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Apr 15, 2024 16 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Baroque art masterfully manipulates emotions with its grandiose swirls of drama, light, and shadow.

It stands as the original immersive experience in visual storytelling, predating modern-day cinema.

Let's take a look at the artists and their masterpieces from this era. 🧵⤵️ No one show cases the Baroque artworks by Bernini better than @Architectolder! Here he is able to capture "the entire body in motion yet frozen in marble".
Gian Lorenzo Bernini

An Italian sculptor and architect, Bernini's work is synonymous with the Baroque architecture of Rome, where his dynamic sculptures and grandiose designs define much of the city's appearance. Apollo and Daphne (Bernini) in Borghese Galleria
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)

Known for his revolutionary use of chiaroscuro and incredibly realistic human figures, Caravaggio brought emotional depth and dramatic lighting to his paintings. The Musicians, 1595–1596, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Peter Paul Rubens

A prolific Flemish artist, Rubens is famous for his vibrant, dynamic compositions and depictions of mythological and religious subjects filled with movement. The Fall of Phaeton, 1604, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Rembrandt van Rijn

A master of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt is renowned for his portraits, landscapes, and scenes from literature and the Bible, showcasing deep psychological insight and innovative use of light. Rembrandt's only known seascape, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), is still missing after the robbery from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.
Diego Velázquez

A leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, Velázquez served as the court painter to King Philip IV and is best known for his proficient and nuanced portrayals of European royalty. La rendición de Breda (1634–35) was inspired by Velázquez's first visit to Italy, in which he accompanied Ambrogio Spinola, who conquered the Dutch city of Breda a few years prior. It depicts a transfer of the key to the city from the Dutch to the Spanish army during the Siege of Breda. It is considered one of the best of Velázquez's paintings.
Johannes Vermeer

Although less prolific, Vermeer’s works like "Girl with a Pearl Earring" are revered for their serene beauty and meticulous attention to light and color. Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665), considered a Vermeer masterpiece, Mauritshuis in Den Haag.
Frans Hals

Known for his lively and loose technique, Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter who excelled in portraits that vividly expressed the personality of the subjects. Frans Hals, later finished by Pieter Codde. De Magere Compagnie. 1637. Oil on canvas, 209 x 429 cm, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Artemisia Gentileschi

A groundbreaking female painter of the era, Gentileschi is celebrated for her powerful depictions of biblical and mythical female figures, often portraying them as strong and resilient characters. Judith and her Maidservant, 1613–14, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
Annibale Carracci

A key figure in the development of Baroque painting, Carracci co-founded the Accademia degli Incamminati in Bologna, fostering a style that blended naturalism with the formal ideals of the Renaissance. Carracci's Domine quo vadis? (Jesus and Saint Peter)
Nicolas Poussin

A French painter who spent most of his working life in Rome, Poussin is known for his classical approach to Baroque art, emphasizing order and clarity in his historical and mythological scenes. Death of Germanicus, 1628, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Claude Lorrain

Renowned for his landscape paintings, Claude’s works are characterized by their serene representations of nature and classical ruins, often bathed in a soft, ethereal light. Seaport at sunset (1639), Louvre
Anthony van Dyck

A student of Rubens, van Dyck became a leading court painter in England and is famous for his elegant and sophisticated portraits of royalty. Charles I and Henrietta Maria with their two eldest children, Prince Charles and Princess Mary April-August 1632
Georges de La Tour

Although his work was largely forgotten until the 20th century, La Tour is admired for his nighttime scenes illuminated by candlelight, creating a quiet, introspective atmosphere. The Musicians' Brawl, (Hurdy-gurdy group), c. 1625–1630, Getty Museum
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Known for his vibrant frescoes and grandiose decorative paintings, Tiepolo's work embodied the ornate grandeur of the late Baroque and Rococo periods. Image
Alessandro Algardi

A contemporary of Bernini, Algardi was another prominent Baroque sculptor, known for his bas-reliefs and statues in a slightly more restrained style than Bernini’s dramatic creations. Tomb of Leo XI

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More from @CultureExploreX

Jul 8
Italy doesn’t just have art.
Italy is art.

And nowhere is that clearer than in its churches, some built to honor God, others to display power, and a few to do both.

Here are 17 churches in Italy that will make you question what humans are even capable of. 🧵👇 Duomo di Siena, Italy Credit: @ValentyneDreams
1. Duomo di Milano – Milan

It took 579 years to build.

A forest of spires.
3,400 statues.
And on top? A golden Virgin Mary watching over the city.

