After the grandeur of the Renaissance sculpture, the sculpture style of this period tends to be quiet and natural, the style by the Baroque and Rococo art has the most influence. Important sculptors characterized by this style are Bernini, Falcone and so on. Later appeared neoclassical sculpture, the most outstanding achievement is Canova. Another sculptor who contributed to the development of sculpture was Udon, who created numerous portrait sculptures that enriched the artistic expression of this field and had a pioneering significance.
This group sculpture by Bernini is one of his early representative works. The content of the performance of the shepherd god by the children play for fun scene, movement and noise is the center of this work. The god's body is leaning back, with his arms in front of and behind him, almost forming a straight line. The whole work relies on a tree trunk, which is full of fruits, and two hunting dogs lying under the tree. This group of sculpture composition is vivid and lively, full of motion everywhere.
This group of sculpture figures without the grandeur of the Renaissance and the sense of force, replaced by light and fluid, reflecting the style of Baroque art.
"Bathing woman", Falcone represents the 18th century French rococo sculpture of the highest achievement, this work is his masterpiece. The author showed the bath woman took off her dress, feet about to step into the water in the instant dynamic, the use of realism in the creation of a beautiful, elegant, pure image of women. The figure is full-bodied and charming, with soft and smooth lines, simple and plain modeling, and harmonious and natural dynamics.
The graceful and stretching physical characteristics of "Bathing Woman" and the realism of the modeling style are clearly inherited from the characteristics of Rococo art, and at the same time fused with the simplicity of the classical style.
The Portrait of Franklin by Udon reflects Udon's pursuit of portraying the character's psychology: within the extremely limited scope of the bust, it seeks to summarize the character's life experience and the characteristics of the era in which he lived. The sculptor's rigorous shape of Franklin makes his image look solemn and peaceful, containing a grandeur, and the whole statue's shape is handled in an extremely generalized and condensed manner. The author with realism, image realistic portrayal of the object, for the development of portrait sculpture has written a monumental page. Franklin was a characterful American social activist, writer and scientist. The Portrait of Franklin summarizes the experiences of his life and times.
The Kiss of Eros Awakens the Spirit God is one of Canova's masterpieces and the work that established his neo-classical sculptural style. This small size statue was carved extremely fine, fully demonstrating the author's high skill. The wings of the goddess of love are extremely thin, more than a meter long, but they are not broken at all. The surface of the work is not only extremely polished, but also has a strong sense of form and is full of romantic colors. The kiss of Eros expressed in the sculpture has no carnal desire, no passion, and awakens the God of the heart with spirit in a calm atmosphere. The statue shows the artist's pursuit of formal beauty.
"Marley's Horse" is a work of French sculptor Cousteau. The sculptor focused on shaping the violent temperament, majestic and difficult to drive the horse. Its head high hooves, quite unstoppable impact momentum. Next to the horse is a horse rider who is trying to tame the horse. The horse contrasts with the man in form and strength, conveying an unconquerable spirit. In terms of carving technique, the sculptor clearly inherited the artistic approach of the Baroque.
Apollo and Daphne
Italy Bernini Daphne (the goddess of the laurel) is a very beautiful goddess, when there was a Zeus's eldest son, Apollo, mutual love. Finally, one day Apollo finally could not resist his love for the goddess of the laurel, and launched a pursuit of her.
Apollo and Daphne Bernini
But because Apollo himself was a sun god, his body gathered a lot of heat energy, which made it difficult for Laurel to endure, and there was a danger of burning her skin once she got close. So every time Apollo chased Laurel, she would hide. In this way, one chased and one dodged, but this was not the way after all, and finally Laurel could not bear it any longer, and she cried out for help. Her father, who could not bear to see his daughter suffer so much, split the earth in two. Cinnamon jumped and turned into a big tree growing out of the crack. From then on, the tree was called Laurel. Apollo did not know the reason and thought that Laurel would rather become a big tree than be with him. Until one day, he suddenly realized that it was because he was too hot that Laurel turned into a big tree. Apollo vowed to leave a shade for laurel forever, and legend has it that that's what we now know as sunspots, leaving a permanent shade in the heart of the sun god, who left a shade for laurel ......
