting by Caravaggio

BAROQUE (Italian - barocco, presumably from the Portuguese barroco - an irregularly shaped pearl or from the Latin baroso - a mnemonic designation of one of the modes of syllogism in traditional logic), a style in art of the late 16th-18th centuries. Covered all areas of the plastic arts (architecture, sculpture, painting), literature, music and the performing arts. The Baroque style was an expression of the typological commonality of national cultures during the formation of absolutism, which was accompanied by severe military conflicts (including the Thirty Years' War of 1618-48), the strengthening of Catholicism and church ideology (see Counter-Reformation). Thanks to this commonality, it is also legitimate to speak of the cultural and historical era of the Baroque, which inherited the Renaissance. The chronological boundaries of the Baroque do not coincide in certain regions (in Latin America, a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, in Russia, the style was formed later than in Western Europe) and in various types of art (for example, in the 18th century, the Baroque exhausted itself in Western European literature, but continued to exist in architecture, fine arts, music). Italy is rightfully considered the birthplace of the Baroque. The Baroque is successively connected with the mannerism of the 16th century and coexists with classicism.

The Baroque style reflected a new attitude that replaced Renaissance humanism and anthropocentrism, in which the features of rationalism and mystical spiritualism, the desire for scientific systematization of knowledge and passion for magical and esoteric teachings, interest in the objective world in all its breadth and religious exaltation were contradictory combined. Scientific discoveries that pushed the boundaries of the universe brought awareness of the infinite complexity of the world, but at the same time turned a person from the center of the universe into a small part of it. The destruction of the balance between man and the world was manifested in the antinomy of the baroque, gravitating towards sharp contrasts of the sublime and the low, the carnal and the spiritual, the refined and the brutal, the tragic and the comic, and so on. The calm balance and harmony of Renaissance art gave way to heightened affectation, exaltation, and stormy dynamics. At the same time, striving to actively influence the viewer-listener, the Baroque style relied on a carefully thought-out rational system of techniques, largely based on rhetoric [primarily on the doctrine of "invention" (Latin inventio) and stylistic figures, "decoration" (Latin elocutio)]. Rhetorical principles were transferred to various types of art, determining the construction of a literary work, theatrical action, programs of decorative and monumental painting cycles, and musical compositions.

Wishing to combine contrasting images, and often elements of various genres (tragicomedy, opera-ballet, etc.) and stylistic manners, within the framework of one work, Baroque masters attached special importance to virtuosic artistry: the victory of technology over the material of art symbolized the triumph of creative genius, which possesses " wit" - the ability to combine distant and dissimilar concepts in a single image. The main tool of "wit" was a metaphor - the most important of the Baroque tropes, "the mother of poetry" (E. Tesauro).

The desire for a comprehensive impact on the audience led to the rapprochement and interpenetration of various types of art characteristic of the Baroque (architectural illusions in painting and scenography, sculptural and picturesque architecture, theatricalization of sculpture, poetic and pictorial picturesqueness of music, the combination of image and text in figure verse and in the emblem genre ). Pathetically “high” Baroque with its inherent grandiosity and splendor (architectural ensembles, altars and altar images, triumphs and apotheoses in painting, operas based on mythological subjects, tragedy, heroic poem; theatrical performances - coronations, weddings, burials, etc.) side by side with chamber (still life in painting, pastoral and elegy in literature) and grassroots (comedy interludes in opera and school drama) forms of the Baroque. Lifelikeness in Baroque art often bordered on both spectacular theatricality (the motif of the world as a theater is typical of the Baroque) and complex symbolism: an object depicted in a realistic manner was fraught with a hidden meaning.

The term "baroque" arose in the 18th century among art historians close to classicism (I. Wikelman, F. Militsia); originally expressed a negative assessment of Italian architecture of the 17th century, and later of all art of this period. The epithet "baroque" in classical normative aesthetics served as a designation for everything that was outside the rules and contradicted order and classical clarity. In musicology, the term "Baroque" (for the first time - in the "Musical Dictionary" by J. J. Rousseau, 1768) also had a negative meaning for a long time, fixing attention on certain "oddities" that fell out of the norms of classicism. One of the first historical interpretation of the Baroque was given by J. Burkhardt (in the book “Il Cicerone”, 1855), who defined the Baroque style in connection with the Italian architecture of the late 16th century. The theory of baroque as a style in the visual arts, different from the Renaissance and classicism, was formulated by G. Wölfflin (“Renaissance and Baroque”, 1888; “Basic Concepts of Art History”, 1915), who singled out formal categories to distinguish between inherently opposite styles of the Renaissance and baroque. The idea of baroque as a historical style was transferred to literature and music only at the beginning of the 20th century. The modern concept of the Baroque tends to take it beyond art and literature, to transfer it to such areas as sociology, politics, history, religion and philosophy. Sometimes the concept of "baroque" is interpreted not in a specific historical sense, but as a designation of a set of stylistic features that are periodically repeated at various stages of the evolution of culture (for example, elements of baroque style are seen in romanticism, expressionism, surrealism, Latin American magical realism, etc.).

V. D. Dazhina, K. A. Chekalov, D. O. Chekhovich.

Architecture and fine arts. Separate features of the Baroque style (a craving for the grandiose, dynamism of composition, dramatic tension) appeared already in the 16th century in the work of Correggio, Michelangelo, G. da Vignola, F. Barocci, Giambologna. The heyday of baroque refers to the 1620-30s, the final stage falls on the middle of the 18th century, and in some countries at the end of this century.

