Western Art Movements I Art Movements    

Lesson 13: Baroque - Bacchus (1595-1597)

by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Directions

Study the artwork for one week.

Over the week:

• Examine the artwork.
• Read the synopsis.
• Study the vocabulary words.
• Recite the artist and artwork names.
• Read about the artwork's movement.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Discuss the review questions.

Synopsis

The next four lessons advance to the Baroque era of the 17th and 18th centuries. Baroque artists and architects overwhelmed the senses with highly detailed and ornate works of grandeur. Baroque painters used warm tones and primary colors to infuse their works with movement, emotion, and vibrancy. In contrast to the balance and symmetry of the Renaissance, Baroque artists used asymmetry to show action. Religious and mythological themes still dominated Baroque artwork. The Baroque period included increasing realism and variations of still life painting such as vanitas (reflecting on mortality and the passage of time). Characteristic techniques included overlapping objects in paintings, illusion, flowing lines, and using light and shade for impact. The first example of Baroque art is Caravaggio's 1595-1597 portrait of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. Crowned by leaves and grapes, a young Bacchus offers a goblet of wine to the viewer and fiddles with his robe tie. A glass carafe of red wine and a bowl of apples, pears, grapes, pomegranates, and other fruit glimmer before him. Intriguingly, this painting hides secrets imperceivable to the human eye. In 2009, infrared technology revealed that Caravaggio painted a tiny image of himself holding a paintbrush and working at an easel on the carafe of wine.

Vocabulary

Baroque: A period in western architecture, art and music from ca. 1600 to ca. 1760 CE, known for its abundance of drama, rich color, and extensive ornamentation.
Asymmetry: Lack of correspondence on either side of a dividing line, plane, center, or axis.
Bacchus: The Greek mythological god of wine and vivid social gatherings.
Carafe: A bottle, usually glass and with a flared lip, used for serving water, wine, or other beverages.
Trompe-l'oeil: A genre of painting that exploits human vision to create the illusion that the subject of the painting is real.
Vanitas: A type of still life painting, symbolic of mortality, characteristic of Dutch painting of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Concepts

Featured Movement:

1. Name - Baroque
2. Timeline - 17th century to the 18th century

Baroque Movement Characteristics:

1. Use of Movement, Emotion, and Vibrancy ('The Fall of Phaeton' by Peter Paul Rubens between 1604-1605)

2. Asymmetry ('The Stolen Kiss' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted in the late Baroque/Rococo in 1786)

3. Overlapping Subjects and Objects ('The Surrender of Breda' by Diego Velázquez between 1634-1635)

Baroque Movement Subjects:

1. Biblical Subjects Still Common ('The Elevation of the Cross' by Peter Paul Rubens between 1610-1611)

2. Mythology Still Prevalent ('Bacchus' by Caravaggio between 1595-1597)

3. Realism ('Ladies in Waiting' by Diego Velázquez in 1656)

Baroque Architecture:

1. Highly detailed and ornate works of grandeur (Melk Abbey in Melk, Austria built between 1702-1736)

2. Illusion (Trompe-l'oeil ceiling in Jesuit Church in Vienna created by Andrea Pozzo in 1703)

3. Flowing Lines (San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, Italy consecrated in 1646)

4. Light and Shade (The Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France built starting in 1682)

Enrichment

Activity 1: Can You Find It?

Find the following in the artwork:

• Bacchus
• Red Wine in a Glass
• Draped Cloth
• Shadow
• Mythological Greek God of Wine and Revelry
• Pomegranate
• Pear
• Bowl
• Shading to Show Muscles
• Shading to Show a Collar Bone
• Carafe
• Place where Caravaggio painted himself

Activity 2: Narrate the Artwork

• After studying the artwork, narrate the scene shown aloud using your own words.

Activity 3: Map the Artist

Zoom in on the map of Italy to find Caravaggio's old haunts - the cities of Rome and Naples and the islands of Malta and Sicily.

Activity 4: Classify the Artwork

• This artwork belongs to the Baroque art movement.
• Find the Baroque art movement on the timeline.
• During which (estimated) years did the Baroque art movement flourish?
• Which art movement preceded the Baroque art movement?
• Which art movement followed the Baroque art movement?

Activity 5: Recreate the Artwork   

• Click the crayon above and complete page 16 of 'Fourth Grade Art History Coloring Book.'

Review

Question 1

Who are the characters in the artwork?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The characters are Bacchus, Greek god of wine and revelry, and Caravaggio himself.

1 / 5

Question 2

What is the setting of the artwork?

2 / 5

Answer 2

The setting is an indoor room with a table.

2 / 5

Question 3

To which western art movement does this painting belong?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This painting belongs to the Baroque art movement.

3 / 5

Question 4

How is this painting reflective of the Baroque art movement?

4 / 5

Answer 4

The Baroque art movement featured vibrance and extravagance using warm tones and primary colors. This painting celebrates the luxuries of rich red wine and a bounty of richly colored ripened fruits. The Baroque period also favored mythological subjects, and this painting portrays the Greek god Bacchus.

4 / 5

Question 5

During which century was this artwork created?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Caravaggio painted this artwork at the very end of the 16th century.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. Who are the characters in the artwork? The characters are Bacchus, Greek god of wine and revelry, and Caravaggio himself.
2. What is the setting of the artwork? The setting is an indoor room with a table.
3. To which western art movement does this painting belong? This painting belongs to the Baroque art movement.
4. How is this painting reflective of the Baroque art movement? The Baroque art movement featured vibrance and extravagance using warm tones and primary colors. This painting celebrates the luxuries of rich red wine and a bounty of richly colored ripened fruits. The Baroque period also favored mythological subjects, and this painting portrays the Greek god Bacchus.
5. During which century was this artwork created? Caravaggio painted this artwork at the very end of the 16th century.

References

'Baroque Art.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Baroque Architecture.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane - Front by Architas (CC BY-SA 4.0).' Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:San_Carlo_alle_Quattro_Fontane_-_Front.jpg. n.p.