Baroque Art IV: France and England Answers

Mary Magdalene

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Christopher Wren proposed a grand redesign with broad streets and open spaces. The plan was not adopted because rebuilding needed to begin quickly and existing property boundaries made a complete redesign difficult. Wren instead focused on rebuilding many of London’s churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Mary Magdalene

Answers will vary. Through the clearly defined foreground, middleground, and background.

Answers may vary. The way the baby is standing on the mother’s lap is rather ambiguous. The mother’s bent legs are not depicted correctly to support the child either.

St. Paul’s Cathedral reflects the grandeur of the Baroque style, especially in its monumental dome and dramatic scale. Its symmetrical façade and classical columns also draw on Renaissance and ancient Roman architecture, with the dome inspired in part by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Answers will vary. The church is a combination of basilica-style building and a united dome building.

Poussin creates an orderly progression by arranging the scene in layers. The large ruins and Saint John occupy the foreground, while the trees and rolling hills recede through the middle ground toward smaller, less distinct buildings and mountains in the background. Overlapping forms and the diminishing size and detail of objects lead the viewer’s eye into the distance.

The figures look stiff, and their bodies and hands are awkwardly proportioned. The painting also has little convincing perspective or natural shading, so the space appears flat. These features suggest the artist had not received formal training in realistic figure painting.