BAROQUE ARTIST

Caravaggio
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi or Amerighi) was born in Milan,
where his father, Fermo (Fermo Merixio), was a household
administrator and architect-decorator to the Marchese
of Caravaggio, a town not far from the city of Bergamo.[6] His
mother, Lucia Aratori (Lutia de Oratoribus), came from a
propertied family of the same district.[7] In 1576 the family moved
to Caravaggio (Caravaggius) to escape a plague that ravaged
Milan, and Caravaggio's father and grandfather both died there
on the same day in 1577.[8][9] It is assumed that the artist grew up
in Caravaggio, but his family kept up connections with
the Sforzas and with the powerful Colonna family, who were
allied by marriage with the Sforzas and destined to play a major
role later in Caravaggio's life.

Judith Beheading Holofernes 1599–1602, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

 BAROQUE ARTIST
Peter Paul Rubens
Rubens was born in the city of Siegen to Jan
Rubens and Maria Pypelincks. He was named in honour
of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, because he was born on their
solemnity.[3] His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp
for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and
persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Habsburg
Netherlands by the Duke of Alba.
Jan Rubens became the legal adviser (and lover) of Anna of
Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange, and settled
at her court in Siegen in 1570, fathering her daughter
Christine who was born in 1571.[4]
Following Jan Rubens' imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul
Rubens was born in 1577. The family returned to Cologne the
next year. In 1589, two years after his father's death, Rubens
moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, where
he was raised as a Catholic.
Religion figured prominently in much of his work, and Rubens
later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic
Counter-Reformation style of painting[5] (he had said "My
passion comes from the heavens, not from earthly musings").

The Fall of Phaeton, 1604, in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
 BAROQUE ARTIST
Rembrandt
Rembrandt[11] Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July
1606 in Leiden,[1] in the Dutch Republic, now the Netherlands.
He was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn
and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck.[12] His family
was quite well-to-do; his father was a miller and his mother
was a baker's daughter. Religion is a central theme in
Rembrandt's paintings and the religiously fraught period in
which he lived makes his faith a matter of interest. His mother
was Roman Catholic, and his father belonged to the Dutch
Reformed Church. While his work reveals deep Christian faith,
there is no evidence that Rembrandt formally belonged to any
church, although he had five of his children christened in Dutch
Reformed churches in Amsterdam: four in the Oude Kerk (Old
Church) and one, Titus, in the Zuiderkerk (Southern Church).
The Prodigal Son in the Brothel is a painting by
the Dutch master Rembrandt. It is housed in
the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister of Dresden, Germany. It is
signed "REMBRANDT F.".

The Prodigal Son in the Tavern, a self-portrait with Saskia, c. 1635

 BAROQUE ARTIST
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒan
loˈrɛntso berˈniːni]; also Gianlorenzo or Giovanni
Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was
an Italian sculptor and architect.[1] While a major figure in
the world of architecture, he was the leading sculptor of
his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of
sculpture.[2] As one scholar has commented,
"What Shakespeare is to drama, Bernini may be to
sculpture: the first pan-European sculptor whose name is
instantaneously identifiable with a particular manner and
vision, and whose influence was inordinately
powerful...."[3] In addition, he was a painter (mostly small
canvases in oil) and a man of the theater: he wrote,
directed and acted in plays (mostly Carnival satires), also
designing stage sets and theatrical machinery, as well as
a wide variety of decorative art objects including lamps,
tables, mirrors, and even coaches. As architect and city
planner, he designed both secular buildings and
churches and chapels, as well as massive works
combining both architecture and sculpture, especially
elaborate public fountains and funerary monuments and
a whole series of temporary structures (in stucco and
wood) for funerals and festivals.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1665, painted by Giovanni Battista Gaulli

