Baroque

Baroque was the leading style of 17th-century art and architecture. It reached its peak in Rome between about 1630 and 1680 and is closely tied to the Catholic Counter-Reformation: energetic movement, bold realism that makes a scene feel as if it were happening in front of the viewer, and a direct pull on the emotions were well suited to a Church announcing its renewed vigour. The style began in Rome, but its influence reached across Europe, and it was used for portraits, still lifes, and mythological subjects as well as religious ones. The sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Rome and the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens are among the names most often given as leading examples. The National Gallery in London notes that the word has several senses and suggests it is perhaps most helpful for large, mostly 17th-century works that are dramatic and exuberant, using diagonal compositions and illusionistic effects to impress the viewer. The term began as an insult and may come from the Portuguese barroco, an irregular pearl. Baroque followed the Renaissance and Mannerism, and came before Rococo, which was in the past often called “late Baroque.”

Look for diagonal lines and for figures caught mid-movement. Follow them: where is the most dramatic moment, and how does the work lead your eye there?

• Rococo ロココ→Rococo followed the Baroque and was once called “late Baroque.”