Baroque Bliss

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If you ask my humble opinion, Hals’s painting of a Young Man and Woman in an Inn epitomizes Baroque Bliss! There is merriment in the way the woman cautiously leans over the young man. There is joy in how the young man laughingly raises his flask with his right hand and affectionately caresses an attending dog with his left. Extravagance in the background decoration is obvious in every aspect. So much so that a landscape painting hangs over the tavern’s mantle! The artist’s painting technique is equally excessive. With fluid movement and loose brushstrokes… is Hals implying that the painting was executed with speed, to catch a moment of great enjoyment? In the words of Walter Liedtke “…all artificial elements are swept away by a way of sensations: light, air, movement, and, one imagines, taste smell, and noise.”

The Baroque is an elusive word and an interesting style to explain and understand. The first step I usually take, is to think of descriptive adjectives that best characterize the period: extravagant, theatrical, dramatic, grand, luxurious, sensual, majestic, opulent… to mention only a few. I also try to compare Baroque period artworks from different areas in Europe, a landscape painting for example by Claude Lorrain to a Rubens one. The differences are extraordinary, yet there are striking similarities. Finally, the word Baroque itself comes from the Portuguese word barroco, a term used to describe an irregularly-shaped pearl. How extravagant can it get! The Baroque style, dated during the 17th century, originated in Rome, spread all over Italy, from Sicily to Venice, and became particularly popular in Spain, France, and the Low Countries.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a large and quite representative collection of Fans Hals paintings. The Young Man and Woman in an Inn is one of their finest examples.  Frans Hals: Style and Substance, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Frans_Hals_Style_and_Substance?Tag=&title=style%20and%20Substance&author=&pt=0&tc=0&dept=0&fmt=0

For a Student Activity on Young Man and Woman in an Inn, please… check HERE!

Medusa

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Elementary level student work

Medusa was once upon a time an entrancing maiden, the only mortal sister of the three Gorgons, attractive for her beauty originally, feared as an image of evil later, when Athena’s anger turned her into a hideous monster… According to the Roman Poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Athena was so fierce in her punishment, Medusa’s hair was transformed into venomous snakes, and her once lovely face, looked upon, petrified the viewer.

To save his mother Danae from the much-unwanted attention of king Polydectes of Seriphos, young Perseus was tasked with the impossible, killing Medusa. Perseus, however, was not alone and helpless in his adventure. He carried with him divine gifts, Athena’s mirrored shield, Hermes’s gold, winged sandals, Hephaestus’s adamantine sword and Hades’s helmet of invisibility. According to Ovid Perseus was successful, Medusa head was cut and ultimately ended up in Athena’s Aegis.

“Medusa in Ancient Greek Art” is a Metropolitan Museum of Art article worth reading: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/medu/hd_medu.htm

“flee, for if your eyes are petrified in amazement, she will turn you to stone,” wrote Gaspare Mustola, an Italian poet and writer of the 17th century, and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio painted the most amazing Medusa head of all time!

Caravaggio, 1571-1610
Medusa, 1597, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 60 cm × 55 cm, Uffizi, Florence

My Grade 3 students love the terrifying Myth of the Medusa and creating a Mask is always a successful Activity! The best Mask by far is offered by the Cleveland Museum of Art… which I use every year with student enthusiasm and great success! https://www.clevelandart.org/sites/default/files/documents/other/MakeaMaskofMedusa.pdf

For a PowerPoint on the student Mask Activity… check HERE!