Why did baroque art start? The Baroque started as a response of the Catholic Church to the many criticisms that arose during the Protestant Reform in the 16th-century. The seat of the Catholic Church in the Vatican saw in art an opportunity for reconnecting with the people.
What is the history of Baroque art?
- The Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, the first Paris church with a façade in the new Baroque style (1616–20)
- The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte from Maincy (1657–1661)
- East facade of the Louvre, by Claude Perrault and Louis Le Vau (1668–1680)
- Hall of Mirrors in the Versailles Palace (1678–1686)
- The Dôme des Invalides, part of the Les Invalides (Paris)
How to distinguish between Baroque, Classical, and romantic?
The Difference Between Baroque & Romantic Music
- Faces. Baroque composers include Handel, Bach, Pachelbel and Vivaldi. ...
- Instruments. Different musical instruments depict the Baroque and romantic periods. ...
- Voices. Music enthusiasts during the Baroque era were introduced to stories told through opera, which opened with overtures that set the mood.
- Society. ...
What are some examples of Baroque art?
An Introduction To Baroque Art In 12 Works
- The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. ...
- Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. ...
- Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi. ...
- Boy with a Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio. ...
- The Abduction of the Sabine Women by Nicolas Poussin. ...
- Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. ...
- High Altar of the Virgin Mary by Jorg Zurn. ...
- The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer. ...
What defines Baroque art?
Baroque art is considered an artistic style that developed between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which is shown in different artistic disciplines such as architecture, painting, music and literature, characterized by excessive ornamentation.
What was the purpose of baroque art?
As a general term, baroque is used to describe something with intricate details and very elaborate scenes. Judging by the details of every baroque art form, it became clear that the main purpose was to appeal to the human emotions, through drama and exaggeration.
Why was Baroque created?
Baroque is an artistic movement that developed in Italy, in Rome, in the 17th century in reaction to Mannerism that dominated the late Italian Renaissance. This movement was encouraged by the Catholic Church that sought to return to the tradition and spirituality the Church promoted with the Counter Reformation.
When did the Baroque art start?
17th centuryBaroque period, (17th–18th century) Era in the arts that originated in Italy in the 17th century and flourished elsewhere well into the 18th century. It embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts, and music.
What event influenced baroque art?
A main event that influenced the Baroque period was the Counter-Reformation.
What is the dominant inspiration of the Baroque art?
A Brief History of Baroque Art Building on Mannerism: The pope and Catholic scholars encouraged European artists, sculptors, and architects to expand on the Mannerist styles, which drew inspiration from High Renaissance art. Mannerism exaggerated the aesthetics of beauty that dominated contemporary art at the time.
What makes Baroque art unique?
Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.
What is the history of Baroque?
The Baroque period refers to an era that started around 1600 and ended around 1750, and included composers like Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, who pioneered new styles like the concerto and the sonata. The Baroque period saw an explosion of new musical styles with the introduction of the concerto, the sonata and the opera.
How did Baroque art reflect the time period?
Baroque art falls into the period of Counter-Reformation led by the Catholic church against the Protestants. Much of the Baroque art, especially in Italy, reflects reaction to Mannerism, but also the social turmoil of the time.
Historical Foundations: When Was the Baroque Period?
The Baroque period began during the the late 1500s until the early 1700s, and was wide and varied throughout Europe. Its principles of extravagance...
What Is Baroque Art?
Baroque Art was pioneered by noteworthy painters, architects, and sculptors who brought the visual power of art to the masses. There were many impo...
What Is Baroque Art?
Baroque art started during the late 1500s into the early 1700s. It was an art period during the Counter-Reformation when the Catholic Church was in...
What Characterized the Baroque Period?
The Baroque period was characterized by using embellished and ornate decorations in paintings, sculpture, and architecture. Baroque artists portray...
When Was the Baroque Period?
The Baroque period started as an art movement after the Renaissance and Mannerism art periods, and was followed by the Rococo art movement. Many ar...
What is the Baroque style?
The Baroque ( UK: / bəˈrɒk /, US: / bəˈroʊk /; French: [baʁɔk]) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1740s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including the Iberian Peninsula it continued, together with new styles, ...
Why did the Portuguese Baroque not lack in building?
In fact, the first Portuguese Baroque does not lack in building because "plain style" is easy to be transformed, by means of decoration (painting, tiling, etc.), turning empty areas into pompous, elaborate baroque scenarios. The same could be applied to the exterior.
What is the French term for the architectural style that is highly adorned and tormented?
In 1788 Quatremère de Quincy defined the term in the Encyclopédie Méthodique as "an architectural style that is highly adorned and tormented". The French terms style baroque and musique baroque appeared in Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française in 1835.
What are the new motifs introduced by Baroque?
New motifs introduced by Baroque are: the cartouche, trophies and weapons, baskets of fruit or flowers, and others, made in marquetry, stucco, or carved.
How long did the Baroque period last?
Baroque architecture in Portugal lasted about two centuries (the late seventeenth century and eighteenth century). The reigns of John V and Joseph I had increased imports of gold and diamonds, in a period called Royal Absolutism, which allowed the Portuguese Baroque to flourish.
Where was the Baroque garden?
The Baroque garden, also known as the jardin à la française or French formal garden, first appeared in Rome in the 16th century, and then most famously in France in the 17th century in the gardens of Vaux le Vicomte and the Palace of Versailles. Baroque gardens were built by Kings and princes in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Poland, Italy and Russia until the mid-18th century, when they began to be remade into by the more natural English landscape garden .
When was the Frauenkirche completed?
The Dresden Frauenkirche serves as a prominent example of Lutheran Baroque art, which was completed in 1743 after being commissioned by the Lutheran city council of Dresden and was "compared by eighteenth-century observers to St Peter's in Rome".
Why did the Baroque start?
The Baroque started as a response of the Catholic Church to the many criticisms that arose during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th-century . The seat of the Catholic Church in the Vatican saw in art an opportunity for reconnecting with the people.
What did the Baroque artists try to create?
Artists tried to create a sense of movement and used strong contrasts of light and dark. There was an attention to detail and ornaments and embellishments were abundant. Different types of art were often combined. The Baroque was promoted by the Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reform.
Why was the Baroque style adopted?
Baroque was adopted as a style to show the importance of a government and as a symbol of status for a growing class of wealthy merchants. Lesson Summary. All right, let's take a moment or two to review what we've learned about Baroque art and its historical origins.
Why was Baroque art important to the royal family?
The sovereigns soon saw Baroque art as an opportunity to show their own wealth and power, so it was adopted not only for religious art but also for the different venues of the royalty. Palaces became amazingly opulent, with elaborate elements in every room.
What was the Baroque period?
It seems like those creations were trying to raise feelings and emotions in the audience, and they actually were. The Baroque was a period in art history that started at the beginning of the 17th-century ...
What was the dramatic style of the Baroque?
The dramatic and elaborate style of the Baroque not only provided a sensorial experience but also became a demonstration of wealth and power. It was initially promoted by the church to educate the faithful, but also as a statement of power to the Protestants.
What is the style of Baroque?
The style of Baroque was exuberant and was characterized by a dramatic realism. There was an intention of creating a strong sense of movement by using different shapes and colors. It was common to use diagonals, curved lines, and abundant colors. The contrast of light and dark was another common feature.
Why was Baroque art important to the Catholic Church?
It was made to inspire grandeur and awe in the people who experienced it, and became a wholly new sensory experience.
Where did Baroque paintings come from?
Baroque paintings were found far and wide around Europe, and we will see paintings from Italy, France, Spain, Flanders, Holland, England, and Germany. Many artists had other creative attributes that made them not only painters, but sculptors, draftsmen, drawers, and architects, among others.
What set the Baroque period apart from the Renaissance and subsequent Mannerism periods?
What set the Baroque period apart from the Renaissance and subsequent Mannerism periods was its focus on more liveliness in its subject matter and a stark realism. Some sources also describe it as focusing on the moment the event is taking place, or otherwise the “action” or drama. The subject matter was of religious and biblical narratives, as instructed by the Catholic Church. These would range between images of the Virgin Mary, the various Saints, and various stories from the Bible.
What was the Baroque period?