The love chase between Apollo and Daphne as described in Greek mythology is a very fascinating story, and a lot of artists love to use this theme in their creations. One of the most famous is the statue carved by Giovanni Lorenz Bernini.
In 1623 Bernini decorated the gardens of Cardinal Spione Borghese in Rome with four groups of statues, of which Apollo and Daphne is one. It is now in the Borghese Museum in Rome, Italy.
The statue shows the moment when Apollo's hand touches Daphne's body. Both are in the motion of running on the wind, their bodies light and graceful. Daphne's body has begun to turn into a laurel tree, walking like a flying leg transformed into a tree trunk implanted in the earth, floating hair and stretching the fingers of the crevice of the tree leaves grow, even her softest breasts are covered with a thin layer of bark. However, Daphne's entire body still presented an airborne stance that wanted to fly, her arms forming a graceful S-shape with her body. She held her head sideways, her gaze changing from horror to numbness, having the feeling of making people pity her. Apollo watched Daphne turn into a laurel tree, his expression changing from surprise to sadness, but he was powerless to undo it. One of his hands is still on Daphne's body, while the other is stretched diagonally downward, forming a straight line with Daphne's arm, giving the whole statue a sense of turbulence and expressiveness.
Bernini's work was modeled after late Greek sculpture, and the drama of the plot makes the statue y felt. The posture of the entire work is impeccable, and the two figures are as graceful as a dance, no matter which way you look at them. The work was made by Bernini for one of the most powerful cardinals of the time, and immediately became a sensation in Rome, moving all who saw it.
Giovanni Lorenz Bernini, the Italian sculptor and architect, was the greatest master of the arts in the 17th century. He was born in 1598 and died a few days after his 82nd birthday. He was the last of that distinguished line of artists of many talents. It was thanks to the efforts of these men that Italy remained the light of the Western world for three centuries.
As the chief of Italian Baroque art, Bernini was a man of many talents. He could write and paint well, quite a renaissance legacy. For Bernini, people at the time once wrote: "A popular play was staged, in which the sets were painted by him, the statues were carved by him, the machinery was invented by him, the music was composed by him, the scripts of the comedies were written by him, and even the theater was built by him." The influence he gave to his time is unmatched in history.
Born in Napoli to a father who was also a sculptor, Bernini moved his family to Rome in 1605. He is said to have made a child's head at the age of eight, an event that amazed his father. At the age of 17, he was able to independently make a very good bust of Archbishop Sardoni. Later he became acquainted with the illustrious Cardinal Spione Borghese. When Bernini was in his infancy, Borghese ordered a series of works from him to decorate his garden. By producing these works, Bernini could be said to have made his first appearance, demonstrating his genius, achieving unexpected success and winning great renown. His David, made in 1619 (some believe it was in 1623), is one of these works.
Bernini portrayed figures always in intense motion. The marble seems to have lost its weight in his hands, and the clothes of the figures are always gently fluttering with the wind, giving a sense of lightness, liveliness and restlessness. The number of human bodies depicted by Bernini is no less than that of Michelangelo, and he is more adept at expressing dramatic plots and human bodies in intense motion. We can also see the influence of the Classical tradition on his work, especially the style of the Hellenistic period, which is clearly reflected in his works. When the group sculpture Apollo and Daphne was completed, Bernini won the praise of the whole of Rome, and even some of the senior figures in the religious world were moved by it, including Urban VIII, who was soon to become the Pope, and who also greatly appreciated Bernini. Later, Bernini into the Holy See, entrusted by the Pope, for St. Peter's Basilica to produce a luxurious bronze waffle, which is sculpture and architecture closely integrated works. This sculpture is very vivid works, fully demonstrated Bernini bent on religious services for the idea, but also shows the baroque art of comprehensive, luxurious, decorative, dramatic and other characteristics. The creation of its St. Peter's Basilica in front of the square colonnade, imposing, rich in dynamism, and Michelangelo's cathedral dome echoed, making this landscape become the most magnificent landscape in Rome. The success of the altar sculpture, Altar of St. Teresa, marked the arrival of the pinnacle of Bernini's sculpture. In this work, Bernini embodies the idea of humanism. It reflects human dignity, ideals and the pursuit of a better life, which is a positive component of Bernini's creation, and is also different from the general Baroque art.
