1 00:00:00,690 --> 00:00:04,169 Arturo Pertore here, but you can call me Art. 2 00:00:04,710 --> 00:00:12,980 This is Explorations in Art History, starring me and this hand. 3 00:00:14,740 --> 00:00:17,079 Well, what about the rest of me? 4 00:00:18,420 --> 00:00:24,019 Um, this isn't right. I'm feeling kind of cold and a little bit clammy. 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,059 Wait, are they operating on me? 6 00:00:27,399 --> 00:00:31,660 Hey, you can't operate with a hat on and that book. 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,759 Don't tell me you have to read a book to operate. 8 00:00:34,179 --> 00:00:35,460 This is too much. 9 00:00:36,060 --> 00:00:38,560 Oh, you know what's better than anesthesia? 10 00:00:39,140 --> 00:00:40,640 Just passing out. 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,240 Okay, I'm calm. I'm fine. 12 00:00:44,780 --> 00:00:49,579 Looks like we'll be talking about the Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical periods. 13 00:00:52,039 --> 00:00:55,979 Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation had really stirred the religious pot. 14 00:00:55,979 --> 00:01:00,600 In the early 1600s, the Catholic Church responded with a counter-reformation, 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:06,359 which propelled the Baroque movement and its artistic aims of making Catholic theology appeal to the masses. 16 00:01:07,079 --> 00:01:11,379 Drama and movement were some of the ways Baroque artists sought to engage the viewer. 17 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,599 For example, in contrast to Michelangelo's David, 18 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:20,400 sculptor Giovanni Bernini captures the moment of action as David rears back to fling his stone. 19 00:01:21,060 --> 00:01:24,079 I say, after seeing all the David statues, one really wonders, 20 00:01:24,519 --> 00:01:27,340 didn't his mother ever teach him to, I don't know, wear clothes? 21 00:01:27,939 --> 00:01:30,760 Baroque architecture also employed theatrical effects, 22 00:01:31,079 --> 00:01:34,400 replacing the straight lines of the Renaissance with flowing curves, 23 00:01:34,799 --> 00:01:36,819 elaborate domes, and ornamentation, 24 00:01:37,219 --> 00:01:41,159 like the Chapel of San Carlino, whose walls were designed to weave in and out 25 00:01:41,159 --> 00:01:45,159 as if they were formed of some flexible material instead of rigid stone. 26 00:01:47,769 --> 00:01:52,290 Now we come to Caravaggio and, ooh, Chiaroscuro, 27 00:01:52,290 --> 00:01:55,290 the technique of painting dark, dark shadows and... 28 00:01:55,290 --> 00:02:00,090 Okay, it's not dark, dark shadows if it's complete pitch darkness. 29 00:02:00,989 --> 00:02:03,629 I'm not afraid of the dark, but we really should turn on some lights quickly. 30 00:02:04,069 --> 00:02:04,430 Soon. 31 00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:06,230 Oh, there we go. 32 00:02:06,650 --> 00:02:12,969 As I was saying, Kiar's guru used dark shadows and lighted areas of interest to create drama. 33 00:02:13,789 --> 00:02:15,750 Although he didn't invent Kiar's guru, 34 00:02:16,129 --> 00:02:20,069 Caravaggio added a new level of realism that the church mostly appreciated. 35 00:02:20,789 --> 00:02:24,750 Except when he portrayed saints as commoners with bare feet and dirty fingernails. 36 00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:28,990 Caravaggio was a prickly character whose temper often got him into brawls. 37 00:02:29,289 --> 00:02:30,949 What are you saying? I have temper? 38 00:02:31,189 --> 00:02:33,750 I don't have got s*** talking about. This is a b****. 39 00:02:33,750 --> 00:02:37,430 His turbulent lifestyle landed him in an early grave at 37, 40 00:02:37,750 --> 00:02:40,270 but his style influenced artists across Europe. 41 00:02:41,229 --> 00:02:44,870 37? I don't f***ing can't even understand this s*** I'm talking about. 42 00:02:45,030 --> 00:02:48,990 The Baroque era marked the beginning of the landscape as an acceptable subject. 43 00:02:49,530 --> 00:02:50,810 Once considered too secular, 44 00:02:51,229 --> 00:02:55,530 painters like Claude Lorrain made landscape painting popular and lucrative. 45 00:02:56,050 --> 00:02:59,909 A Frenchman who immigrated to Rome, Lorrain was a meticulous draftsman. 46 00:03:00,370 --> 00:03:03,270 His paintings were based on numerous drawings made on location, 47 00:03:03,270 --> 00:03:08,870 but he never shows the harsh realities, creating instead an idealized image of nature. 48 00:03:09,389 --> 00:03:13,490 Though Lorrain often included figures in his paintings, they were always secondary. 49 00:03:14,270 --> 00:03:16,370 He is reported to say on the sale of a painting, 50 00:03:17,090 --> 00:03:20,250 The money is for the landscape, the figures you can have for free. 51 00:03:22,699 --> 00:03:26,139 Peter Paul Rubens was the rock star of the Baroque period. 52 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,400 A man of boundless energy, he spoke six languages 53 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,599 and visited the courts of Italy, Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands 54 00:03:33,599 --> 00:03:36,960 on diplomatic missions, often bringing art as gifts. 55 00:03:37,580 --> 00:03:39,620 Well, hey, turn that down! 56 00:03:40,319 --> 00:03:43,259 No, he did not play an electronic lute. 57 00:03:44,759 --> 00:03:47,139 Rubens lived big and painted bigger. 58 00:03:47,860 --> 00:03:51,120 Raised as a Catholic, he jumped headfirst into the Counter-Reformation. 59 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,080 His men were muscular and women robust. 60 00:03:56,020 --> 00:04:00,960 As we see in this painting, even a subject as touching as the Queen Mother, Marie de' Medici, 61 00:04:01,379 --> 00:04:06,759 seeking reconciliation with her young son, the King of France, becomes an energetic exercise. 62 00:04:07,060 --> 00:04:09,060 Like performing one of the labors of Hercules. 63 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,599 Get me out of here! 64 00:04:14,939 --> 00:04:17,060 Okay, who hasn't heard of Rembrandt? 65 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,560 I don't believe it. Go to your corner. 66 00:04:23,579 --> 00:04:25,199 I'm sorry. Come back. 67 00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:29,980 Today, one of the most famous painters in the world, 68 00:04:30,420 --> 00:04:33,100 Rembrandt gained international renown during his lifetime, 69 00:04:33,399 --> 00:04:35,759 not for his paintings, but for his etchings. 70 00:04:36,199 --> 00:04:37,939 For Europeans of Rembrandt's day, 71 00:04:38,259 --> 00:04:41,160 printmaking gave them a way to see pictures of distant places, 72 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:43,879 interesting people, and artistic scenes. 73 00:04:44,319 --> 00:04:46,000 It was their mass communication 74 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,360 and was as revolutionary for their time 75 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:50,620 as the creation of the Internet in ours. 76 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:53,000 And for recreation, Rembrandt would... 77 00:04:53,579 --> 00:04:54,279 Wait for it. 78 00:04:55,019 --> 00:04:55,399 Sketch. 79 00:04:55,959 --> 00:04:56,420 That's right. 80 00:04:56,740 --> 00:04:59,040 About 1,400 Rembrandt sketches survive. 81 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,500 He would sketch on whatever was at hand. 82 00:05:01,699 --> 00:05:05,740 The backs of bills, printed pages, and even funeral announcements. 83 00:05:06,500 --> 00:05:07,819 Must have been a boring eulogy. 84 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,040 His paintings were in demand as well, 85 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,680 but perhaps most unique is the number of self-portraits Rembrandt painted. 86 00:05:14,139 --> 00:05:16,079 Between 40 and 50 oil paintings, 87 00:05:16,439 --> 00:05:18,019 depending on which expert you talk to, 88 00:05:18,319 --> 00:05:20,560 32 etchings, and 7 drawings. 