Baroque art originated in Rome in the late 16th century as a style that glorified Catholicism and absolute monarchs in response to the Protestant Reformation. Baroque art is characterized by grandeur, drama, movement, and vibrant colors in large-scale works. Key artists included Bernini, whose sculptures exemplified drama and movement, and Rubens, whose paintings depicted religious scenes with theatrical flourishes. Caravaggio introduced greater realism through life-like figures and tenebrism techniques. In Protestant Holland, Baroque art focused on realistic genre paintings, portraits, landscapes and still lifes for the bourgeois class rather than public religious works.

1. Loveneesh Sharma
Phd Scholar, Panjab University
Chandigarh
Baroque Art

2. Baroque
Baroque (derived from the Portuguese ‘Barocco' meaning, 'irregular pearl or stone'),
originating in Rome, which flowered during the period c.1590-1720, and which
embraced painting, and sculpture as well as architecture.
After the idealism of the Renaissance (c.1400-1530), and the slightly 'forced' nature
of Mannerism (c.1530-1600),
Baroque art above all reflected the religious tensions of the age - notably the desire
of the Catholic Church in Rome (as annunciate at the Council of Trent, 1545-63)
To reassert itself in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Thus it is almost
synonymous with Catholic Counter-Reformation Art of the period.

3. Many Catholic Emperors and monarchs across
Europe had an important stake in the Catholic
Church's success,
Hence a large number of architectural designs,
paintings and sculptures were commissioned by
the Royal Courts of Spain, France, and elsewhere
- in parallel to the overall campaign of
Catholic Christian art, pursued by the Vatican - in
order to glorify their own divine grandeur, and in
the process strengthen their political position.

4. In order to fulfill its propagandist role, Catholic-inspired Baroque art tended to be
large-scale works of public art, such as monumental wall-paintings and huge
frescoes for the ceilings and vaults of palaces and churches.
Baroque painting illustrated key elements of Catholic dogma, either directly in
Biblical works or indirectly in mythological or allegorical compositions. Along
with this monumental, high-minded approach, painters typically portrayed a
strong sense of movement, using swirling spirals and upward diagonals, and
strong sumptuous colour schemes, in order to dazzle and surprise.
New techniques of tenebrism and chiaroscuro were developed to enhance
atmosphere. Brushwork is creamy and broad, often resulting in thick impasto.
theatricality and melodrama of Baroque painting become important here
Baroque sculpture, typically larger-than-life size, is marked by a similar sense of
dynamic movement, along with an active use of space.
Style and types

5. Features
Religious Grandeur
A triumphant, extravagant, almost
theatrical (and at times) melodramatic
style of religious art, commissioned by the
Catholic Counter Reformation and the
courts of the absolute monarchies of
Europe.
This type of Baroque art is exemplified by
the bold visionary sculpture and
architecture of Bernini (1598-1680), by
the trompe l'oeil illusionistic ceiling
frescoes of Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669)
by the grandiose paintings of the Flemish
master Rubens (1577-1640).

6. Peter Paul Rubens
The Rape of the Daughters of
Leucippus
By Rubens.
The Descent from the Cross
By Peter Paul Rubens.

7. Greater Realism
A new more life-like or naturalist style of figurative composition.
This new approach was championed by
Caravaggio (1571-1610)
Velazquez (1599-1660) and
Annibale Carracci (1560-1609).
The boldness and physical presence of Caravaggio's figures, the
life-like approach to religious painting adopted by Velazquez,
a new form of movement and exuberance pioneered by
Annibale Carracci, and a realistic form of rustic Biblical genre
painting, complete with animals, evolved
by Castiglione (1609-64) –
All these elements were part of the new and dynamic style
known as Baroque

8. Supper at Emmaus By Caravaggio.
Portrait of Pope Innocent X (c.1650)
One of the most famous of all
Spanish Baroque paintings.

9. Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1601)
Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. One
of Annibale Carracci's most famous
religious paintings.

10. Easel Art
Unlike the large-scale, public, religious works of Baroque
artists in Catholic countries, Baroque art in Protestant
Holland (often referred to as the Dutch Golden Age) was
exemplified by a new type of easel-art - a glossy form
of genre-painting - aimed at the prosperous bourgeois
householder.
This new Dutch Realist School of genre painting also led to
enhanced realism in portrait art and landscape painting,
flower pictures, animal compositions and, in particular, to
new forms of still life painting, including the Protestant-
inspired genre known as vanitas painting (flourished 1620-
50).

11. Landscape with a Calm, 1650–1651, Getty Center

12. Claud lorrain , Amanecer 1646-47