Bernini's portrait sculpture can be roughly divided into two categories, one is by the pope, the king's order of the portrait sculpture. This type of work is more ornate, personality is not enough, often lack of inner character portrayal; the second type is his friends and family portrait sculpture. In the production of friends and family portraits, he had greater freedom, so the performance is more vivid. Late in his career, in 1665 he was invited to France by King Louis XIV to participate in the design of the east front of the Louvre. But at this time Bernini's sculpture shows more and more some programmed tendency, and the humanist color is thin, the realism factor is also reduced, more religious mysticism. Although in the creation of skills reached the point of perfection, however, many works have been lack of vitality and innovation.
Bernini is not only a famous sculptor and architect, but also an excellent painter. About this point is rarely mentioned, in fact, his life made more than 100 works, there are many excellent works. In addition, he also drew some caricatures and Bernini was also a famous caricaturist in the 17th century. Bernini was essentially a man of faith. He did not write a single essay to articulate his claims, but Bernini was unique. Some artists will be just as passionate, others just as creative, but there may not be a greater warrior for faith in all of art history.
Bernini's fountains were his most notable contribution to the city of Rome. His first fountain was The Broken Ship in the Piazza di Spagna, which blends sculpture and architecture in the same way as the Huarache. The Trinità is a variation on the Roman fountain, with the traditional geometric form of the Piazza's overlapping pools appearing to come to life. four curved fish hold up a huge shell on which Poseidon stands, sprayed upwards by a conch-shell horn.
But not all of Bernini's early architectural designs were successful, and in 1637 he began work on the bell tower above the fa?ade of St. Peter's Basilica. But by 1646, when the weight of the bell towers began to crack the building, they had to be torn down, and Bernini fell out of favor for a while.
Bernini's finest public **** monumental creations were done between the mid-1740s and the 1960s. The Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome's Piazza Navona is an ancient Egyptian obelisk erected above a large hollow rock topped by four marble statues symbolizing the four major rivers of the world in the 17th century: the Danube in Europe, the Nile in Africa, the Ganges in Asia, and the Labrador in the Americas. At the top of the obelisk is the papal coat of arms and the dove with palm branches (the family coat of arms of Pope Innocent X), which makes the meaning clear: the Holy See has been restored and is alive and well, and it rules the world in the name of God. Despite its obvious symbolism, Bernini's fountain remains his finest permanent work.
Bernini's stage designs, of which a small number have survived, also show his imaginative power of synthesis. The essence of Bernini's theater is the same as the essence of his art. He broke with stereotypes to establish a direct and often surprising contact with the audience. He was known for using real fire in his performances, and on one occasion he even flooded the stage with water, making the audience, at least for a moment, an enthusiastic participant in the performance.
The most outstanding example of Bernini's mature art is the Cornaro Chapel at the Church of Our Lady of Victoria in Rome, which he began to explore from the very beginning of his artistic career, and which has since become a great success. The Chapel was commissioned by Cardinal Cornaro and is in a modest auricle in the chapel. The main centerpiece is The Indulgence of St. Teresa, depicting a mystical experience of St. Teresa of Avila, the great reformer of the Carmelite Order in Spain. Teresa dreamed of an angel who pierced her heart with fiery arrows of God's love. Bernini based his art on Theresa's own account. The statue, in the pose of the entranced saint swooning in the realm of the void, is covered with a draped veil and placed in a niche above the altar, illuminated by the light of the air. This work combines many elements of the architectural and decorative arts in an organized, hierarchical manner. Many members of the Cornaro family can be seen on the left and right, in a space similar to an opera house box, talking, reading or praying, all in good spirits. The Cornaro Chapel embodies 100 percent of Bernini's ideal of the diorama. The figures of St. Teresa and the angels are carved in white marble, but the viewer cannot tell whether they are three-dimensional or merely deep reliefs. Natural daylight forms an integral part of this sculpture, which shines from a hidden light source above and behind the two figures with a golden glow. The Indulgence of Santa Teresa is not a sculpture in the traditional sense, but rather an organized landscape. It consists of carvings, paintings and light, and also includes worshippers from a religious play.
