Baroque

Introduction

The Baroque is a name given to a style that dominated western Europe from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century (roughly 1580–1750). It is a style most closely associated with the art and architecture of Italy; however, it is recognized as a pan-European phenomenon, which more recently has also been applied to the arts of Spanish colonies. Its date parameters and geographical boundaries have been extended further by some scholars; nevertheless, the height of the Baroque is generally centered in 17th-century western Europe. The term emerged in the context of art and architecture in the 18th century as a negative word of abuse, and in particular, one that was associated with the bizarre (deviations from classical or neoclassical norms). The “Baroque” was not applied to designate a particular style or period of art until the mid-19th century. The term no longer holds such negative connotations; however, there is still a lack of consensus among scholars about the usefulness of the term as a label for a style that encompasses such a broad period, large geographical boundaries, and diverse stylistic manifestations.

General Overviews

The questions centering on the value of “Baroque” as a style label and how to qualify its chronological, geographical, and stylistic parameters are reflected in the numerous general surveys on Baroque art and architecture. Riegl 2010 is in agreement with Wölfflin’s idea of continuity between the Renaissance and the Baroque. He overturns the previous held notion of the Baroque as a decadent and inferior style to the Renaissance by locating its origins to 16th-century Rome and the works of Michelangelo. Held and Posner 1971 frames the Baroque period between the late 16th century and the late 18th century, as does Bazin 1985. Harbison 2000, on the other hand, considers the Baroque as a repeated phenomenon extending beyond even the most liberal chronological and geographical parameters, by stretching his discussion to the 20th century and to countries such as Russia and Turkey. The word “Baroque” appears infrequently in Harris 2005, as the author advocates that style labels hinder our understanding of the art of any given period. Martin 1977 finds the word “Baroque” useful and utilizes the term in the context of predominant artistic trends—naturalism, psychology, visionary experience—and the expressive manipulation of space, light, and movement in 17th-century art. Minor 1999 similarly considers “Baroque” as a valuable and functional term for thinking and writing about eras in art history. Millon 1999 represents a groundbreaking exhibition on Baroque architecture in Europe, which features the various manifestations of Baroque style in a wide range of constructions serving different functions.

Bazin, Germain. Baroque and Rococo. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985.
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Charts Baroque style beginning at the end of the 16th century in Italy to sometime after 1800 in Latin America. Divided into two parts—17th and 18th centuries—and then organized into chapters based upon geographical regions, this book functions as a basic survey of 17th- and 18th-century art and architecture.
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Harbison, Robert. Reflections on Baroque. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
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Applies a broad definition of the Baroque that extends beyond traditional geographical and chronological parameters. Examines Baroque style in not only art but also literature and music. Considers Baroque style in both formal and thematic terms and extends these tendencies into the 20th century.
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Harris, Anne Sutherland. Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.
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Well-organized and detailed survey of 17th-century art and architecture in Italy, Flanders, Spain, France, Dutch Republic, and England. Particularly strong in its consideration of art in historical context.
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Held, Julius S., and Donald Posner. 17th and 18th Century Art: Baroque Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1971.
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Broad and general survey of 17th- and 18th-century European art. Despite its title, half of the book examines art now commonly considered under the “Rococo” stylistic label.
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Martin, John Rupert. Baroque. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1977.
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Extremely useful introduction to Baroque art that examines the style as a pan-European phenomenon. Addresses the issue of style and definition of Baroque, the role of naturalism, sensual experience, allegorical traditions, and the expressive formal qualities of space, time, and light.
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Millon, Henry A., ed. The Triumph of the Baroque: Architecture in Europe, 1600–1750. New York: Rizzoli International, 1999.
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Catalogue for an important exhibition on Baroque architecture in Europe conceived by Henry A. Millon (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 21 May–9 October 2000). Explores Baroque style in European architecture from 1600 to 1750 through architectural models, drawings, paintings, medals, and sculpture maquettes. Examines Baroque churches and chapels, civic architecture, commercial architecture, military architecture, private residences, and royal palaces.
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Minor, Vernon Hyde. Baroque and Rococo: Art and Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999.
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Survey of Baroque and Rococo art in Europe from 1600 to 1760. Organized thematically, it examines art through social, political, cultural, and artistic contexts, function, site, formal qualities, space, and genres.
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Riegl, Aloïs. The Origins of Baroque Art in Rome: Texts and Documents. Edited and translated by Andrew Hopkins and Arnold Witte. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2010.
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English translation of Die Entstehung der Barockkunst in Rom, first published in 1908. Seminal work by Riegl, in which he suggests not only that the Baroque style emerged in Rome, but also that it has its roots in the 16th century, particularly with the work of Michelangelo. Includes three new essays on Riegl, his ideas and text, and an evaluation of the critical response of Riegl’s book.
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Reference Works

The conflicting nature of the Baroque as a style and period in art history, and its complex relationship with politics, religion, and capitalism, have made dictionaries and encyclopedias (both in print and online formats) a welcome tool to understanding and researching various aspects of the period. Baroque Art and Architecture (Oxford Art Online) is a valuable portal to essays on various aspects of the Baroque. Discover Baroque Art is part of the online site for Museum With No Frontiers (an international organization that promotes artistic and cultural heritage awareness), which offers an online searchable database of Baroque art and architecture in museums and locations all over Europe. Huyghe 1964 provides broad entries on key formal categories and themes on both Renaissance and Baroque art. Zirpolo 2010 focuses specifically on Baroque art and architecture; therefore, this dictionary is extensive and exhaustive on all aspects of the Baroque period. Another dictionary, Earls 1996, is confined to the major subjects of Baroque painting and sculpture. The author identifies the two key modes of representation in 17th-century art as classic and affective, which were interchangeably directed to both biblical and mythological themes. She integrates a considerable amount of references to primary sources from the Bible, The Golden Legend, and Ovid, among others.

Baroque Art and Architecture. Oxford Art Online.
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Very useful introduction to Baroque art; includes links to other essays on various aspects of the Baroque, including fountains, and biographies of key Baroque artists that are available on Oxford Art Online.
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Discover Baroque Art.
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Useful online searchable database of Baroque painting, sculpture, and architecture that provides a brief but informative description of the work of art, and a selected bibliography.
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Earls, Irene. Baroque Art: A Topical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
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Dictionary of major subjects appearing in 17th-century paintings and sculpture, which are, moreover, usefully cross-referenced. Includes entries for subjects not only from the Bible, but also from mythology. Incorporates excerpts from numerous primary sources and lists examples of works of art that illustrate each subject.
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Huyghe, René. Larousse Encyclopedia of Renaissance and Baroque Art. New York: Prometheus, 1964.
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Parts 3 and 4, titled “The Later Renaissance” and “Baroque Art,” respectively, are of particular interest. Entries include broad historical overviews of each period and more specific entries on topics such as realism and classicism, Catholicism and the Baroque, and the theme of individuality.
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Zirpolo, Lilian H. Historical Dictionary of Baroque Art and Architecture. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2010.
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Includes over five hundred cross-referenced entries on artists, patrons, key historical figures, and events. Provides a nice introductory essay of the Baroque period as well as a useful bibliography.
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Origins and Definitions of Baroque Style

The term “Baroque” appears for the first time in the context of art, and specifically as a term of abuse, in Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s 1755 Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bilderkunst (Thoughts on the imitation of Greek works). Winckelmann applied the term “Baroque,” not as a style or period, but rather as a word of opposition to the beauty, perfection, and rationality of Greek art. As a modern construction, therefore, the term “Baroque” is inherently problematic, and scholars have focused much attention on the etymology of the term. Kurz 1960 and Carr 1965 both chart the origins of the term and demonstrate its shifting definition through time and location. Other scholars have rather proposed more constructive means of understanding and defining the word. Panofsky 1997 characterizes Baroque style as a subjective style filled with emotional energy, but one that is linked to the High Renaissance and continues to the late 19th century. Stechow 1946 evaluates three key basic (but different) meanings of the word “Baroque” and finds all three lacking in comprehensiveness, raising the question of whether the term “Baroque” is useful. Heyl 1961 follows a similar methodology as Stechow and examines the various, yet unsatisfactory, singular definitions of the term. He concludes that the term “Baroque” is too complex to be reduced to a single definition and, rather, that all its varieties should be embraced and accepted. Heyl 1961 deems that a broad flexible view of the Baroque is equally valid and useful. Hauser 1958 approaches the issue from a sociohistorical perspective and interprets Baroque style in a flexible manner, recognizing its various manifestations but shared worldview. Wölfflin 1966 proposes that there is no discontinuity between the High Renaissance and the Baroque styles, calling Michelangelo the “father of the Baroque.” In another study, Wölfflin 1940, the author avoids questions of origins and definitions altogether (even the term “Baroque”) and rather identifies the formal qualities of the 17th century as an emphasis on the painterly, depth, open or loose form, unity, and indeterminateness.

