Humanities 2112, Unit 2: Baroque Civilization
1600-1725 A.D.> The Baroque Era
1618-1648> The Thirty Years' War
1642-1646> The English Civil War
1665-1713> The wars of Louis XIV
ca. 1590-ca. 1625> Early Baroque
ca. 1625-ca. 1660> High Baroque
ca. 1660-ca. 1725> Late Baroque
1685-1715> climax of the Scientific Revolution
The Baroque Period was a time of turmoil marked by political and
religous warfare, the rise of absolutism, and territorial and
intellectual expansion. The arts of the age reflect the cultural
upheavals and celebrate the emergence of an international style. The
center of European politics shifted from the Italian city-states of the
Renaissance to five great states of Europe--Austria, England, France,
Prussia, and Russia--all ruled by absolute monarchs during the Early
Baroque period. The Thirty Years' War was actually a series of four
wars resulting from arguments over who should assume the title of Holy
Roman Emperor, It was a truly international war, involving (at one time
or another) Austria, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Prussia,
Spain, Sweden, and Venice, and was fought mainly on German soil. The
English Civil War shifted political power from monarchy to republic to
limited monarchy. The French Wars of Louis XIV served to elevate France
to imperial status.
Baroque artists, like their Renaissance predecessors, tried to find
some sense of order in the chaos of their society, but where the
Renaissance ideal was based on Classical concepts of form and balance,
the Baroque ideal celebrated grandeur and exuberance and resulted in a
truly international style. Painting, sculpture, and architecture often
worked together to produce a harmonious whole. Writers exhibited a more
philosophical bent, influenced greatly by the Scientific Revolution.
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