Baroque Architecture Guide: Characteristics of Baroque Style

Closely associated with the seventeenth century, baroque architecture was characterized by vaulted cupolas (domelike ceilings) held up by swiveling colonnades (rows of pillars), walls and doorways made of both rough stones and smooth stucco, and interior design denoted by luxuriant fabrics and furniture. The word “baroque” likely derives from the Italian barocco or Portuguese barroco.

This architecture was often adorned with the frescoes of baroque artists—the expressive, chiaroscuro portraits of baroque painters like Caravaggio, Nicolas Poussin, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, and Rembrandt furnished the stucco walls.

The style featured prominently in history alongside the baroque music of the times—composers Johann Sebastian Bach and George Friedrich Handel echoed this architectural era’s emphasis on precise form and rigidity complemented by a drive toward creative transcendence.

The origins of baroque architecture began with a desire to get people back into the pews they were abandoning, eventually giving way to a more relaxed, artistically vibrant mood. Here are a few key moments from the architectural style’s history:

• The Roman Catholic Church hoped for a makeover. The Vatican had many issues with the Protestant Reformation—enough to spearhead a counter-reformation of its own in the late sixteenth century. As part of this initiative, the Catholic Church’s leaders strategized at the Council of Trent how to maintain a hold on their congregants in the face of growing opposition. Upon urging from the Jesuits and other religious orders within their ranks, they decided to move away from building more Gothic and grave churches in a bid to draw parishioners away from the reformers they branded as heretics.
• The era of baroque architecture began in Rome. A new architectural style—one characterized by the inspiring influence of classicism and Renaissance architecture rather than cold severity—was developed. These Italian baroque buildings—including Carlo Maderno’s famed St. Peter’s Basilica, Francesco Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Sant’Andrea al Quirinale—were mainly religious in nature.
• Baroque churches spread throughout Europe. Austrian, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish churches in the baroque style appeared across the continent. The movement even made its way across the channel into England, such as in Blenheim Castle and Sir Christopher Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral. It began to take root in the European missions of South America as well.
• Eventually, secular buildings followed suit. King Louis XIV of France commissioned baroque architects Louis Le Vau and André Le Nôtre to help build the pinnacle of French baroque architecture—the Palace of Versailles and its famous Hall of Mirrors in Paris.
• Baroque art and architecture continued to evolve. Over time, the late baroque period gave way to the rococo style—a more casual and lighthearted approach to the sometimes rigid conventions established at the start of the movement. For example, the lavish, later style of Spanish churrigueresque buildings is a far cry from the more subdued early Italian architecture of the Church of the Gesù.
• There was a brief resurgence at the end of the nineteenth century. Although the period came to a close by the middle of the eighteenth century, the term baroque was eventually applied to the style of architecture favored by certain Victorian-era architects. It was this latest revival of the style that brought baroque architecture to US cities like New York.

From Italy and Spain to Austria and Germany, baroque architecture possessed many identifiable characteristics common to its many variants in different cultures. Here are some of its most notable features:

1. 1. Mannerism: Although baroque architecture was deeply influenced by Greek classicism and its subsequent Renaissance revival, it deviated most strongly from the ironclad emphasis on rigid form and symmetry through the embrace of mannerism. Mannerism was a school of artistic thought stretching from sculpture to visual art, but its impact on architecture foregrounded the importance of using optical illusion and a spirit of experimentation to create a sense of wonder.
2. 2. Frescoes: A fresco is a painting done on a ceiling or wall—think Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Frescoes were remarkably common during the baroque period as they encapsulated the core mission of its initial charter from the Catholic Church—to inspire awe and a sense of reverence among those viewing the art and architecture. Since the subjects of these fresco paintings were often biblical characters, baroque churches gave parishioners a sense of being involved directly in the events of the Bible and the life of Jesus Christ.
3. 3. Ornate roofing and entryways: Architects of the period hoped to evoke a sense of reverence starting with their exteriors. François Mansart designed the original curving, sophisticated Mansard roof during the eruption of baroque art throughout the western art world. Pilasters (rectangular columns) stretched high outside baroque buildings from Lisbon, Portugal, to Vienna, Austria. A stroll around St. Peter’s Square in Rome leads you to a pediment (the triangular upper part of a building’s entryway, such as at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello) atop the building under which Saint Peter is allegedly buried, held high by colonnades (rows of columns).
4. 4. Trompe l’oeil: Trompe l’oeil (French for “deceives the eye”) was a common technique of the period by which the many frescoes adorning these buildings were given a sense of three-dimensionality. In this way, two-dimensional decorative arts were given all the evocative and experiential attributes of baroque sculpture. Patrons and parishioners could walk by Annibale Carracci’s The Loves of the Gods in the Palazzo Farnese, for instance, and take in a painting on the ceiling that looked like a window into Olympus itself.

Get the MasterClass Annual Membership for exclusive access to video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Frank Gehry, Will Wright, Annie Leibovitz, Kelly Wearstler, Ron Finley, and more.