Carr, C. T. “Two Words in Art History: I. Baroque.” Forum for Modern Language Studies 1.2 (1965): 175–190.
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Examines the definition, application, and diffusion of the term “Baroque” in Europe from the 13th to the 20th century. Pages 187–190, in particular, address how the term “Baroque” is utilized in the history of art and architecture. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Hauser, Arnold. “The Concept of the Baroque.” In The Social History of Art. Vol. 2. Translated in collaboration with the author by Stanley Godman, 172–182. New York: Vintage, 1958.
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Views the Baroque as a pan-European style, expressing a homogenous worldview, yet manifesting itself in different forms. Differences are dependent upon geographical factors and cultural distinctions. Distinguishes between the style of Catholic courts and Protestant bourgeoisie, but also identifies secondary subdivisions within each to demonstrate the variety of Baroque style.
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Heyl, Bernard C. “Meanings of Baroque.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 19 (1961): 275–287.
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Examines unsatisfactory scholarly approaches to defining Baroque style as a means to clear a path for a new solution. Heyl evaluates the characterization of the Baroque as a unified style, the comprehensive elimination of stylistic terms/labels, the restriction of the Baroque to a specific formal quality or time span, and the application of the Baroque to particular aesthetic judgments of an object, such as “classical” or “spiritual.” Available online by subscription.
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Kurz, Otto. “Barocco: Storia di una parola.” Lettere Italiane 12.4 (October–December 1960): 414–444.
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Examines the etymology of “Baroque,” and demonstrates how language—Italian, French, German—influenced its definition and application.
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Panofsky, Erwin. “What is Baroque?” In Three Essays on Style. Edited by Irving Lavin with a memoir by William S. Heckscher, 17–90. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997.
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Previously unpublished lecture of 1935. Characterizes the Baroque as an extension, or “second great climax,” of the Renaissance. Anticipates later revisionist scholarship by characterizing the Baroque as the beginning of the modern era and thereby extending its date parameters to the Industrial Revolution.
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Stechow, Wolfgang. “Definitions of the Baroque in the Visual Arts.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 5 (1946): 77–115.
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Identifies and examines three key meanings given to the Baroque by art historians. First, as a style quality diametrically opposed to the classical, therefore retaining some of its early negative connotations. Second, as a style emerging in western Europe between 1580/1600 and 1725/1750, thus merely through chronological considerations. Third, proposes the Baroque as a recurrent style in Western art; therefore, every age has a “classical” and a “baroque” phase. Available online by subscription.
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Wölfflin, Heinrich. Principles of Art History: The Problem of the Development of Style in Later Art. Translated by M. D. Hottinger. New York: Dover, 1940.
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English translation of Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe (1915), and an expansion of Wölfflin’s ideas formulated in his Renaissance und Barock (1888). Explains the shift from Renaissance to Baroque style through the application of an objective system of paired formal concepts: linear and painterly, plane and recession, closed and open form, multiplicity and unity, clearness and unclearness.
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Wölfflin, Heinrich. Renaissance and Baroque. Translated by Kathrin Simon. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1966.
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English translation of Renaissance und Barock (1888). Proposes that the end of the High Renaissance led directly into the Baroque; therefore includes much of 16th-century art in his dialogue on the Baroque. Puts forward categories—“the painterly style,” “the grand style,” “massiveness,” and “movement”—as means to characterize Baroque style. Briefly discusses the applicability of the Baroque to music and literature.
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Baroque Rhetoric

The interconnection between literature and the visual arts had long been established by Horace’s Ars Poetica (Art of poetry, c. 18 BCE). According to Horace, words and art shared a similar function as rhetoric or the ability to persuade. This idea, while promoted by Renaissance artists and theorists, became even more topical and prevalent in the period of the Baroque. After the closing of the Council of Trent in 1563, there was a noticeable interest in finding new and effective means to convey or persuade viewers of Catholic hegemony. Artists begin to experiment with new levels of veracity and realism, with formal techniques that elicit viewers’ emotions, and with translating written text (particularly of mystics) into visual form. Immediacy—either physical, emotional, or both—is considered to be a primary principle of Baroque style, but the means by which it is achieved vary. Castelli 1955 includes a collection of papers presented at the Third International Congress of Humanistic Studies held in Venice in 1954. Papers by international scholars from various disciplines address the function and forms of rhetoric in the Baroque period. Minor 2006 interestingly centers on the waning of Baroque style as his point of departure for his examination of the power of rhetoric. He considers the intersection between the death of the Baroque and the emergence of the Academy of the Arcadians, which began to define buon gusto (good taste) as contrary to Baroque aesthetics.

Castelli, Enrico, ed. Retorica e Barocco: Atti del III congresso internazionale di studi umanistici, Venezia 15–18 giugno 1954. Rome: Fratelli Bocca Editori, 1955.
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Includes an important essay by Giulio Carlo Argan. Argan examines Baroque art as an art of persuasion that centers on the affective means to engage the viewer, irrespective of medium or subject. Resists the idea that there is an end or predetermined response to Baroque rhetoric, but rather suggests it is persuasion without an objective.
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Minor, Vernon Hyde. The Death of the Baroque and the Rhetoric of Good Taste. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
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Includes six separate, but interrelated essays that chart the waning of Baroque style and taste within the context of the rise of Rome’s Academy of the Arcadians in the late 17th century. Chapter 1 is particularly useful in its examination of the Baroque as visual rhetoric. Considers the Baroque as spectacle—a vehicle of tropes, metaphors, and conceits.
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Imitation

Physical immediacy and tangibility are pictorial qualities frequently cited in reference to Baroque style. Increased interest and manipulation of levels of imitation in 17th-century art are often considered to be integral to visual rhetoric. Alpers 1976 observes how realistic description is often paired with suspended narrative in Baroque paintings. Glanville 2001 investigates the techniques utilized by artists to impart realism in painting.

Alpers, Svetlana. “Describe or Narrate? A Problem in Realistic Representation.” New Literary History 8 (1976): 15–41.
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Thought-provoking essay that examines the formal parallels between 17th-century Baroque style and 19th-century French Realism. Observes that the attention to imitation or description and suspension of narrative action are qualities shared by the styles of these periods, but ultimately used for different reasons and to achieve distinct results. Available online by subscription.
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Glanville, Helen. “Veracity, Verisimilitude, and Optics in Painting in Italy at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century.” Italian Studies 56 (2001): 30–56.
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Investigates the techniques utilized by artists to impart realism in order to emotionally connect with viewers, as required by the Counter-Reformation. Application of correct tonal relationships between colors and principles of perspective of color are among the technical means examined. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Affective Response

The importance placed on touching viewers’ emotions in the Council of Trent’s decree on art and post-Tridentine treatises reflected a genuine concern for reaching the general, uneducated populace. As a result, artists began to explore and experiment with art as a vehicle that had the potential to elicit an affective or emotional response from the viewer. Many artists may have shared this objective, but each explored and experimented with different means of achieving it. Stoichita 1995 examines how the visionary experience of saints as depicted in Spanish painting was tightly bound to the Counter-Reformation Church’s objective to engage viewers and their emotions and to incite piety. Hall 2011 discusses how the 1563 contradiction of the establishment of a new elevated status for the artist through the foundation of the Accademia del Disegno (Academy of Design) in Florence on one hand, and the curtailing of artistic license by the Tridentine decree of art on the other, motivated five artists to explore and utilize their materials and techniques in order to excite the emotions of viewers. The goal to move viewers, however, was not confined to the religious sphere. Beyer 1954 points out that “realism,” as a 19th-century concept, obscures our understanding of Baroque art. The author proposes replacing “realism” with “representation,” a term utilized in studies of 17th-century music. Beyer not only draws parallels between Baroque art and music but proposes that both share the objective of moving the emotions of the audience.

Beyer, Barbara Ives. “Baroque Representation.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 12 (1954): 360–365.
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Proposes the use of the word “representation” rather than “realism” as a guide to understanding 17th-century art. “Representation” is examined as a flexible term applicable to figurative and nonfigurative work of the 17th century as a means of moving viewers’ emotions. Powerful “representations” can be achieved through different means. Available online by subscription.
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Hall, Marcia B. The Sacred Image in the Age of Art: Titian, Tintoretto, Barocci, El Greco, Caravaggio. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2011.
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Examines the revolutionary use of materials and painting techniques Titian, Tintoretto, Barocci, El Greco, and Caravaggio employed to satisfy the post-Tridentine Church. These artists experimented with and explored all the materials and techniques at their disposal but directed their function to move the emotions of the viewer, which satisfied the Church.
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Stoichita, Victor I. Visionary Experience in the Golden Age of Spanish Art. London: Reaktion, 1995.
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Focused study on the problem of depicting the “unrepresentable” in painting against the historical backdrop of Counter-Reformation Spain. Considers the development of paintings that represent the visionary experience of saints and the parallel between paintings of this subject and texts by mystics in Counter-Reformation Spain.
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Propaganda

Levy 2004 examines the objectives, means, and effects of Jesuit art and architecture in Italy, central Europe, and Poland. Levy identifies three key aspects of Jesuit art—authorship, message, and diffusion—as critical to Jesuit propaganda. A different kind of propaganda emerged from the Jansenists of Port-Royal who began what can be considered a “war of words” against the Jesuits, partially based on what they observed as their moral laxity. The Jesuits considered the Jansenists “heretics” who espoused Protestant ideas such as predestination and the inefficacy of art. Roy 1999 analyzes the Port-Royal Jansenists Antoine Arnauld and Claude Lancelot’s The Reasoned and General Grammar (originally published in 1660, and again in 1662) and Arnauld and Pierre Nicole’s The Port-Royal Logic (originally published in 1662, and revised and published in 1664, 1668, 1671, and 1683) and suggests that these Port-Royal authors formulated what seems to be their own rhetoric of persuasion. Chappell 1974 is a more specific study on the program of altarpieces commissioned for the Navi Piccole in St. Peter’s under Pope Clement VIII. These altarpieces, executed by different artists, are considered an expression of the Church Triumphant. Nussdorfer 1998 analyzes 17th-century printed descriptions of ceremonies, festivities, and pageants in Rome. These prints exemplify the close relationship between text and art as mechanisms of rhetoric. Nussdorfer suggests that these printed pamphlets served as political, devotional, and economic propaganda.

