The Baroque Period began around the year 1600 and lasted until the mid-1700s. This period embraced drama, grandeur, tension, and deep emotion. It started in Rome, Italy due to the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church to respond to the Protestant Reformation with an emphasis on religious themes throughout all of the arts. They believed that all sculptures, paintings, music, literature, and architecture should communicate a deep emotional struggle with religious elements in a dramatic and direct way so that everyone, even the illiterate, could understand. This movement spread throughout all of Europe and impacted many forms of life, including the way people dressed, communicated, approached culture, and even lived. This period was one of increasing opulence and extravagance that would impact the world for many years following its eventual end.
I thought The Baroque would be a great period to expose to the community because of its impact on so many art forms that we can still stand in awe of and appreciate today. I believe that revealing this period to the community in a concentrated and focused light will show people how influential and important this period was during its time and now through the works that resulted from its inspiration. In order to see how great these paintings, sculptures, architecture, and music are, it is crucial for the community to have easy access to the works. I think that art is very important to the shaping of culture, ideas, and the way people approach life. Therefore it is important that the community should take part in learning the differences and similarities of the way people approached life during the Baroque Period compared to now and how some influences of that period are still visible in current art and culture today.
The Baroque Mansion (my museum of Baroque art) will only cost $10 per adult, $5 for children (13 and younger), $7 for students, and a special discount for families or school field trips (the exact pricing will depend on the size of the group, but there will be a significant discount). Besides the price for admission, my museum will pay for upkeep, staff, etc. through special shows and guided tours. For example, if the local high school wants to take their classes to the Baroque Mansion for a field trip, they can pay a little extra per student to be guided through the museum by a professional tour guide and enjoy meeting "special guests" from the Baroque Period that will talk about "their art" and contributions to art and culture during their lives. My museum will also feature a "tea parlor" in the upstairs wing that will serve drinks, refreshments, and souvenirs for reasonable prices. The Baroque Mansion can also be rented out for elegant parties, wedding receptions, and even proms. This museum is designed for everyone to enjoy, especially those who want to learn new things and really "experience" art and culture from the Baroque Period.
The Baroque Mansion will be designed like a mansion from the Baroque Period, modelign the same interior details and exterior architecture that defined this period. The interior will be ornately decorated with the same furniture, chandeliers, rugs, and other furnishings as the mansions of the period. Guests will have the chance to experience the Baroque Period as they walk through the rooms of the house and can even sit on the couches and relax as if they lived their themselves instead of merely observing it from afar. Therefore the motto/catchphrase for advertising the Baroque Mansion will be: "The Baroque Mansion: Experience Art". The guests of this museum will feel as if they have stepped into the 1600's, as the staff and tour guides will be dressed from that period and ready to show everyone the life and culture of the Baroque Period.
There will be multiple rooms throughout the mansion for guests to experience. After passing through the ticket purchasing center, they will follow through the rooms of the mansion (with the option of going back to one they particularly enjoyed) and have the opportunity to observe, contemplate, admire the many works present. There will be paintings, sculptures, and even music from the Baroque Period playing so that the audience can see, hear, and experience art. The first room will contain works from the beginning of the period and the following rooms will continue on through the timeline, highlighting important works that influenced later periods and are still admired today. The rooms will also be specific to their purpose (furnishings-wise) in relation to the museum feeling like a mansion that someone lives in. For example, one room may be the dining room with an elegant table and chairs, but on the walls will be famous Baroque paintings and in the corner will be a Baroque statue. For examples of some of the works to be featured in the museum look to the following:
"The Assumption of the Virgin Mary" by Annibale Carracci in
about 1601. This painting depicts a religious scene dramatically and emotionally with light and dark contrasts that reveal its Baroque characteristics.
"The Crossing of the
Red Sea" by Nicolas Poussin in 1633-34. This painting is oil on canvas and features a religious scene that depicts struggle, emotion, and drama.
"The Elevation of the
Cross” by Peter Paul Rubens in 1610-11. This is a Triptych, oil on canvas, painting that depicts a strong emotional religious scene in a very obvious Baroque style.
"The Entombment of Christ” by Caravaggio in 1602-04. This oil on canvas painting shows struggle and deep emotion in this religious scene of Christ's death.
“Saint Jerome” by Caravaggio in 1606. This oil on canvas painting observes the human body realistically and uses dramatic
lighting to show exaggeration and emotion.
"Judith Beheading
Holofernes” by Artemisia Gentileschi in 1611-12. This oil on canvas painting depicts great emotional struggle and violence with dark contrasts.
"Neptune" by
Antoine Coysevox in 1699-1705. This marble sculpture shows dramatic emotion in
the moment and violence.
"Perseus and
Andromeda” by Pierre Paul Puget, finished in 1715. This marble sculpture depicts action and emotion.
“Religion
Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” by Pierre LeGros the Younger in 1695-99. This marble sculpture depicts religious struggle and conflicting emotions.
"Saint Andrew” by
Francois Duquesnoy in 1629-33. This marble sculpture show relgious emotion and dramatic yet realistic human stance.
"David" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1623-24. This marble sculpture contrasts Michelangelo's David by showing action, emotion, and struggle which are major themes of the Baroque Period that set it apart from the calm, logistical, and rational period of the Renaissance.
These works will be displayed throughout the Baroque Mansion in a way that can be observed up-close by guests, but not touched in case of damage. There will be security cameras and one actual security guard at each room to ensure that works are not tampered with or items from the mansion are stolen. Each piece of artwork will have an information tablet beneath it where the guest can read more information about the piece if desired. The layout of the museum will be as follows: After passing through the front door and purchasing your ticket, you will enter into the grand foyer where an exuberant staircase lays in center with a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There will be a doorway to the right and the left, but you must follow the path to the right. The first room will be a sitting room with couches and tables, and of course the artworks on the walls or sculptures standing. You will follow from this room to the next, leading around the mansion until you are led back to the foyer from the doorway that was on your original left. Now you can choose to stay in the foyer where giant artworks are displayed and feature telephones that explain the artworks in depth and their creators if you choose to listen. You also have the option of following the staircase up into more rooms filled with more pieces of art. The final room is in the back, the tea parlor, where guests are invited to sit and refresh themselves with food or drink and can browse the items for sale in the souvenir shop. From there, guests can exit through the back door down the staircase that leads into the backyard (gardens) of the mansion or they can leave the way they came.
The exterior will resemble a Baroque Mansion, such as the example below:
The Chateau de Maisons, the inspiration for the Baroque Mansion.
The location of the museum will have to be in a place with many acres so to seem "out of this time period" but close enough to the city for easy access for the community. I do not have a specific location in mind, but since I live in Georgia I will make it be there. There will also be a large gate surrounding the perimeter of the museum, also for historical effect but also for security purposes. The surrounding yard will resemble gardens from the Baroque Period, but will not contain any statues or sculptures that could be easily damaged from weather or other risks. There will be a driveway through the gate (during open hours) that leads to a large parking lot for cars and buses. The mansion itself will relate to the museum directly because the architecture will closely resemble the architecture of the Baroque Period. The museum will be designed in this way so that guests will feel as if they are stepping into the Baroque Period and can truly experience the art, culture, and life of that time period.
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