The Renaissance and the Baroque were two artistic movements that developed after the end of the Middle Ages, one of the darkest periods of Western civilization.

In this article we will address the historical context that was the cause of these two artistic movements, as well as explain how the Baroque and the Renaissance are different and how the Baroque artists intended to differentiate themselves from the Renaissance artists that had preceded them.

Historical context of these two artistic movements

The end of the Middle Ages was the result of a great cultural, political and social change in Europe. Painters, sculptors, composers and other artists, through their art, were shaping and reflecting the society in which they lived, witnessing great scientific advances and seeing how humanity evolved and expanded its knowledge.

In 1418, Gutenberg invented the printing press, with which it was possible to produce books en masse, allowing the expansion of knowledge more easily, as well as favouring an increasing number of literate people. In that same century, in 1492, Christopher Columbus made the journey that would later confirm the discovery of a new continent for Europeans: America .

In addition, in 1543 Nicolas Copernicus published his work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, in which he set out his heliocentric theory, i.e. that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

These, along with other knowledge, motivated the society of the time, and encouraged creativity and the desire for discovery, considering the capacity of human beings to be unlimited. However, not everything was positive for Europe. In 1453 Constantinople, one of the most important cities of the continent, fell into the hands of the Turks, which was a hard blow for all of Christianity.

All these facts were the triggers for changes in medieval thought. A new vision about the human being was acquired, taking a perspective that could do everything and subtracting something from the importance of the religious . This led to the emergence of the great artistic movement that was the Renaissance, which took place between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The End of the Renaissance

his move didn’t last forever. Already from 1527 the Renaissance movement began to suffer ups and downs, since the vision that had been acquired about the human being, idealized and perfect, began to crack .

The new European regimes, faced with the fear of Islam and the now almost perpetual fight against this religion, initiated measures to expel Muslims, especially in Spain.

This population had been a real economic engine, working the land, contributing in the sanitation of the crops and being an exchange of knowledge between Christianity and Islamic countries. This led to lower agricultural production around 1609, which meant famine, diseases such as plague and high mortality.

Society became pessimistic and this influenced art itself. The idea that man could do everything vanished, recovering in some way a medieval vision of the world but without dispensing with the technological advances of the previous century.

The Catholic world suffered a schism . Luther, faced with the abuses exercised by the papal authorities, proposed a reform of Catholic Christianity, which evolved into the creation of Protestantism. At the same time, in the face of this daring, the Catholic leadership initiated the Counter-Reformation, with the intention of persecuting those who disagreed and fought against the papal power.

Art became a propaganda weapon against heresy , being used by the papacy to prevent the population from turning to the side of pagans and atheists.

The Baroque was an artistic movement that resorted again to medieval thought, focusing on religiosity and beliefs, taking again God as the center of everything . It covered the whole of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Differences between Renaissance and Baroque

Once the historical background of these two movements has been explained, let us look in depth at what the differences between the Baroque and the Renaissance were in terms of painting, architecture, music and poetry, as well as seeing in their vision of the world.

1. Philosophical approach

During the Renaissance humanism was developed , a movement that takes as its focus the human being himself, that is, it acquires an anthropocentric vision.

Classical culture is revalued, considering it to be the apex of perfection of Western civilization. In addition, a critical movement arises that defends the use of reason to approach the truth ; this is why the Renaissance was a moment of great scientific advances, although religion was not completely abandoned.

Ideas that were already present during the Middle Ages, such as beauty and love, are revalued, but acquiring a perspective closer to the Greco-Latins, addressing symmetry and homogeneity as the earthly forms to approach perfection, an abstract and metaphysical idea.

The Baroque chooses to focus on everyday contexts , on the elements of everyday life. It understands that the human being is not perfect and tries to find beauty in it.

The artists and thinkers belonging to this period try to surpass the previous period through originality. Many baroque artists considered that in some way the Renaissance movement had quickly become outdated , limiting itself to imitating itself and being a replica of classical art.

2. Architecture

Renaissance buildings are divided into sections. These sections are based on Greco-Latin art, in which everything followed an order and was shown with homogeneous clarity.

Renaissance architecture does not intend that the observer looks at a specific part of the structure , since most of the building is identical, without details that highlight a section above the others. Thus, the Renaissance artists sought to make their buildings as symmetrical as possible, with horizontal elements predominating over vertical ones, taking inspiration from the architecture of the temples of ancient Greece and Rome.

