Spanish Baroque: Art, Literature, and Society in 17th Century Spain
The Spanish Baroque: A Cultural Epoch of Crisis and Brilliance
Baroque is a cultural movement that developed in Spain during the 17th century, occurring at a time of crisis and decline for the Spanish Empire.
Socio-Economic Landscape of 17th Century Spain
The aristocracy wasted time in court but lacked lavish celebrations or wealth. Along with the clergy, they maintained their privileged condition of exemption from taxes.
The bourgeoisie and popular classes became impoverished, living through an agrarian crisis and depopulation.
Religious and social prejudice, along with the ‘cleansing of blood’ (limpieza de sangre) associated with personal honor, prevailed.
Baroque Aesthetics and Worldview
In the Baroque era, an awareness of crisis and pessimism led to a disillusioned attitude, far removed from the optimism and vitality of the Renaissance vision. Existential angst arose from the transience of life.
Baroque clearly manifested in some of the most splendid moments in history, particularly in literature and the arts. Baroque aesthetics tended to exaggerate the Renaissance ideals it inherited, often transforming them into their opposites. The Baroque ideal for authors was sharpness of wit, seeking to develop the full potential of language and giving rise to a great literary flowering.
Literary Flourishing: Baroque Poetry
Baroque lyric poetry of the 17th century was very elaborate and difficult. Two literary styles, Conceptism and Culteranismo, characterized the Baroque trend of disequilibrium.
Conceptism: Density of Ideas
Conceptism ensured that the content was dense and complicated, conveying many ideas in a nutshell. Poets played with various meanings of terms, paradoxes, ironies, antithesis, and hyperbole.
Culteranismo: Brilliant Expression
Culteranismo aimed for brilliant expression, seeking to create a world of plastic and sensory images with poetic language. It imitated Latin syntax through a profusion of hyperbatons, resulting in great formal beauty despite its difficulty.
Luis de Góngora: Master of Culteranismo
Luis de Góngora is the most representative poet of the style called Culteranismo. He was admired for his display of imagination and perfection. Góngora also wrote popular compositions on many subjects, including two poems, such as the Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea.
Francisco de Quevedo: Voice of Disillusionment
Francisco de Quevedo is the poet who best expressed the pessimistic and disillusioned spirit of Baroque man. Quevedo wrote with great depth about existential angst, the imminent limits of life and death, the pain of love, and political and religious concerns. Many of his poetic compositions developed from a satirical perspective. Quevedo’s poetic work embodies the contrasts inherent in the Baroque era. Among his many prose works, the one that brought him the most fame was the picaresque novel: El Buscón (The Hustler).
The Golden Age of Spanish Theater
Baroque theater in the 17th century achieved great public success, constituting an entire social event. The plays were staged in corrales de comedias (open courtyards surrounded by houses), which featured a platform as a stage and a large area for the public.
Lope de Vega’s New Comedy: Innovations
Lope de Vega explained this new formula, which was especially aimed at the theatrical public. It generally rejected classical precepts and introduced the following innovations:
Breaking the Three Unities
Action usually unfolded in a main plot and a secondary one, taking place in different locations over an extended period.
Three-Act Structure
Comedies were divided into three acts, coinciding with the exposition, the rising action (knot), and the resolution (outcome) of the dramatic action.
Genre and Character Blending
This involved a mix of tragic and comic characters, as well as nobles and commoners. This mixture broadened the action and style. Characters were archetypes with a determined function in the play. The most characteristic figures included the king, queen, noble, gallant, gracioso (funny servant), and the maid.
Metrical Diversity and Lyrical Integration
Comedies were always in verse, utilizing diverse stanzas and including lyrical or dance songs that were very popular.