What are the major points of similarity and striking differences between these works?
Major changes in religious belief in early modern Europe generated (and simultaneously shaped by) significant shifts in artistic traditions. Compare Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew with Nicholas Maes’ The Idle Servant. Describe the form and content of both paintings carefully. What are the major points of similarity and striking differences between these works? What cultural and artistic factors account for these differences?
The global expansion of the Church during the seventeenth century also extended the geographic reach of Catholic architecture. Compare Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome with the Church of Sao Cajetan in Goa. What are the most significant architectural features of both buildings? How did these structures meet the changing needs of the Church at this time? What are the most significant similarities and differences between these churches, and what accounts for those points of convergence and divergence?
Baroque art spread widely and rapidly both within Europe and beyond during the seventeenth century. Compare Valentin de Boulogne’s Soldiers Playing Cards and Dice with Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. How are these very different works representative of Baroque style? What do their similarities and differences tell us about the geographic and cultural environments in which they were produced? How does the medium in which each of these works were realized impact the artist’s approach to his subject?
The colonial expansion of Portugal and Spain into India and the Americas, respectively, brought new, hybrid artistic and architectural styles into being. Compare the Pulpit from the Church of Sao Pedro in Goa with the Mission Church of San Xavier in Tuscon, Arizona. Why might we describe these works as hybrid? How did these sculptors and architects combine local and global elements within their works? What do such combinations and borrowings tell us about the artistic culture of early modern mission and colonization?
