Baroque
Art designed to overwhelm: motion, dramatic light and theatre that pulls the viewer in
How to recognise it
- Sharp contrast of light and darkness
- Diagonal compositions, figures in motion
- Curving, undulating façades
- Illusionistic ceiling paintings
- Fusion of architecture, sculpture and painting
Why it emerged
After the Council of Trent the Catholic Church wanted to win back the faithful with emotional, legible art. Absolute monarchs adopted the same spectacle for palaces that displayed their power.
Examples
The Calling of Saint Matthew1599–1600 · CaravaggioA beam of light in a Roman tavern: Caravaggio's chiaroscuro spread across Europe from here
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa1647–1652 · Gian Lorenzo BerniniA chapel as theatre: marble, a hidden window and patrons watching from boxes
St. Peter's Square1656–1667 · Gian Lorenzo BerniniColonnades of 284 columns as the Church's embrace, a model as far as St Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral
Las Meninas1656 · Diego VelázquezA puzzle of gazes about who stands where the viewer is; Picasso made 58 variations
Palace of Versaillesc. 1661–1710 · Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, André Le NôtreThe palace of absolutism with formal gardens, copied from Peterhof to CasertaMore in this style
- 1607 L'Orfeo — Claudio Monteverdi
- 1610–1611 The Elevation of the Cross — Peter Paul Rubens
- c. 1689 Dido and Aeneas — Henry Purcell
- c. 1725 The Four Seasons — Antonio Vivaldi
- 1733–1749 Mass in B minor — Johann Sebastian Bach
How it spread
- 1600 Rome
- 1609 Antwerp
- 1623 Madrid
- 1645 Paris
- 1696 Vienna
- 1704 Prague
Meanwhile elsewhere
- Ife and Benin bronzes Africa
- Persian miniature Middle East
- Ming and Qing Porcelain Asia
- Italian Renaissance Europe
- Classical Ottoman Architecture (Sinan) Middle East
- Mannerism Europe
- Mughal Art Asia
- Tented Churches Eastern Europe & Russia
- Dutch Golden Age Painting Europe
- Latin American Baroque Americas
- Ukiyo-e Asia
- Naryshkin Baroque Eastern Europe & Russia
- Rococo Europe
- Elizabethan Baroque Eastern Europe & Russia
- Neoclassicism Europe