It was a period of revival in art and culture with deep roots in the religious structures and powers of Western Europe at the time, which was the Catholic Church, and presently referred to as the Roman Catholic Church.
Why did the Catholic Church support the Baroque style?
The Catholic Church backed the Baroque style because it needed a new and enlivened approach to inspire and uplift the common people again, as well as to connect them with the Church and its majesty. After the turmoil of war and conflicts from the Reformation, this was a refreshing resurgence for the Church.
Where did the term Baroque come from?
The term baroque has been understood within various contexts. It is a French word, but its root origin is traced to the Portuguese barocco, which means “a flawed pearl”.
Which country supported the Baroque style?
The Catholic Church supported the development of Baroque with its origins in Rome, Italy, and eventually in European countries like northern Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, southern Germany, and Russia. Below, we discuss this decorative and fanciful art period. Table of Content [ Ausblenden]
What was the Baroque movement?
Baroque ushered in a new era for European sculpture, led largely by the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which emphasized sensual richness, dramatic realism, intense emotion, and movement.
Where did the term Baroque come from?
The origin of the term Baroque is a bit ambiguous. Many scholars think it was derived from the Portuguese barrocco, meaning an imperfect or irregularly shaped pearl. And some, like the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau thought it was derived from the Italian barocco, a term used to describe an obstacle in formal logic in the medieval period. In growing usage the term originally contained negative connotations, the artwork within its cadre viewed as bizarre and sometimes ostentatious. But in 1888 Heinrich Wölfflin's Renaissance und Barock (1888), the term was officially used as a simple descriptive to denote the distinct artistic style.
What is the importance of Baroque churches?
Baroque churches became a pivotal example of the invigorated emphasis on the glory of Catholicism with their designs that incorporated a large central space with a dome or cupola high overhead, allowing light to illuminate the space below.
What was the role of religious dominance in the Baroque period?
Summary of Baroque Art and Architecture. In 1527 Europe, religious dominance had the power to direct and inform the content and climate of society's artistic output.
Why was the Baroque movement banned?
Baroque brought images for religious worship back into the public eye after being banned for their glorification of the ethereal and ideal. The movement's leaders professed that art should be easily understood and strongly felt by common people with the effect of encouraging piety and an awe for the church.
What is Chiaroscuro in Caravaggio's paintings?
Employing chiaroscuro, the intense contrast of light and dark, the work exhibits the direct realism and intense sense of psychological drama that distinguished Caravaggio's work.
What is Rembrandt's art style?
Rembrandt's art was characterized by his sweeping Biblical narratives, stunning attention to detail, and masterful use of chiaroscuro, the painterly application of light and shadow. Claude Lorrain. Quick view Read more. Claude Lorrain was a Baroque French painter who spent much of his life in Italy.
Why is Baroque art important?
In addition, it played an important role in all the religious conflicts that were taking place at that time, as the Protestants were confronted with those who constructed simple and humble buildings for religious services with elegant, majestic and complex constructions; it can be said that Baroque art acted as the aesthetic expression of the Counter Reformation.
Where did Baroque art originate?
The baroque art originated first in the field of plastic arts and then extended to literature, theater and music. It had its origin in Italy during the seventeenth century and managed to spread to places such as Belgium, Holland and even Latin America, where it was introduced by artists who traveled on expeditions from Europe. Art emerged within a political and religious setting in Europe expressing the spirituality and the theocentrism of the Middle Ages, using rationalism and Anthropocentrism of the Renaissance.
Why did Baroque architecture use curved lines?
Baroque art architecture. In architecture, curved lines were adopted instead of straight lines to achieve a greater degree of dynamism and expressiveness. For them, the facades were very important, and they decorated them with great decorations using cornices and Greek and Roman columns.
What is the baroque sculpture?
Religious themes predominated, they made realism one of their main characteristics, and they created images dressed with lots of details. The main client of baroque sculpture was Catholic church and then, the court. Made mainly of polychromed wood, their works are used in the Holy Week celebrations.
What was the main client of Baroque sculpture?
The main client of baroque sculpture was Catholic church and then, the court.
Why did Baroque artists use oil paint?