The idea of a triumphant church was embodied in Baroque art, which contributed to the solution of large-scale architectural tasks, the creation of majestic ensembles (the square in front of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, the restructuring of the most important Roman basilicas, the Churrigueresco style in Spain, etc.), the flourishing of picturesque interior design and a representative altar picture. Organic for the Baroque was the idea of the triumph of power, which was reflected in the art of the court baroque, characteristic not only for the centers of absolutism (France, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Russia, some states of Germany and Italy), but also for the republics that asserted their power ( Venice, Genoa).

The inherent baroque desire for pomp of forms, spectacular spectacle most clearly manifested itself in architecture. It was in the Baroque era that a new European urban planning was born, a type of modern house, street, square, city estate was developed. In Latin America, the urban principles of the Baroque determined the appearance of many cities. Palace and park ensembles are being developed (Versailles, Petrodvorets, Aranjuez, Zwinger, etc.), decorative-applied and small sculptural forms are flourishing, as well as landscape gardening plasticity. Baroque architecture is characterized by an inclination towards the synthesis of arts, an emphasized interaction of the volume with the spatial environment (the natural environment of the park, the openness of the architectural ensemble of the square), the curvilinearity of plans and outlines, the sculptural elasticity and plasticity of forms, the contrasting play of light and shadow, the different scale of volumes, illusionism (J. L. Bernini, F. Borromini, D. Fontana, Pietro da Cortona, C. Maderna, C. Rainaldi, G. Guarini, B. Longhena, J. B. de Churrigera, G. Hesius, L. Vanvitelli, etc.) . Painting and sculpture actively interact with architecture, transforming the space of the interior; stucco molding, various materials in their spectacular and colorful combinations (bronze, multi-colored marble, granite, alabaster, gilding, etc.) are widely used.

In the fine arts of the Baroque, decorative compositions of religious, mythological or allegorical content, virtuoso in execution, prevail (plafonds by Pietro da Cortona, A. Pozzo, the Carracci brothers, P. P. Rubens, G. B. Tiepolo), spectacular theatrical ceremonial portraits (A. Van Dyck, J. L. Bernini, G. Rigaud), fantastic (S. Rosa, A. Magnasco) and heroic (Domenichino) landscapes, as well as more chamber forms of portraiture (Rubens), landscape and architectural lead (F. Guardi, J. A. Canaletto), picturesque parables (D. Fetti). Court life and its theatricalization contributed to the active development of representative forms of painting (decorative cycles of murals in palace apartments, battle painting, mythological allegory, etc.). The perception of reality as an infinite and changeable cosmos makes the pictorial space boundless, which opens up in spectacular plafond compositions, goes into the depths in inventive architectural landscapes and theatrical scenery (scenography by B. Buontalenti, G. B. Aleotti, G. Torelli, J. L. Bernini, I. Jones, the Galli Bibbiena family, etc.). Perspective effects, spatial illusions, linear and compositional rhythms, contrast of scales break the integrity, give rise to a feeling of improvisation, the free birth of forms, their variability. A paramount role was played by optical effects, a fascination with aerial perspective, the transmission of the atmosphere, transparency and humidity of the air (G. B. Tiepolo, F. Guardi, and others).

In the painting of the "high" baroque, oriented towards the so-called grand style, preference was given to historical and mythological genres, which were then considered the highest in the genre hierarchy. In this era, the “lower” (in the terminology of that time) genres also arise and fruitfully develop: still life, genre painting proper, landscape. The democratic direction of the Baroque, alien to theatricalization and affectation of feelings, manifested itself in realistic everyday scenes (“painters of reality” in France, representatives of caravagism, the genre of bodegones in Spain, everyday genre and still life in Holland and Flanders), non-church religious painting (J. M. Crespi, Rembrandt).

The Baroque style existed in many national variants, distinguished by their bright originality. The Flemish baroque is most characteristic of the work of Rubens with his ability to convey a sense of the fullness of life, its internal dynamics and variability through pictorial means. The Spanish Baroque is more restrained and ascetic in style, combined with a focus on local realistic traditions (D. Velazquez, F. Zurbaran, J. de Ribera, architect J. B. de Herrera). In Germany (architects and sculptors B. von Neumann, A. Schlüter, the Azam brothers, etc.) and Austria (architects J. B. Fischer von Erlach and I. L. von Hildebrandt), the Baroque style was often combined with Rococo features. In the art of France, the Baroque retains the Renaissance rationalist basis, and later actively interacts with classic elements (the so-called Baroque classicism). Separate stylistic features of the Baroque were manifested in the emphasized decorativeness of the buildings of the front halls of Versailles, decorative panels by S. Vouet and C. Lebrun. England, with the cult of classical forms and Palladianism characteristic of its architecture (I. Jones, K. Wren), mastered a more restrained version of the Baroque style (mainly in decorative painting and interior design). In restrained, ascetic forms, the style was also manifested in some Protestant countries (Holland, Sweden, etc.). In Russia, the development of the Baroque style falls on the 18th century (heyday - 1740-50s), which was associated with the growth and strengthening of the absolute monarchy. An earlier period, defined as the Naryshkin Baroque, is closely related to the traditions of the architecture of Ancient Rus' and is not directly related to the Baroque style. The originality of Russian baroque was determined not only by the stability of national traditions and forms, but also by the interaction of baroque features with classicism and rococo (sculptor K. B. Rastrelli, architects B. F. Rastrelli, S. I. Chevakinsky, D. V. Ukhtomsky). National variants of the Baroque style arose in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Western Ukraine, and Lithuania. Baroque centers were not only European countries, but also a number of countries in Latin America (especially Mexico and Brazil, where the baroque acquired hypertrophied features in ultra-baroque forms), as well as the Philippines and other Spanish colonies.

