Deck 9: The Baroque

Question 1

Of the baroque qualities below, which is most clearly illustrated in Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, centerpiece of the Cornaro Chapel?

A) fascination with modern science and mathematics
B) interest in religious emotion and human psychology
C) neoclassical preference for order and balance
D) dynamism created by conflicting lines

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In carrying the technique of chiaroscuro (dramatic light and shadow) to the cities of Florence and Naples, Artemisia Gentileschi spread the influence of what artist?

A) Caravaggio
B) Gianlorenzo Bernini
C) Nicolas Poussin
D) Johannes Vermeer

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What would one expect to hear during a performance of Monteverdi's Orfeo?

A) a concerto grosso
B) a hymn
C) a recitative and aria
D) a prelude and fugue

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What statement best describes the function of the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India?

A) a mosque dedicated to the Mughal faithful
B) a tomb for the wife of an emperor and himself
C) a shrine marking the site of an incident in the life of Muhammad
D) a temple where worshippers honor the Great Buddha

Question 5

What statement best describes Francesco Borromini, designer of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane?

A) Bernini's architectural rival in baroque Rome
B) a talented imitator of Caravaggio's painting
C) a genius of Italian opera in Venice
D) an influential member of Louis XIV's court at Versailles

Question 6

In what regard is Velazquez's masterpiece The Maids of Honor (Las Meniñas), a scene in the artist's royal studio, most remarkable?

A) its complex arrangement of space
B) a brilliant use of red, blue, and gold
C) the novel treatment of a religious theme
D) its mood of gaiety and self-indulgence

Question 7

Which of these painters was a portraitist at the baroque court of Philip IV of Spain?

A) Nicolas Poussin
B) Miguel de Cervantes
C) Diego Velazquez
D) Rembrandt

Question 8

Which of these statements best applies to Vivaldi's Four Seasons?

A) a masterpiece of the baroque concerto grosso
B) applies recent innovations in the form of the aria
C) composed for the court of Louis XIV of France
D) marks the origin of baroque opera in Germany

Question 9

Of these, what would you most expect most of an empiricist?

A) support without question the king's power
B) practice the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius
C) base conclusions on experimentation and observation
D) speculate on the origins of civil society

Question 10

What term is best associated with the unification of European states like France and Spain under all-powerful monarchs, who used their power to subdue the nobility and bring central order to government?

A) constitutional monarchy
B) pessimism
C) popular sovereignty
D) absolutism

Question 11

According to Hobbes' version of the state of nature, analyzed in the Leviathan, for what reason does absolute political authority emerge to establish an orderly and civil society?

A) as a result of divine intervention to protect humans from folly
B) otherwise humans would destroy themselves in violence
C) so that a more democratic form of government can be established
D) so that society will obey the divine law of order and reason

Question 12

Which of these works would most likely be performed at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles?

A) a ballet de cour by Lully
B) a cantata by J. S. Bach
C) a concerto grosso by Vivaldi
D) an oratorio by Handel

Question 13

A portrait of Helena Fourment, the artists' wife, would appear frequently in the works of which artist, famed for his skill as a diplomat and painter of the baroque nobility?

A) Diego Velazquez
B) Peter Paul Rubens
C) Johannes Vermeer
D) Rembrandt

Question 14

What would the Academy, as established under the rule of Louis XIV, most likely do?

A) encourage innovative styles of painting
B) oversee the Dutch market in paintings
C) ensure a religious content in pictures
D) impose absolutist neoclassical rules on artists

Question 15

Jean-Baptiste Lully was a central figure in the development of what baroque art?

A) French opera and ballet
B) the commedia dell'arte
C) neoclassical architecture
D) the self-portrait in oil

Question 16

Which statement best describes the works of Molière?

A) developed under the patronage of Louis XIV
B) attracted a diverse audience to public theaters
C) essential in the popularization of modern science
D) showed the clear influence of Shakespeare

Question 17

Of the baroque qualities below, which is most clearly illustrated in Versailles Palace?

A) quiet simplicity and modest scale
B) Catholic mysticism and emotionalism
C) combination of neoclassical forms and baroque splendor
D) preoccupation with baroque rationalism and science

Question 18

What best describes the cantatas of J. S. Bach?

A) were usually performed in the courts of German nobles
B) adopted the musical form of concerto grosso
C) served as an important part of Lutheran church worship
D) marked the origin of baroque opera in Germany

Question 19

During a performance of a Bach concerto grosso, what one would expect to hear?