Chappell, Miles L. “A Petrine Triumph: The Decoration of the Navi Piccole in San Pietro Under Clement VIII.” Storia dell’Arte 21 (1974): 119–170.
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Considers the altarpiece cycle in the Navi Piccole in St. Peter’s during the papal reign of Clement VIII (Ippolito Aldobrandini) as an expression of the Church Triumphant.
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Levy, Evonne Anita. Propaganda and the Jesuit Baroque. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
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Importantly distinguishes between “rhetoric” and “propaganda,” suggesting that “rhetoric” is the means of persuasion, and propaganda is the “ends” of such discourse. Levy considers the intentions of the Jesuits, what they hoped to achieve through their art and architecture, and how they realized their goals.
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Nussdorfer, Laurie. “Print and Pageantry in Baroque Rome.” Sixteenth Century Journal 29 (1998): 439–464.
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Analyzes 110 examples of printed descriptions of spectacles—ceremonies, festivities, and pageants—in Rome between 1623 and 1650. Available online by subscription.
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Roy, Bernard. “Reasoned Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric at Port-Royal.” Philosophy & Rhetoric 32 (1999): 131–145.
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Examines and interprets the written works of Port-Royal Jansenists Antoine Arnauld, Claude Lancelot, and Pierre Nicole. Suggests that despite the authors’ apparent distinction between grammar and logic, the two in fact intersect, forming a rhetoric of persuasion. Available online by subscription.
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Performance and Performativity

The qualities of drama, staging, unfolding narrative, and movement are central to any discussion of Baroque style. The concepts of performance and performativity are often integrally intertwined with both affective response and imitation. When we think of performance or the theater, we think of time-fixed productions. The transformation of art into a performance or stage, however, suggests permanence and continual “unfolding” of a scene for each viewer. Maiorino 1990 draws parallels between 17th-century intellectual thought and art, and argues that the concept of infinity is central to both. Lavin 1980 examines Bernini’s practice of unifying the arts—painting, sculpture, architecture—in creating a beautiful whole. The performative nature of Bernini’s works suggests a direct reference to his involvement with the theater, particularly in the case of the Cornaro Chapel. According to Lavin, it was not through specific devices borrowed from the theater that the Cornaro Chapel became an exemplar of performance or spectacle, but rather through Bernini’s personal understanding of what occurred in the theater, in effectively and affectively engaging the audience. Jarrard 2003, on the other hand, examines the function of ephemeral architecture as performance and spectacle in 17th-century Europe. Snodin and Llewellyn 2009 approaches Baroque style from a global perspective, focusing particularly on the language and function of the Baroque as performance.

Jarrard, Alice. Architecture as Performance in Seventeenth-Century Europe: Court Rituals in Modena, Rome, and Paris. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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Examines ephemeral displays and structures designed for festivals, and theatrical performances as manifestations of the spectacle, utilized by Francesco I d’Este and others as personal, political, and cultural propaganda.
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Lavin, Irving. Bernini and the Unity of the Visual Arts. 2 vols. New York and London: The Pierpont Morgan Library and Oxford University Press, 1980.
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Considers Bernini’s ideas and success in integrating painting, sculpture, and architecture into un bel composto (a beautiful whole). Suggests that the unity Bernini achieved, particularly in the Cornaro Chapel, functions as performance or spectacle that engages viewers.
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Maiorino, Giancarlo. The Cornucopian Mind and the Baroque Unity of the Arts. London and University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990.
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Interdisciplinary approach to understanding the development of the Baroque. Identifies the concept of infinity as a primary characteristic of Baroque art, literature, and science. Counterposes what he describes as the static (closed or finite) quality of Renaissance art to the ever-unfolding (open or infinite) and dynamic sensibility of Baroque art.
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Snodin, Michael, and Nigel Llewellyn, eds. Baroque, 1620–1800: Style in the Age of Magnificence. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 2009.
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Exhibition catalogue (Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 4 April–19 July 2009) that examines the Baroque as a global style not only in art and architecture, but also in design and the applied arts. The role and nature of Baroque performance and spectacle in the visual arts within princely and ecclesiastical contexts figure largely in this lavishly illustrated catalogue.
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Academies

Interest in workshop training has always been a subject of interest for scholars of the Early Modern period. In the late 16th century, however, the appearance of the first art academy (formal institution, not merely an informal gathering of artists in a studio) in Florence created another means by which artists could receive training and education. The Accademia del Disegno (Academy of Design) in Florence was founded in 1563 by Duke Cosimo de’ Medici under the instigation of Giorgio Vasari who wanted to liberate artists from the stranglehold of the guilds, and more importantly, to elevate the status of the artist. The history and function of such academies have received substantial attention only as recently as the 20th century. Pevsner 1940 examines the general history of academies, beginning with the pseudo-academy of Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance to the emergence of the Bauhaus in the early 20th century. Along similar lines, Goldstein 1996 examines academies from the Renaissance to modern times, but narrows his focus to the analysis of academic doctrines. Jones 1993 breaks new ground as a study of Federico Borromeo. In addition to providing the reader with an understanding of Borromeo as a patron of art, the author provides substantial information and documentation of the history and motivations behind the foundation of the Ambrosiana, which included not only a library and a museum, but an art academy (1620). Barzman 2000 provides the first institutional history of the Accademia del Disegno (Academy of Design) in Florence and includes well-informed discussions on theory and practice at the academy. The author of Lukehart 2009, in association with CASVA (Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts) at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, the Archivio di Stato, Rome, and the Accademia Nazionale San Luca, Rome, has spearheaded a large project on the reconstruction of the early history of the Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke) in Rome (founded in 1593), the fruits of which can be found in this collection of essays. In conjunction with this project, an online source—The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635: Documents from the Archivio di Stato di Roma— was created, making documents and their transcriptions readily available for researchers.

Barzman, Karen-edis. The Florentine Academy and the Early Modern State. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
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First institutional history of the Accademia del Disegno (Academy of Design) in Florence from its foundation in 1563 to 1737. Examines the Medicis’ role at the academy, the academy’s activities, and the theoretical and practical role of disegno (design, drawing) at the academy.
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Goldstein, Carl. Teaching Art: Academies and Schools from Vasari to Albers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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Examines academic doctrines and the relationship between theory, practice, and teaching from the 16th to the 20th century.
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The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635: Documents from the Archivio di Stato di Roma.
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Invaluable online resource resulting from a National Gallery of Art, CASVA project in association with the Archivio di Stato di Roma (Roman State Archives) and the Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke). Includes a concise brief history of the Accademia and a searchable database that includes digital reproductions of original documents and transcriptions.
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Jones, Pamela M. Federico Borromeo and the Ambrosiana: Art Patronage and Reform in Seventeenth Century Milan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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Detailed study of Federico Borromeo’s role as a patron of art during his tenure as Archbishop of Milan. Includes a comprehensive discussion of Borromeo’s ideas on sacred art as a basis for the founding of the Ambrosiana Museum and Library and the short-lived Academy of Design. Includes useful catalogue.
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Lukehart, Peter M., ed. The Accademia Seminars: The Accademia di San Luca in Rome, c. 1590–1635. CASVA Seminar Papers 2. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2009.
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Extremely important and comprehensive collection of essays on the foundation and early history of the Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke) in Rome, a project headed by Lukehart. Includes contributions by international scholars, and unpublished documents, many of which can be found online at the project’s database.
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Pevsner, Nikolaus. Academies of Art: Past and Present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1940.
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First general history of academies from the Renaissance to the Bauhaus. Particularly useful are chapter 2, which includes an overview of the Academy of St. Luke in Rome, and chapter 3, where the Paris Academy under Charles Le Brun (as well as other European academies who followed their example) is discussed.
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Patronage and Collecting

The emergence of markets, galleries, and museums transformed the patterns of patronage, and particularly, collecting in the 17th century. Haskell 1980 examines the complex interrelationship between patrons, artists, and their art in Baroque Italy. Spear, et al. 2010 provides a unique glimpse into the financial world of Baroque painters in Italy, through an examination of the variables that conditioned the pricing of works of art. Campbell 1966 focuses on the transformation of grand ducal patronage in 17th-century Florence. Zuccari 1984 investigates the patronage of cardinals during the papal reign of Pope Clement VIII. Jones 1993, on the other hand, centers on the patronage of a specific cardinal, namely, Federico Borromeo. Kaufmann 1988 evaluates the patronage and collection of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, at his court in Prague. Honig 1998 examines the relationship between painting and the market. A new and rather interesting perspective is offered by Cools, et al. 2006, which examines the role and function of agents in the acquisition of works of art for patrons.

