This seminar investigates innovations in artistic media, primarily painting, sculpture, and architecture, that can be described as Baroque in diverse locales, including its origins in Italy to its diffusion in the present day.
How do we characterize the strange and fertile period of art production associated with the Baroque? What happened to art production following the High Renaissance? In the latter half of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth century, there was an explosion of new approaches to art making in diverse geographies. This time coincides with cultural upheavals and religious wars in Europe, with scientific discovery and new geopolitical landscapes. The period known as the Baroque is a historical style characterization rife with misunderstandings. The name itself derives from a term used by Portuguese jewelers for deformed pearls (barrueco). How can we best understand this time of remarkable artistic production, its early and late critics, and how does understanding art help us make sense of the rapidly changing, expanding world of the Early Modern period? Register today!
