Stories of art Module 3: Baroque and the Dutch golden age 1600-1700

The first session of this six week course at the National Gallery focusing on the art of the 17th century.

This week looked at Caravaggio, the Counter-reformation and the Baroque and was led by the course tutor Lucrezia Walker. The first half discussed what the Baroque was by taking two artists Bernini and Caravaggio as examples. I am not sure I’d ever considered Caravaggio to be Baroque mainly because I like him and don’t like Baroque which I think of as more about fussy visuals and flying babies! It was interesting to consider the changed from the rather cooler High Renaissance to the flamboyant Baroque.

The second half looked in more detail at the religious pictures of Caravaggio. I had never thought before about the fact that all his pictures are set in interiors even if they are an obvious exterior subject such as the road to Damascus.

I would have liked to hear a bit more about the Counter –reformation and the Council of Trent but we have got five more weeks to fill in the detail!

 

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