As Dutch art was influenced by the Italian masters, this is no surprise. However, the fact that the Dutch audience during the Golden Age was of a different temper than the Italian audiences, "necessitated alternative" styles, which might appeal to the new Dutch middle class (Zuffi 14)
In this sense, the painting is a throwback to works like those of Rembrandt, the Dutch Baroque painter, who often included characters in his paintings whose eyes were turned towards the viewer as though the viewer were interrupting some important action by approaching the canvas. Baroque art grew out of the Catholic Church's response to the rise of Protestantism and wanted to emphasize a naturalistic and realistic point in realistic arts (Johnson 178)
It also wanted to showcase dramatic works that emphasized the actual nature of mankind -- that it was fallen rather than born without the stain of Original Sin. Thus Baroque works typically highlighted the human rather than the ideal and the dramatic interplay through light or action of reality and the human consciousness (Wolfe 67)
Table 2 Lesson Plan 2: Examples of Baroque Style Painting Lesson Part Teacher Activity Description Student Activity Description Instruction Inquiry: Teacher will provide students with a PowerPoint demonstration of full and restrained Baroque style paintings. Using a PowerPoint presentation, a series of full and restrained Baroque style paintings will be presented to students in order to illustrate their defining artistic elements and how they differ, as well as to highlight the overall extent of the homogeneity in each style (Martin, 1977)
1675-1725)" and was characterized by a "light, playful style" (Baroque painting, 2015). Finally, famous examples of artworks from prominent artists of each style will be presented and interpreted to describe their defining features and aesthetic qualities (Olsen, 2013)
Caravaggio's obscure and impermeable background draws the audience's gaze back again to the illuminated characters. Equally significant is Caravaggio's dramatic application of chiaroscuro; contrasting spaces of dark and light (Strickland, & Boswell