Baroque sculpture

Baroque sculpture is the sculpture associated with the Baroque style of the period between the early 17th and mid 18th centuries. In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance, and there was a dynamic movement and energy of human forms—they spiralled around an empty central vortex, or reached outwards into the surrounding space. Baroque sculpture often had multiple ideal viewing angles, and reflected a general continuation of the Renaissance move away from the relief to sculpture created in the round, and designed to be placed in the middle of a large space—elaborate fountains such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini‘s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Rome, 1651), or those in the Gardens of Versailles were a Baroque speciality. The Baroque style was perfectly suited to sculpture, with Bernini the dominating figure of the age in works such as '' The Ecstasy of St Theresa'' (1647–1652). Much Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains, or fused sculpture and architecture to create a transformative experience for the viewer. Artists saw themselves as in the classical tradition, but admired Hellenistic and later Roman sculpture, rather than that of the more "Classical" periods as they are seen today.

Baroque sculpture followed Renaissance and Mannerist sculpture and was succeeded by Rococo and Neoclassical Sculpture. Rome was the earliest centre where the style was formed. The style spread to the rest of Europe, and especially France gave a new direction in the late 17th century. Eventually it spread beyond Europe to the colonial possessions of the European powers, especially in Latin America and the Philippines.

The Protestant Reformation had brought an almost total stop to religious sculpture in much of Northern Europe, and though secular sculpture, especially for portrait busts and tomb monuments, continued, the Dutch Golden Age has no significant sculptural component outside goldsmithing. Partly in direct reaction, sculpture was as prominent in Catholicism as in the late Middle Ages. The Catholic Southern Netherlands saw a flourishing of Baroque sculpture starting from the second half of the 17th century with many local workshops producing a wide range of Baroque sculpture including church furniture, funeral monuments and small-scale sculptures executed in ivory and durable woods such as boxwood. Flemish sculptors would play a prominent role in spreading the Baroque idiom abroad including in the Dutch Republic, Italy, England, Sweden and France.Helena Bussers, ''De baroksculptuur en het barok''
at Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen

In the 18th century much sculpture continued on Baroque lines—the Trevi Fountain was only completed in 1762. The Rococo style was better suited to smaller works.

Origins and Characteristics

The Baroque style emerged from Renaissance sculpture, which, drawing upon classical Greek and Roman sculpture, had idealized the human form. This was modified by Mannerism, when artists strived to give their works a unique and personal style. Mannerism introduced the idea of sculptures featuring strong contrasts; youth and age, beauty and ugliness, men and women. Mannerism also introduced the ''figura serpentina'', which became a major characteristic of Baroque sculpture. This was the arrangement of figures or groups of figures in an ascending spiral, which gave lightness and movement to the work.

Michelangelo had introduced ''figure serpentine'' in ''The Dying Slave'' (1513–1516) and ''Genius Victorious'' (1520–1525), but these works were meant to be seen from a single point of view. In the late 16th century work of the Italian sculptor Giambologna, ''The Rape of the Sabine Women'' (1581–1583). introduced a new element; this work was meant to be seen not from one, but from several points of view, and changed depending upon the viewpoint, This became a very common feature in Baroque sculpture. The work of Giambologna had a strong influence on the masters of the Baroque era, particularly Bernini.

Another important influence leading to the Baroque style was the Catholic Church, which was seeking artistic weapons in the battle against the rise of Protestantism. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) gave the Pope greater powers to guide artistic creation, and expressed a strong disapproval of the doctrines of humanism, which had been central to the arts during the Renaissance. During the pontificate of Paul V (1605–1621) the church began to develop artistic doctrines to counter the Reformation, and commissioned new artists to carry them out.

Bernini and Roman Baroque sculpture

The dominant figure in Baroque sculpture was Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680). He was the son of a Florentine sculptor, Pietro Bernini, who had been called to Rome by Pope Paul V. The young Bernini made his first solo works at the age of fifteen, and in 1618–25 received a major commission for statues for the villa of Cardinal Scipion Borghese. His works, highly dramatic, designed to be seen from multiple ponts of view, and spiraling upwards, had an immense impact on European sculpture. He continued to dominate Italian sculpture through his works on Roman fountains, the Baldequin of St. Peter and the tomb of Pope Alexander VII within St. Peter's Basilica, and his altar ensemble for the Church of Santa-Maria della Vittoria in Rome. He received his final fountain sculpture commission for the Fountain of the Elephant (1665–1667), followed by a series of angels for the Sant Angelo Bridge in Rome (1667–69).

