When Did the Golden Age of Spanish Art Began

Learning Objective

• Place some works of fine art from the Castilian Siglo de Oro

Key Points

• The Castilian Gold Age (Spanish: Siglo de Oro, "Golden Century") was a catamenia of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise and decline of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. El Siglo de Oro does non imply precise dates and is ordinarily considered to have lasted longer than an actual century.
• Spanish fine art of the era contained a strong mark of mysticism and organized religion that was encouraged by the counter-reformation and the patronage of Spain's strongly Catholic monarchs and elite. Spanish dominion of Naples was important for making connections between Italian and Spanish art.
• The nigh influential Spanish painters of the era include El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
• The same period produced some of the almost important works of Spanish architecture. These include the Palace of Charles V, El Escorial, the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Granada Cathedral, and the Cathedral of Valladolid.
• Spanish literature of the period flourished, producing the first European novel, Don Quixote, and revolutionizing Spanish drama and thus theater.
• Music of the era revolved largely around religious forms and themes.

Terms

The Spanish Gilded Age

(Spanish: Siglo de Oro, "Gold Century") A period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, congruent with the political rise and refuse of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. It does not imply precise dates and is usually considered to have lasted longer than an actual century.

Herrerian

An architectural way developed in Kingdom of spain during the terminal third of the 16th century, under the reign of Philip 2 (1556–1598), and continued in forcefulness in the 17th century, but transformed by the Baroque electric current of the time. It corresponds to the third and final stage of Spanish Renaissance compages.

Mannerism

A style in European art that emerged in the subsequently years of the Italian High Renaissance, around 1520, lasting until well-nigh 1580 in Italia, when the Baroque style began to supercede it. Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century. Where High Renaissance art emphasized proportion, balance, and ideal dazzler, it exaggerated such qualities, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant.

Siglo de Oro

The Spanish Aureate Age (Castilian: Siglo de Oro, "Golden Century") was a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise and decline of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. El Siglo de Oro does not imply precise dates and is usually considered to have lasted longer than an bodily century. It began no earlier than 1492, with the finish of the Reconquista, the sea voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New Globe, and the publication of Antonio de Nebrija's Grammar of the Castilian Language. Politically, it concluded no afterwards than 1659, with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, ratified between France and Habsburg Spain. The final great writer of the flow, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, died in 1681, and his decease is usually considered the cease of El Siglo de Oro in the arts and literature.

Painting

The Italian holdings and relationships made by Queen Isabella's husband, and later Espana's sole monarch, Ferdinand of Aragon, launched a steady traffic of intellectuals across the Mediterranean between Valencia, Seville, and Florence. Luis de Morales, one of the leading exponents of Spanish mannerist painting, retained a distinctly Spanish style in his work, reminiscent of medieval fine art. Spanish art, particularly that of Morales, contained a strong marking of mysticism and religion that was encouraged by the counter-reformation and the patronage of Espana's strongly Cosmic monarchs and elite. Spanish rule of Naples was important for making connections between Italian and Spanish art, with many Spanish administrators bringing Italian works dorsum to Kingdom of spain.

Some of the greatest artists of the era:

• Known for his great touch on in bringing the Italian Renaissance to Spain, El Greco ("The Greek") was influential in creating a style based on impressions and emotion, featuring elongated fingers and vibrant colour and brushwork. His paintings of the city of Toledo became models for a new European tradition in landscapes, and influenced the work of subsequently Dutch masters.
• Diego Velázquez is widely regarded every bit ane of Spain's almost of import and influential artists. His portraits of the king and other prominent figures demonstrated a conventionalities in artistic realism and a style comparable to many of the Dutch masters. Velázquez'southward nigh famous painting is the historic Las Meninas, in which the artist included himself as i of the subjects.
• The religious chemical element in Spanish art grew in importance with the counter-reformation. The ascetic, ascetic, and severe work of Francisco de Zurbarán exemplified this thread. The mysticism of Zurbarán's piece of work—influenced past Saint Theresa of Avila—became a hallmark of Spanish art in afterward generations.
• Bartolomé Esteban Murillo'south works were influenced by realism. His more important works evolved towards the polished style that suited the bourgeois and aristocratic tastes of the time, demonstrated especially in his Roman Catholic religious works.

Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez (1656), Galería online, Museo del Prado. The painting'due south complex and enigmatic composition raises questions nearly reality and illusion and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted. Considering of these complexities, Las Meninas has been 1 of the well-nigh widely analyzed works in Western painting.

