Contexto histórico del arte barroco — Transcript

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1. 0:21When contemplating the most
2. 0:23characteristic images of Baroque art in
3. 0:26Europe, across its geography, schools,
4. 0:28and styles, one rarely links them to an
5. 0:31era of intense political, economic, and
6. 0:33religious tensions that led to long,
7. 0:36bitter wars, civil strife, and
8. 0:38revolutions, coinciding with widespread
9. 0:40poverty, fearsome famines, and deadly
10. 0:43epidemics. That is to say, a period of
11. 0:49generalized crisis that was countered
12. 0:52by the great scientific revolution, an
13. 0:54extraordinary moment for literature,
14. 0:56and the thrilling world of art in step
15. 0:58with the music of Monteverdi, Handel,
16. 1:01or Scarlatti. In the religious sphere,
17. 1:22which permeated everything, Europe
18. 1:24experienced the consequences of the
19. 1:26Protestant Reformation and the Catholic
20. 1:29Counter-Reformation, resulting in an
21. 1:31extremely complex political-religious
22. 1:34map of Baroque Europe, with Catholicism
23. 1:36dominating in Spain, France, Austria,
24. 1:39Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, southern
25. 1:41Germany, and Ireland. Lutherans spread
26. 1:47throughout the Nordic lands, while
27. 1:49French-Genevan Calvinism found its
28. 1:51greatest echo in Holland, parts of
29. 1:53England and Scotland, and small
30. 1:55enclaves in France, not to mention the
31. 1:57importance of Anglicanism in the
32. 1:59British Isles. Europe also witnessed a
33. 2:12series of radical changes in the
34. 2:14international landscape and wars of a
35. 2:16scale previously unknown. This is the
36. 2:21case of the so-called Thirty Years 'War
37. 2:23, which affected so many countries that
38. 2:26this conflict is often referred to as
39. 2:28the First World War of the Modern Age.
40. 2:33It marked the end of Spain’s hegemony
41. 2:35in Europe and the disintegration of the
42. 2:37Holy Roman Empire to the benefit of
43. 2:39France and Sweden. The Peace of
44. 2:45Westphalia subsequently established a
45. 2:47new international order in which the
46. 2:49roles of the Pope and the Emperor as
47. 2:51supranational arbiters disappeared,
48. 2:53seeking a balance of power among all
49. 2:55states in international relations.
50. 2:59While France effectively acted as the
51. 3:01leading power, directing the
52. 3:03continent's politics, after the War of
53. 3:16the Spanish Succession, the Peace of
54. 3:18Utrecht, signed in 1713 between France,
55. 3:21England, Holland, Savoy, and Prussia,
56. 3:23and the series of treaties that
57. 3:25followed, sought to reinforce the idea
58. 3:28of an international balance, this time
59. 3:30without any hegemony; although the
60. 3:32growing power of England was already
61. 3:35emerging, at least in its mastery of
62. 3:37the seas. Baroque Europe was also the
63. 3:47Europe of great capitals which, in
64. 3:49addition to housing the court and
65. 3:51undertaking monumental works, possessed
66. 3:54a strong army and a complex
67. 3:55administration. These were the two
68. 4:00firmest pillars of absolute monarchies,
69. 4:03among which France stood out above all
70. 4:05under Louis XIV, who paradoxically
71. 4:07abandoned Paris for Versailles, where
72. 4:09he turned absolutism into a work of art
73. 4:12. The redefinition of Europe's
74. 4:21political map made the stylistic
75. 4:22differences between its various
76. 4:24artistic centers more evident and
77. 4:26profound. Where, in addition to the
78. 4:31role played by Italy—from Naples to
79. 4:33Venice, and through Rome—other
80. 4:35regions like the Low Countries, from
81. 4:37which the United Provinces of the
82. 4:40Netherlands gained independence in 1648
83. 4:42, boasted important artistic workshops
84. 4:44in cities such as Antwerp, Haarlem,
85. 4:47Delft, or Amsterdam. Amsterdam, where
86. 5:07Rembrandt resided, was one of the most
87. 5:09important financial centers in Europe
88. 5:12and, as Rusiñol noted in 1665, is
89. 5:17today the most commercial city, the
90. 5:19most frequented by merchants from the
91. 5:21rest of the world. It is today the shop
92. 5:25of Europe, or I would almost say of the
93. 5:27universe, to which all kinds of nations
94. 5:29go to conduct business. This prosperity
95. 5:34largely stemmed from its overseas trade
96. 5:37with the East Indies, providing
97. 5:38excellent profits and fostering a
98. 5:40bourgeois tradition of collecting,
99. 5:42which is captured with exquisite taste
100. 5:44in Vermeer's paintings. The Spanish
101. 6:05landscape was quite different, with
102. 6:07excellent masters in the old workshops
103. 6:09of Seville and Valencia, to which
104. 6:11Madrid was added in the 17th century,
105. 6:13nurtured by masters who arrived from
106. 6:16Seville, such as Velázquez, Zurbarán,
107. 6:18or Alonso Cano. Only Velázquez
108. 6:34remained at court, where he left an
109. 6:36exceptional body of work in the service
110. 6:38of Philip IV, for whom he painted,
111. 6:40among many other canvases, The
112. 6:42Surrender of Breda, better known as The
113. 6:45Lances, destined for the Hall of Realms
114. 6:47in the Buen Retiro Palace. Where, along
115. 6:51with other masters, the Europe at war
116. 6:53mentioned earlier was partly
117. 6:55illustrated. The artistic work and the
118. 7:15lives of its creators are often viewed
119. 7:17as a history with a life of its own,
120. 7:19removed from everything happening
121. 7:21around them. However, it is deeply
122. 7:25embodied in the society in which they
123. 7:27lived, making it very illustrative to
124. 7:29review who some of the Baroque masters
125. 7:31were contemporaries with. Yes, Huygens
126. 7:36was a contemporary of Kepler, Rubens of
127. 7:38Tirso de Molina, Bernini of Velázquez,
128. 7:41Fragonard, and that extraordinary
129. 7:43generation of the last decade of the
130. 7:4617th century. All of it in an endless,
131. 7:50yet passionate randomness that makes
132. 7:52this era a fascinating world. If, on
133. 8:01the other hand, one makes a
134. 8:03cross-reading of contemporary events,
135. 8:05it turns out, for example, that Pietro
136. 8:08da Cortona, born the same year as
137. 8:10Descartes, was painting the ceiling of
138. 8:12the Barberini Palace when the
139. 8:14condemnation of Galileo took place in
140. 8:171633, who, in turn, was strictly a
141. 8:19contemporary of Gentileschi, Lope de
142. 8:21Vega, and Monteverdi. When Milton
143. 8:29published*Paradise Lost*in 1671,
144. 8:33Murillo was painting at the Hospital de
145. 8:35la Caridad in Seville; and in the year
146. 8:421682, when Newton, a member of the
147. 8:45Royal Society, edited his*Philosophiæ
148. 8:47Naturalis Principia Mathematica*, the
149. 8:49president of that London scientific
150. 8:51institution was none other than
151. 8:53Christopher Wren, the architect of St.
152. 8:55Paul's Cathedral. It was the same year
153. 9:03that Claude Lorrain died, whose
154. 9:04twilight lights illuminate the
155. 9:06fascination of Baroque art.