Paris W ebb
Art History III
Midterm Exam - Essay questions

3.Discuss the differences between Baroque architecture and Neoclassical architecture. Select at least one example representing each style to parallel.
Baroque is dramatic, over the top, very decorative and lavish. Classical is symmetrical, rational, and calm looking. There were other movements that affected literature, painting, and so. However, these two are considered the mother currents of the architecture we know today. Even though the neoclassical movement affected all arts media, architecture was the medium most affected.These structures and the way they were decorated are at once very artistic. During this era architecture began to be viewed as art. So, buildings were no longer merely functional, but also a true piece of art. A lot of new architectural concepts were defined thanks to Neo-Classicism. For example, both Rome and Greece started building offices, halls, schools and even museums. A new way to live, the village concept, was created. All of these existed thanks to the neo-classic impact in arts. Also, all of these new buildings and houses were, in and of themselves, art pieces. Baroque architecture describes the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, utilizing the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and the absolutist state. It featured new explorations of form, light and shadow and dramatic intensity. The Baroque era was mostly a period in which architecture became more complex, more ornate, than before. In churches, broader naves and sometimes given oval forms dramatic use of light; either strong light-and-shade contrasts as at the church of Weltenburg Abbey, or uniform lighting by means of several windows (e.g. church of Weingarten Abbey). http://www.archicentral.com 5. Compare the following two paintings and discuss why each artist has included their portrait.
Jan Vermeer, Allegory of Art of Painting
Diego Velazques, Las Meninas The Art of Painting has all the characteristics of Vermeer’s artistic genius, but, it stands apart from his other works, as it