In our fifth architectural lecture, we finished up the Renaissance and moved into the Baroque period

We learned that this time period of roughly two hundred years (the early 1500’s to the early 1700s) covered a number of different movements in art and architecture: Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo.

We watched as the clean lines, one-point perspective and rational grid-based designs of the classical period gave way to the theatrical, curvaceous, ornate, rippling surfaces of Baroque and Rococo. As always, art mimics life, and we learned that with the advent of the Reformation and the Sack of Rome, Europe was tossed into uncertainty. No more could the rationality and perfection of the early Renaissance rule when life was becoming increasingly complex. At the same time the Papacy, which still governed much of Europe, was showing off the majesty and beauty that the Protestants rejected by building more and more elaborate buildings.

Next week: Industrialization!

And as always, if you would like to join us for these lectures, email marybk@tocci.com, please don’t hesitate to ask.