Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Baroque took reality and exaggerated it. Most artists amplified prettiness, but
Caravaggio exaggerated grittiness, using real, ugly, unhaloed people in Bible scenes.
Caravaggio's paintings look like how a wet dog smells. Reality.
We've come a long way since the first medieval altarpieces that wrapped holy people
in gold foil. From the torn shirts to the five o'clock shadows, from the blemished apples
to the uneven part in Jesus' hair, we are witnessing a very human miracle.
• Leave Room 32 at the far end, and enter Room 33.
(See “National Gallery” map,
here
.)
As Europe's political and economic center shifted from Italy to France, Louis XIV's court
at Versailles became its cultural hub. Every aristocrat spoke French, dressed French, and
bought French paintings. The Rococo art of Louis' successors was as frilly, sensual, and
suggestive as the decadent French court. We see their rosy-cheeked portraits and their
fantasies: lords and ladies at play in classical gardens, where mortals and gods cavort to-
gether.
• One of the finest examples is the tiny...
