Baroque art flourished in 17th century Italy and Spain, led by artists like Bernini, Borromini, Caravaggio, and Velazquez. They experimented with dramatic compositions, elaborate decoration, and illusionistic space. Baroque architecture featured domes, grand staircases, and majestic palaces to showcase the power of the Catholic Church and European royalty against the Protestant Reformation. Ceiling frescoes with illusionistic elements became popular in places like the churches and palaces of Rome under artists including Pietro da Cortona and Giovanni Battista Gaulli.

1. Baroque Art in Italy and
Spain

2. THEME:
If it’s not Baroque, don’t
fix it!

3. KEY IDEAS:
•Counter-Reformation flourishes in Baroque Italy, Spain, Flanders and France.
•Protestant Baroque art acts as a counter-voice in Holland
•Two schools of Baroque painting:
• Classicists (Raphaelite)
• Naturalists (Titian)
•Experimentation with different art forms: genre scenes, landscapes, still lifes
•Baroque architecture = majestic royal courts of Europe!

4. Italian Baroque

6. Carlo Maderno
Santa Susana
Rome, Italy
1597-1603

7. Giacomo della Porta
façade of Il Gesù
Rome, Italy
ca. 1575-1584

9. Carlo Maderno What happened to Bramante and
façade of Saint Peter’s Michelangelo’s vision of St.
Peter’s?
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1606-1612

10. Carlo Maderno
Aerial view of Saint Peter’s
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1506-1666

11. Gianlorenzo Bernini
baldacchino Saint Peter’s
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1624-33
gilded bronze
approximately 100 ft. high

12. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Scala Regia
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1663-1666

13. Gianlorenzo Bernini
David
1623
marble
approximately 5 ft. 7 in. high

14. Gianlorenzo Bernini
David
1623
marble
approximately 5 ft. 7 in. high

16. Gianlorenzo Bernini
David
1623
marble
approximately 5 ft. 7 in. high

17. Gianlorenzo Bernini
interior of the Cornaro Chapel
Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy
1645-1652

18. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
Cornaro Chapel,
Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy
1645-1652

21. Francesco Borromini
façade of
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rome, Italy
1665-1676

22. Francesco Borromini
façade of
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rome, Italy
1665-1676

23. Francesco Borromini
plan of
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rome, Italy
1665-1676

24. Francesco Borromini
dome of
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
Rome, Italy
1665-1676

25. Francesco Borromini
Chapel of Saint Ivo
College of the Sapienza
Rome, Italy
begun 1642

26. Francesco Borromini
plan of the Chapel of Saint Ivo
College of the Sapienza
Rome, Italy
begun 1642

27. Francesco Borromini
dome of the Chapel of Saint Ivo
College of the Sapienza
Rome, Italy
begun 1642

28. Francesco Borromini
dome of the Chapel of Saint Ivo
College of the Sapienza
Rome, Italy
begun 1642

29. Annibale Carracci
Flight into Egypt
1603-1604
oil on canvas
4 ft. x 7 ft. x 6 in.

30. Annibale Carracci
Loves of the Gods
Gallery, Palazzo Farnese
Rome, Italy
1597-1601
fresco

31. Annibale Carracci
Loves of the Gods
Gallery, Palazzo Farnese
Rome, Italy
1597-1601
fresco

32. Annibale Carracci
Loves of the Gods, Triumph of Bacchus
Gallery, Palazzo Farnese
Rome, Italy
1597-1601
fresco

33. Annibale Carracci
Loves of the Gods
Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea
Gallery, Palazzo Farnese
Rome, Italy
1597-1601
fresco

36. Caravaggio
Conversion of Saint Paul
Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del
Popolo
Rome, Italy
ca. 1601
oil on canvas
approximately 7 ft. 6 in. x 5 ft. 9 in.

37. Caravaggio
Calling of Saint Matthew
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesci
Rome, Italy
ca. 1597-1601
oil on canvas
11 ft. 1 in. x 11 ft. 5 in.

40. Caravaggio
David Victorious over Goliath
oil on canvas
43 1/4 x 35 7/8 in.

41. Caravaggio
Entombment
Chapel of Pietro Vittrice,
Santa Maria in Vallicella
Rome, Italy
ca. 1603
oil on canvas
9 ft. 10 1/8 in. x 6 ft. 15/16 in.

43. Daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, a painter
Artemisia Gentileschi
Self-Portrait (Allegory of Painting)
1630
oil on canvas
38 7/8 x 29 5/8 in.

44. Artemisia Gentileschi
Judith Slaying Holofernes
ca. 1614-1629
oil on canvas
6 ft. 6 1/3 in. x 5 ft. x 4 in.

46. Guido Reni
Aurora
Ceiling fresco in the Casino Rospigliosi, Rome, Italy
1613-1614
fresco

47. Pietro da Cortona
Triumph of the Barberini
ceiling fresco in the Gran Salone
Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
1633-1639
fresco

48. Ceiling Frescoes
•What do these images have in common?
•What was appealing about ceiling
paintings?

49. Pietro da Cortona
Triumph of the Barberini
ceiling fresco in the Gran Salone
Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy
1633-1639
fresco

50. Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Triumph in the Name of Jesus
ceiling fresco with stucco figures
in the vault of Il Gesu, Rome, Italy
1676-1679
fresco

51. Fra Andrea Pozzo
Glorification of Saint Ignatius
ceiling fresco with stucco figures
in the nave of Sant’Ignazio, Rome, Italy
1691-1694
fresco

54. Spanish Baroque

55. José de Ribera
Martyrdom
of Saint Philip
(Bartholomew)
ca. 1639
oil on canvas
7 ft. 8 in. x 7 ft. 8 in.

56. Francisco de Zurbarán
Saint Serapion
1628
oil on canvas
3 ft. 11 1/2 in. x 3 ft. 4 3/4 in.

57. Francisco de Zurbarán
Still Life with Pottery Jars
oil on canvas
18 1/8 x 33 1/8 in.

58. Francisco de Zurbarán
Agnus Dei
oil on canvas
15 x 24 3/8 in.

60. Diego Velázquez
Water Carrier of Seville
ca. 1619
oil on canvas
3 ft. 5 1/2 in. x 2 ft. 7 1/2 in.

61. Diego Velázquez
Los Borrachos
ca. 1619
oil on canvas
64 3/8 x 87 7/8 in.

62. Diego Velázquez
Surrender of Breda
1634-1635
oil on canvas
10 ft. 1 in. x 12 ft. 1/2 in.

63. Diego Velázquez
King Philip IV of Spain
(Fraga Philip)
1644
oil on canvas
4 ft. 3 1/8 in. x 3 ft. 1/8 in.

64. Diego Velázquez
Las Meninas
1656
oil on canvas
approximately 10 ft. 9 in. x 9 ft.

65. Diego Velázquez
Las Meninas
1656
oil on canvas
approximately 10 ft. 9 in. x 9 ft.

66. Diego Velázquez
Las Meninas
1656
oil on canvas
approximately 10 ft. 9 in. x 9 ft.

67. Diego Velázquez
Las Meninas
1656
oil on canvas
approximately 10 ft. 9 in. x 9 ft.