The Baroque Era in Art

It did not raise hopes of eternity nor promise everlasting glory to the poor to compensate for their earthly lot. The limitation of its message partly explains why the religious crisis came to a head, leading both to the birth of Protestantism and to the efforts of the Catholic Church to reorganize itself as the Council of Trent. Baroque. . . became the interpreter of the Catholic Church. . .

Certain of the issues of the time were addressed by various artists in works that were considered controversial. One of the concerns addressed in various works was the nature of prostitution, the prevalence of the brothel, and the possibility of buying love. The Church reasserted certain moral prerogatives in the post-Renaissance era and tried to impose a certain moral restraint on art, criticizing and proscribing the depiction of the nude, for instance. Many northern artists created works involving prostitutes and brothels as a way of making a moral statement, and among the artists who can be seen creating such works were Judith Leyster, Lucas van Leyden, and Quentin Metsys, as an examination of certain of their works will show.

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setting. The imagery of "The Prodigal Son" is repeated in other works by other artists depicting the character in paintings, prints, and theatrical productions. The "loose living" prodigal is usually shown in a tavern or brothel. The folly of carnal love is a central message of a wide variety of prints and paintings from this period, and a number were produced by Leyden as well. To make his point, he would often include the figure of the jester or fool, as in "The Prodigal Son": That the setting is a tavern, with wine very much in evidence, plays on the popular belief that one direct consequence of drink was carnal love. This association between excessive drink and other pleasures of the flesh appears, for example, in this question from a sixteenth-century German preparation for confession: "Have you become used to spending your nights in drunkenness, over-eating, love-making, games, cards, arguing, and cursing?" The relationship between such indulgences and moral loss is seen in a number of Leyden's paintings, such as "The Dance Around the Golden Calf" (c. 1529-1530) and "Lot and His Daughters" (1530). Other artists addressed the same issues and even the same subject. Jan van Hemessen's "Prodigal Son" (1536) shows a you
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Prodigal Son, Seated Landscape, Followed Fool, Caravaggisti Leyster, French English, Judgment Paris, Catholic Church, Chess Players, Metsys Flemish, INTRODUCTION Baroque, prodigal son, lucas van, lucas van leyden, van leyden, love gardens, chess players, quentin metsys, woman victimized, judith leyster, gabriel metsu, sensitive woman victimized, judith leyster's, judith leyster's proposition, dance golden calf,
Approximate Word count = 2934
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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