V. D. Dazhina.

Literature. The early manifestations of the Baroque in literature, which remain close to Mannerism, date back to the last quarter of the 16th century: the tragedy of R. Garnier "Hippolite" (1573), "Tragic Poems" by T. A. d'Aubigne (created in 1577-79s , published in 1616), T. Tasso's poem "The Liberated Jerusalem" (1581). The style fades away in the 2nd half of the 17th century (the foundation of the Arcadia Academy in 1690 is considered the chronological border of the Baroque for Italy), but it continues to be retained in Slavic literature in the Enlightenment.

The formative experimental principle, the craving for novelty, for the unusual and unusual in baroque literature are associated with the formation of the new European picture of the world and are largely generated by the same renewal of cognitive paradigms as scientific and geographical discoveries at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. The influence of new European empiricism is reflected in the active use by writers of life-like and even naturalistic forms (not only in prose, but also in poetry), which, according to the law of contrast, are combined with the hyperbolism of style and the cosmism of the figurative structure (G. Marino's poem "Adonis", published in 1623) .

The most important component of the Baroque is the desire for diversity (Latin "varietas"), which was considered as one of the criteria for the artistic perfection of poetry (including the Baroque by Gracian and Morales, E. Tesauro, Tristan L'Hermite and especially J.P. Camus, the creator of the monumental 11-volume work "Motley mixture", 1609-19). Comprehensiveness, the desire to summarize knowledge about the world (taking into account the latest discoveries and inventions) are the characteristic features of the Baroque. In other cases, encyclopedism turns into chaos, collecting curiosities; the sequence of the review of the universe takes on an extremely whimsical, individually-associative character; the world appears as a labyrinth of words, a collection of mysterious signs (treatise by the Jesuit E. Binet "Experience on Miracles", 1621). Books of emblems are widely popular as universal codes of various kinds of truths and ideas about the world: the influence of emblematics is felt in the poetry of J. Marino, F. von Caesen, J. Morshtyn, Simeon Polotsky, in the novel by B. Gracian y Morales "Kritikon" (1651-57 years).

Baroque literature is characterized by the desire to study being in its contrasts (darkness and light, flesh and spirit, time and eternity, life and death), in its dynamics and at various levels (the pendulum movement between the levels of the social hierarchy in the novel by H. von Grimmelshausen " Simplicissimus, 1668-1669). Baroque poetics is marked by increased attention to the symbols of the night (A. Gryphius, J. Marino), the theme of the frailty and impermanence of the world (B. Pascal, J. Duperron, L. de Gongora y Argote), the life of a dream (F. de Quevedo y -Villegas, P. Calderon de la Barca). In baroque texts, the Ecclesiaste formula of “the vanity of the world” (Latin vanitas mundi) often sounds. Ecstasy, spirituality often merge with a painful fascination with death (J. Donne's treatise Biotanatos, published in 1644; poetry by J. B. Chassinier). Both stoic indifference to suffering (A. Gryphius) and sublimated eroticism (F. Deport, T. Carew) can become a recipe against this fascination. The tragedy of the Baroque partly has a socio-historical determinism (wars in France, Germany, etc.).

Marked by stylistic sophistication and saturated with rhetorical figures (repetitions, antitheses, parallelisms, gradations, oxymorons, etc.), baroque poetry developed within the framework of national variants: gongorism and conceptism (in which the deliberate semantic obscurity inherent in baroque was expressed with particular force) in Spain, marinism in Italy, the metaphysical school and euphuism in England. Along with works of a secular, courtly, and salon nature (V. Voiture) spiritual poems occupy an important place in Baroque poetry (P. Fleming, J. Herbert, J. Lubrano). The most popular genres are sonnet, epigram, madrigal, satire, religious and heroic poem, etc.

For Western European Baroque, the genre of the novel is extremely significant; it is in this genre that the baroque most fully reveals itself as an international style: for example, the Latin-language novel Argenida by J. Barclay (1621) becomes a model for the narrative prose of all Western Europe. Along with the real-life and satirical modifications of the baroque novel (Ch. Sorel, P. Scarron, A. Furetier, I. Mosheros), its gallant-heroic variety enjoyed great success (J. de Scudery and M. de Scudery, J. Marini, D.K. von Loenstein). The so-called high baroque novel attracted readers not only with its intricate ups and downs, an abundance of literary and political allusions, and an ingenious combination of “romantic” and cognitive principles, but also with its significant volume, which can be considered one of the manifestations of the baroque “poetics of amazement”, striving to embrace the world in everything. its bizarre variety. In terms of structural features, the religious novel of the Baroque (J. P. Camus, A. J. Brignole Sale) is close to the gallant-heroic.

In the culture of the Baroque, marked by increased theatricality, an important place is occupied by dramatic genres - both secular (Elizabethian drama in England, pastoral tragicomedy, "new comedy" in Spain), and religious (Spanish autos, biblical dramas by J. van den Vondel). The early dramaturgy of P. Corneille also belongs to the baroque; his "Comic Illusion" (1635-36) is an encyclopedia of theatrical genres of the 16th-17th centuries.

