Baroque

Baroque encompasses a great range of styles, and is one of the most important and major art movements during the period beginning around 1600 and continuing throughout the 17th century, and into the early 18th century.

In its most typical manifestations, Baroque art is characterized by great drama, rich, deep colour, intense light and dark shadows. As opposed to Renaissance art, which usually showed the moment before an event took place, Baroque artists chose the most dramatic point, the moment when the action was occurring, which was meant to evoke emotion and passion instead of the calm rationality that had been prized in the past.