Baroque Art and Architecture: 4 Characteristics of the Period

The Baroque art movement—which held great influence over European art between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries—featured exuberance and stateliness. In Rome, Florence, and greater Italy, the Catholic church influenced the Baroque period. Baroque art and architecture in this region emphasized the grandeur of Catholic liturgy, which it merged with tones of realism and classicism from transitional artists like Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

In Northern Europe, Baroque painters, such as Peter Paul Rubens, took on more secular subjects, but with similar grandeur and ornamentation. Spectacle, movement, illusion, and biblical genre painting are all aspects of Baroque traditions during the seventeenth century. The word “baroque” likely derives from the Italian “barocco,” meaning “bizarre.”

The Baroque art movement sprang out of the Council of Trent, a gathering within the Catholic Counter-Reformation, which was a response to the Protestant Reformation. The council concluded that artists could use ornate art to promote the dogma and grandeur of Christianity.

• 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. Painters like Caravaggio inspired a return toward realism on a grand scale, along with a heavy nod to Greek and Roman classicism.
• Proliferation through Europe: By the early seventeenth century, Baroque art expanded beyond Rome. Louis XIV decided to expand the Palace of Versailles—located outside of Paris, France. The redesign embraced key components of Baroque architecture. In Northern Europe, where art traditionally adhered to the norms of the Protestant Reformation, Catholic artist Peter Paul Rubens introduced Baroque ideas and techniques following extensive study in Rome.
• Baroque tradition in Spain: By the mid-seventeenth century, Spain had embraced Baroque style. Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez’s Las Meninas, which captured the Spanish royal family, is one of the era’s most notable works of art.
• A slow start in Portugal: While Spain adopted the style by the mid-1600s, it would take nearly a century for Baroque to break through in Portuguese culture, which tended to favor more reserved art and architecture.
• Rococo expands on Baroque: Rococo—a more lighthearted, but flamboyant take on Baroque style—made its way to central European regions, such as Bohemia, Bavaria, Austria, and Poland. The Basilika Vierzehnheiligen (Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers) in the Bavarian region of Germany exemplifies the Rococo style. By the eighteenth century, Rococo caught on in French culture and spelled the end of formal Baroque in much of Europe.

Baroque painting, sculpture, and architecture is identifiable through its recurring features, including:

1. 1. Grandeur: From the marble columns of Baroque cathedrals to the muscle-bound figures of Rubens’s paintings, Baroque art pushes grandeur to its natural extreme.
2. 2. Return to realism: Drawing inspiration from Italian painter Caravaggio and Spanish artists Diego Velázquez and Francisco Ribalta, Baroque painters emphasized the realism of the human form—albeit with idealized proportions and, often, dramatic poses.
3. 3. Joy through art: Baroque and Rococo forms sought to exploit the full potential of every canvas, building, and sculpture by emphasizing beauty, majesty, and grace.
4. 4. Curvilinear forms: Baroque art rarely deals in straight lines, preferring graceful arcs and curves whenever possible.

The Baroque era produced many notable artists and sculptors whose work remains widely displayed in galleries ranging from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

• Annibale Carracci: An early Italian Baroque painter, Carracci’s works include Flight into Egypt and Christ Wearing the Crown of Thorns, Supported by Angels.
• Artemisia Gentileschi: Heavily influenced by Caravaggio, Gentileschi is one of the most prominent female artists of the era. She painted Judith Beheading Holofernes.
• Caravaggio: Caravaggio, who employed the chiaroscuro and tenebrism techniques, is often considered the first major painter of the Baroque movement and a heavy influence on those who followed. Caravaggio’s famous works include The Calling of Saint Matthew, Crucifixion of Saint Peter, and Conversion on the way to Damascus.
• Charles Le Brun: Charles Le Brun supervised the production of artworks and sculptures commissioned by the French court under King Louis XIV. Le Brun’s Baroque works include The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Sacrifice of Polyxena.
• Diego Velázquez: Diego Velázquez, a master of Spanish Baroque (barroco), painted Las Meninas and Portrait of Pope Innocent X.
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini: The Italian artist created Baroque sculptures, including Ecstasy of Saint Teresa and Apollo and Daphne.
• Johannes Vermeer: The Dutch painter painted Girl with a Pearl Earring and Christ in the House of Martha and Mary.
• Nicolas Poussin: Also known for his French Classicism art, Nicolas Poussin led the French Baroque movement and painted Altar of St. Erasmus, originally an altarpiece for St. Peter's Basilica that incorporated elements of Baroque style.
  
• Peter Paul Rubens: The leader of the Flemish Baroque movement trained in Rome. His works include Judgement of Paris, and Hercules as Heroic Virtue Overcoming Discord.
• Rembrandt: Rembrandt van Rijn was a Dutch master known for paintings such as The Night Watch and The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.

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