Picture "Chocolate Girl" (1743-45), framed

Epochal term for the art of the 17th century. The Baroque style of art, which originated in Rome around 1600, permeated visual arts, literature and music practically all over Europe within a very short period of time and lasted until 1770 in the visual arts. The last phase is generally characterised by Rococo.

Characteristic features include: the pulsating movement of all forms, the abolition of boundaries between architecture, painting and sculpture, that resulted in the epoch typical "Gesamtkunstwerk" ("total work of art"), and especially the purposeful use of light, which became an important artistic component. The subordination of the individual parts to the whole resulted in the creation of a unified and, at the same time, dynamic space, which is fully expressed in the magnificent buildings of this period.

The Baroque art, with its penchant for grandeur, splendour and rushing abundance, clearly reflects the desire for representation, which was a concern of secular and ecclesiastical, especially the Catholic, patrons of the time, who were strengthened by the Counter-Reformation. In painting, characteristic features of the Baroque, are manifested in the altar and ceiling painting, history and portrait.

Typical representatives include artists such as Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens as well as Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the field of sculpture.