Two Ways Rococo Painting Differs from Baroque - Research Paper Example

Two Ways Rococo Painting Differs from Baroque Renaissance is considered as one of the most important periods forflourishing of arts. Late Renaissance specifically is commonly regarded with attention to the two artistic movements of that time, Baroque in seventeenth and Rococo in eighteenth centuries. These movements are often considered together as they both were aimed at representing a changing perception of the world and they both complete the Renaissance era. Yet, despite the multiple similar elements these movements share including realism, heavy ornamentation and attention to details, there are still a lot of elements that differ Baroque and Rococo. In this paper, the attention will be brought to the two ways that Baroque and Rococo paintings differ, the stylistics and themes of these movements that will be demonstrated on the examples of the paintings of The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio and Cupid a Captive by Boucher respectively. The comparison of Baroque and Rococo artistic movements necessitates to understand their origins uppermost. Baroque developed in early seventeenth century, born in Rome, and thus experienced a significant impact of Catholic Church (Spagnolo, p. 124). Art at that time was seen as one of the means of persuasion and propaganda of faith, and thus the stylistic design and principles of art were dependent on the necessity of persuading the viewer. Rococo, on the other hand, is an artistic style of late Baroque period that was considered a ‘degeneration of Baroque’ (Spagnolo, p. 128). Its development was during the eighteenth century, after the death of French monarch Louis XIV, and thus the birthplace of this movement was France. At that time, both political and ideological situation has changed in Europe, which allowed the development of artistic movement that was much less dependent on Catholic motives and relied on satisfying the secular tastes of the viewers. As such, obviously the first way that the two movements of Baroque and Rococo were different about was the choice of themes for the paintings that came as a result of major influences on the art during the different historical periods. The themes that Baroque artists used were often of religious, Catholic content or reflected some kind of dramatic events. For example, it is obvious when analyzing the painting The Entombment of Christ, where one of the most significant events in the life of God’s son is being depicted. Caravaggio, the author of the painting, is among the most famous artists who painted using the stylistics and themes of Baroque. This particular painting demonstrates the most conventional of the plots used for Baroque paintings (Neuman, pp. 60-61). Rococo, as an art movement that initially originated in architecture and interior design, as well as variety of ‘minor arts’, and only later translated into paintings, is generally flirtatious, playful and delicate in comparison to Baroque painting. This was in part due to the choice of themes of a less grave or significant nature, which in terms of comparison of it with Baroque indicated departure from serious themes and almost altogether abandoning religious plots. Moreover, erotic motives also become important in this artistic movement, as can be seen on Boucher’s painting Cupid a Captive (Feldman, p. 192). This painting in additional indicates the development of theme of nudity that was seen with more orientation on pleasure and entertainment than nudity as depicted by Baroque painters. Another important way that should be considered when comparing Baroque and Rococo is the stylistics and design that was greatly different for them. In part, this was the result of different topics, where more serious, dramatic events of Baroque paintings necessitated grimmer compositions, darker tones and bolder forms with clear balance of the parts of a painting. Subsequently, lighter themes of secular nature that were used for Rococo paintings translated into more delicate colors, as well as the techniques became freed from the heavy and exaggeratedly pronounced lines. The elements and principles of design also differ for the two artistic styles, with Baroque concentrating on more rigid lines, with a well-pronounced propensity to symmetry and balance. Rococo, on the other hand, is based on asymmetry of nature, with a lot of such elements as clouds, flowers, light fluttering fabric, etc. This can be observed via the differences of The Entombment of Christ and Cupid a Captive. Caravaggio used darker colors, specifically to lighten the figures at the front of the painting. Realism is used in the painting to emphasize the weight of Christ’s body and emotions of the characters. Boucher’s painting is light overall, with specific attention given to translating the delicacy of the colors. His painting is sweet and sensual, and erotic motive is regarded as an entertainment with no relation to guilt or sin whatsoever (Feldman, p. 193). Naturally, this difference between the paintings also translated into their overall tone, where Caravaggio is darker and more severe while Boucher is much lighter, pastoral and romantic. The utilization of elements and principles of design ensures these impressions. Caravaggio’s lines and forms are more symmetrical, with balance obvious to his work while Boucher uses more asymmetry in his painting to outline the naturalistic objects common for Rococo painting. To conclude, both Baroque and Rococo were the artistic movements of the late Renaissance that both had their own interpretation of Classicism. Their similar features included attention toward details, heavy ornamentation and overall propensity to realism. However, the different epochs impacted the development of these styles through introducing varying ideologies and resulting in different thematic of the paintings and stylistic design quite different from each other. Baroque relied heavily on religious motives and overall told the more serious events, which resulted in darker tones, more expressive forms and dramatic accents. This can be explicitly seen in Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ, a dark and highly symbolic painting. Rococo, on the other hand, presented secular, often playful themes through flirtatious and delicate style, more freedom of brushwork and less obvious balance. Cupid a Captive by Boucher demonstrates a vivid example of these differences, with romantic tone that serves to expresses entertainment found in both nature and love. Works cited Feldman, Edmund Burke. “The Rococo”. In: Thinking about Art, 1985: pp. 190-195. Print. Neuman, Paul. “The Birth of Baroque Painting in Italy”. In: Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture. Pearson, 2012: pp. 31-63. Print. Spagnolo, Maddalena. “Baroque and Rococo”. In: Encyclopedia of Sculpture, Boström, Antonia (ed.), Routledge, 2003: pp. 124-129. Print. Read More