Baroque literature, following the literature of Mannerism, gravitates toward genre experiments and a mixture of genres (the emergence of the genre of essays, iroikokomichesky and burlesque poems, opera-tragicomedy). H. von Grimmelshausen's "Simplicissimus" combines elements of picaresque, allegorical, utopian, pastoral novels, as well as the style of schwanks and popular prints. The learned Christian epic "Paradise Lost" by J. Milton (1667-74) also includes a number of small genres - an ode, a hymn, a pastoral eclogue, a georgic, an epithalamus, a complaint, an alba, etc.

A characteristic feature of the Baroque, paradoxically combined with a tendency towards anormativity, is a penchant for theoretical self-understanding: the treatises "Wit and the Art of a Sophisticated Mind" by B. Gracian y Morales (1642-48), "Aristotle's Spyglass" by E. Tesauro (published in 1655). A number of baroque novels include a literary and aesthetic commentary: “The Mad Shepherd” by C. Sorel (1627), “The Dog of Diogenes” by F. F. Frugoni (1687-89); "Assenat" F. von Cesen (1670).

In the Slavic countries, Baroque has a number of features that allow us to speak of "Slavic Baroque" as a special modification of style (the term was proposed in 1961 by A. Andyal). In a number of cases, it is palpable secondary in relation to Western European samples (J. Morshtyn as the successor of Marinism in Polish poetry), however, the first Polish poetics of M. K. Sarbiewski (“Praecepta poetica”, early 1620s) is ahead of Baroque treatises in time Gracian y Morales and E. Tesauro. The highest achievements of the Slavic Baroque are associated with poetry (philosophical and love lyrics in Poland, religious poetry in the Czech Republic). In Russian literary baroque, the tragic worldview is less pronounced, it has a ceremonial, state pathos, an enlightening beginning, strongly expressed in the founder of the poetic baroque in Russia, Simeon Polotsky, his student Sylvester (Medvedev) and Karion Istomin. In the 18th century, the Baroque traditions were supported by Feofan Prokopovich and Stefan Yavorsky; the narrative structures of the baroque novel are used in Masonic prose (Cadmus and Harmony by M. M. Kheraskov, 1786).

K. A. Chekalov.

Music. The Baroque style dominated European professional music in the 17th - 1st half of the 18th century. The boundaries of the Baroque era, as well as the traditional division into stages of the early (1st half of the 17th century), mature (2nd half of the 17th century) and late (1st half of the 18th century) baroque, are very arbitrary, since the baroque was established in music different countries at the same time. In Italy, baroque made itself known at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, that is, about 2 decades earlier than in Germany, and it penetrated Russian music only in the last quarter of the 17th century due to the spread of partes singing.

In the modern view, baroque is a complex style that combines diverse manners of composition and performance, that is, the actual “styles” in the understanding of musical theorists of the 17th and 18th centuries (“church”, “theatrical”, “concert”, “chamber”), the styles of national schools and individual composers. The diversity of the Baroque in music is clearly manifested when comparing such stylistically distant works as the operas by F. Cavalli and G. Purcell, the polyphonic cycles by G. Frescobaldi and the violin concertos by A. Vivaldi, the Sacred Symphonies by G. Schutz and the oratorios by G. F. Handel. However, they show a significant degree of commonality when compared with the samples of the Renaissance music of the 16th century and with the classical style of the 2nd half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. As in previous musical-historical epochs, the musical in the Baroque is closely connected with the extra-musical (word, number, dance movement); however, a new phenomenon also arises - the isolation of purely musical methods of organization, which made possible the flowering of genres of instrumental music.

The era of the baroque in music is often called the era of the general bass, thereby noting the wide distribution and important role of this system of composing, recording and performing music. The possibility of different deciphering of the bass general testifies to the specifics of baroque compositions - their fundamental variability and significant dependence on a specific performing embodiment, in which the performers (as a rule, in the absence of detailed author's instructions in the musical text) have to determine the tempo, dynamic nuances, instrumentation, and the ability to the use of melodic embellishments, and so on, up to a significant role of improvisation in a number of genres (for example, in the "untimed" preludes of the French harpsichordists of the 17th century L. Couperin, N. Lebesgue, etc., in the cadences of soloists in instrumental concerts of the 18th century, in the reprise sections of arias da capo).

Baroque is the first style in the history of European music with an obvious dominance of the major-minor tonal system (see Harmony, Tonality). It was within the framework of the Baroque that homophony first declared itself (the division of musical texture into the main melodic voice and accompaniment). At the same time, the free style of polyphony and its highest form, the fugue, formed and reached its peak (in the work of J. S. Bach); in baroque music, a mixed type of texture is used for the most part, combining elements of polyphony and homophony. It was at this time that an individualized musical theme was formed. As a rule, a baroque musical theme consists of a bright initial intonational core, followed by a more or less lengthy unfolding, leading to a brief conclusion - a cadence. Baroque themes, as well as whole compositions, in comparison with classical ones, based on a rather rigid song and dance framework, are characterized by much greater meter-rhythmic freedom.

