Baroque
Description
The Baroque (UK: /bəˈrɒk/ bə-ROK, US: /bəˈroʊk/ bə-ROHK, French: [baʁɔk]) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 1600s until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in the past often referred to as "late Baroque") and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art, and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)
Revolutionary Italian painter who initiated the Baroque style by replacing academic idealization with raw, unidealized human realism and theatrical tenebrism.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
The supreme sculptor and architect of Roman Baroque whose dynamic marble carvings and monumental public fountains merged dramatic emotional tension with physical movement.
Peter Paul Rubens
Undisputed titan of Flemish Baroque whose exuberant, dynamic compositions synthesized Venetian color, muscular anatomy, and grand courtly energy.
Diego Velázquez
Leading painter of the Spanish Golden Age and royal court artist to Philip IV, celebrated for profound optical realism, psychological penetration, and masterful brushwork.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Preeminent Dutch master of the 17th century whose psychological empathy, dramatic manipulation of golden light and deep shadow, and virtuosic impasto defined Northern Baroque.
Francesco Borromini
Visionary Italian Baroque architect who discarded classical rectilinear rules to design complex, undulating concave and convex masonry geometries.
Famous Artworks
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Fun Facts
Caravaggio was a notorious brawler who carried a sword through the streets of Rome without a permit; in 1606, after killing a man during a brawl over a game of tennis, he fled Rome with a papal death warrant on his head and spent the rest of his life creating masterpieces while on the run.
↗ Source: britannica.com
When Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the theatrical Cornaro Chapel for the 'Ecstasy of Saint Teresa', he incorporated concealed window panes of yellow glass above the statue to direct an actual spotlight of warm, golden sunlight onto the white marble angel and saint throughout the day.
↗ Source: britannica.com