Baroque. The Baroque is a highly ornate and often extravagant style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th until the mid-18th century.
It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well.
The Baroque style used contrast, movement, exuberant detail, deep colour, grandeur and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. The style began at the start of the 17th century in Rome, then spread rapidly to France, northern Italy, Spain and Portugal, then to Austria and southern Germany.
By the 1730s, it had evolved into an even more flamboyant style, called rocaille or Rococo, which appeared in France and Central Europe until the mid to late 18th century. The English word baroque comes directly from the French, and may have been adapted from the Portuguese term barroco, a flawed pearl.
Both words are also related to the Spanish term berruca or barrueco. The term did not originally describe a style of music or art. Prior to the 18th century, the French baroque and Portuguese barroco were terms exclusively related to jewellery. An example from 1531 uses the term to describe pearls in an inventory of
It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well.
The Baroque style used contrast, movement, exuberant detail, deep colour, grandeur and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. The style began at the start of the 17th century in Rome, then spread rapidly to France, northern Italy, Spain and Portugal, then to Austria and southern Germany.
By the 1730s, it had evolved into an even more flamboyant style, called rocaille or Rococo, which appeared in France and Central Europe until the mid to late 18th century. The English word baroque comes directly from the French, and may have been adapted from the Portuguese term barroco, a flawed pearl.
Both words are also related to the Spanish term berruca or barrueco. The term did not originally describe a style of music or art. Prior to the 18th century, the French baroque and Portuguese barroco were terms exclusively related to jewellery. An example from 1531 uses the term to describe pearls in an inventory of
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