10 characteristics of the BAROQUE

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He Baroque art and architecture encompasses the visual arts, design and construction of buildings produced during the period of Western art history that almost coincides with the 17th century. The first manifestations, which occurred in Italy, date from the last decades of the 16th century, while in some regions, especially Germany and colonial South America. Some of the crowning achievements of the Baroque did not come until the eighteenth 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 fashion, underlies its manifestations. Some of the qualities most often associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensual richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur the distinctions between the various arts.

The term Baroque probably ultimately derives from the Italian word baroque, which was used by philosophers during the Middle Ages to describe a snag in schematic logic. Later, the word came to denote any contorted idea or involutionary thought process. Another possible source is the Portuguese word baroque (Spanish barrueco), which is used to describe a pearl of irregular or imperfect shape, and this usage still survives in the term jewel baroque pearl.

characteristics of the baroque

In art criticism, the The word Baroque was used to describe anything irregular, strange, or that deviated from established rules and proportions.. This biased view of 17th-century artistic styles was retained with little modification from critics from Johann Winckelmann to John Ruskin and Jacob Burckhardt, and until the late 19th century the term always carried the consequence of odd, grotesque, exaggerated, and overly decorated. It was only with Heinrich Wölfflin's pioneering study Renaissance und Barock (1888) says that the term baroque was used as a stylistic designation rather than a thinly veiled term of abuse, and a systematic formulation of the characteristics of the baroque style was achieved.

Baroque characteristics



  1. The images are direct, obvious and dramatic.
  2. Try to attract the viewer to participate in the scene.
  3. The representations feel physically and psychologically real.
  4. Emotionally intense. See, in particular, works by Spanish Baroque artists such as Ribera, Zurbarán, even Velázquez
  5. Extravagant environments and ornamentation.


  6. Dramatic use of color.
  7. Dramatic contrasts between light and dark, light and shadow.
  8. Unlike Renaissance art with its clearly defined planes, with each figure placed in isolation from one another, Baroque art has a continuous superimposition of figures and elements.
  9. Common themes: grandiose visions, ecstasy and conversions, martyrdom and death, intense light, intense psychological moments.
  10. Grandeur or sensuality: see, for example, the religious works of Peter Paul Rubens, or the elegant portraits of Anthony Van Dyck


The Baroque made only limited advances in Northern Europe, especially in what is now Belgium. The great master of the Spanish-ruled, largely Roman Catholic region was the painter Peter Paul Rubens, whose tempestuous diagonal compositions and sweeping, full-blooded figures are the epitome of Baroque painting. The elegant portraits of Anthony van Dyck and the robust figurative works of Jacob Jordaens emulated Rubens's example. Art in the Netherlands was conditioned by realistic tastes from his dominant middle-class patrons, and thus the countless genre and landscape painters of that country and such imposing masters as Rembrandt and Frans Hals. It remained independent of the Baroque style in important respects. The Baroque had a noticeable impact in England, however, particularly in the churches and palaces designed respectively by Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Vanbrugh.

He The last flowering of the Baroque occurred largely in southern Germany and Austria., Roman Catholic, where native architects broke away from Italian building models in the 1720s. In ornate churches, monasteries, and palaces designed by J.B. Fischer von Erlach, J.L. von Hildebrandt, Balthasar Neumann, Dominikus Zimmermann, and the Cosmas Damian brothers Asam and Egid Quirin Asam, an extraordinarily rich yet delicate style of stucco decoration was used in combination with painted surfaces to evoke subtle illusionistic effects.



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ENCICLOPEDIA DE CARACTERÍSTICAS (2024) 10 characteristics of the BAROQUE, en 10caracteristicas.com. https://10caracteristicas.com/en/10-characteristics-of-the-baroque/ (Consultado el: 07-12-2024)

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