BAROQUE ART

In the arts, Baroque was a Western cultural period starting roughly at the
beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified in drama and
grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance and music.

Baroque art is characterised by great drama, rich deep colour, and intense light
and dark shadows.

As opposed to Renaissance art, which showed the moment before an event took
place, Baroque artists chose the most dramatic point, the moment when the
action was occurring.

David by Michelangelo David by Bernini

The style incorporated architectonic and sculptural elements with the use of
fontanels (triangular closings), heavy volutes and garlands, although it also used
bulbous figures, elaborated moulded, gilded and floral marquetry. The most
luxurious materials were chosen including the velvet, the brocade and Damascus
upholsteries and the semi-precious stones and upholsteries.

Catani San Benedetto Interior of St. Peter’s Basilica

The Queen’s bedchamber Palace of Versilles Palace of Versailles

 Stiff Melk, one of the most famous monastic sites.

Stiff Melk (1702-1736) Jakob Prandtauer Melk,Austria The Library

The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a
means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant power and control.
Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and
reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence.

Elector’s Palace in Trier, Germany

Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Brühl, Germany

Ludwigsburg Palace, Germany’s Largest Baroque Palace

San Augustin Church

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF
BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE
Long, narrow naves are replaced by broader, occasionally circular
forms.

Dramatic use of light either strong light-and-shade contrasts,

chiaroscuro effects or uniform lighting by means of several
windows.
 Opulent use of ornaments (puttos made of wood(often gilded),
plaster or stucco, marble or faux finishing)

Large- scale ceiling frescoes

Fresco dome painted on low vaulting, Jesuit Church, Vienna, Austria

Illusionary effects like trompe l’oeil and the blending of painting

and architecture
 BAROQUE SCULPTURE

The architecture, sculpture and fountains of Bernini (1598-1680) give highly

charged characteristics of Baroque style. Barnini was undoubtedly the most
important sculptor of the period.

Habakkuk and the angel Breezy manjacs

Ecstasy of St. Teresa Fountain of four rivers

 BAROQUE PAINTING
Baroque painting is the painting associated with Baroque cultural movement, a
movement often identified with Absolutism and the counter Reformation.

“Domine, Quo Vadis” Annibale Caracci Assumption of the Virgin Mary Annibale Caracci

Antoine and Cleopatra Agostino Caracci The last Communion of St Jerome Agostino Caracci
Judith Beheading Holofernes Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio