Baroque Art Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Baroque Art - Research Paper Example The term Baroque is French for the English â€Å"irregular, and consequently, flawed pearl.† Baroque paintings and sculptures are usually strongly emotional, passionate, stormy, and had a flair for the theatrical. Most depictions were dramatic, engages the viewer, speaks to users physically and psychologically, are usually extravagant and ornamental, they use color, contrasts between light and dark, and overlapping figures and elements to further add drama to their art. Most themes were about visions, ecstasies, conversions, martyrdom, death, and intensely emotional moments. Other events happening in the era also influenced the art. In this age, new concepts of physics and astronomy introduced by Galileo and Newton made the artists interested in the concept of space. Descartes’s philosophy I think therefore I am also redefined â€Å"the attribute of being.† Science redefined nature as motion in space and time. Light was demystified by Pascal’s discovery of the materiality of light. These preoccupations of scientists and philosophers also became the preoccupation of the artists of the time. One of the greatest Baroque artists ever was Bernini. His full name was Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and he dominated the Roman art world during the seventeenth century. He still retained a semblance to his Renaissance predecessors in the sense that he was a universal genius who practiced architecture, sculpture, painting, stage, design, and being a playwright. He was a prodigy. He began his training under the teachings of his father.