The ultimate goal of Baroque art and architecture was to dazzle, draw in, and persuade, and its style was permeated with the desire to overwhelm the viewer’s senses through naturalism and drama. The Baroque style emerged in different regions at different times but was well established throughout Europe by about 1620.
Naturalism and high drama are the primary characteristics of the Baroque style. Used by painters and sculptors to great effect, these qualities imbued sacred and secular images alike with powerful messages conveyed through convincingly naturalistic characters acting out their dramas in believable settings.
Architects created grand spaces in which to stage the religious and political events of Baroque Europe, devising ever-more-majestic schemes to frame the pomp and ceremony of the Counter-Reformation Papacy as well as the French, Spanish, and English monarchies. The Baroque style also appealed to Protestant audiences, though typically on an intimate scale more appropriate to the well-appointed private homes typical of Holland and elsewhere in northern Europe.
Baroque art first flowered in Counter-Reformation Rome, where painters sought to satisfy the recommendations of the Council of Trent’s twenty-fifth session (December, 1563), which decreed that religious images be clear and truthful. The two major trends in Baroque painting developed in the competing styles of Caravaggio
While Baroque architects did design small, intimate churches, the enormous basilica of Saint Peter’s
The interior of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, a classic of Baroque architecture.
Not only was he a great architect, Bernini was also one of the period’s most talented sculptors. Whether pagan or Christian in subject, his marble statues epitomize the naturalism, drama, intensity, and immediacy of the Baroque style. Viewers see mythological and historical events unfold before their eyes, as in the miraculous transformation of human flesh to bark and leaves in his Apollo and Daphne
Mythological dramas were quite popular in Baroque Italy, as seen in the frescoes painted for the Farnese and Barberini family palaces by Carracci and Pietro da Cortona
Catholics and Protestants had decidedly different attitudes about the production and use of religious imagery. Unwilling to abandon centuries of visual tradition, the Catholic Church embraced sacred art as a means to communicate with and better understand God. Devotional images had to be both theologically correct and inspirational, and Baroque naturalism and drama served these demands well. Baroque altarpieces defended Catholic dogma, especially contested beliefs such as transubstantiation. The altar’s symbolic function as sacrificial table that holds the body and blood of Christ miraculously transformed from bread and wine was reinforced by images that focused on Christ’s crucified body, such as Caravaggio’s Entombment
Raising of the Cross
Spanish painter Esteban Murillo’s A Girl and Her Duenna (1665-1675) evokes the whimsical.
Protestants believed that religious images could lead to idolatry, and, in contrast, their churches were relatively bare. Religious beliefs and morals are not absent in northern works of art, however, as evidenced by the popular views of church interiors executed by Dutch painters such as Emanuel de Witte
Loyal to the pope in Rome, Spanish artists also incorporated naturalism, truthfulness, and drama in their devotional works, as seen in engaging examples such as Zurbarán’s St. Serapion
Baroque drama and naturalism also appealed to Europe’s monarchs, who were keen to express and confirm their absolute power and control through numerous secular works. Rubens not only worked in his native Flanders but also found himself in high demand throughout Europe. His combination of naturalism, drama, and sensuality of color and form allowed him to create grand spectacles suitable for his royal patrons’ aspirations, as exemplified by the series of twenty-one canvases painted for the Parisian palace of the queen regent Marie de Médicis
Beginning in 1669, her grandson, King Louis XIV
In the Baroque period, the Dutch Republic saw the accumulation of incredible wealth through thriving international trade and commerce. As a result, Holland’s large merchant population, with the highest per-capita income in all of Europe, fueled a vibrant artistic economy. Because Calvinism forbade religious imagery in churches, Dutch artists specialized in secular picture types, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, all of which were well served by the Baroque interest in naturalism and clarity of composition. Portraiture reached new heights of immediacy and impact in the hands of artists such as Rembrandt
Proud and protective of their small territory, the Dutch loved landscape and coastal views of their native Holland. Artists such as Jacob van Ruisdael,
The word “baroque” was first used in the late eighteenth century as a derogatory term to distinguish the Neoclassical style from the art of the seventeenth century. While considerable debate remains as to the origin of the term, all etymological suggestions imply that Baroque art is somehow irregular, bizarre, or depraved.
Even though nineteenth century writers attempted to establish the value of the Baroque style, they also saw it as distinct from the classical tradition. More recently, the Baroque has been studied as an extension of and elaboration upon many themes and concerns prevalent in the Renaissance. Although Baroque art developed as a direct refutation of the graceful yet stilted forms of the Italian Mannerist style, Baroque artists and architects drew widely from ancient and High Renaissance sources, pursuing similar goals of naturalism, dramatic narrative presentation, and effective means of engaging the spectator.
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Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France, 1500-1700. 5th ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999. An illustrated survey of French Renaissance and Baroque art. -
Brown, Jonathan. Painting in Spain: 1500-1700. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998. An illustrated survey of Spanish painting with particular attention to Spain’s Golden Age. -
Held, Julius, and Donald Posner. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Art. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1972. A classic text on the development of Baroque art and architecture in Europe, organized by region and medium. -
Martin, John Rupert. Baroque. London: A. Lane, 1977. A classic study that focuses on the major themes of Baroque art. -
Minor, Vernon Hyde. Baroque and Rococo: Art and Culture. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999. A well-illustrated exploration of Baroque art in its social, political, and cultural contexts. -
Slive, Seymour. Dutch Painting: 1600-1800. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995. An illustrated survey of Dutch Baroque art. -
Wittkower, Rudolph, Joseph Connors, and Jennifer Montagu. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750. 6th ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999. The standard, illustrated survey of Italian Baroque art.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini; Claude Lorrain; Frans Hals; Georges de La Tour; Charles Le Brun; Marie de Médicis; Bartolomé Esteban Murillo; Philip IV; Nicolas Poussin; Rembrandt; Peter Paul Rubens; Diego Velázquez; Jan Vermeer; Francisco de Zurbarán.