A
rt historians traditionally describe 17th-century European art as Baroque,but the term is prob-
lematic because the period encompasses a broad range of styles and genres. Although its origin is
unclear, “Baroque” may have come from the Portuguese word barroco,meaning an irregularly shaped
pearl. Use of the term emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when critics disparaged the
Baroque period’s artistic production, in large part because of perceived deficiencies in comparison with
the art of the Italian Renaissance. Over time, this negative connotation faded, but the term is still useful
to describe the distinctive new style that emerged during the 17th century—a style of complexity and
drama seen especially in Italian art of this period. Whereas Renaissance artists reveled in the precise, or-
derly rationality of classical models, Baroque artists embraced dynamism, theatricality, and elaborate or-
namentation, all used to spectacular effect, often on a grandiose scale.
Italy
Although in the 16th century the Catholic Church launched the Counter-Reformation in response to—
and as a challenge to—the Protestant Reformation, the considerable appeal of Protestantism continued to
preoccupy the popes throughout the 17th century. The Treaty of Westphalia (see Chapter 25) in 1648 had
formally recognized the principle of religious freedom, serving to validate Protestantism (predominantly in
the German states). With the Church in Rome as the leading art patron in 17th-century Italy, the aim of
much of Italian Baroque art was to restore Catholicism’s predominance and centrality. The Council of
Trent, one 16th-century Counter-Reformation initiative, firmly resisted Protestant objections to using im-
ages in religious worship, insisting on their necessity for teaching the laity (see “Religious Art in Counter-
Reformation Italy,” Chapter 22, page 596). Baroque art in Italy was therefore often overtly didactic.
Architecture and Sculpture
Italian 17th-century art and architecture, especially in Rome, embodied the renewed energy of the
Catholic Counter-Reformation and communicated it to the populace. At the end of the 16th century,
Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585–1590) had played a key role in the Roman Catholic Church’s lengthy campaign to
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