Baroque Vs Baroque Art

Art is a constantly evolving process. The previous style of work serves as a roadmap for what will follow. As often is the case with any form of growth, there exists a transitional period. Because of this evolution, there are traces of a style’s illustrious history embedded in the adaptive art’s metaphorical DNA. The transition from early to late Renaissance established two styles of art known as Baroque and Rococo. While, on the surface, the Rococo style can appear to be very similar to the work produced by Baroque artists, the two also demonstrate distinct differences in their use of subject and theme, the manner in which they created the art, and how that art was perceived in their time. These factors establish both styles from one another, making them unique.

Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Renaissance art underwent a deliberate and revolutionizing change. Catholic Rome, in this time had just surpassed approximately one hundred years of political and religious turmoil. During this time the Roman Catholic Church had survived the introduction and implementation of Protestantism in addition to the struggles Rome itself faced with invading forces attempting to seize control. Afterwards with the return of water, through the restored aqueducts, straight into the heart of the city of Rome was the perfect symbol for its rebirth (Realms). The art, architecture and music of this period in history became known as the Baroque. The term, which is derived from the Portuguese word barroco, describes the dramatic theatricality and elaborate ornamentation of this time. Barroco literally means, “Irregularly shaped pearl” (Kleiner). As defined by Heinrich Wölfflin, Baroque is the age in which the “oval replaced the circle as ...

... middle of paper ...

...olic Church, and by extension religious themes all together, and focus more on the essence of the individual. The result was the establishment of a much lighter, more playful style that could serve as deliberate ornamentation for Parisian décor. This was a particularly beneficial trait of the Rococo style.

The transition from Baroque to Rococo was a process of evolution. Rococo could not have existed without the presence of the Baroque, and Baroque without Classical. Because of this they are forever tied together by their metaphorical DNA. However, these bonds do not contend that the two are identical. The differences in how each style utilized and implemented subject matter and themes, as well as how the works were physically constructed, and the perception of the population at the time the work was being created all stand to establish the works as separate styles.