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The Art of the Baroque Period:
"Baroque" is a term used to characterize the predominant artistic trends of 17th-century Europe. Initially a response to the Roman Catholic Church's call for greater pictorial clarity and highly charged emotional content within the movement known as the Counter-Reformation, Baroque art became an effective tool for propaganda.
Although this period encompasses great diversity of expression that was influenced by geographically-specific artistic, social, political, and theological ideas and practices, three core ideals lay at the center of the Baroque period and its styles: the expression of emotion, the interest in the classical ideals of Ancient Greece and Rome, and a return to greater naturalism and realism. It was not long before secular entities adopted this style, and it quickly spread throughout Europe. Works selected for this gallery demonstrate the diversity that characterizes the Baroque period. |