The Baroque Art Period

The Baroque style of art was born in the late 1500s and ran through the late 1700s. It started in Italy and was layer adapted in Germany, France, Netherlands and Spain. It was highly endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church. The threat of the Protestant uprising the Roman Catholic Church thought art would bring the people back to their religion.

The biggest piece of Baroque Art can be seen on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which was painted by Michelangelo Merisi – Caravaggio. The Baroque Art period focused mainly on realism and religion. Light and shadow play was a big part of the Baroque period. It also added a tremendous amount of detail to paintings.

There was an influx of expressions and sculptures added to paintings. This is one of the reasons why the Roman Catholic Church sanctioned artist to paint for them. A portrait of Jesus with the expression of sadness on his face was one of the first pieces they wanted done to bring the people back to the church.

With artist such as Michelangelo, Carracci and Cotona the Italians paved the way for other artist to incorporate this style into their work. Soon after the Baroque period started artist from all over Europe were painting in this style. Some of the more famed artist includes Rembrandt, Vermeer, Clonet, Zurbaran, Flegel, Van Dyck, Rubens and Oliver.