Baroque

バロック / 1600–1750 / Style / Historical Styles

A total art that draws the viewer in with ovals, curved surfaces, dramatic light and an excess of ornament. Architecture, sculpture, painting and city planning were handled as one staging, turning power and faith into spectacle.

Baroque — Bernini, baldachin of St. Peter's Basilica — Wikimedia Commons / CC0
Bernini, baldachin of St. Peter's Basilica — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0
Baroque — Gaulli, ceiling fresco of the Church of the Gesù — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Gaulli, ceiling fresco of the Church of the Gesù — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Baroque — Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Myrabella
Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Myrabella

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Ovals and curved surfaces
  • Dramatic light
  • Illusionistic ceilings
  • Architecture fused with sculpture

Best used for

  • Theatres and festival spaces designed around the shock of entering
  • Making a room read taller than it is by pulling the eye upward

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Dictionary entry

Type
Run lettering along curved surfaces and bands, never as level lines
Composition
An oval as the main axis, funneling the eye before releasing it
Material
Gold against deep color, hidden side windows carving the relief
Caution
Multiplying ornament without designing where the light travels, producing an even excess that is rich and has no climax.
Further study
Bernini and Borromini / the visual strategy of the Counter-Reformation / Baroque urban planning

Related entries

Often confused with

More from Historical Styles

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https://indexstyle.org/styles/baroque
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