Her Portrait, Their Palace

The Baroque era is known for its “emotional richness and technical complexity.”  This was largely manifest in the ostentatious architecture of this period as opposed to a simple structure.  It was dramatic, theatrical, and elaborate effects and decorations.  For example, look at the architecture of the Blenheim palace in England.

Blenheim Palace

The size is intimidating, and the stone work adds to the intensity of the architecture.  Vaulted ceilings, impressive murals, and intricate detail, and grand staircases are a few of the features that typified the baroque architecture in the Blenheim palace.

sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

In my Spanish literature class we studied a poem by sor Juana Inés de la Cruz that she wrote during the Baroque era.  She was born out of wedlock in Mexico and later became a nun.  Much of her efforts were geared toward prejudice against women and minorities.  Her poem, “A Su Retrato” (or “To Her Portrait”) is about how a beautiful and impressive portrait of a woman is a disillusionment of the what’s really underneath the what appears on the surface.  Flattery has sought to hide the wrinkles that come with old age and the passing of time, but when it comes down to it “this coloured counterfeit” of a painting is really “corpse and dust, shadow and nothingness" (source).

This poem, written in the baroque era, made me think back to the grandiose architecture.  Was there harm in this specific characteristic of the baroque era?  Was it a disillusionment of something that would disappoint as each layer was peeled back until nothingness remained?  Should they have returned to simplicity, too?  Or was there a separate, more valuable purpose to this art?

Image sources: Blenheim Palace (via Literary Festivals), sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (via biography.com)