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Baroque

Baroque art is dramatic, emotional and full of movement. It uses strong light and shadow, rich colour and bold composition to pull the viewer into the scene.

Period
Renaissance and early modern art
Approximate dates
c. 1600 to c. 1750
Place of origin
Rome, Italy
Key regions
Italy, Spain, Flanders, France, Latin America, Central Europe
Art forms
Painting, sculpture, architecture, music-linked spectacle
Major artists
Caravaggio, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Artemisia Gentileschi, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velazquez

Visual introduction

  • The Calling of Saint Matthew

    Caravaggio · 1599 to 1600 · Oil on canvas · San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

    A beam of light cuts through a dark room and turns an everyday scene into a sacred drama.

    Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

    Gian Lorenzo Bernini · 1647 to 1652 · Marble · Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome

    Marble seems to flutter and glow, joining sculpture, architecture and light into one theatrical scene.

    Image: Photo: Livioandronico2013, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Las Meninas

    Diego Velazquez · 1656 · Oil on canvas · Prado Museum, Madrid

    A complex, lifelike court scene with layered space and looking, painted with loose, fluent brushwork.

    Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Historical context

After the religious upheavals of the Reformation, the Catholic Church used art to inspire faith, and Baroque became a language of power for the Church and for kings. Rome, then Madrid, Antwerp and Paris, led the style.

Science was changing the view of the world, and artists shared the interest in light, motion and the senses. Wealth from trade and empire paid for grand palaces, churches and collections, including in colonial Latin America.

Visual characteristics

Light: strong contrast between light and dark, called chiaroscuro, and in some work tenebrism, where a spotlight falls out of deep shadow.

Composition: diagonals, swirling movement and a frozen moment of action rather than calm balance.

Feeling: intense emotion, theatrical gesture, rich colour, and ornate detail in architecture and sculpture.

Related movements

Sources and further reading

Further reading: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Tate, Art Terms. Smarthistory.