Campbell, Malcolm. “Medici Patronage and the Baroque: A Reappraisal.” Art Bulletin 48 (1966): 133–146.
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Examines the shift in grand ducal patronage from indigenous painters to non-Florentine painters in 17th-century Florence. The dramatic shift in the patronage of Grand Duke Ferdinand II de’ Medici for the rooms in the Palazzo Pitti between 1635 and 1636 is related to changes in taste: the rejection of the native Tuscan style of painting, and the appropriation of the Roman Grand Manner. Available online by subscription.
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Cools, Hans, Marika Keblusek, and Badeloch Noldus, eds. Your Humble Servant: Agents in Early Modern Europe. Hilversum, The Netherlands: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2006.
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Collection of eleven essays by international scholars that examines the function of agents in Early Modern Europe, their relationships with patrons, their modes of operation, and their aims.
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Haskell, Francis. Patrons and Painters: A Study in the Relations Between Italian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1980.
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This study examines the interrelationship among patrons, artists, and art in Baroque Italy. Part 1 focuses entirely on Rome, and in particular, the pontificate of Urban VIII. Part 2 considers the decline of Roman patronage following the death of Pope Urban VIII. Finally, Part 3 centers on the rise and fall of Venice.
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Honig, Elizabeth Alice. Painting and the Market in Early Modern Antwerp. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1998.
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Explores Flemish painting between 1550 and 1650, including market-scene paintings. Examines the relationship among painters, markets, and capitalism in Antwerp.
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Jones, Pamela M. Federico Borromeo and the Ambrosiana: Art Patronage and Reform in Seventeenth-Century Milan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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Considers Borromeo’s pastoral program, spirituality, theoretical views on art, patronage, and writings through an examination of the tripartite institution he founded in Milan (the Ambrosiana), which included a library, an art museum, and an art academy. Includes valuable catalogues of the paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures in the Ambrosiana collection.
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Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta. The School of Prague: Painting at the Court of Rudolf II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.
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First published in French in 1985, this study examines Rudolf’s practice of collecting and patronage, the function of his collection as princely propaganda, and the subjects and artists represented in his collection. Includes a catalogue of paintings by artists who were part of Rudolf’s court.
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Spear, Richard E., Philip Sohm, Christopher Marshall, Rafaella Morselli, Elena Fumagalli, and Renata Ago. Painting for Profit: The Economic Lives of Seventeenth-Century Italian Painters. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2010.
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Provides unique insight into the financial transactions of Baroque painters in Italy. Examines how the power and wealth of patrons, the size of works, the amount of labor expended, and subjects, among other factors, contributed to the pricing of works of art in Baroque Italy.
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Zuccari, Alessandro. Arte e Committenza nella Roma di Caravaggio. Turin, Italy: ERI, 1984.
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Essential study on the art commissioned by cardinals and religious corporations during the reign of Pope Clement VIII. Examines the commissions within the context of Counter-Reformation thought, initiatives, and interests.
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Genres

The origins of genres or subject categories of art did not originate in the Baroque period, but their theoretical placement within a distinct hierarchical order did. This hierarchy of genres can be traced most especially in the academies of Europe, and in particular the French academy. This hierarchy—history painting was placed at the top, followed by portraits, genre, landscape, animal painting, and still lifes—while privileging one genre over another in estimation, has been for the most part discarded. The overturning or dismantling of the hierarchy of genres is aptly demonstrated by the sheer number of studies devoted to individual genres, particularly in landscape and still lifes. Friedlaender 1963 provides a useful overview of the history of genres. While the themes of Dutch genre painting remained fairly conventional and uniform during the 17th century, Franits 2004 examines how style was adapted to the changing social, political, and economic shifts in the Dutch Republic. Bergström 1956 and Stechow 1966 are studies directed toward specific genres in painting, still life and landscapes, respectively, in the Dutch Republic. Haraszti-Takács 1983 surveys 17th-century Spanish genre paintings, as well as paintings that include prominent genre references. Gregori 2003, on the hand, centers on the production of still lifes in Italy from the 16th to the 18th century. An ambitious and noteworthy contribution to the exhibition (and catalogue) centers on the attempt to trace the origins of the genre to Italy by underscoring the existence of such images in the classical world, and the 16th-century interest in the recording and classification of the natural world.

Bergström, Ingvar. Dutch Still Life Painting in the Seventeenth Century. Translated by Christina Hedström and Gerald Taylor. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1956.
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English translation of Bergström’s 1947 Studier i holländskt stilleben-måleri under 1600-talet. Comprehensive survey of Dutch still life painting considered in terms of style and iconography.
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Franits, Wayne E. Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004.
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Contextual study of genre paintings in the Dutch Republic. The book is clearly divided into three historical parts (1609–1648, 1648–1672, and 1672–1702) and then further organized geographically. Observes the shifts in style of standard and familiar themes in relation to changes in patronage.
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Friedländer, Max J. Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life: Their Origin and Development. New York: Schocken, 1963.
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First published in German as Essays über die Landschaftsmalerei und andere Bildgattungen in 1947. Useful overview of the history of genres. The chapter on landscape is given the lion’s share of pages, followed by genre (everyday life scenes), portraits, and rather cursory chapters on religious art and still lifes.
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Gregori, Mina, ed. La natura morta italiana: Da Caravaggio al Settecento. Milan: Electa, 2003.
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Catalogue of an exhibition of Italian still life paintings from the 16th to the 18th century (Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 26 June–12 October 2003). While this is not the first exhibition or catalogue of its kind, it is noted for its impressive scale and geographical coverage of still lifes in Italy. Chronologically follows the development of the genre from Lombardy to its appearance in key centers, such as Rome, Naples, and Florence, among others.
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Haraszti-Takács, Marianna. Spanish Genre Painting in the Seventeenth Century. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1983.
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Study of 17th-century Spanish genre painting, which includes not only traditional “genre” scenes (scenes of everyday life), but also portraits and religious subjects that include significant genre details. Includes a useful bibliography.
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Stechow, Wolfgang. Dutch Landscape Painting of the Seventeenth Century. London: Phaidon, 1966.
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Organized thematically, this work provides sound analyses of key subjects of Dutch landscape painting in the 17th century, including panoramas, rivers and canals, the woods, the sea, and nocturnes, among others.
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Counter-Reformation Art

There remains some disagreement among scholars on whether a unified Counter-Reformation style can be discerned after the closing of the Council of Trent in 1563. There is, however, no question that the Counter-Reformation had an impact on the style and subjects of sacred art. Mâle 1932 is among the earliest studies on Counter-Reformation iconography. Knipping 1974 follows the general scheme of Mâle 1932 but confines its iconographic entries and discussions to Counter-Reformation art in the Netherlands. Similarly, the author of Saint-Saëns 1995 geographically narrows his study to Spain and evaluates the extent to which Spanish art followed the prescriptions of the Council of Trent. Askew 1969 provides a more focused study on the transformation of iconography in representations of St. Francis in post-Tridentine painting. Mayor 1945 argues that the Council of Trent decrees did indeed have an impact on art, which ultimately resulted in the emergence of the Baroque style. Waterhouse 1972 examines the work of three artists whose individual styles the author finds to reflect the effects of the Counter-Reformation.

Askew, Pamela. “The Angelic Consolation of St. Francis of Assisi in Post-Tridentine Italian Painting.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 32 (1969): 280–306.
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Proposes that in post-Tridentine paintings, emphasis is placed on St. Francis’s visionary experiences rather than on his life. Importantly illustrates how non-Franciscan pictorial imagery was transposed to representations of St. Francis to enhance their mystical and visionary meaning. Available online by subscription.
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Knipping, John B. Iconography of the Counter Reformation in the Netherlands: Heaven and Earth. Nieuwkoop, The Netherlands: De Graff, 1974.
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English translation of De iconografie van de Contra-Reformatie in de Nederlanden, first published in Dutch in 1939–1940. Useful iconographic dictionary of Counter-Reformation art in the Netherlands, which includes not only plates and discussions of paintings and sculpture, but also graphic works. Suggests that Baroque style dictated iconographical modifications to traditional subjects.
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Mâle, Émile. Art religieux après le Concile de Trente: Étude sur l’iconographie de la fin du XVIe siècle, du XVIIe, du XVIIIe siècle: Italie, France, Espagne, Flandres. Paris: Colin, 1932.
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Among the earliest, complete studies on Counter-Reformation iconography. Provides a useful overview of the historical conditions that shaped Counter-Reformation art in Catholic Europe (late 16th century–18th century). Particularly valuable for his discussions on new subjects, new iconographies, and new devotions.
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Mayor, A. Hyatt. “The Art of the Counter Reformation.” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (1945): 101–105.
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Succinct overview of how the Counter-Reformation contributed to the emergence of Baroque style. Discusses how art was directly and indirectly affected by the Council of Trent decrees.
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Saint-Saëns, Alain. Art and Faith in Tridentine Spain, 1545–1690. New York: Peter Lang, 1995.
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Examines the interconnection between art and religion in Spain, and the extent to which art adhered to the prescriptions of the Council of Trent.
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Waterhouse, Ellis. “Some Painters and the Counter-Reformation Before 1600.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 5th ser. 22 (1972): 103–118.
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Paper read at the Royal Historical Society’s conference (21 September 1971). Considers the impact of the Counter-Reformation on art following the closing of the Council of Trent in 1563. Focuses on the work of three key artists—Barocci, El Greco, and Caravaggio—whose work played a formative role in the early phase of the Baroque. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Italy

All general overviews of Baroque art and architecture discuss the art and architecture of Italy to a large extent, in fact, often substantially more than those of other countries. A classic focused study on Italian Baroque art and architecture is represented by Wittkower 1999. Fokker 1972 considers the development of Baroque style in Rome specifically.

