18 Nov Breaking the Fourth Wall

Order Instructions

Breaking the Fourth Wall

Baroque artists used Renaissance techniques of naturalism for powerful and sometimes unsettling illusion. Spectacle was the order of the day, especially for Catholic places of worship and the artworks commissioned by the Catholic Church. In order to include the viewer, artists sought ways to integrate the illusion of art with the space of the onlooker.

Sometimes this was done by designing a whole setting, utilizing architecture, painting, and sculpture in a unified interior that surrounded the viewer.

Sometimes sculpture was fashioned in a way that caused the viewer to want to see it from all sides, thereby engaging physically with the work.

Sometimes a sculptural work might burst beyond its niche, or a painted ceiling appeared to open to the heavens.

Painted subjects could appear to enter the viewer’s space. Linear perspective had been useful in creating a sense of looking through a window, so to speak, into a deep space. But many Baroque artists reversed the idea by making figures and objects appear to project beyond the picture plane and into our space, such as the Elders in Guercino’s Susannah and the Elders.

For this discussion, analyze two works (any combination of Italian, Spanish, and/or Flemish) that demonstrate these ideas of heightened reality. One should be a painting and the other should be a sculpture or an interior space. You can choose from the textbook or our online course site illustrations, or find other examples online.

Introduce each work by supplying artist, title, date, medium, and present location.

Describe how each work engages the viewer, noting details.

Provide some historic context. Who were the patrons, and what purpose did each work serve?

Include links (the URLs) to each image.