ITALIAN
AND SPAIN,
1600-1700 GARDNER CHAPTER 24-3
PP. 665-670
SPANISH BAROQUE PAINTING
Spain’s failure to capitalize on trading opportunities led to its slow decline beginning in the 17th century
As in Italy, Spanish Baroque artists sought to move viewers and to encourage greater devotion and piety
The greatest Spanish painter of the age was Velazquez. As court painter to Philip IV he painted many portraits, the best of which is Las Meninas. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted. From the first quarter of the 19th century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the Realist painters
JOSE DE RIBERA
JOSÉ DE RIBERA, Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, ca. 1639. Oil on canvas, approx. 7’ 8” x 7’ 8”
Influenced by Caravaggio -> Ribera made naturalism and compelling drama primary ingredients of his paintings
Grim and dark in subject and form -> Saint Philip’s executioners hoisting him into position to die on the cross
Martyrdom scenes were popular in Counter-Reformation Spain
FRANCISCO
DE ZUBARAN
FRANCISCO DE ZURBARÁN, Saint
Serapion, 1628. Oil on canvas, 3’
11 1/2” x 3’ 4 3/4”
Francisco de Zurbarán was also
influenced by Caravaggio's
naturalism and dramatic lighting
effects
His painting of Saint Serapionm
shows the coarse-featured saint
emerging in bright light from a
dark background
DIEGO VELAZQUEZ DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Water Carrier of Seville,
ca. 1619. Oil on canvas, 3’ 5 1/2” x 2’ 7 1/2”
Diego Velazquez -> Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656)
Influence of Caravaggio seen in the dramatic contrast of darks and lights in Diego Velázquez's Water Carrier of Seville ->also includes plebeian figures and finely painted, naturalistic detail
Deceptively simple genre scene -> depicted w/a sacred quality
Rounded qualities of the figures
Water sweetened by a fresh fig placed for flavor
SURRENDER OF BREDA
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Surrender of Breda, 1634–1635. Oil on canvas, 10’ 1” x 12’ 1/2”, Museo del Prado, Madrid
Depicts the 1625 episode in which the Dutch were forced to yield the town of Breda to the Spanish
Stresses the graciousness of the Spanish victors -> organized and well armed on the right
The defeated Dutch on the left appear bedraggled and disorganized
Dutch mayor of Breda hands the keys to the Spanish general who magnanimously stops the mayor from kneeling
No encounter of this kind ever occurred
VELASQUEZ
AND PHILIP IV
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, King Philip IV of
Spain (Fraga Philip), 1644. Oil on
canvas, 4’ 3 1/8” x 3’ 3 1/8”, The
Frick Collection, New York
One of the many portraits of Philip
IV -> this one called the Fraga
Philip -> painted while he was on
military campaign in the town of
Fraga
Depicted as a military leader ->
wearing exquisite attire w/baton
and sword
Note the large Habsburg jaw
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Philip IV in
Brown and Silver (1631)
This was definitely the first portrait
the artist produced after his first
trip to Italy, in that it adopts the
softer and more colorful palette of
the Venetian school. Life size, it is
unlike most portraits of Philip IV, in
that it does not show him in his
usual wholly black costume.
Instead it shows him in a brown
and silver embroidered costume
DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ , Old Woman Frying Eggs, (1618)
Diego Velazquez, The Triumph of Bacchus or Los Borrachos - circa 1629
In the work, the god is represented as a person within the small celebration, but his skin is clearer than the other ones, to be recognized more easily.
The scene can be divided in two halves. In the left, there is the very illuminated Bacchus figure, closer to the Italian style inspired by Caravaggio. Bacchus and the character left behind him refer to the classical myth and are represented by the traditional way. It can be highlighted the idealization of the god face, the clear light which illuminate him and a more classicist style. The right side, however, presents some drunkards, men of streets that invite us to join their party, with a very Spanish atmosphere, similar to Jose de Ribera’s style. There is no idealization in them, who present large and worn out faces. Neither the clear light which illuminates Bacchus is present in this side, and the figures are immersed in an evident chiaroscuro.
In this work, Velázquez introduce a profane aspect on a mythological subject, a tendency he would cultivate more during the following years
LAS MENINAS DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ, Las Meninas (The
Maids of Honor), 1656. Oil on canvas, approx. 10’ 5” x 9’. Museo del Prado, Madrid
Group portrait of the artist in his studio at work -> he steps back from the canvas and looks at the viewer
Central is the Infanta Margharita of Spain with meninas (attendants), a dog, a dwarf, servants
King and queen appear in a mirror
Alternating darks and lights draw us deeper into the canvas; the mirror simultaneously reflects out into our space
Dappled effect of light on shimmering surfaces
Painting originally hung in Philip IV’s study
LAS
MENINAS
Velázquez's great masterpiece Las
Meninas shows the painter at work
on a portrait with the King and
Queen and members of the royal
court present. His style is now more
"painterly" and is concerned with
producing more purely optical
sensations through the
manipulation of light and color
tones