In the Baroque era, music expanded its expressive possibilities, especially in an effort to convey the diversity of human emotional experiences; they appeared in the form of generalized emotional states - affects (see Affect theory). However, the main task of music in the Baroque era was considered to be the glorification of God. Therefore, in the genre hierarchy, fixed in the theoretical treatises of that time, the primacy was invariably given to the genres of church music. However, in practice, secular music proved to be no less significant, especially in the field of musical theater. It was in the Baroque era that a very long period of its history was formed and passed by the most important musical stage genre - opera, the degree of distribution and development of which was in many ways an indicator of the level of musical culture of a particular country. The centers of opera art in the Baroque era were Venice (the late C. Monteverdi, F. Cavalli, M. A. Chesti), Rome (S. Landi), Naples (A. Scarlatti), Hamburg (German operas by R. Kaiser, G. F. . Handel), Vienna (Chesty, A. Caldara, I. J. Fuchs), Paris (J. B. Lully, J. F. Rameau), London (H. Purcell, Handel's Italian operas). Opera influenced both the new vocal genres that arose in the Baroque era (oratorio and cantata) and the traditional genres of church music (in the late Baroque masses, motets, passions, and so on, operatic forms were actively used: aria, duet, recitative). Stylistically, the differences between church and secular music became less and less significant, which made it possible to use the same musical material in both secular and church compositions (numerous examples are in the work of J.S. Bach).

The Baroque era was the climax for organ art, which actively developed in the Netherlands (J. P. Sweelinck), in Italy (J. Frescobaldi), France (F. Couperin, L. Marchand), but most of all in the Protestant lands of Germany, where they worked with Scheidt, J. Pachelbel, D. Buxtehude, J. S. Bach. Many genres associated with religious symbols and designed for performance in the church (fantasy, toccata, prelude, fugue, choral variations, and so on) had, however, not a liturgical, but a concert purpose. Other genres of instrumental music were also actively used: the triosonata (A. Corelli, G. F. Telemann and others), the dance suite for various compositions - from the harpsichord or solo violin to large ensembles (F. Couperin, J. S. Bach, G F. Handel and others), concerto for solo instrument and orchestra (A. Vivaldi, J. S. Bach and others), concerto grosso (Corelli, Handel). The concerto grosso (ensemble-orchestral concerto with a group of soloists singled out) clearly manifested the characteristic qualities of the Baroque - the active use of the concert principle, contrasting comparisons of sound masses of different density (many vocal compositions of the Baroque era, including the so-called sacred concertos, received a special distribution in Russia at the end of the 17th-18th centuries).

The connection with rhetoric is expressed both in the general principles of the arrangement of musical material, and in the use of specific melodic-rhythmic turns with established semantics - the so-called musical-rhetorical figures, which in vocal music strengthened the meaning of the verbal text, and in instrumental music - to a certain extent allowed " decipher" figurative content (however, to reveal the content of F. Couperin, J. F. Rameau, G. F. Telemann, instrumental compositions were often given characteristic names, and I. Froberger, I. Kunau, A. Vivaldi even accompanied them with detailed literary programs ). However, the instrumental music, deprived of the support of the word, which largely retained its applied functions (dance, drinking, etc.), gradually acquired an aesthetic value in itself, turning into a proper concert music.

Elements of the Baroque style were also used in the music of the classical period (up to L. van Beethoven), and later in the neoclassicism of the 20th century (by J. F. Stravinsky, P. Hindemith). In the performance of baroque music, historical musical instruments (genuine or their exact copies) are increasingly used, specific acoustic conditions are recreated for it, the performing principles of the era, recorded in musical and theoretical treatises and literary and artistic monuments of the 17th-18th centuries (see Authentic Performance).

Yu. S. Bocharov.

Lit.: General works. Schnürer G. Katholische Kirche und Kultur in der Barockzeit. Paderborn, 1937; Retorica e Barocco. Rome, 1955; Die Kunstformen des Barockzeitalters / Hrsg. von R. Stamm. Bern, 1956; Renaissance. Baroque. Classicism. The problem of styles in Western European art of the XV-XVII centuries. M., 1966; Baroque in Slavic cultures. M., 1982; Croce B. Storia dell ‘età barocca in Italia. Mil., 1993; Paul J.-M. Images modernes et contemporaines de l'homme baroque. Nancy, 1997; Battistini A. Il barocco: cultura, miti, immagini. Rome, 2000; Velflin G. Renaissance and Baroque: A Study of the Essence and Formation of the Baroque Style in Italy. SPb., 2004.

Architecture and fine arts.

Riegl A. Die Entstehung der Barockkunst in Rom. W., 1908; Weisbach W. Der Barock als Kunst der Gegenreformation. B., 1921; idem. Die Kunst des Barock in Italien, Frankreich, Deutschland und Spanien. 2. Aufl. B., 1929; Male E. L'art religieux après le concile de Trente. P., 1932; Fokker T. H. Roman Baroque art. The history of the style. L., 1938. Vol. 1-2; Praz M. Studies in seventeenth century imagery: In 2 vol. S. 1., 1939-1947; Mahon D. Studies in seicento art and theory. L., 1947; Friedrich C. J. The age of Baroque, 1610-1660. N.Y., 1952; Argan G. C. L'architettura barocca in Italia. Rome, 1960; Battisti E. Renaiscimento e barocco. Firenze, 1960; Bialostocki J. Barock: Stil, Epoche, Haltung // Bialostocki J. Stil und Ikonographie. Dresden, 1966; Keleman P. Baroque and Rococo in Latin America. N.Y., 1967; Rotenberg E. I. Western European art of the 17th century. M., 1971; Held J.S., Posner D. 17th and 18th century art: baroque painting, sculpture, architecture. N. Y., 1971; Russian baroque art. M., 1977; Vipper B. Russian Baroque Architecture. M., 1978; Voss H. Die Malerei des Barock in Rom. S.F., 1997; The triumph of baroque: architecture in Europe, 1600-1750 / Ed. H. Millon. N.Y., 1999; Bazin J. Baroque and Rococo. M., 2001.