 BAROQUE ARTIST
Diego Velázquez
Velázquez was born in Seville, Spain, the first child of
João Rodrigues de Silva and Jerónima Velázquez, and
was baptized at the church of St. Peter in Seville on
Sunday, June 6, 1599. The christening most likely
occurred a few days or weeks after his birth. His
paternal grandparents, Diogo da Silva and Maria
Rodrigues, had moved to Seville from their native
Portugal decades earlier. When Velázquez was offered
knighthood in 1658, he claimed descent from the lesser
nobility in order to qualify; in fact, however, his
grandparents were tradespeople, and possibly
Jewish conversos.[4][5][6][7]
Velázquez was educated by his parents to fear God
and, intended for a learned profession, received good
training in languages and philosophy. Influenced by
many artists, he showed an early gift for art;
consequently, he began to study under Francisco de
Herrera, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian
influence of the early Seville school. Velázquez
remained with him for one year. It was probably from
Herrera that he learned to use brushes with long bristles.

El Triunfo de Baco or Los Borrachos 1629 (English: The Triumph of Bacchus/The Drunks)
 BAROQUE ARTIST
Johannes Vermeer
Relatively little was known about Vermeer's life until
recently.[9] He seems to have been devoted exclusively to
his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. Until the 19th
century, the only sources of information were some
registers, a few official documents, and comments by
other artists; for this reason, Thoré-Bürger named him
"The Sphinx of Delft".[10] John Michael Montias added
details on the family from the city archives of Delft in
his Artists and Artisans in Delft: A Socio-Economic Study
of the Seventeenth Century (1982).

The Music Lesson or A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman (c. 1662–65)
 BAROQUE ARTIST
Anthony van Dyck
Antoon van Dyck (his Flemish name) was born
to prosperous parents in Antwerp. He was
baptised on 23 March 1599 (as Anthonio).[2] His
talent was evident very early, and he was
studying painting with Hendrick van Balen by
1609, and became an independent painter
around 1615, setting up a workshop with his
even younger friend Jan Brueghel the
Younger.[3] By the age of fifteen he was already
a highly accomplished artist, as his Self-portrait,
1613–14, shows.[4] He was admitted to the
Antwerp painters' Guild of Saint Luke as a free
master by February 1618.[5] Within a few years
he was to be the chief assistant to the dominant
master of Antwerp, and the whole of Northern
Europe, Peter Paul Rubens, who made much
use of sub-contracted artists as well as his own large workshop. His influence on the young artist was
immense; Rubens referred to the nineteen-year-old van Dyck as "the best of my pupils".

Samson and Delilah, c. 1630, a strenuous history painting in the manner of Rubens; the use of saturated
colours reveals van Dyck's study of Titian
 BAROQUE ARTIST
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (French: [nikɔlɑ pusɛ]̃ ; June 1594 – 19
November 1665) was the leading painter of
the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most
of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on
religious and mythological subjects painted for a small group
of Italian and French collectors. He returned to Paris for a brief
period to serve as First Painter to the King under Louis XIII
and Cardinal Richelieu, but soon returned to Rome and
resumed his more traditional themes. In his later years he
gave growing prominence to the landscapes in his pictures.
His work is characterized by clarity, logic, and order, and
favors line over color. Until the 20th century he remained a
major inspiration for such classically-oriented artists
as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres and Paul Cézanne.

The Inspiration of the Poet, 1629–30, Louvre

 BAROQUE ARTIST
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (born late December 1617,
baptized January 1, 1618 – April 3, 1682) was
a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for
his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable
number of paintings of contemporary women and children.
These lively, realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins,
and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record
of the everyday life of his times.

The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1650, Museo del Prado

 BAROQUE ARTIST
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Born in Venice, he was the youngest of six children of
Domenico and Orsetta Tiepolo.[3] His father was a small
shipping merchant[4] who belonged to a family that bore the
prestigious patrician name of Tiepolo without claiming any
noble descent. Some of the children acquired noble
godparents, and Giambattista was originally named after his
godfather, a Venetian nobleman called Giovanni Battista
Dorià. He was baptised on 16 April 1696 in the local
church, San Pietro di Castello (then still officially the
cathedral of Venice). His father died about a year later,
leaving his mother to bring up a family of young children,
presumably in somewhat difficult circumstances.

Massiva (the nephew of a prince of Numidia) being released after capture by Scipio Africanus .[2] Walters Art
Museum.