Baroque - Episode 2

Good morning, we are continuing our exploration into Baroque art with Waldemar Januszczak.  The run time for this episode is 59:02.  This time Waldemar Januszczak finds himself in Spain, following the pilgrim’s trail.  We start at Santiago de Compostela.  Waldemar Januszczak explores the adaptability of Baroque art.  The art form could make itself at home wherever it went to.  Why was Baroque art so adaptable?  What made it such an international movement?

The Spanish had a flair for the dramatic.  The Spanish were enthusiastic Catholic and Baroque style would pour the proverbial gas onto the fire.  Baroque was hardcore in Spain.  Baroque was an art war and its target is the heart of the viewer.  Waldemar Januszczak goes on the pilgrim’s trail.  Januszczak stops in Seville to explore the impact of Baroque art.  He starts at the tobacco factory and talks about opera.  Opera was a Baroque invention, fusing art and music was very Baroque.

Velasquez was Spain’s greatest artist.  He would pass his background as aristocratic.  However, it was discovered that he was of Jewish origin and was from a family of converso origin.  The first important paintings he produced were of humble and ordinary life.  Art was supposed to change the hearts and minds of people, so the artists were encouraged to speak to ordinary people.  Velasquez worked to pull you into the art in order to discover the real meaning.

Soon Velasquez was summoned by the King to paint his portrait.  He never really returned to Seville.  Januszczak then explores the relationships between the Hapsburgs and how Velasquez would have struggled to keep the Spanish Hapsburgs straight.  Januszczak examines the portraits of the Hapsburg ladies who were painted by Velasquez.  He comments that “you have to have a degree in forensics to tell them apart.”  This quote made me laugh and will surely make you quietly laugh.  The Hapsburgs were famous for their lip and their pushed-in face.

King Philip IV loved the arts and would have appreciated Velasquez’s work.  In fact, Velasquez’s work would have brought ordinary people close to the thing.  Velasquez worked on an ambitious protract of the Spanish royal court and people pronounce it the greatest Baroque painting of them all.  Januszczak explores the painting Las Ninas carefully.

Januszczak continues on his way along the pilgrim’s trail.  Baroque artists in Spain either worked for the Royal family or worked for the monks.  The monks held real power in Spain.  Januszczak says that in order to understand Baroque paintings, you need to understand each and every religious order in Spain.  If you do not understand each religious order, then you can be confused.  Then he goes through each religious order in Spain.  There were different religious orders the Franciscans, Dominicans, and the Benedictines.  He points out the differences in each order’s clothing.  After this discussion, he talks about Spain’s spookiest Baroque artist: Francisco Zurbaran.  He was not as well known as Velasquez and Januszczak sums him up as “under-explored and undervalued.”  Zurbaran’s paintings were often unsettling to the people.  Zurbaran grew up the son of a wealthy cloth merchant and it was said that Zurbaran used his father’s textiles to advertise his father’s business in his paintings.  The Spanish religious orders were Zurbaran’s main patrons.  Monks were his specialty.  He could show the monks full of thought and full of worship.

Januszczak continues his way down the pilgrim’s trail.  Along the trail, a pilgrim would have encountered Baroque art.  The Baroque Period would shape Santiago de Compostela.  The cathedral was shaped by Baroque architecture.  Why is Baroque considered a truly international art movement?  What else does Januszczak learn about the Baroque period?  Where else did Baroque shape art?  Where does Waldemar Januszczak go to learn more about Baroque art?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

Januszczak’s exploration of Zurbaran was interesting, I had never heard of him before and I do not recall him being mentioned in my humanities two class back in college.  The fact that Januszczak “walked” the pilgrimage road and pointed out the Baroque art along the way was fascinating – like I said in the previous blog: move over Rick Steves!  Again, this would be a good series to show to an art class.