century. Although some features appear in Dutch art, the Baroque style was limited mainly to Catholic countries.

It is a style in which painters, sculptors, and architects sought emotion, movement, and variety in their works. (pr. broke)

aroque - The art style or art movement of the Counter-Reformation in the seventeenth

Among the general characteristics of baroque art is a sense of movement, energy, and tension (whether real or implied). Strong contrasts of light and shadow (TENEBRISM) enhance the dramatic effects of many paintings and sculptures. Even baroque buildings, with their undulating walls and decorative surface elements, imply motion. Intense spirituality is often present in works of baroque art; in the Roman Catholic countries, for example, scenes of ecstasies, martyrdoms, or miraculous apparitions are common. Infinite space is often suggested in baroque paintings or sculptures; throughout the Renaissance and into the baroque period, painters sought a grander sense of space and truer depiction of perspective in their works. Realism is another integral feature of baroque art; the figures in paintings are not types but individuals with their own personalities. Artists of this time were concerned with the inner workings of the mind and attempted to portray the passions of the soul on the faces they painted and sculpted. The intensity and immediacy of baroque art and its individualism and detailobserved in such things as the convincing rendering of cloth and skin texturesmake it one of the most compelling periods of Western art.

Before Baroque was Renaissance and Mannerism.

Carravagio

Martha and Mary Magdalene c. 1598 Oil on canvas, 97,8 x 132,7 cm Institute of Arts, Detroit

Judith Beheading Holofernes c. 1598 Oil on canvas, 145 x 195 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

St Jerome 1605-06 Oil on canvas, 118 x 81 cm Monastery, Montserrat

Rembrandt

Portrait of Nicolaas van Bambeeck 1641 Oil on canvas, 105,5 x 84 cm Muses Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife 1655 Oil on canvas, 106 x 98 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp 1632 Oil on canvas, 169,5 x 216,5 cm Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Nightwatch 1642 Oil on canvas, 363 x 437 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Vermeer

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window 1657 Oil on canvas, 83 x 64,5 cm Gemldegalerie, Dresden

Officer with a Laughing Girl c. 1657 Oil on canvas, 50,5 x 46 cm Frick Collection, New York

The Milkmaid c. 1658 Oil on canvas, 45,5 x 41 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam