Rembrandt

Rembrandt(1606-1669) was one of the most famous artists in Holland. Holland loved its relationship as well as competed with Italy. He was not only a painter, but he was also drawer and etcher. Rembrandt was most famous for his etchings and he has more credit for them. Before getting into Rembrandt's artwork one must know he looked at Caravaggio, an Italian artist. From Caravaggio, Rembrandt learns bold naturalism and chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the light and shadow, which shows the depth of the painting or etching. In Rembrandt's paintings he uses the technique of impasto. Impasto is the layering of paint. Rembrandt's paintings are almost 3-dimensional because of how many layers of paint he uses. His paintings with figures, he creates each figure to almost as if they are grabbing you with their eyes and wanting you to keep looking at the scene. One thing Rembrandt does with quite a lot of his figures is the Rembrandt triangle. The Rembrandt triangle is the a lighter spot in the shape of a triangle on the figures face on the cheek bone and close to the nose.

     Within his sonnet "On His Blindness," Milton emphasizes the struggle of a man who has suffers blindness but nonetheless possesses the ability to manage his affliction with the assistance of God. The subject's "one Talent which is death to hide," proves unsuccessful to distance the man from his Creator with his "Soul more bent to serve therewith my Maker." Blindness fails to weaken the man due to his understanding that God does not value worldly works above his child's ability to "best Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best..." Though there are "thousands at his bidding speeed and post o're Land and Ocean without rest," God does not forsake those who "only stand and waite."

     Milton's commentary on his own blindness offers an intimate sense of his relationship with God and his willingness to live his life in accordance with Biblical principles. Though his sight is a  "Talent" hidden away, Milton did not intend to hide, or bury, his Talent in allusion to the Biblical parable, and therefore his lack of sight becomes a yoak to bear rather than an oversight, or mistake on the part of Milton. 

     Milton's Christian influence is apparent within his sonnet and remains consistent with his writing of Paradise Lost. Milton's works are, in reality, God's works and are produced not through his own ability but, instead, through God's gifts and the bearing of his yoak.

Milton's Poems

John Milton's poems demonstrate many strong baroque characteristics that are easily found in all of his poems and sonnets. In Milton's poem "On His Blindness" baroque characteristics are used in describing things. He writes the dark world or the ocean without rest, these descriptions show strong baroque influence that is also portrayed in Milton's Sonnet VII. In Sonnet VII Milton uses lines such as, "That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th", and "It shall be still in strctest measure ev'n" to show off his strong baroque writting style. The line "Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay" from Milton's Sonnet 1 also portray his writting style that others also used in a barogue age that strongly influenced many other writter's including Shakespeare.

The Baroque Era Reflected in Literature

I thought that distinguishing "Baroque" characteristics in literature would prove to be much more difficult than seeing the Baroque's influence in a painting. However, after class on Thursday, the effects of the Baroqe period in literature were made much more clear than I had anticipated. For example, in John Donne's poem "Nativity," the contrast we noted in the colors of paintings was obvious in the words of the poem. "Well-beloved imprisonment" and "He/ Which fills all place, yet none hold Him" are examples of such contrast. Similarly, Donne evoked deep, mysterious questions from his poems which were quite distinctive as being Baroque in nature. In "The Computation," he ponders "What is considered a long time? A lifetime?" Even in "Sermon 25," he asks the profound question, "What is nothing?" These inquiries are definitely not easily answered. The intricate language, the elaborate words used in the literature is another key element of Baroque literature. Did anyone find it difficult to pick out Baroque features in the examples of writing we were given? What other aspects of the Baroque era is represented in writers such as Donne and Milton?

Rembrant...the most important Baroque-era painter?

While most of this course has covered Baroque painters from Italy such as: Carvaggio, El Greco, Tintoretti and Gentileschi, the best painter of this time period might be from Holland. Rembrant van Rijn (1606-1669) is similar to these Italian painters in how he uses mysticism, chiaroscuro, and contrasts to convey his subjects. The main difference between Rembrant and his southern contemporaries is infact, subject matter. Most painters of the time painted "realistic" paintings of famous biblical scenes like: Jesus's last supper, St. Peter's crucifiction and Judith's slaying of Holofernes. Rembrant, however, conveyed scenes that were much more obscure and unknown to his viewers. These included, the return of the Prodigal Son, Jesus preaching, and many other common scenes that were previously not in art. He used contrasting colors to create drama and, miraculously, used layers of paint that caused these "everyday" biblical scenes to actually "lift off the page." It is more important that Rembrant painted common scenes because that was more realistic than conveying famous scenes. He allowed his viewers to feel like the biblical world was around them by showing them scenes that they could have easily seen, rather than if he painted the Bible's more exclusive moments. Everyday scenes, such as the one in the etching "Christ Preaching", were the most important pieces in Baroque art because they connected viewers to the more "everyday" moments of the Bible.