Bernini's greatest architectural and artistic achievement is the colonnade that surrounds the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. The main function of the huge space was to accommodate the crowds who came to hear the Pope's blessing at Easter and other special occasions. Bernini designed a huge oval motif and a trapezoidal forecourt where it joins the church. He used this form as an analogy for the church as a mother with two arms in an embracing position. The design of separate columns to meet the needs of a freely accessible site was a stone-cold solution. The piazza guides the visitor towards the church and compensates for the excessive width of the front of St. Peter's Basilica. Bernini's oval square is centered on the Vatican obelisk, which was moved to the front of the church by Sixtus V in 1586. Bernini moved one of the fountains built by Mardelino into the long axis of the piazza in the past, and added a new identical one on the opposite side for the sake of scenic perfection. This design is similar in image to the Piazza Sant'Andrea del Quirinalcio designed by Bernini, but not in meaning or function, but the two oval motifs are equally pleasing to the eye.
Bernini's most ornate religious decoration was the St. Peter's Throne, or Pope's Chair, completed in 1657-1666, which was a medieval wooden pope's throne (chair) with a gilded bronze top. Bernini's task was not only to decorate the exterior of the chair, but also to create a meaningful object of access to St. Peter's Basilica in the back room of the Basilica. The exterior of the throne is supported by bronze statues of four great figures, St. Ambrose, St. Agnus Dei, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Augustine, early Christian theologians. Above are golden wheels of light from the angels in the clouds and light emanating from the Holy Spirit painted on the oval windows. The natural illumination by which the Holy Spirit appears becomes a visible symbol of God's mercy flowing through the church in a continuous stream throughout the world. The seat was created at roughly the same time as the piazza, and the apparent difference between the two works shows Bernini's versatility, which is truly astonishing. Both pieces were created for Pope Alexander VII (reigned 1655-1667), who came from the Zigi family.
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
Bernini, ItalyGiovanni Lorenz Bernini was an Italian sculptor and architect, one of the main representatives of Baroque art, and arguably the founding father of Baroque art. His works are characterized by the characteristics of Baroque art, embodied in the church is the combination of architecture, sculpture, painting into a whole, focusing on the sense of form of the work, especially in the sculpture focus on the composition of the painting, good use of delicate techniques and exaggerated composition, the expression of the characters instantaneous and intense action and state of mind, so that the work has a strong sense of drama. The Ecstasy of St. Teresa is a perfect example of Baroque art. The statue shows St. Theresa in a hallucination seeing an angel throwing a golden spear at her and hitting her heart, which intoxicates both her body and spirit. The statue is elegant and moving, full of dramatic emotion and movement, reminiscent of Michelangelo and the statues of antiquity. Bernini was also a prolific artist who embellished Rome with a masterpiece of baroque aestheticism. These works can be seen everywhere when you walk through the streets of Rome. He was a great architect, and the ground plan of St. Peter's Square in Rome is one of his greatest achievements in architecture. This shows that his creations were loved to a large extent by the Papacy and society of his time.
Voltaire seated in Udon, France
Voltaire seated
Voltaire was a French Enlightenment thinker, writer and philosopher. Voltaire was the flag-bearer of the French bourgeois Enlightenment in the 18th century, and was regarded as the king of French thought, the finest French poet, and the "conscience of Europe". Voltaire was not only known for his philosophical excellence, but also for his defense of civil liberties, especially freedom of worship and justice. Despite the harsh censorship of his time, Voltaire openly supported social reform. His polemics were characterized by satire, often attacking the dogmas of the Christian Church and the French educational system of the time. Victor Hugo once commented, "Voltaire's name represents not one man, but a whole age." He advocated the "natural human rights" advocated by Rousseau, believing that all human beings are born free and equal, and that all human beings have the right to pursue survival and happiness, which is given by God and cannot be deprived of, which is the idea of natural human rights.
