British Baroque: Power and Illusion at Tate Britain
The first exhibition to focus on baroque culture in Britain will open in February.
British Baroque: Power and Illusion will take place at Tate Britain and explores the rich connections between art and power in an often-overlooked era.
The baroque is usually associated with the pomp and glory of European courts, epitomised by Louis XIV, but baroque visual culture also thrived in Britain under very different circumstances.
From the royal court’s heyday as the centre of the nation’s cultural life, to
the dramatic shift in power that saw the dominance of party politics, this exhibition will show how magnificence was used to express status and influence.
From the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the show will include many new discoveries and works shown in public for the first time, many on loan from the stately homes for which they were originally made.
British Baroque will begin by exploring art’s role in the construction of a renewed vision of monarchy, including portraits of Charles II and idealised representations of his power.
The visual and devotional differences between Protestant and Catholic worship will be examined in the religious art of the period.
Emotionally charged altarpieces from the contentious Catholic chapels of Mary of Modena and James II will be on show, as well as beautiful carving by Grinling Gibbons and Thornhill’s designs for the painted dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.
The visual impact and drama of baroque architecture will be represented with works by the great architects of the age: Wren, Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh.
Architectural designs, lavish prints and wooden models relating to the significant buildings of the age, such as St Paul’s Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace and Blenheim Palace, will be shown alongside vast painted birds-eye views of estates.
As well as architecture, the exhibition will look at the awe-inspiring illusion of painted baroque interiors.
Mythological mural paintings, which frequently carried contemporary political messages, were designed to overwhelm spectators and impress upon them the power, taste and leadership of their owners.
War and politics dominated the reigns of William III and Anne. The exhibition will include heroic equestrian portraiture, panoramic battle scenes and accompanying propaganda.
Victories such as Blenheim celebrated individuals such as the Duke of Marlborough, but they also embodied the might of the nation on a European stage.
The show will conclude with the dignified grandeur of portraiture made in the last two decades of the Stuart period, when party politics offered an alternative avenue to power.