Literature. Raymond M. Baroque et renaissance poétique. P., 1955; Getto G. Barocco in prosa e in poesia. Mil., 1969; Sokolowska J. Spory about barok. Warsz., 1971; Dubois Cl. G. Le Baroque. P., 1973; Slavic baroque. M., 1979; Emrich W. Deutsche Literatur der Barockzeit. Konigstein, 1981; Questionnement du baroque. Louvain; Brux., 1986; Identita e metamorfosi del barocco ispanico. Napoli, 1987; Hoffmeister G. Deutsche und Europäische Barockliteratur. Stuttg., 1987; Souiller D. La litterature baroque en Europe. P., 1988; Le baroque litteraire: theorie et pratiques. P., 1990; Pawih M. Barok. Beograd, 1991; Sazonova L. I. Poetry of the Russian Baroque (second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries). M., 1991; KuchowiczZ. Czlowiek polskiego baroku. Lotz, 1992; Baroque in the avant-garde - avant-garde in the baroque. M., 1993; Mikhailov A.V. Baroque poetics: the end of the rhetorical era // Mikhailov A.V. Languages of culture. M., 1997; Genette J. On a Baroque Narrative // Figures. M., 1998. T. 1; Hernas Cz. barok. Warsz., 1998; Silyunas V.Yu. Lifestyle and Art Styles: (Spanish Theater of Mannerism and Baroque). St. Petersburg, 2000; D'Ors E. Lo Barocco. Madrid, 2002; Rousset J. La littérature de l'âge baroque en France: Circé et le paon. P., 2002.

Music. Bukofzer M. Music in the Baroque era from Monteverdi to Bach. N.Y., 1947; Clercx S. Le baroque et la musique. Brux., 1948; Le baroque musical. Recueil d'etudes sur la musique. Liege, 1964; Dammann R. Der Musikbegriff im deutschen Barock. Koln, 1967; Blume F. Renaissance and Baroque music. A comprehensive survey. N.Y., 1967; idem. Barock // Epochen der Musikgeschichte in Einzeldarstellungen. Kassel, 1974; Stricker R. Musique du baroque. ; Stefani G. Musica barocca. Mil., 1974; Livanova T.N. Western European music of the 17th-18th centuries. in the arts. M., 1977; Raaben L. Baroque Music // Questions of Musical Style. L., 1978; Braun W. Die Musik des 17. Jahrhunderts. Laaber, 1981; Donington R. Baroque music: style and performance. N.Y., 1982; Palisca C. V. Baroque Music. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, 1991; Baron J.H. Baroque music: a research and information guide. N.Y., 1992; Lobanova M. Western European Musical Baroque: Problems of Aesthetics and Poetics. M., 1994; Anderson N. Baroque music from Monteverdi to Handel. L., 1994.

To create the illusion of power and wealth. A style that can elevate is becoming popular, so in the 16th century baroque appeared in Italy.

Origin of the term

Origin of the word baroque causes more controversy than the names of all other styles. There are several versions of the origin. Portuguese barroco- an irregularly shaped pearl that does not have an axis of rotation; such pearls were popular in the 17th century. in italian baroco- a false syllogism, an Asian form of logic, a sophistry technique based on metaphor. Like pearls of irregular shape, baroque syllogisms, the falsity of which was hidden by their metaphor.

The use of the term by critics and art historians dates back to the 2nd half of the 18th century and refers, at first, to figurative art and, consequently, also to literature. In the beginning, the Baroque took on a negative connotation, and only at the end of the 19th century did the re-evaluation of the Baroque take place, thanks to the European cultural context from Impressionism to Symbolism, which highlights the links with the Baroque era.

One controversial theory suggests the origin of all these European words from the Latin bis-roca, twisted stone. Another theory - from Latin verruca, steep high place, defect in gemstone .

In different contexts, the word baroque could mean “pretentiousness”, “unnaturalness”, “insincerity”, “eliteness”, “deformity”, “exaggerated emotionality”. All these shades of the word baroque in most cases were not perceived as negative.

Finally, another theory suggests that this word in all the languages mentioned is parodic from the point of view of linguistics, and its word formation can be explained by its meaning: unusual, unnatural, ambiguous and deceptive.

The ambiguity of the Baroque style is explained by its origin. According to some researchers, it was borrowed from the architecture of the Seljuk Turks.

Baroque features

Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamic images, affectation, striving for grandeur and pomp, for combining reality and illusion, for the fusion of arts (urban and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres (concerto grosso, sonata, suite in instrumental music).

The ideological foundations of the style were formed as a result of a shock, which the Reformation and the teachings of Copernicus became for the 16th century. The idea of the world as a reasonable and permanent unity, which was established in antiquity, has changed, as well as the Renaissance idea of man as a most rational being. In the words of Pascal, a person began to recognize himself as “something in between everything and nothing”, “one who catches only the appearance of phenomena, but is not able to understand either their beginning or their end.”

Baroque era

The Baroque era gives rise to a huge amount of time for entertainment: instead of pilgrimages - the promenade (walks in the park); instead of jousting tournaments - "carousels" (horse rides) and card games; instead of mysteries, theater and a masquerade ball. You can add the appearance of swings and "fiery fun" (fireworks). In the interiors, portraits and landscapes took the place of icons, and music turned from spiritual into a pleasant play of sound.

