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Baroque: Style in the Age of

Magnificence

the establishment of great marked with public celebrations.
European empires ruled by These occasions had real
absolute monarchs buth also national and international
the growing power of the importance. Rituals such as
Roman Catholic Church. It coronation or state funeral mar-
was opulent and impressive, ked regime change. Celebration
dramatic and moving, but - of royal birthdays and
also very serious in its purpo- marriages, military victories and
se. Baroque artists and desi- visits by foreign dignitaries -
gners worked in many media drew attention to new develop-
and art forms, from painting ments in the nation's public life.
and
sculpture
to
Music was central to public and
interior
architecture,
decoration, gardens and the domestic life in the Baroque.
ephemeral world of theatre Baroque music is formal, highly
and public events. celebrated, richly decorated. It
voices the power and wealth of
The patronage of the Roman its patrons, just as it fills the
Catholic Church was spaces of Baroque architecture.
fundamental to Baroque. Popes and emperors could
$tyle in the Age of Magnificence Promoted by generations of express their splendour, in
popes, cardinals, priests, church and palace, with the
In 2009 an exhibition Baroque, travelled to Africa, Asia, and missionaries, worshippers spectacular performance by
Style in the Age of South and Central America via and lay-patrons, the style spread hundreds of musicians of works
Magnificence 1620-1800, at the the colonies, missions and to the four corners of the globe. commissioned for the venue, or
Victoria and Albert Museum, trading posts of the Portuguese, Baroque architecture was state occasion.
London, provided a unique Spanish, Dutch and other pioneered in papal Rome by
opportunity to discover the Europeans. The style was disse- Pietro da Cortona, Gianlorenzo The exhibition featured The
fascinating world of Baroque. It minated through the worldwide Bernini and Francesco First Global Style, Art and
borrowed a number of important trade in fashionable goods, Borromini. The new style was Performance, Architecture and
Marvellous
pieces from National Trust through prints, and also by tra- vigorous and imaginative but Performance,
Properties that helped delve velling craftsmen, artists and never out of control. Borromini's Materials, The Theatre, The
deeper into this age of architects. oval ground plans were based on Square, Sacred Spaces, Secular
magnificence and learn more a dynamic geometry of triangles Spaces. Supporting events
about the beautiful gardens, Chinese carvers worked in and circles. The same geometry included talks, conferences and
decorative arts, architecture and Indonesia, French silversmiths lay behind the city plans of a special series of concerts by
social history of Baroque at first in Sweden, Italian furniture Baroque Rome. students and professors from the
hand. makers in France. Sculpture was Royal College of Music.
sent from the Philippines to Human figures played a leading
The exhibition conjured up the Mexico as well as to Spain. role in all the various art forms, Ita Marguet
majesty of Baroque interiors London-made chairs went all from painting and architecture
with a range of objectives over Europe and across the through to musical instruments
including works by Rubens and Atlantic. The French royal and tableware. Allegorical,
Bernini as well as furniture from workshops turned out luxury sacred and mythological beings Note: Acknowledgement is
Louis XIV's Palace of products in the official French took over the whole work, given to the brochure Baroque
Versailles. It explored one of the style that were both desired and turning it into a drama in which Style in the Age of
central concepts of Baroque, the imitated by fashionable society the actors strove to convey Magnificence, Victoria and
'total work of art', through which across Europe. But Baroque also particular messages and to Albert Museum, London, 4
painting, sculpture and architec- changed as it crossed the world, engage the emotions of the April - 19 July 2009. This text
ture come together to create an adapting to new needs and local viewer. These figures were put follows a visit to the exhibition
overwhelming and magnificent tastes. into the service of both faith and in May 2009.
experience, designed to engage dynastic ambition - in
the senses and celebrate divine Style in the Age of emotionally wrought religious
and royal power. Magnificence paintings, and in heroic portraits
of rulers, their heads held high
Baroque was the first style to Baroque was the leading fashio- above a mass of billowing
have a significant global impact. nable style in Europe for a hun- drapery.
It spread form Italy and France dred years from the mid 17th
to the rest of Europe. Then it century. The period saw not only Throughout Europe, politically
significant occasions were
44 4 2009 Diva

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