Among the distinctive elements of Renaissance architecture are the semicircular arch, the barrel vault and the hemispherical dome.

Some examples of buildings constructed during the Renaissance are the famous cathedral of Santa Maria delle Fleurs in Florence, the church of Santa Maria Novella, the palace of Charles V in Granada and the cathedral of Jaen.

On the other hand, the architecture typical of the Baroque is less clear . Everything is treated as if it were a continuum, but it is not divided into clear and equal parts, but rather details are incorporated that might seem to be in front of a somewhat chaotic structure.

Baroque facades usually have elements that are concentrated in a very rich and striking way, such as columns, arches, statues, low and high relief and curved walls.

Some examples of Baroque buildings are the Royal Palace in Madrid, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the Palace of Versailles and St. Peter’s Basilica.

3. Painting

During the Renaissance, innumerable schools of painting emerged , which, despite their differences, influenced each other.

Renaissance painting improves perspective compared to medieval art. Human anatomy is represented in great detail, thanks to improved painting techniques and the use of a new style of painting: oil. The aim is to represent man and his environment in the most realistic but idealised and symmetrical way .

The Quattrocento was the moment of success for great painters such as Masaccio, who is considered the first to apply the laws of scientific perspective and a new concept of expressiveness to painting. His work was revolutionary, especially for his use of light. During the Cinquecento, the greats of the Renaissance emerged: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Everyone knows the famous Vitruvian man by da Vinci, a very reliable representation of human anatomy, in addition to his well-known work the Mona Lisa. Raphael’s work is considered the stereotypical painting of the Renaissance , for its perfection, use of perspective and colour. On the other hand, the figures in Renaissance painting are characterized by their dynamism, much color and grandiloquence.

In Spain we have El Greco, whose work represents the combination of Byzantine knowledge acquired in his youth together with Renaissance tendencies. His figures are very expressive, elongated and somewhat shady. Although he is considered to be Renaissance, his work is one foot away from the Baroque.

On the other hand, the baroque painter shapes reality as he sees and feels it , with its limits, violent postures, diagonal compositions. He focuses on the individual human being. Art becomes less distant from the public.

The church uses painting to send a less distant and grand message, which had been the norm during the Renaissance.

Caravaggio is one of the representatives of the Baroque. His work is more human, without resorting too much to solemnity. The drama is very accentuated, showing a psychological realism .

Diego Velázquez, the painter of Philip IV, painted great works such as the Surrender of Breda, the portrait of Pope Innocent VII. His last two masterpieces are the Meninas and the Hiladeras, with a large number of characters placed at different distances from the front.

These painters show environments with chiaroscuro, realistic people, with their strengths and weaknesses. The Baroque had no qualms about showing the pallor or signs of illness of some of their patrons.

4. Music and Poetry

Renaissance music is characterized by its polyphonic texture , following the laws of counterpoint, and with a certain legacy from Gregorian chant.

In the ecclesiastical sphere we find the mass and the motet, while in more profane spheres we find the carols, the madrigal and the chanson. Among the best known composers of this period are Orlando di Lasso, Josquin des Prés, Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria.

The poetry of the Renaissance follows the style of the lyric of the songbook , talking about aspects such as love, beauty in the divine and to some extent mythological aspects recovered from classical civilizations. Great Renaissance poets were Fray Luis de León, Garcilaso de la Vega and Petrarca.

Baroque music gave mankind one of the great musical genres: the opera . This is the period in which it is traditionally related to what we understand today as classical music, in addition to later periods.

During the Baroque period, the tonality and the use of the basso continuo appeared, as well as the sonata and the concert.

Great musicians of this period were Georg Friedrich Händel, Antonio Vivaldi and the composer whose death put an end to the Baroque, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Baroque poetry tackles themes such as disappointment, disgust for continuing to live, desperation, love affairs or non-conformity , with touches of acceptance that it is difficult for human beings to succeed and that they can only wait for death as an inevitable end. It is a very charged poetry that seeks to excite sensitivity and intelligence. Baroque writers seek originality and surprise.

Some relevant poteras of the Baroque were Luis de Góngora, Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Bibliographic references:

  • Beltrando-Patier, M.C. (1996). History of Music. Madrid: Espasa.
  • by Antonio, T. (1989). The Spanish 17th century. Madrid: Historia 16.
  • Onians, J. (2008). Atlas of Art. Barcelona: Blume.