Overview

If the Renaissance was about calm, balance, and reason (circles and squares), the Baroque (approx. 1600-1750) was about emotion, movement, and awe (ovals and spirals). It began in Rome as a tool of the Catholic Church. To fight the Protestant Reformation, the Church wanted art that would grab the viewer by the soul and overwhelm them with the glory of God.

Core Idea

The core idea is theatricality. Baroque art is a stage production. It uses dramatic lighting, intense facial expressions, and swirling compositions to make the viewer feel like they are witnessing a miracle right now. It breaks the “fourth wall” and invades the viewer’s space.

Formal Definition

A style characterized by dynamic movement, overt emotion, and self-confident rhetoric. Key techniques include Chiaroscuro (strong contrast between light and dark) and Tenebrism (extreme spotlight effects).

Intuition

  • Renaissance Statue (Michelangelo’s David): David stands still, thinking before the fight. He is calm.
  • Baroque Statue (Bernini’s David): David is biting his lip, twisting his body, in the middle of throwing the stone. He is pure action. You feel like you have to duck.

Examples

  • Caravaggio: The bad boy of the Baroque. He painted saints with dirty feet and used dramatic, single-source lighting (The Calling of St Matthew). He made the sacred look gritty and real.
  • Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa: A sculpture of a saint being pierced by an angel’s arrow. It is incredibly sensual, depicting spiritual ecstasy as physical pleasure. The marble looks like flowing fabric and soft flesh.
  • Versailles: The palace of Louis XIV. It is Baroque architecture at its peak—massive scale, gold everywhere, mirrors, and gardens designed to show man’s dominance over nature.

Common Misconceptions

  • It means “fancy”: Today we use “baroque” to mean overly decorated. But originally, the decoration had a purpose: to direct the eye and create an emotional effect.
  • It was only Catholic: There was also a “Dutch Golden Age” Baroque (Rembrandt, Vermeer) which was Protestant. It was quieter, focused on domestic scenes and portraits, but used the same dramatic light.
  • Counter-Reformation: The political/religious movement that fueled the Baroque. The Church needed art to be a weapon of persuasion.
  • Gesamtkunstwerk: “Total work of art.” Baroque churches combined painting, sculpture, and architecture into one unified immersive experience.
  • Vanitas: A genre of still life (skulls, rotting fruit) reminding viewers of death, popular in the Baroque.

Applications

  • Film: The dramatic lighting of Film Noir is a direct descendant of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro.
  • Politics: The “Baroque” style of power—overwhelming the citizen with spectacle—is still used by dictators and corporations.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Kitsch: Because it is so emotional and manipulative, Baroque art can easily slide into bad taste or melodrama.
  • Propaganda: It was essentially high-budget propaganda for the Church and Absolute Monarchs.

Further Reading

  • Wölfflin, Heinrich. Principles of Art History. 1915. (Defines the difference between Renaissance and Baroque).
  • Wittkower, Rudolf. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750. 1958.
  • Hibbard, Howard. Bernini. 1965.