Imagine yourself as a Baroque Patron of the Arts: think king or queen, prince or princess, pope, cardinal, citizen of Delft or Amsterdam

Imagine yourself as a Baroque Patron of the Arts: think king or queen, prince or princess, pope, cardinal, citizen of Delft or Amsterdam, and so on. What I would like you to do in this assignment is to write about one of the works of art or architecture that you have commissioned. What do you think about the work? Analyze it carefully. What are its greatest strengths, and what, if any, if any, are its weaknesses? Think about the subject, material, style (as appropriate). How does it relate to tradition (think High Renaissance)? What is new about the work? What impact do you feel it has or should have on the viewer? What, if anything, would you have wished the artist or architect had done differently? These are questions that are intended to stimulate your thinking and you don’t have to try and answer all of them, only the ones that you feel are relevant to your work and your analysis. here are some suggestions (suggestions only, you chose what you want):

Colonnade for Piazza of St. Peter’s by Gianlorenzo Bernini (Pope Alexander VII)

Butcher Shop by Annibale Carracci (Butcher’s Guild in Bologna)

Las Meninas by Diego Velasquez (King Philip IV of Spain)

Portrait of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud (Louis XIV)

Any Painting by Caravaggio (Cardinal or Prince)

Apollo and Daphne by Bernini (Cardinal Scipione Borghese)

Night Watch by Rembrandt (Civic Militia of Amsterdam)

Palace of Versailles by Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, et al. (Louis XIV)

Prodigal Son by Rembrandt (Rembrandt)

Any Painting by Jan Vermeer (Citizen of Delft)

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