This is an outstanding representative of classical sculpture. The old man sitting happily and quietly on the easy chair, clad in ancient Roman-style robes, hands pressed on the armrests, slightly sideways, as if listening carefully to people's conversations. Thin aging body vaguely recognizable, but the robe from the top straight through and down to cover it, thick folds are particularly conspicuous. This gives the whole sculpture a monumental effect, handled with admirable skill. The depiction of Voltaire's face is particularly fine and subtle, and is extremely rich in content. His power is not external, but internal, that is the great wise man in the face of all the problems have a calm attitude, condescending, easy to calm, laughing and cursing, humor and wit. The eyes, in particular, were made in the likeness of a real person, with the iris portion completely concave, and the shadows of the concave portion filled with black dots. The eyes, which were crystal clear, seemed to contain moisture, and shone with a burning light, were full of confidence and power. "Udon was arguably the first sculptor who knew how to carve eyes," one of his friends commented.
Udon occupies an important place among the handful of master sculptors in the history of Western art. He lived during the French Enlightenment, and he was the epochal sculptor who preceded and succeeded French classicism in its transition to realism.
Jean-Antoine Udon was born in Versailles to a family of janitors. When he was seven years old, the courtyard that his father tended became an art school specializing in the training of top students from abroad, so young Udon was exposed to some of France's most famous artists from an early age. His talent and artistic training made Udon a young man with considerable artistic talent, and at the age of 15 he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Paris, and at the age of 20 he won the Grand Prix for his bas-relief sculpture Queen of Sheba's Presentation to King Solomon, and was selected to further his studies at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de France in Rome. Udon returned to Paris at the age of 27, having completed his studies in Rome, and realized that for a young artist to be recognized by society, he had to compete in the biennial Salon National. It was at these exhibitions that he was recognized by the critic Diderot, who recommended him to the Russian Empress Ekaterina II to make a statue of her.
Udon's Sleeping God, made in 1769, was exhibited at the Salon in 1771. Due to the success of this work, he was promoted to the Royal Academy. This life-size statue of a fully nude male is reminiscent of the spatial arrangement of the Roman Baroque and the majestic style of Michelangelo. At the age of 35, Udon sculpted another stunning work, Diana. This work caused a sensation even before it was exhibited. The statue is a female nude, unusually voluptuous, rounded, polished, washed and beautiful, with a subtle and vibrant expression. The goddess has one foot on the ground, and the weight of her whole body falls on her toes, giving people a sense of beauty of lightness and slenderness. The coordinated movements of her bow and arrow hands and her whole body, especially the raised head and the alert recall of the forward direction, give the statue a strong sense of movement, which is extremely successful. In his works, Udon skillfully blends traditional classicism with the curvaceous beauty of the Rococo style. The two works, The Sleeping God and Diana, sum up Udon's idealized classical style.
The writer Grimm, a friend of Diderot's, once noted that Udon was arguably the first sculptor to know how to portray the human eye. Udon's methods and techniques of molding and portraying the eyes are diverse, and he profoundly opens the mysteries of people's minds with his brilliant eye-pointing techniques. His portraits of people, either heroic and wise, or gentle and subtle, all give people a rich feeling of crystal and transparency. In the second year after Udon won the Royal Academy, that is, he was 37 years old this year, is his creation on the most abundant year, outstanding portrait sculpture "Voltaire", "Molière", "Rousseau", "Franklin" and so on are produced in this year. Among them, "Voltaire" and "Molière" are the most successful, and they all reflect the distinctive characteristics of the era and personality. Wudong's ability to create so many outstanding portraits of advanced figures of the times with distinctive personality traits and depth of thought was inseparable from his social ideals and progressive aesthetic concepts. He once said: "One of the most unique features of the art of sculpture, which is so difficult, is the ability to create almost immortal images of those who have won glory and created happiness for the motherland, while maintaining the full authenticity of their features. This thought has constantly followed and inspired me in my long artistic labors." This is what makes Udon great. At the age of 62, Udon was awarded the title of Chief Sculptor of the Royal Academy and Professor of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He was a direct influence on Ruud, Carpeaux and Rodin, all of whom were also ardent admirers of his.