This is what happens when ambition and spirituality unite. Credit: @Anc_Aesthetics
2. Santa Maria del Fiore – Florence

It changed architecture forever.

Brunelleschi’s dome was an unsolvable puzzle until he solved it without scaffolding.

No one had seen anything like it since the Pantheon. And 600 years later, no one’s matched it. Credit: Travel Destinations, Tips & Inspiration
Read 21 tweets
Jul 6
Most people think of mausoleums as tombs.

But the best of them are something more, Cathedrals of memory, ambition, and love carved in stone.

Here are 22 that left the world in awe and one that hides a deadly secret. 🧵 Baldacchino by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was erected over Saint Peter's tomb, it was designed at the request of Pope Urban VIII around 1624 AD.  Credit: @histories_arch on X  St.Peter's Basilica contains the tombs of many Popes also.
1. Basilica of Saint-Denis – France

Where the French kings go to sleep.

Gothic architecture was born here. Stained glass blazing like fire, tombs of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI beneath your feet. Image
2. Taj Mahal – Agra

Shah Jahan built it for love.
The world never forgot.

Symmetrical gardens, flawless white marble, and haunting beauty.

But don’t miss the tragic twist: he was buried next to her, off-center, breaking perfect symmetry. Credit: @The_Earth______
Read 25 tweets
Jul 5
Most people visit Rome for the Colosseum or the Vatican.

But Rome is a city of cathedrals.

And these 18 churches aren’t just places of worship, they’re where architecture, power, and beauty collided to shape Western civilization.

You won’t believe #3 and #4. 🧵 Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore, Roma, Italia. Credit: juans83
1. Sant’Agnese in Agone

Francesco Borromini’s boldest move.

He took geometry, crushed it, and turned it into emotion.
Step inside and you’ll feel space bend. Image
2. Santa Maria Maddalena

Baroque at its most unhinged.
Designed by Carlo Fontana and Giuseppe Sardi who curved the façade like it was dancing.

Don’t blink. The walls almost move.
Read 21 tweets
Jul 5
They say ancient epics ignored women. But what if that’s wrong?

What if the most powerful minds in early literature weren’t warriors but women?

Let’s talk about the forgotten heroines of East and West: The Shahnameh and The Odyssey. 🧵👇 Penelope and the Suitors 1900 tapestry by Victor John Robertson
One is Persian.
The other Greek.

One written by Ferdowsi. 120,000 lines.
The other by Homer. 12,000 lines.

Different worlds. Same question:
What role did women play in shaping the epic imagination? Image
Western scholars often claimed Persian women were passive. One even wrote:
“Such figures as Penelope… cannot be found in the Persian epic.”

But we are going to put that theory to the test. Atusa Shahbanu Credit: Hedayat Bazafkan
Read 18 tweets
Jul 3
Tomorrow is July 4th. Independence Day.

We’ll hear about Lexington. Muskets. War. But remember this:

The American Revolution didn’t begin with a gunshot; it began with a boycott.

Before the first shot fired, ordinary Americans had already overthrown British rule. 🧵 Detail from Washington Crossing the Delaware, an 1851 portrait by Emanuel Leutze depicting Washington and Continental Army troops crossing the river prior to the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776.
From 1765 to 1775, colonists ran a full-blown civil resistance campaign.

They shut down courts.
Refused to import goods.
Built parallel governments.

It wasn’t protest for show. It was rebellion in plain sight. Spirit of '76 by Archibald Willard
Britain passed the Stamp Act in 1765.

Americans didn’t riot.
They simply refused to comply.

Printers ran papers without stamps.
Lawyers stopped using courts.
Ports either closed or defied British orders. Burning of Stamp Act, Boston. 1 photomechanical print (postcard) : color.
Read 22 tweets
Jul 2
Latin America holds some of the most stunning architecture in the world.

Most of it was built by Europeans on top of Indigenous empires.

These 20 buildings reveal a continent shaped by beauty and conquest.

And the first three will leave you speechless. 🧵 Templo de Santo Domingo - Oaxaca, Mexico Credit: @kobe_sylvester
1. Las Lajas Cathedral – Colombia

It’s not built on a canyon.
It’s part of it.

Bridging cliffs like a miracle frozen in stone.

Built after a woman claimed the Virgin Mary appeared inside the gorge. Image
2. Church of San Francisco – Quito, Ecuador

500 years old.
Baroque on the outside.
Moorish on the inside.

And built by the hands of indigenous artisans during Spanish rule. Image
Read 23 tweets

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