Fokker, Timon Henricus. Roman Baroque Art: The History of Style. New York: Hacker Art Books, 1972.
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Study of Baroque style in Rome, divided into three subperiods: early, full, and late Baroque. Considers Baroque style in painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as town planning and fountains.
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Wittkower, Rudolf. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750. 3 vols. 4th ed. Revised by Joseph Connors and Jennifer Montagu. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1999.
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First published in 1958. Well-documented, albeit selective, study of Italian Baroque painting, sculpture, and architecture. Applies the term “Baroque” as a broad, general designation for the style of Italian art produced between 1600 and 1750. This classic work is divided into three volumes each devoted to specific phases (Early, High, and Late) of Italian Baroque art.
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Art Theory and Art Writing

Contemporary theoretical and biographical literature is essential in understanding artists, their work, and the period in which they lived. Such contemporary accounts, moreover, provide insights into artists’ styles and the artistic taste of the age in which they lived. In the Baroque period, many publications of this nature emerged. Some of the authors were themselves artists, while others were amateur critics and connoisseurs of art.

Primary Sources

Biographies are considered the basic resource for understanding artists and their work. Baglione 1995, the author’s collection of biographies of his contemporaries, was first published in 1642. As Baglione was himself an artist and an immediate contemporary of Caravaggio, his biography of Caravaggio is considered to be among the earliest informed biographies of the artist. As Baglione was an artistic rival of Caravaggio, however, his biographies of Caravaggio and his followers are colored with his personal animosity for the artist. Bellori 2005 first published his collection of biographies of contemporary artists in 1672, filtered through his own classicist sensibilities. Malvasia 2011 gathers a collection of biographies (first published in 1672) of Bolognese artists, as a counter to Vasari’s Florentine-centered Lives of the Artists, published a century earlier in 1550 (second edition, 1568). Malvasia, however, was not immune to the lure of promoting his own city, Bologna, and its artists. Baldinucci 1974–1975 is an ambitious collection of biographies of artists from the 13th century to the author’s own time, while under the employ of the Medici. First published beginning in 1681 (three of the six volumes were published posthumously), Baldinucci’s Notizie offers many correctives to Vasari’s text. Theoretical literature is subject to the same kind of prejudices one finds in contemporary biographies. The author of Mancini 1956, a physician by profession and an amateur critic, wrote his thoughts on painting between 1617 and 1621 (left unpublished during his lifetime). Mancini’s text is far more balanced than the work of some of his other contemporaries, but one notes a higher esteem for classicism in his discussions. The author of Scannelli 1966 was also a physician and amateur critic like Mancini but, importantly, also served as an art consultant for Francesco d’Este, the Duke of Modena. Scannelli’s book is a theoretical study of art in Italy, but like his predecessors, his text is informed by his North Italian prejudice.

Baglione, Giovanni. Le vite de’ pittori, scultori et architetti: Dal Pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572, in fino a’ tempi di Papa Urbano Ottavo nel 1642. Vol. 367. Edited by Jacob Hess and Herwarth Röttgen. Studi e Testi. Vatican City, Italy: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1995.
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Collection of biographies (1642) comparable to Vasari’s 16th-century Lives of the Artists. Includes biographies of artists whose careers unfolded during the years 1572–1642. Like those of Vasari before him, Baglione’s accounts of the lives and works of his own contemporaries are inflected with his own aesthetic judgments.
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Baldinucci, Filippo. Notizie de’ professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua: Per le quali si dimostra come, e per chi le belle arti di pittura, scultura e architettura, lasciata la rozzezza delle maniere greca e gotica, si siano in questi secoli ridotte all’antica loro perfezione. Edited by F. Ranalli. Florence, Italy: Studio per edizione scelte, 1974–1975.
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Originally published beginning in 1681 in six volumes, the Notizie (Notes) includes a collection of biographies from Cimabue (13th century) to Baldinucci’s age. Particularly valuable for the biographies of artists who were contemporary to Baldinucci and active during his lifetime.
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Bellori, Giovan Pietro. The Lives of the Modern Painters, Sculptors and Architects: A New Translation and Critical Edition. Edited by Hellmut Wohl and Tommaso Montanari; edited and translated by Alice Sedgwick Wohl. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
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English translation of Bellori’s 1672 Vite de’ pittori, scultori et architetti moderni. As an artist and theorist, Bellori composed a collection of biographies of his contemporaries that is shaped by his classicist theoretical ideas on art. Fundamental and comprehensive source for 17th-century Italian art and theory.
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Malvasia, Carlo Cesare. Felsina pittrice: Vite de’ pittori bolognese, con aggiunte, correzioni e note inedite dell’ autore. Edited by Giampietro Zanotti. Charleston, SC: Nabu, 2011.
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Among the important Baroque-era writers who published monumental studies on the development of art in regional schools. Malvasia’s Felsina Pittrice (Felsina painters), first published in 1678, is devoted to Bolognese artists. His text is inflected with his contempt for Vasari and his high esteem for his Bolognese contemporaries, especially the Carracci.
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Mancini, Giulio. Considerazioni sulla pittura. 2 vols. Edited by Adriana Marucchi. Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1956.
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Written work of Mancini, a physician and amateur critic, was left in manuscript form and not published until long after his death. His Considerazioni sulla pittura (Thoughts on painting), written between 1617 and 1621, provides a means of understanding differences in regional style and advice for collectors.
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Scannelli, Francesco. Il microcosmo della pittura. Edited by Guido Giubbini. Milan: Edizioni Labor, 1966.
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Scannelli was a physician, amateur critic, and most notably, an art consultant and agent for the Duke of Modena, Francesco d’Este. First published in 1657, Il microcosmo della pittura (The microcosm of painting), in breadth covers art and artists from all regions of Italy, with emphasis and preference given to North Italy.
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Secondary Sources

Sohm 2001 examines the history of the term “style” as defined by Early Modern Italian authors. Sohm demonstrates how language shaped the concepts of style in Early Modern Italy (1550–1770). As literary constructions, biographies and theoretical treatises do have their pitfalls. The problems with reading early biographies and theoretical writings, and the positive aspects that readers can glean from these sources, have been the subject of many informed studies. Mahon 1947 provides a valuable critical study of 17th-century theory, and in particular, Giovanni Battisti Agucchi’s c. 1607–1615 Trattato della pittura (Treatise on painting), which survives only in fragmentary form. Goldstein 1988 argues that scholars have misread the biographies written by Bellori and Malvasia, by earnestly trying to match written descriptions too literally with the visual qualities of the Carraccis’ work. Enggass and Brown 1999 combines excerpts from sources (1600–1750) with critical introductions to each of the texts and their authors. The essays in Bell and Willette 2002 examine and analyze both Bellori as a man, and his methodology in writing his 1672 Lives. Loh 2004 proposes that the aesthetic of “repetition” as described in 17th-century sources was essential to the formulation of Baroque practice and theory in Italy.