A) musical themes based on classical mythology
B) a supportive basso continuo
C) a mixture of Latin and French texts
D) a ballet interlude accompanied by dance

Question 20

Rembrandt's Sortie of Capt. Cocq's Company (Night Watch) is an example of what topic or subject?

A) a still life
B) a history painting
C) a landscape
D) a group portrait

Question 21

What interest did the Dutch painter Rembrandt shared with the Italian Caravaggio?

A) still lives and genre pictures
B) use of dramatic light and shadow
C) mythological themes
D) probing self-portraits

Question 22

Which of these baroque works best realizes the attempt to combine different arts in a single, dramatically unified whole?

A) Handel's Messiah
B) Caravaggio's Calling of St. Matthew
C) Bernini's Cornaro Chapel
D) Rubens' Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus

Question 23

What statement is most likely to describe a painting by Johannes Vermeer?

A) commissioned by a prince
B) painted at the court of Philip IV
C) dedicated to a religious theme
D) hung in a middle-class home

Question 24

Of the baroque qualities listed below, which is most clearly illustrated in Rubens' Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus?

A) love of elaboration and ornamentation
B) elongated shapes and bizarre colors
C) neoclassical order, harmony, and simplicity
D) dynamic motion created by movement and ascending lines

Question 25

Which of these artists appealed most directly to a middle-class, urban public with a large part of his work?

A) Diego Velazquez
B) Peter Paul Rubens
C) Claudio Monteverdi
D) J. S. Bach

Question 26

From what idea or disposition did the philosopher René Descartes derive his dictum "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am")?

A) a belief in the soul's immortality
B) the effort to doubt everything
C) an affirmation of God's existence
D) solemn respect for the Church's authority

Question 27

Which of these figures is associated with the heliocentric theory of the universe, an important advance in the Scientific Revolution?

A) John Locke
B) Nicolaus Copernicus
C) René Descartes
D) Antonio Vivaldi

Question 28

Whose paintings are characterized by his mastery of light and naively intimate scenes?

A) Caravaggio
B) Nicolas Poussin
C) Johannes Vermeer
D) Peter Paul Rubens

Question 29

Which figure is associated with the "metaphysical poets," a group of English baroque poets known for their intellectual wit?

A) John Donne
B) Jean Baptiste Lully
C) René Descartes
D) Francis Bacon

Question 30

Which statement best applies to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2?

A) involves the lead instruments in complex counterpoint
B) applies recent innovations in the form of the aria
C) appealed most to Protestant churchgoers
D) marks the origin of baroque opera in Germany

Question 31

What baroque musical form, perfected by Handel and popular among his English audiences, consisted of stories (often biblical) that were set to music and performed in public halls?

A) oratorio
B) concerto grosso
C) fugue
D) opera

Question 32

What feature or description characterizes Christopher Wren's design for St. Paul's Cathedral?

A) elaborate Italian baroque decoration
B) use of an encircling monumental colonnade
C) the strong influence of absolutist France
D) compromise between native English and continental elements

Question 33

Whose most important work was a political treatise that helped justify the Glorious Revolution in England with his ideas of a balance between individual freedom and social order?

A) John Locke
B) Molière
C) Thomas Hobbes
D) Galileo

Question 34

Which of these is the best example of a native musical talent in the English baroque?

A) Purcell's Dido and Aeneas
B) Vivaldi's Four Seasons
C) Handel's Messiah
D) Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

Question 35

Identify the stylistic features of baroque art and music in Italy.

Question 36

Illustrate Bernini's varied achievements in baroque architecture, sculpture, and design.

Question 37

Define absolutism and briefly illustrate its effects on the arts and thought in seventeenth-century Spain and France.

Question 38

Briefly summarize Johann Sebastian Bach's achievement as a composer.

Question 39

Explain the appeal of Dutch baroque painting to its patrons and public.

Question 40

Summarize the central principles of the Scientific Revolution.

Question 41

Characterize the seventeenth-century English spirit of compromise in the arts and politics.

Question 42

Define three essential elements of the baroque style in the arts and illustrate these elements with three detailed examples of baroque art. Choose your examples from two different artistic media (painting, music, architecture, sculpture, etc.).

Question 43

Discuss the relation between the baroque arts and the seventeenth-century artistic public. In your answer, choose three masterpieces of the baroque arts (painting, music, architecture, sculpture, theater) and explain how each work appealed to a distinctive audience. Be specific in connecting the artist's choice of style, theme, form, or mode of presentation to the tastes of a particular audience in seventeenth-century society.