They used oil painting because it gave them greater brightness and different colors, viscosity and qualities. The canvas was the favorite material of Baroque painters and the linear and symmetrical tendency was lost, because the artists used more freedom in their colors and movements.
What are the characteristics of Baroque art?
It seeks to represent inner feelings, passions, ways of thinking and different emotions. Its themes include religious topics that had been abandoned by Renaissance. It has sense of movement, energy and tension.
Where did the word "baroque" come from?
The word “baroque” derives from the Portuguese and Spanish words for a large, irregularly-shaped pearl (“barroco” and “barrueco,” respectively). Eighteenth century critics were the first to apply the term to the art of the 17th century. It was not a term of praise.
Which countries have embraced the more ornate elements of seventeenth century art to celebrate Catholicism?
The monarchs of Spain, Portugal, and France also embraced the more ornate elements of seventeenth century art to celebrate Catholicism. In Spain and its colonies, rulers invested vast resources on elaborate church facades, stunning, gold-covered chapels and tabernacles, and strikingly-realistic polychrome sculpture.
What is Caravaggio's realism?
Artists like Caravaggio turned to a powerful and dramatic realism, accentuated by bold contrasts of light and dark, and tightly-cropped compositions that enhance the physical and emotional immediacy of the depicted narrative.
What did the Papacy do to rebuild Rome?
Keen to rebuild Rome’s reputation as a holy city, the Papacy embarked on extensive building and decoration campaigns aimed at highlighting its ancient origins, its beliefs, and its divinely-sanctioned authority.
Which artist was inspired by the vibrant palette, idealized forms, and balanced compositions of the High Renaissance?
Other artists, like Annibale Carracc i (who also experimented with realism), ultimately settled on a more classical visual language, inspired by the vibrant palette, idealized forms, and balanced compositions of the High Renaissance (see image above).
Which of these artists favored the restraint and order of Neoclassicism?
To the eyes of these critics, who favored the restraint and order of Neoclassicism, the works of Bernini, Borromini, and Pietro da Cortona appeared bizarre, absurd, even diseased—in other words, misshapen, like an imperfect pearl.
What did Louis XIV do for Versailles?
Louis XIV, for example, commissioned the splendid buildings and gardens of Versailles as a visual expression of his divine right to rule. Peter Paul Rubens, Elevation of the Cross, 1610, oil on wood, 15′ 1-7/8″ x 11′ 1-1/2″ (originally for Saint Walpurgis, Antwerp (destroyed), now in Antwerp Cathedral)
Why is baroque art so popular?
Baroque art has very extravagant influences. They are easily recognized because of the fine elements and details that focus on emotions rather than logic and geometry.
When was the Baroque era?
Everything about the Baroque current was a tad dramatic. Art history identified Baroque as being born somewhere around the 17th century. It registered a continuous evolution until the 18th century. This artistic current first started in Rome. But, it quickly spread across Europe within the next decades.
What is the name of the painting that Caravaggio painted?
But, he is, beyond a shred of a doubt, an iconic name in baroque art. This work entitled “The Calling of St Matthew” shows a dark tavern, with a bunch men that are facing Christ. Also, Christ is pointing at St. Matthew. The baroque elements of this painting are extremely visible: from the dark angles that transition to the light falling on the men’s figures, from the gestures to the facial expression which indicate the drama of the scene.
What is the most famous figure in Baroque painting?
Probably one of the most iconic figures that’s associated with baroque paintings is Caravaggio, who created timeless masterpiece, such as “ The Calling of St. Mathew” or “The Crowning with Thorns”.
What are the characteristics of Baroque sculptures?
The main characteristic of baroque sculptures are their 360 viewing angles, meant to be places in a spot where they can be admired from all angles, rather than placing them against a wall.
What is Rembrandt's painting about?
The painting shows the dissection made by the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons. The executed criminal lies on a table, surrounded by dramatic bearded figures, in a gruesome scene that Rembrandt painted back in 1632.
Which country is the center of Baroque architecture?
Italy is really the centerpiece of all things baroque. Italy has given the world some important baroque architects and buildings, such as Pietro de Cortona, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, and Francesco Borromini.