Bell, Janis C., and Thomas C. Willette, eds. Art History in the Age of Bellori: Scholarship and Cultural Politics in Seventeenth-Century Rome. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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Book emerged from a 1996 conference at the American Academy in Rome celebrating Bellori upon the third centenary of his death. The eleven essays (eight of which are from the conference) are organized around specific themes—such as Bellori as an antiquarian, and Bellori’s Lives (1672)—but all focus on different aspects and contribute new perspectives for understanding Bellori and his age.
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Enggass, Robert, and Jonathan Brown. Italian and Spanish Art, 1600–1750: Sources and Documents. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1999.
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First published in 1970. Compilation of significant primary sources from the Baroque period in Italy (Part 1), with useful introductions to the texts. Includes excerpts from key treatises on art, biographies, letters, and court documents. Sources include treatises by Bellori, Agucchi, and Baldinucci and biographies of the Carracci, Caravaggio, and Bernini, among others.
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Goldstein, Carl. Visual Fact over Verbal Fiction: A Study of the Carracci and the Criticism, Theory and Practice of Art in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
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Claims that scholars have misunderstood the Carracci as a result of paying too much attention to texts, and not enough to visual images. Goldstein primarily focuses on drawings, questioning whether some of their life drawings are indeed taken from “life,” and draws a connection between religion and the production and practice of the Carracci.
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Loh, Maria H. “New and Improved: Repetition as Originality in Italian Baroque Practice and Theory.” Art Bulletin 86 (2004): 477–504.
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Identifies the aesthetic of “repetition” as important and critical to the formulation of Baroque practice and theory in Italy. Examines how 17th-century artists and writers perceived “repetition” within the valued contexts of mixture, wit, novelty, theft, and pastiche. Available online by subscription.
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Mahon, Denis. Studies in Seicento Art Theory. London: The Warburg Institute, University of London, 1947.
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Organized thematically, the four essays contained in this volume represent a fundamental contribution to the understanding of 17th-century art and theory in Italy. Central to Mahon’s study is his discussion of Giovanni Battista Agucchi’s Trattato della Pittura (Treatise on painting) and its relationship with contemporary style.
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Sohm, Philip. Style in the Art Theory of Early Modern Italy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
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Sohm examines the multiple definitions of style and proposes that the permutations of its definition by Early Modern Italian theorists and critics can be explained by the traditions—both artistic and regional—advocated by each writer. Examines the definitions of style by Giorgio Vasari, Nicolas Poussin, Marco Boschini, and Filippo Baldinucci. Includes a useful appendix, which lists Italian stylistic terms used in Italian art criticism (1550–1770).
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Counter-Reformation Art Treatises

The general nature of the decree on images formulated during the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563 unsurprisingly sparked a series of Counter-Reformatory treatises that aimed to expand upon areas (particularly style) that were cursory or that were altogether neglected in the decree.

Primary Sources

In 1564, one year after the closing of the final session of the Council of Trent, Gilio published his Dialogo nel quale si ragiona degli errori e degli abusi de’pittori circa l’istorie (Dialogue of the errors and abuses of the painters; Gilio 1961). Gilio’s book figures among the earliest Counter-Reformatory treatises on art. Despite its lengthy diatribe against Michelangelo and his fresco of the Last Judgment, Gilio’s treatise suggests a new direction for sacred art in terms of style. Borromeo 1962 focuses almost entirely on ecclesiastical architecture and the guidelines for its building and decoration in his treatise of 1577. Originally published in 1582, Paleotti 1961 provides lengthy discussions on the origins, definition, and functions of painting (both sacred and profane), but the lion’s share of his treatise is devoted to sacred painting, its abuses, merits, value, and audience, and the appropriate style for sacred art. As the above-mentioned authors were all members of the church hierarchy, it is not surprising that Borghini, a layman, vacillates between Counter-Reformation rhetoric and connoisseurship in his treatise Borghini 2007, originally published in 1584. Comanini 2001 addresses the functions of painting and the merits of empirical and fantastical imitation. Published in 1591, Comanini’s treatise is among the least dogmatic of contemporary treatises, despite the fact that the author was a Mantuan Lateran canon. Borromeo 1994 supports and expands upon the Council of Trent decree on images. Published in 1624, Federico Borromeo’s treatise draws many parallels with Paleotti’s text, an unsurprising fact as Federico was Paleotti’s former pupil. Ottonelli 1973 covers many of the same themes and subjects as its predecessors, but the author is more detailed in the kinds of abuses that occur in various sacred subjects. Published in 1652, Ottonelli’s text demonstrates that the crisis of sacred images was far from over.

Borghini, Raffaello. Il Riposo. Edited and translated by Lloyd H. Ellis Jr. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007.
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First English translation of Borghini’s 1584 dialogue, Il Riposo (name of the villa where the dialogue takes place). Dialogue is divided into four books: Book 1 deals with art theory and decorum based on Counter-Reformation prescriptions, Book 2 examines technique, Book 3 discusses art before 1520, and Book 4 pertains to art through the 1580s.
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Borromeo, Carlo. “Instructiones fabricae et supellectilis ecclesiasticae.” In Trattati d’arte del Cinquecento: Fra Manierismo e Controriforma. Vol. 3. Edited by Paola Barocchi, 1–123. Bari, Italy: Gius. Laterza & Figli, 1962.
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Published in 1577, Borromeo’s Instructiones is a treatise on ecclesiastical buildings and their decoration, shaped by the Council of Trent. Includes a short section with prescriptions for sacred painting.
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Borromeo, Federico. Della pictura sacra: Libri due. Edited by Barbara Agosti. Quaderni del Seminario di Storia della Critica d’Arte 4. Pisa, Italy: Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, 1994.
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Published in 1624, this book is not only in line with the Council of Trent’s position on sacred images—the need for clarity, scriptural and iconographical accuracy, and the ability to move viewers’ emotions—but also corresponds to his own artistic taste and the collection of art he endowed to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in 1618.
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Comanini, Gregorio. The Figino, or, On the Purpose of Painting: Art Theory in the Late Renaissance. Translated by Ann Doyle-Anderson and Giancarlo Maiorino. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001.
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Published in 1591, Comanini’s treatise takes the form of a dialogue that combines Renaissance humanist and Counter-Reformatory ideas on painting. The interlocutors debate over the primary function of paintings (to instruct or delight), and whether icastic imitation (empirical) is superior to fantastic imitation (fanciful).
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Gilio, Giovanni Andrea. “Dialogo nel quale si ragiona degli errori e degli abusi de’pittori circa istorie.” In Trattati d’arte del Cinquecento: Fra Manierismo e Controriforma. Vol. 2. Edited by Paola Barocchi, 3–115. Bari, Italy: Gius. Laterza & Figli, 1961.
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Utilizing Michelangelo’s Last Judgment as the quintessential example of an improper sacred image, the interlocutors debate on the various abuses in sacred art and point to a new direction for sacred style: the embrace of a regola mescolanza (mixed rule—combining the piety of older art and the conventions of contemporary art).
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Ottonelli, Giovanni Domenico. Trattato della pittura e scultura, uso et abuso loro. Edited by Vittorio Casale. Rome: Libreria Editrice Canova, 1973.
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Published in 1652, Ottonelli’s treatise was written in collaboration with a painter, typically identified as Pietro da Cortona. Out of all Italian Counter-Reformatory treatises, Ottonelli’s book has the closest correspondences to Paleotti’s Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (Discourse on sacred and profane images), from which he quotes extensively.
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Paleotti, Gabriele. “Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (Bologna, 1582).” In Trattati d’arte del Cinquecento: Fra Manierismo e Controriforma. Vol. 2. Edited by Paola Barocchi, 117–517. Bari, Italy: Gius. Laterza & Figli, 1961.
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First published in the vernacular in 1582, a Latin edition emerged in 1594. The treatise includes two of the projected five books (the remaining three were unpublished/partially drafted) dealing with sacred and secular painting. Book 1 focuses on the general subject of painting—distinction between sacred and profane, universality and function of painting—while Book 2 addresses abuses in specific genres and themes. Supports a tangible approach to sacred painting.
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Secondary Sources

The appearance of English translations of several treatises, particularly in the last decade or so, points to a noticeable growth in interest in Italian Counter-Reformation theory. More and more critical examinations of these treatises, and in particular, studies on the relationship between Counter-Reformation theory and style, have emerged. Scavizzi 1992 provides a valuable introduction to Counter-Reformation treatises. Prodi 1965 and Jones 1995 focus on Paleotti’s Discorso (Discourse); Prodi on the entire treatise, while Jones centers on Paleotti’s position on the universality of art. Bianchi 2008 examines the relationship between Paleotti’s ideas as outlined in his Discorso and his own commissions of art. Muraoka 2009 provides a critical analyses of Paleotti’s treatise and evaluates its value for Counter-Reformation style and theory, while Voelker 1977 and Sénécal 2000 examine Carlo Borromeo’s Instructiones (Instructions).

