Baroque Art History and Sitemap

Baroque was the principal European style in the visual arts of the 17th century.

The term covers various national styles that range from the complex and dramatic Italian art of the 17th century to the restrained genre scenes, still-lifes and portraits characteristic of the Dutch Baroque.

In Italy, Caravaggio painted altarpieces and introduced innovations such as dramatic lighting effects that influenced painters like Artemisia Gentileschi. Other artists, such as the Giovanni Battista Gaulli and Pietro da Cortona, executed illusionistic ceiling paintings.

Johannes Vermeer | Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665

Gian Lorenzo Bernini | Baroque Era sculptor

Gianlorenzo Bernini, the most celebrated Baroque artist in Rome, produced the famous baldacchino (central altar) of St Peter’s and groundbreaking sculptural works such as Apollo and Daphne.

In Spain, Francisco de Zurbarán executed pious religious paintings, and Diego Velázquez became the great painter of the Spanish Baroque.

In northern Europe, the Netherlands was divided into two parts, the Northern Netherlands (present day Netherlands) and the Southern Netherlands (present day Belgium and part of France), each usually referred to as Holland (North) and Flanders (South).

Works such as the flower still-lifes of Rachel Ruysch, Johannes Vermeer’s intimate genre pictures, and Rembrandt’s moving religious paintings and penetrating portraits illustrate these emerging types of art.

Domenico Scarlatti (1738) by Domingo Antonio Velasco

In France, art conveyed the power and prestige of the monarchy and predominately utilized the classicism of the Greco-Roman tradition.

The most extensive architectural project of the 17th century was Versailles, both its palace and gardens, in which the classical style was used to convey the absolutist power of the French monarchy under Louis XIII and Louis XIV.

Many of the concerns of Baroque artists, such as the direct observation of the world around them, emotional and dramatic expression, and the manipulation of light and colour, impacted later styles such as Neo-classicism and Romanticism. | © Oxford University Press

Artemisia Gentileschi ~ Baroque Era painter

Peter Paul Rubens and his workshop dominated the art of Flanders with the creation of dramatic and powerful religious altarpieces and portraits of the ruling families of Italy and France.

One such example is the elaborate allegorical personification series for Marie de’ Medici. Landscape, still-life and genre painting were the main types of works produced for the Dutch market.

Baroque Artists at Tutt'Art@

Correggio | High Renaissance Mannerism painter

Gian Lorenzo Bernini | Painting and Drawing | Baroque Era style

Franz Christoph Janneck | Baroque Era style

Francisco Goya | Rococo Era /Romantic painter and Printmaker

Guido Reni | Baroque Era painter

Francesco Furini ~ Baroque Era painter

David Leffel, 1931 ~ Baroque Era style painter

Il Barocco era lo stile dominante nell'arte e nell'architettura del diciassettesimo secolo, caratterizzato da fiducia in se stessi, dinamismo e un approccio realistico alla rappresentazione.

Al suo apice a Roma tra il 1630 e il 1680, il barocco è particolarmente associato alla controriforma cattolica.

Il suo movimento dinamico, il suo audace realismo (dando agli spettatori l'impressione di assistere a un evento reale) e l'attrazione emotiva diretta erano ideali per proclamare lo spirito rinvigorito della Chiesa cattolica.

Sebbene originario di Roma, il barocco è stato influente in tutta Europa.

Roberto Ferri, 1978 | Baroque Era style painter

Era anche usato per rappresentare molti temi non religiosi e può essere visto in ritratti, nature morte e soggetti mitici.

I più grandi esponenti includono lo scultore e l'architetto Bernini a Roma; e nel nord Europa, Sir Peter Paul Rubens, le cui decorazioni a soffitto commissionate da Charles I (Stuart) per la Banqueting Hall di Londra sono ancora in vigore.

Il grande allievo di Rubens, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, lavorò anche in stile barocco in Gran Bretagna e fu pittore di corte di Carlo dal 1632 fino alla sua morte nel 1641.

I seguaci britannici includono William Dobson, Sir Peter Lely, Jacob Huysmans, Sir Godfrey Kneller e pittori di muro e decorazioni sul soffitto come Antonio Verrio e Sir James Thornhill. | © Tate, London