Renaissance and Baroque

by Heinrich Wölfflin, Kathrin Simon (Translator)

renaissance and baroque

Genres: Art, Architecture, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Criticism, Germany

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Heinrich Wölfflin (June 21, 1864 - July 19, 1945) was a Swiss art historian.

Wölfflin's objective classifying principles ("painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in art history in the early 20th century.
He taught at Basel, Berlin and Munich in the generation that raised German art history to pre-eminence.
His three great books, still consulted, are Renaissance und Barock (1888), Die Klassische Kunst (1898, "Classic Art"), and Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe (1915, "Principles of Art History").

Reviews

[Lazarus P Badpenny Esq]

Primarily a study of post-Renaissance architecture, Wolfflin's concentration on the 'painterly' provides wider insight into baroque style. Originally published toward the end of the nineteenth century, Wolfflin also fails to make the more modern distinction between the later Baroque and what we now define as the Mannerist style that directly preceded the High Renaissance. Often sweeping in its judgements, there is, nonetheless, something undoubtedly compelling about his writing in full flow.

[Margaux]

Renaissance et Baroque est un livre important dans la reconnaissance historique du baroque comme un mouvement à part entière !

Les forces et les faiblesses du livre viennent du même constat : il a été rédigé en 1888. Ainsi, l'analyse menée par Wölfflin manque de rigueur dans la démarche historique, mais elle pose des rails solides pour les futurs historiens de l'art qui étudient la même thématique.

La construction du livre s'articule autour de quelques idées fortes qui sont déclinées dans tous les aspects de l'architecture baroque. De nombreux exemples viennent illustrer le propos, ce qui est bienvenu pour comprendre la théorie exposée ; cependant, l'œuvre souffre de la redondance de la démonstration.

Une lecture très intéressante pour comprendre d'où vient la définition de ce mouvement, et un travail approfondi à saluer pour un historien dans les balbutiements de l'histoire !

[Sam]

Having never read an art history book before, this work was quite awesome. Wolfflin mostly focuses on architecture, so there were some repeatedly-used terms that I had to look up. However, his descriptions of the baroque style, and explanation of the shift from Renaissance style to baroque, is incredible (vivid, easy to understand, and with plenty of examples). Most of the examples he repeatedly refers to are found, either as photos or drawings, throughout the book. There are also lots of comparisons made with the Renaissance style, to help put things in perspective. The first part of the book is more generally applicable to studies of the baroque, while the later sections are about specific sorts of buildings during the baroque. Highly recommended.

[Thomas Schulte]

This book traces the architectural elements (for this is mostly about architecture) emerging after the Renaissance style: stairs, banisters, facades, pillars, and other details as well as larger features such as landscaping, domes, general layout, etc. We learn that the Baroque movement rejects static calm in favor of change, transience, and unrest, utilizing restless shapes like the oval rather than the absolute stability of the circle. This dynamic architectural principle emerged early in Correggio's 1515 painting before being adopted by Michelangelo and Vignola.

The baroque never offers us perfection and fulfilment, or the static calm of 'being', only the unrest of change and the tension of transience. This again produces a sense of movement, though of a different kind. Tense proportional relation-ships were part of this characteristic action. The circle is for instance an absolutely static and unchangeable form, but the oval is restless and always seems on the point of change; it lacks inner necessity. The baroque sought out such free proportions as a matter of principle; everything that was self-contained and complete was contrary to its essential nature. It used the oval, not only for medallions and similar objects, but for ground plans of halls, courtyards and church interiors. The form made its appearance early, as part of an agitated composition in a painting by Correggio (1515), and this was at a time when no-one in Rome had thought of using it, either in painting or architecture. It was then taken up by Michelangelo for the plinth of the statue of Marcus Aurelius, and passed on to Vignola...

The author sees this emerging from a "painterly" impulse where designs suggest themselves as subject for a painting and are more interesting in replacing circles with ovals, squares with rectangles, etc. and having some features partially obscured all to draw the eye in and invite careful consideration leading to appreciation.

[Pınar Tınaztepe Kaya]

Heinrich Wölfflin tarafından yazılan bu kitabı değil, aynı isimde Özkan Eroğlu tarafından yazılan kitabı okudum. Ne yazık ki; Good Reads'te bu kitap yok. Özkan Eroğlu'na ait "Rönesans Ve Barok" isimli kitap, Celil Sadık'ın "Uygarlığın Ayak İzleri" isimli kitabında dipnot olarak geçen ve tavsiye edilen bir kitaptı. Nitekim de tavsiye edildiği kadar var. Sanat Tarihine ilgi duyan bir okur olarak Özkan Eroğlu'nun kitabı akıcı diliyle okuyucu tarafından kolay anlaşılır bir üslûp kullanmış. 160 sayfa olan bu kitapta, sanatçılara ait eserlere de örnekleme olarak yer verilmiş. Bu da olayı daha anlaşılma açısından kolay kılıyor ve akılda da yer ediyor. Özkan Eroğlu'nun diğer kitaplarını da okumak istiyorum.

[Wout]

Goede, duidelijke omschrijving van de stijlevolutie van de late renaissance naar het maniërisme (Wölfflin noemt dit de vroegste fase van de barok) van de Laurenziana en de Farnesina.

Wölfflin is vervlochten met de stijlgeschiedenis van Hegel en zijn theorieën hangen eraan vast.
Mijn boekje is letterlijk kapot door steeds te bladeren naar de afbeeldingen en de voetnoten…

[Nathan]

One of the best explanations of the Baroque that I’ve read.