The Baroque
In papal Rome, Caravaggio, Bernini and Borromini created an art of light, movement and theatre that spread across all of Europe.
The Baroque was born in Rome around 1600. The Catholic Church had regained its strength after the Reformation and sought to win hearts with an art that moved and persuaded. Paintings and sculptures were meant to feel real and dramatic, as if they were happening here and now. The popes and their relatives built churches, palaces, squares and fountains, and Rome took on the appearance its centre still has today. Art became a spectacle for all the senses.
Caravaggio transformed painting with strong contrasts of light and dark and with saints who looked like ordinary people off the street. Annibale Carracci took a different path, renewing the classical tradition of Raphael and Michelangelo. Artemisia Gentileschi became one of the first women to have a brilliant career as a painter. Gian Lorenzo Bernini made marble look like skin, fabric and clouds, and he designed large parts of the interior and the piazza of St Peter's.
In the 18th century the centre of gravity shifted. Venice once again became a centre, with Giambattista Tiepolo painting bright, soaring ceilings and Canaletto painting city views for travelling Englishmen. Rosalba Carriera became famous throughout Europe for her pastel portraits. Turin and Naples acquired magnificent palaces and churches. Italian artists, architects and stage designers worked at courts from Madrid to Stockholm and St Petersburg. The architect Filippo Juvarra built the Basilica of Superga and the hunting lodge of Stupinigi outside Turin.