Bernini died in 1680, but his style influenced sculptors across Europe, particularly in France, Bavaria and Austria.

File:Rape of Prosepina September 2015-3a.jpg, ''Rape of Proserpina'' (1621–1622) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Borghese Gallery)
File:Apollo and Daphne (Bernini) (cropped).jpg, '' Apollo and Daphne'' (1622–1625) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Borghese Gallery)
File:Джованни Лоренцо Бернини. Давид. 01.JPG, ''David'' (1623–1624) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Borghese Gallery)
File:Ecstasy of Saint Teresa September 2015-2a.jpg, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-1652), by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Santa Maria Della Victoria, Rome)
File:Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, Piazza Navona 01 - Roma - panoramio.jpg, Fountain of the Four Rivers, Rome (1648-1651)
File:Domenico Guidi-Angel bearing a lance-Ponte Sant Angelo.jpg, Angel with a Lance (1667-1669) Sant Angelo Bridge, Rome

Maderno, Mochi, and the other Italian Baroque sculptors

Generous papal commissions made Rome a magnet for sculptors in Italy and across Europe. They decorated churches, squares, and, a Rome specialty, the popular new fountains created around the city by the Popes. Stefano Maderna (1576–1636), originally from Bissone in Lombardy, preceded the work of Bernini. He began his career making reduced-size copies of classical works in bronze. His major large-scale work was a statue of Saint Cecile (1600, for the Church of Saint Cecilia in the Trastevere in Rome. The saint's body lies stretched out, as if it were in a sarcophagus, evoking a sense of pathos.

Another early important Roman sculptor was Francesco Mochi (1580–1654), born in Montevarchi, near Florence. He made a celebrated bronze equestrian statue of Alexander Farnese for the main square of Piacenza (1620–1625), and a vivid statue of Saint Veronica for Saint Peter's Basilica, so active that she seems to be about to leap from the niche.

Other notable Italian Baroque sculptors included Alessandro Algardi (1598–1654), whose first major commission was the tomb of Pope Leo XI in the Vatican. He was considered a rival of Bernini, though his work was similar in style. His other major works included a large sculpted bas-relief of the legendary meeting between Pope Leo I and Attila the Hun (1646–1653), in which the Pope persuaded Attila not to attack Rome.

The Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy (1597–1643) was another important figure of the Italian Baroque. He was a friend of the painter Poussin, and was especially known for his statue of Saint Susanna at Santa Maria de Loreto in Rome, and his statue of Saint Andrew (1629–1633) at the Vatican. He was named royal sculptor of Louis XIII of France, but died in 1643 during the journey from Rome to Paris.

Major sculptors in the late period included Niccolo Salvi (1697–1751), whose most famous work was the design of the Trevi Fountain (1732–1751). The fountain also contained allegorical works by other prominent Italian Baroque sculptors, including Filippo della Valle Pietro Bracci, and Giovanni Grossi. The fountain, in all its grandeur and exuberance, represented the final act of the Italian Baroque style.

File:St Cecilia's Martyrdom.jpg, ''Saint Cecilia'' (1599) by Stefano Maderno, Santa Cecelia in Travestere
File:F Duquesnoy San Andrés Vaticano.jpg, ''Saint Andrew'' by François Duquesnoy (1629–33), St. Peter's Basilica
File:Francesco Mochi Santa Verónica 1629-32 Vaticano.jpg, ''Saint Veronica'' by Francesco Mochi (1640), the Vatican
File:Expulsão de átila.jpg, ''The meeting of Attila the Hun and Pope Leo I'' by Alessandro Algardi

France

The major part of French Baroque sculpture was intended to glorify not the Church, but the French monarch, Louis XIV of France, and his successor, Louis XV. Much of it was produced by the sculptors of the new Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, founded in 1648 and later closely supervised by Jean-Baptiste Colbert the King's Minister of Finance. French sculptors worked closely together with painters, architects, and landscape designers such as André Le Notre to create the sculptural effects found in the Palace of Versailles and its gardens, the other royal residences, and the statues for new city squares created in Paris and other French cities. Colbert also established the French Academy in Rome so French sculptors and painters could study classical models.