Architecture

The same menstruum produced some of the most important works of Spanish architecture. These include:

• The Palace of Charles Five located on the height of the hill of the Assabica, inside the Nasrid fortification of the Alhambra. The project was given to Pedro Machuca, who congenital a palace corresponding stylistically to Mannerism, a style still in its infancy in Italian republic.
• El Escorial: a historical residence of the king of Spain. It is 1 of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school. Located in the boondocks of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, it comprises ii architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance: El Real Monasterio de El Escorial itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda, a royal hunting order and monastic retreat. During the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the temporal power of the Castilian monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation. Philip 2 engaged the Spanish architect Juan Bautista de Toledo to be his collaborator in the design of El Escorial.
• The Plaza Mayor in Madrid: A central plaza in Madrid, Espana. Juan de Herrera was the architect who designed the start projection in 1581 to remodel the one-time Plaza del Arrabal, just structure didn't offset until 1617, during Philip III's reign. Nevertheless, the Plaza Mayor as we know it today is the work of the architect Juan de Villanueva, who was entrusted with its reconstruction in 1790 afterward a spate of big fires.
• Granada Cathedral: Foundations for the church were laid by the architect Egas starting from 1518 to 1523 atop the site of the city's main mosque. Past 1529, Egas was replaced by Diego de Siloé, who labored for nearly 4 decades on the structure.
• The Cathedral of Valladolid: Like all the buildings of the late Spanish Renaissance congenital past Herrera and his followers, it is known for its purist and sober ornament, its way being the typical Castilian clasicismo, also called "Herrerian."

Literature

The Spanish Golden Age was also a time of peachy flourishing in poetry, prose, and drama. Regarded by many as i of the finest literary works in any linguistic communication, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes was the first novel published in Europe. Information technology gave Cervantes a stature in the Spanish-speaking globe comparable to his gimmicky William Shakespeare in English. Don Quixote resembled both the medieval, chivalric romances of an earlier time and the novels of the early mod world. Information technology has endured to the present day as a landmark in world literary history, and it was an immediate international hit in its own time.

Cervantes'southward Don Quixote (1605), original title page. Don Quixote, the commencement European novel, has endured to the nowadays solar day as a landmark in earth literary history, and it was an immediate international hit in its own time.

A contemporary of Cervantes, Lope de Vega consolidated the essential genres and structures that would characterize the Spanish commercial drama, likewise known equally the "Comedia," throughout the 17th century. While Lope de Vega wrote prose and poetry too, he is best remembered for his plays, specially those grounded in Spanish history. In bringing morality, comedy, drama, and popular wit together, Lope de Vega is also frequently compared to his English contemporary Shakespeare. Some accept argued that as a social critic, Lope de Vega, like Cervantes, attacked many of the aboriginal institutions of his state—elite, chivalry, and rigid morality, amid others. The other great dramatist of the 17th century was Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681). His most famous piece of work is Life Is a Dream (1635). Built-in when the Spanish Golden Age theater was being defined by Lope de Vega, Pedro Calderón de la Barca developed it further, and his work is regarded every bit the culmination of the Spanish Baroque theater. As such, he remains one of Spain's foremost dramatists and one of the finest playwrights of world literature. Other well-known playwrights of the period include Tirso de Molina, Agustín Moreto, Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Guillén de Castro, and Antonio Mira de Amescua.

This menses also produced some of the almost of import Spanish works of poetry. The introduction and influence of Italian Renaissance poesy is apparent perhaps near vividly in the works of Garcilaso de la Vega, and illustrate a profound influence on afterward poets. Mystical literature in Castilian reached its summit with the works of San Juan de la Cruz and Teresa of Ávila. Baroque poetry was dominated by the contrasting styles of Francisco de Quevedo and Luis de Góngora; both had a lasting influence on subsequent writers, and even on the Spanish language itself.

Music

Tomás Luis de Victoria, a Castilian composer of the 16th century, mainly of choral music, is widely regarded equally one of the greatest Spanish classical composers. Like Zurbarán, Victoria mixed the technical qualities of Italian art with the religion and culture of his native Spain. Francisco Guerrero's music was both sacred and secular, dissimilar that of de Victoria and Morales, the two other Spanish 16th-century composers of the first rank. He wrote numerous secular songs and instrumental pieces, in addition to masses, motets, and Passions. De Victoria's work was also complemented by Alonso Lobo, whose piece of work stressed the austere, minimalist nature of religious music.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/the-siglo-de-oro/

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