Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture

Book excerpt: Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture is the first in-depth history of one of the great periods of Western art, spanning the years 1585 to 1785. The text treats the major media-painting, sculpture, drawings, prints, and architecture-as well as gardens, furniture, tapestries, costume, jewelry, and ceramics, all in terms of their original function and patronage and with emphasis on the social, political and cultural context. Organized by country and medium, the book contains biographies of the leading creative figures of the time, from Caravaggio and Rembrandt to Watteau and Hogarth. Significantly, Professor Neuman offers the fullest account to date of women artists and the representation of women and families in art. Additionally, drawing from recent scholarship, the text explores such fields as Spanish polychrome sculpture and Viceregal American painting. Baroque and Rococo Art and Architecture reviews traditional and recent strategies for interpreting artworks. It also traces the dissemination of visual ideas through prints and drawings-the forerunners of today's art reproductions and digital media. In special sections the text raises questions regarding the nature of perception and how artists transfer optical data to the canvas. Artists' techniques, from painting and printmaking to sculpting in marble and casting in bronze, are explained. Analysis of the institutions of art, such as the royal academies, apprenticeship systems, and artists' exhibition rooms, complements an examination of collecting at all levels of society. The book is exceptional in considering issues related to authenticity and the relative value of artworks based on attribution. The illustrations comprise a visual resource of unprecedented quality, with some 450 images reproduced in full color and in a large format that ensures high detail and emphasizes recent conservation efforts. Finally, an extensive glossary introduces seventeenth- and eighteenth-century art terms.