In the early part of the Baroque period, French sculptors were largely influenced by the painters of Flanders and the Netherlands. particularly the Mannerism of Giambologna, rather than sculpture the Italy. These artists included Germain Pilon (1525–1590);, Jean Varin (1604–1672) and Jacques Sarrazin (1592–1660). Bernini himself, at the peak of his fame, came to Paris in 1665 to present his own plan for the Louvre to Louis XIV. The King did not like Bernini or his work, and the plan was rejected, though Bernini produced a fine bust of Louis XIV now on display at the Palace of Versailles.

The best French sculptors were engaged to make statues for the fountains gardens of the Palace of Versailles and other royal residences. These included Pierre Puget, Jacques Sarazin, François Girardon, Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Antoine Coysevox, and Edme Bouchardon. Guillaume Coustou created a particularly fine group of horses for the gardens of the Château de Marly.

In the later years of the Baroque era, Jean Baptiste Lemoyne (1704–1778), Director of the French Academy in Rome, was considered the finest rococo sculptor, though his fame was eclipsed by his pupil, Jean-Antoine Houdon, who led the transition of French sculpture from the Baroque to classicism.

File:Paris - Palais du Louvre - PA00085992 - 45.jpg, Caryatides on the Pavillon de l'Horloge by Jacques Sarazin, Louvre Palace (1639–40)
File:François Girardon, Bassin de Saturne, Musée national des chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles, France (1672–1677) - 01.jpg, Basin of Saturn, François Girardon, Palace of Versailles (1672-1677)
File:Le chateau de versailles le jardin 35.JPG, Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Chariot of Apollo, gardens of the Palace of Versailles (1668–70)
File:Fame riding Pegasus Coysevox Louvre MR1824.jpg, ''Fame Riding Pegasus'' by Antoine Coysevox for Marly, now in Louvre (1701-1702)

The Southern Netherlands

The Southern Netherlands, which remained under Spanish, Roman Catholic rule, played an important role in spreading Baroque sculpture in Northern Europe. The Roman Catholic Contrareformation demanded that artists created paintings and sculptures in church contexts that would speak to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed. The Contrareformation stressed certain points of religious doctrine, as a result of which certain church furniture, such as the confessional gained an increased importance. These developments caused a sharp increase in the demand for religious sculpture in the Southern Netherlands. A pivotal role was played by the Brussels sculptor François Duquesnoy who worked for most of his career in Rome. His more elaborate Baroque style closer to that of the Classicism of Bernini was spread in the Southern Netherlands through his brother Jerôme Duquesnoy (II) and other Flemish artists who studied in his workshop in Rome such as Rombaut Pauwels and possibly Artus Quellinus the Elder.

The most prominent sculptor was Artus Quellinus the Elder, member of a family of famous sculptors and painters, and the cousin and master of another prominent Flemish sculptor, Artus Quellinus the Younger. Born in Antwerp, he had spent time in Rome where he became familiar with local Baroque sculpture and that of his compatriot François Duquesnoy. On his return to Antwerp in 1640, he brought with him a new vision of the role of the sculptor. The sculptor was no longer to be an ornamentalist but a creator of a total artwork in which architectural components were replaced by sculptures. The church furniture became an occasion for the creation of large-scale compositions, incorporated into the church interior. From 1650 onwards, Quellinus worked for 15 years on the new city hall of Amsterdam together with the lead architect Jacob van Campen. Now called the Royal Palace on the Dam, this construction project, and in particular the marble decorations he and his workshop produced, became an example for other buildings in Amsterdam. The team of sculptors that Artus supervised during his work on the Amsterdam city hall included many sculptors, mainly from Flanders, who would become leading sculptors in their own right such as his cousin Artus Quellinus II, Rombout Verhulst, Bartholomeus Eggers