counter the claims of the Lutheran CENTURIATORS OF
MAGDEBURG. Although poorly arranged, dull, and inaccu-
rate, this work has long been praised as a pioneering ac-
cumulation of historical sources drawn from the Vatican
and leading Italian libraries. Baronius’s support, on the
basis of his studies, for the papal claim to Sicily against
that of Spain reputedly lost him the papacy, due to Span-
ish opposition. He also revised and corrected the Roman
Martyrology (1586, 1589).
Baroque A movement in the arts that began in Rome at
the end of the Renaissance and later spread throughout
Europe and the colonies. Possibly deriving its name from
the Spanish word barrueco (meaning an irregularly shaped
pearl) and used at first as a term of abuse, the Baroque
prospered chiefly in Roman Catholic countries, where it
was employed as a medium for propaganda during the
COUNTER-REFORMATIONand reached its climax in the mid-
17th century (the High Baroque). The Baroque saw a new
emphasis upon naturalism and emotionalism and a new
boldness in combining different art forms to achieve a
complete balanced work of art. In architecture and sculp-
ture, the principal exponent of the style was Giovanni
Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), who invested his works
with a sense of movement and emotional urgency, en-
couraging the spread of such ideas during his travels
around Europe. Other notable architects active mainly
in Rome included Francesco Castelli Borromini
(1599–1667).
The artists of the Baroque inherited an interest in the
classical tradition via MANNERISMand were deeply influ-
enced by such masters as Michelangelo, Titian, and
Raphael. Among the early exponents were CARAVAGGIO,
whose command of such techniques as chiaroscuro con-
tributed to the revolutionary atmosphere of realism and
emotional seriousness; Annibale CARRACCI, who broke
new ground in rejecting some of the excesses of the man-
nerists; Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669), who specialized
in overwhelming illusionistic ceilings (for example, those
in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence); and later RUBENS, who be-
came acquainted with the Baroque in Rome between 1600
and 1608, before establishing himself as the greatest of the
northern Baroque artists.
The movement outside Italy subsequently produced a
number of other important artists and architects, who
combined Italian ideals with their own national character-
istics, notably Jan Vermeer and Rembrandt in the Nether-
lands, Velázquez in Spain, Balthasar Neumann in
Germany, Nicolas Poussin in France, and van Dyck, Inigo
JONES, Christopher Wren, and Sir John Vanbrugh in Eng-
land. The baroque taste for ornate decoration ultimately
achieved an extreme form in the highly decorated rococo
style of the early 18th century.
In music, the term Baroque is used to denote a period
(approximately 1600–1750) rather than a particular style
or movement; the term therefore covers developments in
European music from the time of MONTEVERDIto that of
J. S. Bach and Handel over a century later. The music of
the Baroque is most clearly distinguished from that of the
late Renaissance in its use of basso continuo and its intro-
duction of major and minor tonality in place of the earlier
system of modes. However, the period’s emphasis on emo-
tional affect and the expressive setting of texts is continu-
ous with trends in the music of the late Renaissance.
Major forms to emerge during the period include opera,
oratorio, and the instrumental concerto.
Further reading: Giovanni Careri and Ferrante Fer-
ranti, Baroques (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 2003); Rolf Toman and Achim Bednorz, The
Baroque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting (Cologne, Ger-
many and New York: Konemann, 1998); Rudolf Witt-
kower, Bernini: The Sculptor of the European Baroque
(London: Phaidon, 1997).Barricades, Journée des See JOURNÉE DES BARRICADESBarros, João de (1496–1570) Portuguese historian and
administrator
Barros was born at Vizeu and brought up at the court of
King Manuel I of Portugal, where he was a favorite of the
king and also of Prince John, later King John III. In 1532
he was appointed head of the overseas administration,
dealing with Portuguese trade with the East and colonial
expansionism. Barros’s own venture in colonialism, his
1539 expedition to Brazil, was a disaster and he suffered
severe financial loss when his fleet was shipwrecked.
A chivalric romance, the Crónica do Emperador
Clarimundo (1522), was his first published work. Later
works include the humanist dialogue Rópica pnefma
(1532) and one of the earliest Portuguese grammars
(1539), but his crowning achievement is his history of
Portuguese ventures in the East. This work, the Asia, ap-
peared in four “Décadas” (1552, 1553, 1563, 1615); it was
continued after his death by Diogo do COUTO. Barros, who
modeled his style on that of the Roman historian Livy, cel-
ebrated his country’s overseas discoveries and conquests
from the vantage-point of his own position in the colonial
administration; the Asia is still a valuable record of the
great years of Portuguese expansionism.Barthélemy, Nicolas (1478–c. 1540) French Benedictine
monk and writer
Barthélemy was born at Loches, near Tours, and became
prior of Fréteval, near Vendôme, and later of Notre-Dame-
de-Bonne-Nouvelle, Orleans. He studied law at Orleans
university and was a friend of BUDÉ. Among his poems in
Latin were Epigrammata et eydillia (1532), and his drama
Christus Xylonicus (1529) combined elements of the hu-
manist approach to tragedy with aspects of the vernacular
mystery plays. He is also known for having influenced RA-4466 BBaarrooqquuee