Rise of the Baroque
An Age of Turbulence
- Political
- Shift of focus from Mediterranean south to Atlantic north
- Competition for overseas
colonies and clash of new empires in the New World
- Economic (Bourgeois vs Aristocracy)
- Emerging Bourgeois class not within traditional feudal
constructs
- New capitalism clashes with old feudalism
- New economic capitalism clashes with feudal landed
aristocracy
- Protestant work ethic
- Amsterdam
commodities/stock market
- Religious
- Reformation(s) and the formation of Protestantism
- Clash of Protestant and Catholic world views
- Thirty Year War - Protestants & Catholics go
to war
An Age of Absolutism
- Absolute Monarch and the consolidation
of political power
- Academy of Painting and Sculpture
- State organization to train and direct art
- Tendencies: Classical themes, conservative/restraint style,
glorification of the state
- Grandiose
- Baroque - Overdone ornamentation and asymmetrical
- A style of extremes
An Age of Strict Manners, and Loose Morals
- A dichotomy of public vs. private life
- Manners as a public act
- Morals as a private act
- Bourgeois rejection
- Salons - A coed gathering of aristocrats for intellectual/artistic
discourse
- The court
- Three passions of the nobility: Eating, Sex, and Invitation
to Versailles by the king
- A day in the life of the king at Versailles
- Decorous adultery, extravagance, gambling, and intrigue
for position
- Emphasis on protocol and formality conceals a baser
culture
An Age of Reason
- Mathematical and scientific thinkers begin to dominate
the age
- Descartes - French mathematician turned philosopher
- Newton - English physicist, mathematician, and astronomer
- Clockwork mechanism
- A paradigm for understanding
- Movement envies the age
- A clockwork universe and a clockwork God
Humanities
Resource of Mark Hunter