Lully and Louis XIV

It would be an overwhelmingly stressful job to be the musical CEO of Paris and Versailles, but Lully held that position for years. Lully had to compose music for everyday tasks, from the king getting out of bed to music while the king ate. Louis XIV’s court can be described as one of constant rules and etiquettes. Everyday life and tasks had a specific set of rules to govern what and what not to do. It is then no surprise that the music during Louis XIV also had a set of rules to follow. Louis XIV was very fond of music that followed a set form and did not deviate from it; it would not have like contemporary music but rather musical pieces that followed the rules. Lully, of course, had to compose pieces that followed the rules in order to please the king. In Lully’s Chaconne in G Major he does exactly this. A chaconne is a musical form in which a short harmonic progression is presented and then repeated with variations to it. It is a form of music that has a set of rules that must be followed and Louis XIV would approve of. The piece starts out presenting essentially the melody, it is a melody that one could easy dance to. The chords are in major and give off the feeling of grandeur and eloquence while all the while keeping the actual melody relatively simple. Another piece by Lully is Te Deum or Symphony and it also has a form that it follows. It introduces a melody filled with grand trumpets that would represent the king and then it follows with the strings that represent the rest of the court. It is easily another piece that can be danced to and because dance was so important to Louis XIV, it would make sense that Lully created pieces that could be danced to. Lully’s pieces have an air of sophistication that makes them come off as belonging to the king and not to any commoner. This was music that only the court and the king could truly enjoy because it emulated them and their lives. While Lully had a stressful job composing music for Paris and Versailles, he was successful and created music that governed French music for years to come.

Descartes Group: Philosophy of René Descartes

René Descartes presents many interesting ideas in his Meditations on First Philosophy, however I feel some of his ideas are contradictory and not well-established. Descartes continually brings up the problem that the senses are faulty so they cannot be used as solid evidence of certainty. His solution is to wipe out all of his opinions and reconstruct his ideas around the foundation of his beliefs. What are these foundations? I am led to believe that these very foundations were also created from "faulty senses." After all, where else would these foundations come from? One reads with the eyes and listens with the ears, both of which can be deceived. Of course I am in no way suggesting that the unreliability of senses provides proof that they should never be used to acquire knowledge. It merely seems that Descartes is reverting back to the very source of his problem. Eventually, wouldn't he return to square one; Once again discovering his senses deceived him and distorted his opinions, causing him to abolish them? Rather than drastically casting out all of his prior beliefs, it would have been more feasible for Descartes to accept the fallibility of the senses while being cautious of their deceptive capabilities. Even today scientific fields recognize that nothing can truly be proven, but there are methods used agree on the acceptance of a theory because it has not yet been disproved.

Additionally, Descartes is frustrated by the uncertain nature of philosophical readings yet he establishes that nothing is certain. Then Descartes tries to argue that although nothing is ever certain, in that there is always some grounds for doubt, our existence is certain. As inspiring and thought-provoking as his writings are, I feel that this faulty reasoning puts him at the same level with the philosophers that he was frustrated with in the first place. How do we know we exist? Due to our senses telling us that we are thinking, that we are being deceived, that we are breathing? If the senses are faulty enough to deem unreliable, than how can we make ourselves hypocrites by relying on their feedback to tell us we are existing? It seems unsound that Descartes chooses which senses to believe and in what situations. Ultimately, anybody can choose which sensations to trust and believe at what times. So Descartes may be deceiving himself in his ignorance to search for a non-existing "certainty."

Human perception is fallible. It is subjective to each individual. Perception is not what the senses actively take in, but it is the processing of sensory input, an interpretation of information. Nevertheless, one cannot actively decide that all senses should not be trusted without proving oneself a hypocrite. It is inevitable that at some point in time that the brain and senses will be trusted, otherwise we would cease to live our lives.