The Baroque era rejects tradition and authority as superstition and prejudice. Everything that is "clear and distinct" is thought or has a mathematical expression is true, declares the philosopher Descartes. Therefore, the baroque is still the age of Reason and Enlightenment. It is no coincidence that the word "baroque" is sometimes raised to designate one of the types of inferences in medieval logic - to baroco. The first European park appears in the Palace of Versailles, where the idea of the forest is expressed extremely mathematically: linden alleys and canals seem to be drawn along a ruler, and the trees are trimmed in the manner of stereometric figures. In the armies of the Baroque era, which for the first time received a uniform, much attention is paid to "drill" - the geometric correctness of constructions on the parade ground.

baroque man

Baroque man rejects naturalness, which is identified with savagery, arrogance, tyranny, brutality and ignorance - all that in the era of romanticism will become a virtue. The Baroque woman cherishes the pallor of her skin, she wears an unnatural, frilly hairstyle, a corset and an artificially extended skirt on a whalebone frame. She is in heels.

And the gentleman becomes the ideal of a man in the Baroque era - from the English. gentle: “soft”, “gentle”, “calm”. Initially, he preferred to shave his mustache and beard, wear perfume and wear powdered wigs. Why force, if now they kill by pulling the trigger of a musket. In the Baroque era, naturalness is synonymous with brutality, savagery, vulgarity and extravagance. For the philosopher Hobbes, the state of nature state of nature) is a state characterized by anarchy and war of all against all.

Baroque is characterized by the idea of ennobling nature on the basis of reason. The need is not tolerated, but “it is good to offer in pleasant and courteous words” (An honest mirror of Youth, 1717). According to the philosopher Spinoza, the instincts no longer constitute the content of sin, but "the very essence of man." Therefore, the appetite is formalized in exquisite table etiquette (it was in the Baroque era that forks and napkins appeared); interest in the opposite sex - in a courteous flirtation, quarrels - in a sophisticated duel.

Baroque is characterized by the idea of a sleeping God - deism. God is conceived not as a Savior, but as a Great Architect who created the world just as a watchmaker creates a mechanism. Hence such a characteristic of the Baroque worldview as mechanism. The law of conservation of energy, the absoluteness of space and time are guaranteed by the word of God. However, having created the world, God rested from his labors and does not interfere in the affairs of the Universe in any way. It is useless to pray to such a God - one can only learn from Him. Therefore, the true guardians of the Enlightenment are not prophets and priests, but natural scientists. Isaac Newton discovers the law of universal gravitation and writes the fundamental work “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” (), and Carl Linnaeus systematizes biology “ System of Nature” (). Academies of Sciences and scientific societies are being established everywhere in European capitals.

The diversity of perception raises the level of consciousness - something like the philosopher Leibniz says. Galileo for the first time directs a telescope to the stars and proves the rotation of the Earth around the Sun (), and Leeuwenhoek under a microscope discovers tiny living organisms (). Huge sailboats plow the expanses of the world's oceans, erasing white spots on the geographical maps of the world. Travelers and adventurers become literary symbols of the era: the ship's doctor Gulliver and Baron Munchausen.

Baroque in painting

The Baroque style in painting is characterized by the dynamism of compositions, the “flatness” and pomp of forms, the aristocracy and originality of subjects. The most characteristic features of the Baroque are catchy flamboyance and dynamism; a striking example is the work of Rubens and Caravaggio.

Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), who was nicknamed Caravaggio from his birthplace near Milan, is considered the most significant master among Italian artists who created at the end of the 16th century. new style in painting. His paintings, painted on religious subjects, resemble realistic scenes of the author's contemporary life, creating a contrast between late antiquity and modern times. The heroes are depicted in twilight, from which the rays of light snatch out the expressive gestures of the characters, contrastingly writing out their specificity. The followers and imitators of Caravaggio, who were at first called caravaggists, and the current caravagism itself, such as Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) or Guido Reni (1575-1642), adopted the riot of feelings and the characteristic manner of Caravaggio, as well as his naturalism in depicting people and events.

Baroque in architecture

In Italian architecture, the most prominent representative of the Baroque art was Carlo Maderna (1556-1629), who broke with Mannerism and created his own style. His main creation is the facade of the Roman church of Santa Susanna (g.). The main figure in the development of baroque sculpture was Lorenzo Bernini, whose first masterpieces executed in the new style date back approximately to Mr. Bernini, also an architect. He owns the decoration of the square of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome and the interiors, as well as other buildings. A significant contribution was made by D. Fontana, R. Rainaldi, G. Guarini, B. Longhena, L. Vanvitelli, P. da Cortona. In Sicily, after a major earthquake in 1693, a new style of late baroque appeared - Sicilian baroque.

In Germany, the outstanding baroque monument is the New Palace in Sanssouci (authors - I. G. Bühring, H. L. Manter) and the Summer Palace in the same place (G. W. von Knobelsdorff).

Baroque in sculpture

Trier. Baroque Sphinx at the Elector's Palace

Pope Innocent XII. Cathedral of Saint Peter in Rome

Baroque gnomes in the Hofgarten of Augsburg

Sculpture is an integral part of the Baroque style. The greatest sculptor and recognized architect of the 17th century was the Italian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Among his most famous sculptures are the mythological scenes of the abduction of Proserpina by the god of the underworld Pluto and the miraculous transformation into a tree of the nymph Daphne pursued by the god of light Apollo, as well as the altar group "The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa" in one of the Roman churches. The last of them, with its clouds carved from marble and the clothes of characters fluttering in the wind, with theatrically exaggerated feelings, very accurately expresses the aspirations of the sculptors of this era.

