Back to the Classics – Baroque Painters

Last time, in my Expressionism and Photography article, I took you back back to 19th century to unveil the very beginnings of expressionism in portraiture. Today I would like to take you a bit further in time and get a closer look at the great baroque painters that didn’t get into the pop culture but rocked the painting industry in 17th century.

Bartolomé Murillo

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish painter. He is best known for his biblical scenes which are not particularly my cup of tea. However, while reviewing his work, I came upon one that made me stop and stare:

The lighting is amazingly simple, just one window with a strong, warm sun. We can see there is another light source because shadows in the bottom are brighter than in the background. Personally, I can’t decide whether it is another window or the painter just added it in his mind to preserve the details of the foreground. Either way, I love the simplicity of the strong contrasts that highlight the details of the scene and make the boy’s head pop.

You can check more of Bartolome on Wikipedia, however, this one is my favorite.

Jan Lievens

Another, less known by pop culture, baroque painter is Jan Lievens. He was an incredible portraitist from Netherlands. At this point I need to admit that I love Dutch portraits from 17th century. They are dark, with a warm light highlighting only the very most important parts, rarely showing any background. Edvard Munch hated those portraits, but after my research concerning Edvard’s works, I know that he drew a lot of inspiration from those paintings as well.

Beautiful balance of light on mans face and hand with the skull

Jan Lievens is said to be a rediscovered old master. I find his paintings really inspiring because he worked well both with dark and bright scenes. The below picture glows with light from the left that burns out the details on the turban, yet preserves the darker side and creates a nice shadows that lead to a gripping mood:

Blown highlights? We know it from somewhere, don’t we?

You can check two more of Lievens works below. Watch closely how light is unveiling only the most important parts and creates the mood by hiding the rest, amazing:

We could spend a whole day talking about the Dutch 17th century art, if you fancy it, search the web, you will find literally thousands of baroque paintings. Painting was a whole industry back then, everyone with a bit more money wanted a portrait, and 17th century Netherlands was a really wealthy country. Remember, those were the times of Rembrandt, Steen Vermeer and many more…

Hyacinthe Rigaud

Lets now move a bit south to France where at the end of 17th century, Hyacinthe Rigaud painted a really impressive self-portrait:

You can notice the baroque style that can remind you of Lievens above. The face is highlighted, showing where the important part is. Background and dark parts of clothes are just sketched, creating even more emphasis on the face. A bit highlighted finger draws our attention to brushes, showing who this person is. I love that little detail. The portrait alone would be a great painting, although adding the highlight on fingers and showing those brushes takes it to another level. It grabs my eyes so much and makes me look at it again and again.

We all should draw from history

Studying the classics, different historical movements and styles in art is an indispensable part of our education as artists. When I look back and see what those people could achieve without modern equipment, tons of lights and modifiers, I can’t stop smiling. Nowadays so many people say they can’t take good photos because of equipment. These are lies. You can always take great pictures, all you need is look around for the opportunity.

Every piece of equipment is just a tool. It can be modified, changed, replaced. Nothing is irreplaceable.

Study those old masters. Learn how they created the atmosphere in their paintings, learn how they lighted their subjects, what grabs your attention. What makes your eyes wonder around? Try to understand what tools you could use to achieve those looks and moods. Then try again but forget about tools you just used, use different ones. Be flexible.

You don’t know how to start? Let me help you. Look at the Rigaud’s self-portrait again. I would think: small soft-box at 45/45 just outside the frame set for perfect highlight on subject’s right chick. Don’t look like it? Change the angles and try again. If the soft-box is not lighting the hand enough, try a little mirror or reflector. Really small because we don’t want to highlight anything else, just the fingers. I guess you get my point.

Study those old master. They are really worth the time.