Description on Baroque Style in Oil Painting

The term “baroque” allegedly came from the Portuguese word “baroco”, or the Spanish word “barreuco”, meaning random-shaped pearls. Later, this term was used to describe anything bizarre, exotic, and out of the mainstream. Quite naturally, from the very beginning, the term “baroque” had been treated with a negative sense and this trend lasted until the late 19th century, when the book the Renaissance and Baroque was published, which gave a comprehensive description of baroque style and made it a serious and independent artistic trend.

The baroque artists prefer to employ heavy color and their wildest imagination to create a romantic, exuberant and grandiose scene. Their focus shifts from the rationality to the freedom. 

Baroque that was primarily associated with the religious tensions within Western Christianity: division on Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. In response to the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteen century, the Roman Catholic Church had embarked in the 1550s on a program of renewal known as the Counter - Reformation. As part of the program, the Catholic Church used art of the magnificent display for the campaign. It was intended to be both doctrinally correct and visually and emotionally appealing so that it could influence the largest possible audience. But as the century progressed the style made inroads into the Protestant countries. Main representatives of this form of Baroque were Bernini and Rubens.