In Spain, in the era of the Baroque style, wooden sculptures prevailed, for greater credibility they were made with glass eyes and even a crystal tear, real clothes were often put on the statue.

Baroque in literature

Writers and poets in the Baroque era perceived the real world as an illusion and a dream. Realistic descriptions were often combined with their allegorical depiction. Symbols, metaphors, theatrical techniques, graphic images (lines of poetry form a picture), saturation with rhetorical figures, antitheses, parallelisms, gradations, oxymorons are widely used. There is a burlesque-satirical attitude to reality. Baroque literature is characterized by the desire for diversity, for the summation of knowledge about the world, inclusiveness, encyclopedism, which sometimes turns into chaos and collecting curiosities, the desire to study being in its contrasts (spirit and flesh, darkness and light, time and eternity). Baroque ethics is marked by a craving for the symbolism of the night, the theme of frailty and impermanence, life-dream (F. de Quevedo, P. Calderon). Calderon's play "Life is a dream" is well-known. Such genres as the gallant-heroic novel (J. de Scuderi, M. de Scuderi), the real-everyday and satirical novel (Furetière, C. Sorel, P. Scarron) are also developing. Within the framework of the Baroque style, its varieties, directions are born: marinism, gongorism (culteranism), conceptism (Italy, Spain), metaphysical school and euphuism (England) (See Precise Literature).

The actions of the novels are often transferred to the fictional world of antiquity, to Greece, court cavaliers and ladies are depicted as shepherdesses and shepherdesses, which is called the pastoral (Honoré d'Urfe, "Astrea"). Poetry flourishes pretentiousness, the use of complex metaphors. Common forms such as sonnet, rondo, concetti (a short poem expressing some witty thought), madrigals.

In the west, in the field of the novel, an outstanding representative is G. Grimmelshausen (the novel "Simplicissimus"), in the field of drama - P. Calderon (Spain). V. Voiture (France), D. Marino (Italy), Don Luis de Gongora y Argote (Spain), D. Donne (England) became famous in poetry. In Russia, Baroque literature includes S. Polotsky and F. Prokopovich. In France, "precious literature" flourished during this period. It was then cultivated mainly in the salon of Madame de Rambouillet, one of the aristocratic salons of Paris, the most fashionable and famous. In Spain, the baroque trend in literature was called " Gongorism"After the name of the most prominent representative (see above).

In Germanic literature, the baroque tradition is still maintained by members of the literary community Blumenorden. They gather in the summer for literary holidays in the Irrhain grove near Nuremberg. The society was organized in the year by the poet Philipp Harsdörfer in order to restore and support the German language, badly damaged during the Thirty Years' War

baroque music

Baroque music appeared at the end of the Renaissance and preceded the music of the Classical era.

baroque fashion

First, when he was still a child (he was crowned at the age of 5), short jackets called bracer, richly decorated with lace . Then trousers came into fashion, regraves, similar to a skirt, wide, also richly decorated with lace, which lasted a long time. Later appeared justocor(from French it can be translated: "exactly in the body"). This is a type of caftan, knee length, in this era it was worn buttoned up, a belt was worn over it. A camisole was worn under the caftan, without sleeves. The caftan and camisole can be compared with the later jacket and waistcoat, which they will become after 200 years. The Justocor collar was first turned-down, with semicircular ends stretched down. It was later replaced by the jabot. In addition to lace, there were many bows on the clothes, on the shoulders, on the sleeves and pants - a whole series of bows. In the previous era, under Louis XIII, boots were popular ( over the knee boots). This is a field type of footwear, they were usually worn by the military class. But at that time there were frequent wars, and boots were worn everywhere, even at balls. They continued to be worn under Louis XIV, but only for their intended purpose - in the field, in military campaigns. In a civilian setting, shoes came to the fore. Until 1670, they were decorated with buckles, then the buckles were replaced by bows. The intricately decorated buckles were called agraph.

Baroque in the interior

The baroque style is characterized by ostentatious luxury, although it retains such an important feature of the classical style as symmetry.

Painting has always been popular, and in the Baroque style it became a must, as interiors required a lot of color and large, richly decorated details. The frescoed ceiling, painted marble walls and gilding were more popular than ever. Contrasting colors were often used in the interior: it was not uncommon to find a marble floor resembling a chessboard. Gold was everywhere, and everything that could be gilded was gilded. Not a single corner of the house was left unattended when decorating.

The furniture was a real piece of art, and seemed to be intended only for decorating the interior. Chairs, sofas and armchairs were upholstered in expensive, richly colored fabric. Huge four-poster beds with flowing bedspreads and giant wardrobes were widespread. Mirrors were decorated with sculptures and stucco with floral patterns. Southern walnut and Ceylon ebony were often used as furniture material.

Baroque style is not suitable for small spaces, because massive furniture and decorations take up a lot of space, and in order for the room not to look like a museum, there should be a lot of free space. But even in a small room, you can recreate the spirit of this style, limiting yourself to stylization, using some baroque details, such as:

figurines and vases with floral ornaments;
tapestries on the walls;
mirror in a gilded frame with stucco;
chairs with carved backs, etc.

It is important that the parts used are combined with each other, otherwise the interior will look clumsy and tasteless.