Baroque Art

El Greco had a clear influence on Paul Cézanne and can be called the spiritual father of Impressionism, because if anything met the sentiments at the start of the twentieth century then it was the visionary expression of his pictures and their sense of religiosity.

Narciso Tomé, El Transparente, 1721-1732.
Polychrome marble, bronze and stucco, h: 30 m.
Catedral Santa María, Toledo.

The stiff Spanish ceremonies and the depressing atmosphere of the Spanish Court could hardly be better displayed than by dampened colours. A comparison to this depression can be seen in the pictures of his great contemporary Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

Added to this was the trend toward a strong rough-naturalistic modelling and a dark, almost melancholy colouring. In the land of the Inquisition and the burning of heretics, a happier style of depiction was unthinkable.

One was the Rome-trained William Kent who founded the “English Style”, which had a great influence on the tastes of the times. The other was the builder of Somerset House, William Chambers; after extensive travels in the Far East, he used the knowledge that he had obtained there in his English architecture

In church construction, the profane Italian Baroque style maintained its dominance in Austria. It was characteristic of the nobles there as well as for the Austrian rulers that they turned away from further development of the Baroque style and therefore against the French Rococo style, while in Bavaria and Munich it was still popular.