Compare and Contrast the Artist Caravaggio and Vermeer

Compare and Contrast the Artists

  1. Caravaggio
  2. Vermeer

Description: Introduce the painters, art style, summarize their significance, include some examples of their art, and find differences/similarities in their careers/art.

The Baroque Style

The Baroque style brought new levels of naturalism and emotionalism to Western art. It featured dynamic contrasts of light and dark, an expanded sense of space, and the theatrical staging of the subject matter.

Caravaggio and Gentileschi explored a variety of illusionistic techniques to draw the spectator into the space and action of the pictorial representation.

Bernini challenged sculptural tradition by combining illusionism, naturalism, and implied movement. He brought a flamboyant style to the city of Rome, both in his fountain sculptures and in his designs for Italian Baroque churches.

Italy’s Catholic churches became ornate settings for the performance of ritual. Bernini’s The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa and Pozzo’s ceiling for the church of Sant’Ignazio achieved new heights of illusionistic theatricality.

Textbook: Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition. Vol. 2. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2015. Print.

General Requirements:

  • See the Humanities Writing Rubric in the Syllabus
  • 4-6 paragraphs (~ 700-1000 words)
  • Include images
  • Three or more different references (our textbook can be used as one of the references)
  • Word document/MLA format