Bianchi, Ilaria. La politica delle immagini nell’età della Controriforma: Gabriele Paleotti teorico e commitente. Bologna, Italy: Editrice Compositori, 2008.
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Important study of Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, the relationship between his 1582 Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (Discourse on sacred and profane images) and his commissions (including the decoration of San Petronio in Bologna), and the cardinal’s relationship with key figures and artists in Counter-Reformation Italy.
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Jones, Pamela M. “Art Theory as Ideology: Gabriele Paleotti’s Hierarchical Notion of Painting’s Universality and Reception.” In Reframing the Renaissance: Visual Culture in Europe and Latin America, 1450–1650. Edited by Claire Farago, 127–139. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.
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Reveals Paleotti’s hierarchical worldview through an examination of his position on the universality of art, and the hierarchical viewing process (spectator response) as outlined and discussed in his Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (Discourse on sacred and profane images).
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Muraoka, Anne H. “Il fine della pittura: Canon Reformulation in the Age of Counter-Reformation: The Lombard-Roman Confluence.” PhD diss., Temple University, 2009.
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Chapter 2 provides an overview of Gilio’s 1564 Dialogo (Dialogue) and a detailed examination of Paleotti’s 1582 Discorso (Discourse) as a text promoting a “natural” sacred style. Critical examination of post-1582 Counter-Reformation treatises and their correspondences with Paleotti’s Discorso (Discourse) appears in chapter 7, suggesting the extensive authority of Paleotti’s text.
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Prodi, Paolo. “Ricerche sulla teorica delle arti figurative nella Riforma Cattolica.” In Archivio italiano per la storia della pietà, 121–212. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1965.
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Very useful study of Counter-Reformation art theory. Prodi begins with a review of scholarship on Counter-Reformation theory and style, including the varying positions on the relationship between the Counter-Reformation and Baroque style. The majority of this long essay is devoted to Paleotti and his 1582 treatise.
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Scavizzi, Giuseppe. The Controversy on Images from Calvin to Baronius. Toronto Studies in Religion. New York: Peter Lang, 1992.
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Invaluable and useful study on the divergent positions held by both Protestant and Catholic writers, including John Calvin, Ambrogio Catarino, Giovanni Andrea Gilio, Johannes Molanus, Gabriele Paleotti, and others, on the efficacy of sacred images.
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Sénécal, Robert. “Carlo Borromeo’s Instructiones fabricae et supellectilis ecclesiasticae and Its Origins in the Rome of His Time.” Papers of the British School in Rome 68 (2000): 241–267.
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Examines the possible Roman architectural sources that may have shaped Borromeo’s ideas on church building and decoration as expressed in his 1577 Instructiones. Available online by subscription.
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Voelker, Evelyn Carole. “Charles Borromeo’s ‘Instructiones fabricae et supellectilis ecclesiasticae,’ 1577: A Translation with Commentary and Analysis.” PhD diss., Syracuse University, 1977.
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Dissertation which includes an English translation of Book 1 of Carlo Borromeo’s treatise on ecclesiastical architecture and decoration.
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Counter-Reformation Art

There is no doubt that the Counter-Reformation had an impact on art in Italy during the post-Tridentine years. Questions remain, however, regarding the origins and identification of a singular Counter-Reformation style, and how works in this style were received by contemporary spectators. Zeri 1957 proposes that a Counter-Reformation style was formulated by Scipione Pulzone at the Farnese court. Boschloo 1974, on the other hand, singles out the Bolognese style of Annibale as central to the early development of Counter-Reformation style. Wittkower and Jaffe 1972, Bailey 2003, and O’Malley and Bailey 2005 evaluate the important Jesuit contributions for the development of Counter-Reformation style. The essays in the exhibition catalogue La regola e la fama (1995) alternatively focus on the role of Oratorian thought on Counter-Reformation style, particularly in the works executed for Filippo Neri’s Congregation of the Oratory’s Santa Maria della Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova). The essays in the collection Mormando 1999 are broader in scope, examining the various manifestations of Counter-Reformation style. Jones 2008 reconstructs the original context of five altarpieces and their reception by contemporary viewers in Rome.

Bailey, Gauvin Alexander. Between Renaissance and Baroque: Jesuit Art in Rome, 1565–1611. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
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Important study of the Jesuits in Rome during the Counter-Reformation. Considers Jesuit art, patronage, and devotional practices. Tackles the complex issue of style in Jesuit sacred art and its relationship with the Jesuits’ beliefs and post-Tridentine thought. Extremely useful introduction that provides a descriptive context of Rome in the late 16th/early 17th centuries.
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Boschloo, A. W. A. Annibale Carracci in Bologna: Visible Reality in Art After the Council of Trent. 2 vols. Kunsthistorische Studièn van het Nederlands Historische Instituut te Rome, Ser. 3, Vol. 1. The Hague: Government Publishing Office, 1974.
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Focuses on Annibale’s Bolognese years before his departure for Rome (1595). Contends that the artist developed his style of tangibility (“visible reality”) before arriving in Rome and connects his style with the Council of Trent’s decree on images, and in particular Gabriele Paleotti’s Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre e profane (Discourse on sacred and profane images).
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Jones, Pamela M. Altarpieces and Their Viewers in the Churches of Rome from Caravaggio to Guido Reni. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008.
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Includes five case studies, in which the author restores altarpieces to their original context and reconstructs their original viewers and their reception: Case studies include Tommaso Laureti’s The Martyrdom of Saint Susanna, Caravaggio’s Madonna of Loreto, Andrea Commodi’s Carlo Borromeo Venerating the Holy Nail, Guercino’s Penitent Magdalene, and Guido Reni’s Holy Trinity.
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Mormando, Francesco, ed. Saints and Sinners: Caravaggio and the Baroque Image. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
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Catalogue for an exhibition of the same title at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, in 1999. Includes essays on the efficacy of religious images, the role of the Jesuits in post-Tridentine Italy, and Caravaggio and religion, among others. Also includes a useful introduction by John O’Malley on the post-Tridentine period.
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Museo Nazionale del Palazzo Venezia. La regola e la fama: San Filippo Neri e l’arte. Milan: Electa, 1995.
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Collection of essays which examine the relationship between the founder of the Oratorians, Filippo Neri, and art. Includes an important essay by Costanza Barbieri that includes a list of works of art in the 1595 inventory of Neri, and an examination of the role of images in Neri’s meditations. Catalogue published for an exhibition in Rome that ran from October to December 1995.
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O’Malley, John W., and Gauvin Alexander Bailey, eds. The Jesuits and the Arts, 1540–1773. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2005.
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Translation and expansion of Ignazio e l’arte dei Gesuiti (Ignatius and the art of the Jesuits, 2003). Among the subjects examined in these essays are Jesuit theory, art, architecture, and iconography and the connection between painting and Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. Expands the scope of the Jesuit contribution beyond Europe to North America, Latin America, and Asia.
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Wittkower, Rudolf, and Irma B. Jaffe, eds. Baroque Art: The Jesuit Contribution. New York: Fordham University Press, 1972.
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Collection of papers delivered at a symposium at Fordham University in 1969. Essays investigate a wide spectrum of Jesuit commissions and projects including architecture, painting, theater, and music. The issue of whether there is a cohesive and distinctive “Jesuit” style is questioned, but the Jesuit contribution is undeniably supported.
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Zeri, Federico. Pittura e Controriforma: L’arte senza tempo di Scipione da Gaeta. Turin, Italy: Einaudi, 1957.
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An original study on Roman art during the Counter-Reformation. Of particular interest is Zeri’s discussion of the artistic, social, religious, and intellectual motivators that contributed to the formulation of a sacred style expressed by the phrase l’arte senza tempo (art without time). Centers on the work of Scipione Pulzone and artists from the Farnese court.
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Painting

Scholars have approached the study of painting in Baroque Italy from various perspectives, ranging from broad, general overviews to focused studies on formal aspects of Italian Baroque painting. Cropper and Dempsey 1987 evaluates the state of research in 17th-century Italian painting, in which they observe a breakdown of criticism. The essays contained in Brown 2001 investigate various topics and aspects of Roman painting. Freedberg 1983 narrows his examination of Italian Baroque painting to three revolutionary artists: Annibale Carracci, Caravaggio, and Ludovico Carracci. Friedlaender 1957 proposes that Baroque painting style in Italy emerged from anti-Mannerist trends. Pevsner 1968, on the other hand, relates the Counter-Reformation spirit with the style of Mannerism. He marks the arrival of the Baroque style with the rejection of the Counter-Reformation and the debut of Caravaggio in the 1590s. Weisbach 1921, in contrast, relates Baroque style directly to the Counter-Reformation. Whitfield and Martineau 1982 showcase and examine paintings produced in Naples, by not only native Neapolitan painters but also Italian painters outside of Naples, as well as foreign artists who visited or settled in Naples, such as Jusepe de Ribera.

Brown, Beverly Louise, ed. The Genius of Rome, 1592–1623. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2001.
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Invaluable catalogue emerging from the 2001 exhibition of the same name (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 20 January–16 April 2001). Includes twelve important essays on various subjects ranging from specific subjects of Roman painting and genres, to issues of competition, and the conflict between the sacred and the profane. Includes a useful introduction by Beverly Louise Brown on the birth of Baroque painting in Rome, biographies of artists, and a list of their works in the catalogue.
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Cropper, Elizabeth, and Charles Dempsey. “The State of Research in Italian Painting of the Seventeenth Century.” Art Bulletin 69 (1987): 494–509.
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Identifies the reading and understanding of contemporary 17th-century sources as the key problem in scholarship on Italian Baroque painting, which ultimately results in the breakdown of criticism. Available online by subscription.
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Freedberg, S. J. Circa 1600: A Revolution of Style in Italian Paintings. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1983.
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Each chapter focuses on an individual master of the Italian Baroque period: Annibale Carracci, Caravaggio, and Ludovico Carracci. Demonstrates how each contributed to the revolution of painting style in Italy. While each is considered to have developed their own distinctive and innovative painting style, their styles are all linked by their insistence on a human, tangible, and affective connection with the viewer.
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Friedlaender, Walter. “The Anti-Mannerist Style.” In Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian Painting: Two Essays. By Walter Friedlaender, 47–83. New York: Columbia University Press, 1957.
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English translation of “Der antimanieristische Stil um 1590 und sein Verhältnis zum Übersinnlichen” (1929). In 1590, a watershed style emerged, breaking from the artificial and mechanical style of Mannerism, toward a style that embraced simplicity, objectivity, and truth to nature. This anti-Mannerist style formed the foundations of the Baroque style.
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Pevsner, Nikolaus. “Early and High Baroque.” In Studies in Art, Architecture and Design. Vol. 1. By Nikolaus Pevsner, 34–55. New York: Walker, 1968.
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English translation of Pevsner’s 1928 article, with updated introduction by the author. Dates the Early and High Baroque periods from about 1590 to shortly after 1650. The transition from Mannerism to Baroque style is explained by the cooling of Counter-Reformation zeal and increased secularization.
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Weisbach, Werner. Der Barock als Kunst der Gegenreformation. Berlin: P. Cassirer, 1921.
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Directly connects Baroque style to the Counter-Reformation. Examines the qualities of Baroque art—the heroic, mystical, erotic, ascetic, and horrific—as visual expressions of the ideas and emotionalism of the Counter-Reformation.
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Whitfield, Clovis, and Jane Martineau, eds. Painting in Naples, 1606–1705: From Caravaggio to Giordano. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1982.
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Catalogue of a major exhibition of Neapolitan Baroque paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 13 February–1 May 1983. Includes works and essays on key Italian artists who worked in Naples, such as Caravaggio; Jusepe de Ribera, a Spanish artist who settled and worked in Naples; and native Neapolitan painters, including Salvator Rosa and Luca Giordano.
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Sculpture