Context of Development
- The context of Baroque development has to be seen in light of the great religious conflicts of the 16-17th centuries, such as the initial conflict between Luther and the Catholic Church and eventually the Thirty Years War that tore much of Europe apart. During the Council of Trent, in 1545–63, the Catholic Church was looking for a new style that would contrast itself from Protest…
Spread of The Baroque
- Although one can say already some churches in Italy, particularly Rome, in the 1580s began to display a new Baroque style, most of the Baroque in the late 16th century was confined to Italy. It only really began to spread in the early 1600s, when Spain began to create its own Baroque churches, such as the San Isidro Chapel in Madrid. The Baroque style soon began to change an…
After The Baroque Period
- In France, the baroque style gave way to the Rococo, which was a style that contained asymmetry, curvy depictions with heavier use of white and pastel colors in paintings. This was during the mid to late 18th century; however, most scholars consider this style as an off-shoot and influenced by the Baroque style. By the late 18th century, there was renewed interest in more traditional Classi…
Summary
- The baroque style started as a reaction or even part of the wider counter-reformation movement against Protestant Europe. The use of baroque was a way for Catholic parts of Europe to easily distinguish themselves. It soon developed a number of sub-styles and local variations of baroque developed in the countries where it was adopted. From the 17th ...
Overview
The Baroque is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1740s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including the Iberian Peninsula it continued, together with new styles, until the first decade of the 19th century. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in the past often referred to as "late Baroque") and Neoclassical styles. It was encoura…
Origin of the word
The English word baroque comes directly from the French. Some scholars state that the French word originated from the Portuguese term barroco ("a flawed pearl"), pointing to the Latin verruca, ("wart"), or to a word with the suffix -ǒccu (common in pre-Roman Iberia). Other sources suggest a Medieval Latin term used in logic, baroco, as the most likely source.
In the 16th century, the Medieval Latin word baroco moved beyond scholastic logic and came int…
Architecture: origins and characteristics
The Baroque style of architecture was a result of doctrines adopted by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1545–63, in response to the Protestant Reformation. The first phase of the Counter-Reformation had imposed a severe, academic style on religious architecture, which had appealed to intellectuals but not the mass of churchgoers. The Council of Trent decided instead to appeal to a more popular audience, and declared that the arts should communicate religious t…
Painting
Baroque painters worked deliberately to set themselves apart from the painters of the Renaissance and the Mannerism period after it. In their palette, they used intense and warm colours, and particularly made use of the primary colours red, blue and yellow, frequently putting all three in close proximity. They avoided the even lighting of Renaissance painting and used strong contrasts of light and darkness on certain parts of the picture to direct attention to the central a…
Sculpture
The dominant figure in baroque sculpture was Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Under the patronage of Pope Urban VIII, he made a remarkable series of monumental statues of saints and figures whose faces and gestures vividly expressed their emotions, as well as portrait busts of exceptional realism, and highly decorative works for the Vatican such as the imposing Chair of St. Peter beneath the dome in St. Peter's Basilica. In addition, he designed fountains with monumental groups of sculp…
Furniture
The main motifs used are: horns of plenty, festoons, baby angels, lion heads holding a metal ring in their mouths, female faces surrounded by garlands, oval cartouches, acanthus leaves, classical columns, caryatids, pediments, and other elements of Classical architecture sculpted on some parts of pieces of furniture, baskets with fruits or flowers, shells, armour and trophies, heads of Apollo or Bacchus, and C-shaped volutes.
Music
The term Baroque is also used to designate the style of music composed during a period that overlaps with that of Baroque art. The first uses of the term 'baroque' for music were criticisms. In an anonymous, satirical review of the première in October 1733 of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, printed in the Mercure de France in May 1734, the critic implied that the novelty of this opera was "du barocque," complaining that the music lacked coherent melody, was filled with unremitting di…
Dance
The classical ballet also originated in the Baroque era. The style of court dance was brought to France by Marie de Medici, and in the beginning the members of the court themselves were the dancers. Louis XIV himself performed in public in several ballets. In March 1662, the Académie Royale de Danse, was founded by the King. It was the first professional dance school and company, and set the standards and vocabulary for ballet throughout Europe during the period.