89 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:25,819 As he aged, his paintings became less theatrical and more introspective. 90 00:05:26,439 --> 00:05:28,220 Rembrandt had one fatal flaw. 91 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,660 He couldn't control his spending any better than a Washington politician. 92 00:05:32,399 --> 00:05:35,839 Eventually, his debts became so great, he had to declare bankruptcy. 93 00:05:36,639 --> 00:05:38,920 I guess that's why he was Baroque. 94 00:05:43,199 --> 00:05:46,180 It's Baroque, but he's broke. 95 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,220 Hey! That outfit cost me a lot of money. 96 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:56,420 Begun in the 1700s, the Rococo era was art of the aristocracy for the aristocracy. 97 00:05:56,819 --> 00:06:00,560 It was the Baroque era ending not with a bang, but with a party. 98 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,180 Technically flashy, but without deep thought or emotional drama, 99 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,779 the Rococo celebrated the leisure activities of the upper class. 100 00:06:08,379 --> 00:06:13,560 In Fragonard's The Swing, as one man labors at pulling the rope swinging the object of his attention, 101 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:18,199 the young woman flirts and flounces her skirts for her secret lover hiding in the bushes. 102 00:06:18,939 --> 00:06:20,720 Hardly the stuff of philosophers. 103 00:06:21,579 --> 00:06:27,120 Rococo style signaled a shift from Rome to Paris as the new capital of culture and fashion in Europe. 104 00:06:27,500 --> 00:06:32,480 But the excesses of the aristocracy in the Rococo period would soon lead to the French Revolution, 105 00:06:33,019 --> 00:06:35,879 an artistic revolt called neoclassicism. 106 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,259 There couldn't have been two movements more at odds. 107 00:06:39,879 --> 00:06:42,819 Down, boy, down. Stop it with you. 108 00:06:43,100 --> 00:06:44,500 Always fighting. 109 00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:50,779 Neoclassical artists looked backward to the classical era for their inspiration. 110 00:06:51,399 --> 00:06:56,060 Born in the age of enlightenment, a philosophy which prized reason and scientific knowledge, 111 00:06:56,540 --> 00:06:59,220 it was a serious time for serious artists. 112 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:02,540 In The Oath of Horatii by Jacques-Louis David, 113 00:07:03,019 --> 00:07:08,279 the three brothers put public duty above private desires as they vowed to fight for Rome. 114 00:07:08,660 --> 00:07:12,199 For neoclassical artists, there were no messy brushstrokes allowed. 115 00:07:12,199 --> 00:07:14,560 A finished painting should be perfectly smooth. 116 00:07:15,100 --> 00:07:17,800 Hmm? Listening? Hand? Paying attention? 117 00:07:19,620 --> 00:07:24,720 Clear drawing and modeling was paramount, and if you could put someone in a toga, all the better. 118 00:07:27,459 --> 00:07:33,899 The Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical periods included important developments leading to our modern-day art world. 119 00:07:34,579 --> 00:07:36,800 The first licensed art dealers appeared. 120 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:43,759 The market for art widened to include wealthy merchants and government officials, and mass-produced art through printmaking. 121 00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:47,680 The Royal Academy in London and the Salon in Paris were formed. 122 00:07:48,199 --> 00:07:53,459 These organizations held regular exhibitions that became the most prestigious art shows in Europe. 123 00:07:54,339 --> 00:07:59,879 Neoclassical architecture gave us the Pantheon of Paris, the Arc de Triomphe, Buckingham Palace, 124 00:08:00,220 --> 00:08:05,560 and, over in the New Republic of America, the Capitol Building and the Jefferson Memorial, to name a few. 125 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:09,060 The world of Western art was expanding.