Читать книгу Art History For Dummies - Jesse Bryant Wilder - Страница 22

The Reformation split Christianity down the middle, unleashing a maelstrom of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants and nearly 200 years of intolerance. To recover what lost ground it could, the Catholic Church launched the Counter-Reformation in the middle of the 16th century. One critical Counter-Reformation weapon was religious art that reaffirmed Catholic values while rendering them more people friendly. Baroque saints shed the idealistic luster they had during the Renaissance and began to look like working-class folk — the class the Church was trying to hold on to.

Baroque art and architecture are characterized by grandiose decoration, dramatic lighting, and theatrical gestures that reach out to viewers, mixed with earthy realism. Rococo art dropped the drama of Baroque art and most of the religion while taking Baroque’s ornamental side to extremes.