Baroque Era Research Paper

Baroque style period

Baroque is a period of artistic style that started around 1600 in Rome, Italy, and spread throughout the majority of Europe.

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baroque period, era in the history of the Western arts roughly coinciding with the 17th century. Its earliest manifestations, which occurred in Italy, date from the latter decades of the 16th century, while in some regions, notably Germany and colonial South America, certain of its culminating achievements did not occur until the 18th century. The work that distinguishes the Baroque period is stylistically complex, even contradictory. In general, however, the desire to evoke emotional states by appealing to the senses, often in dramatic ways, underlies its manifestations. Some of the qualities
most frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the

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The origin of the term
The term Baroque probably ultimately derived from the Italian word barocco, which was a term used by philosophers during the
Middle Ages to describe an obstacle in schematic logic.
Subsequently the word came to denote any contorted idea or involuted process of thought. Another possible source is the
Portuguese word barroco (Spanish barrueco), used to describe an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl, and this usage still survives in the jeweler’s term baroque pearl.
In art criticism the word Baroque came to be used to describe anything irregular, bizarre, or otherwise departing from established rules and proportions. This biased view of 17thcentury art styles was held with few modifications by critics from
Johann Winckelmann to John Ruskin and Jacob Burckhardt, and until the late 19th century the term always carried the implication of odd, grotesque, exaggerated, and overdecorated. It was only with Heinrich Wölfflin’s pioneer study Renaissance und Barock
(1888) that Baroque was used as a stylistic designation rather than as a term of thinly veiled abuse, and a systematic formulation of the characteristics of Baroque style was achieved.

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and literature in the Baroque period
 One of the most dramatic turning points in the history of music occurred at the
beginning of the 17th century, with Italy again leading the way. While the stile antico, the universal polyphonic style of the 16th century, continued, it was henceforth reserved for sacred music, while the stile moderno, or nuove musiche—with its emphasis on solo voice, polarity of the melody and the bass line, and interest in expressive harmony—developed for secular usage.
The expanded vocabulary allowed for a clearer distinction between sacred and secular music as well as between vocal and instrumental idioms, and national differences became more pronounced. The Baroque period in music, as in other arts, therefore, was one of stylistic diversity. The opera, oratorio, and cantata were the most important new vocal forms, while the sonata, concerto, and overture were created for instrumental music. Claudio Monteverdi was the first great composer of the “new music.”
He was followed in Italy by Alessandro Scarlatti and Giovanni Pergolesi. The instrumental tradition in Italy found its great Baroque composers in Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, and Giuseppe Tartini. Jean-Baptiste Lully, a major composer of opera, and Jean Philippe
Rameau were the masters of Baroque music in France. In England the total theatrical experience of the Stuart masques was followed by the achievements in vocal music of the
German-born, Italian-trained George Frideric Handel, while his countryman Johann
Sebastian Bach developed Baroque sacred music in Germany. Other notable German
Baroque composers include Heinrich Schütz, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Georg Philipp
Telemann.

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The literature that may specifically be called
Baroque may be seen most characteristically in the writings of Giambattista Marino in Italy,
Luis de Góngora in Spain, and Martin Opitz in
Germany. English Metaphysical poetry, most notably much of John Donne’s, is allied with
Baroque literature. The Baroque period ended in the 18th century with a transition of its characteristic style into the lighter, less dramatic, more overtly decorative Rococo style. 

The Baroque style is characterized by exaggerated motion and clear detail used to produce drama, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. Baroque iconography was direct, obvious, and dramatic, intending to appeal above all to the senses and the emotions.
The use of the "chiaroscuro" technique is a well known trait of
Baroque art. This technique refers to the interplay between light and dark and is often used in paintings of dimly lit scenes to produce a very high-contrast, dramatic atmosphere. The chiaroscuro technique is visible in the painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Peter Paul Rubens . Other important Baroque painters include Caravaggio (who is thought to be a precursor to the movement, and is known for work characterized by close-up action and strong diagonals) and Rembrandt.

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In the Baroque style of architecture, emphasis was placed on bold spaces, domes, and large masses, as exemplified by the
Queluz National Palace in Portugal . In music, the Baroque style makes up a large part of the classical canon. Important composers include Johann Sebastian Bach, George
Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi. In the later part of the period, the Baroque style was termed
Rococo, a style characterized by increasingly decorative and elaborate works.

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Famous Baroque Painters (and Paintings)

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Among the greatest Old Masters of the Baroque Period are the following:

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) leader of the Bolognese School (1590-1630)
 Farnese Gallery fresco paintings (1590s, Rome)
 Christ Wearing the Crown of Thorns (1585-7, Gemaldegalerie, Dresden)
 Flight into Egypt (1604, Doria Gallery, Rome)
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Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
 Samson and Delilah (1609), National Gallery, London.
 The Judgement of Paris (1635-38), National Gallery, London.
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Carravaggio (1571-1610)
 Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601), Chapel of Santa Maria Rome.
 Supper at Emmaus (1601-2), National Gallery, London.
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