Scholarship on Italian Baroque sculpture has primarily been confined to monographic studies on key sculptors. Boucher 1998, however, provides a very useful survey on Baroque sculpture in Italy. Montagu 1989 focuses on the process of making sculptures in Baroque Rome.

Boucher, Bruce. Italian Baroque Sculpture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998.
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Useful general survey of Baroque sculpture in Italy. Critically examines key independent sculptures, papal tombs, altarpieces, and fountains, among other forms.
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Montagu, Jennifer. Roman Baroque Sculpture: The Industry of Art. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1989.
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No mere survey of Roman Baroque sculpture, this book is invaluable in its breadth, its information, and the new avenues of inquiry it provides. Montague divides her text into eight thematic chapters, beginning with an essay on sculptors’ training. She examines and charts the process of making a sculpture from conception to completion in Baroque Rome.
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Architecture

Discussions of Italian Baroque architecture are most prevalent in general surveys of Baroque art and architecture and monographic studies on major Italian Baroque architects. Varriano 1986 surveys Italian Baroque architecture and is recognized as the first scholarly study of this kind in English.

Varriano, John. Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecture. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
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First scholarly book in English that specifically surveys Baroque (and Rococo) architecture in Italy. There are eleven chapters, including a useful introduction addressing the origins of the term “Baroque” and with an overview of the historical context of 17th-century Italy, along with monographic chapters on individual architects.
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Spain

The Baroque is generally considered a Catholic art and is a style most directly connected with Italy. Baroque style, however, spread from Italy to Spain and later to the rest of Europe. Weisbach 1941 provides a useful general overview of Spanish Baroque art, while Kubler and Soria 1959 expands to encompass Baroque art and architecture not only in Spain but also in Portugal and their American dominions. Kelemen 1967, on the other hand, introduces a new and more focused perspective in his study of Baroque art in the Spanish dominions.

Kelemen, Pál. Baroque and Rococo in Latin America. 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1967.
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Pioneer study of 17th- and 18th-century painting, sculpture, and architecture in Latin America. Traces how the Spanish Baroque style began to be combined with indigenous Indian culture and style, creating a Latin American colonial art that was original and exciting. Introduces discussions on key subjects, themes, and trends unique to Latin American colonial art.
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Kubler, George, and Martin Soria. Art and Architecture in Spain and Portugal and Their American Dominions, 1500–1800. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1959.
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Rich overview of art and architecture in Spain and Portugal and their New World possessions. Includes an interesting discussion on how Spain and Latin American artists were able to absorb influences from Italy and northern Europe without losing their own native identity and traditions.
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Weisbach, Werner. Spanish Baroque Art: Three Lectures Delivered at the University of London. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1941.
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General overview of Spanish Baroque art divided into three lectures—Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting. The format of each lecture is chronological and includes discussions on a nice selection of works by key artists.
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Art Theory and Art Writing

The close political ties between Italy and Spain help to explain the close parallels that can be found in their art theory and writing.

Primary Sources

Palomino 1987, inspired by Vasari’s 1550 and 1568 editions of the Lives of the Artists, was first published as the author’s own collection of biographies of Spanish artists in 1724. The author of Carducho 1986 was Italian by birth but moved to Madrid as a young boy. His 1633 treatise is, therefore, unsurprisingly infused with both Counter-Reformation and Italian Mannerist theory. The author of Pacheco 1986, who served as inspector of art for the Inquisition in Seville, formulates his ideas and theories of art through a Counter-Reformatory lens.

Carducho, Vicente. “Dialogues on Painting.” In Artists’ Techniques in Golden Age Spain: Six Treatises in Translation. Edited and translated by Zahira Veliz, 20–29. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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Published in 1633, Carducho’s treatise takes the form of a dialogue between a master and a pupil. Carducho’s ideas are shaped by both Italian Mannerist theory and Counter-Reformation thought.
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Pacheco, Francisco. “The Art of Painting.” In Artists’ Techniques in Golden Age Spain: Six Treatises in Translation. Edited and translated by Zahira Veliz, 30–106. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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Published in Seville in 1649, this treatise is inflected with Counter-Reformation zeal. As an inspector of art for the Inquisition in Seville, Pacheco is able to provide particularly valuable discussions on religious art. Includes useful insights into the artists he knew personally, including El Greco and Diego Velázquez.
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Palomino, Antonio. Lives of the Eminent Spanish Painters and Sculptors. Translated by Nina Ayala Mallory. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
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Inspired by the Italian Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, Palomino’s Lives (1724) is a collection of the lives and works of Spanish artists from 1500 to his day. Particularly valuable for his biography of Velázquez and his biographies of Madrid painters post-Velázquez.
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Secondary Sources

Enggass and Brown 1999, in addition to including excerpts from the above discussed books, provides valuable introductions to key Spanish writers and theorists.

Enggass, Robert, and Jonathan Brown. Italian and Spanish Art, 1600–1750: Sources and Documents. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1999.
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Compilation of significant primary sources from the Baroque period in Spain (Part 2), with useful introductions to the texts. Includes excerpts from key treatises on art, biographies, letters, and court documents. Sources include treatises by Pacheco, Lope de Vega, and Carducho and biographies of Ribera, Velázquez, and Zurbarán, among others.
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Painting

Mallory 1990 provides a useful survey of painting during Spain’s Golden Age. Jonathan Brown is recognized for being among the most valuable contributors to the study of Spanish painting. Brown 1998 provides ample discussions not only of Spanish painters but also of foreign painters working in Spain (or those whose works end up there).

Brown, Jonathan. Painting in Spain: 1500–1700. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1998.
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Originally published as The Golden Age of Painting in Spain (1991). Comprehensive and invaluable contribution to Spanish painting. Examines not only Spanish painters but also Italian and Flemish painters who worked for Philip II or whose works are found in his collection. Includes important discussions on patronage at the Spanish Habsburg court.
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Mallory, Nina Ayala. El Greco to Murillo: Spanish Painting in the Golden Age, 1556–1700. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
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Survey of painting in Spain beginning under the reign of Philip II in 1556 to the end of Charles II’s reign in 1700. Individual chapters on El Greco, Jusepe de Ribera, and Diego Velázquez, among others.
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Sculpture

Scholarship on and interest in Spanish Baroque sculpture are limited outside of Spain. Other than the rather cursory treatment of sculpture in general surveys of Spanish art, very few sources can be found in English. For this reason, Stratton 1993 is a welcome contribution not only to our understanding of Spanish sculpture, but to our appreciation of it. As an exhibition catalogue, the scope is limited to fewer than forty polychrome sculptures in wood and terracotta, primarily by unknown artists.

Stratton, Suzanne L., ed. Spanish Polychrome Sculpture 1500–1800 in United States Collections. New York: The Spanish Institute, 1993.
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Catalogue of traveling exhibition (Spanish Institute, New York; Meadows Museum, Dallas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles) of Spanish polychrome sculpture in American collections. Includes three essays on the critical reception of Spanish sculpture, Spanish polychrome sculpture, and the history of the retable (altarpiece) in Spain, of which many polychrome sculptures form an integral part.
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Architecture

Spanish architecture of the Baroque period suffers from a similar lack of general surveys in English, as does Baroque sculpture in Spain. A very useful starting point, however, is the entry Spain, §II: Architecture, c. 1600–c. 1750 in Oxford Art Online. Rivera provides a broad overview of the three phases of the Spanish Baroque and short introductions to key architects and their most important works.

Rivera, Javier. “Spain, §II: Architecture, 3. c. 1600–c. 1750.” Oxford Art Online.
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Provides a general introduction to Spanish Baroque architecture. Includes a bibliography; however, all the sources cited are in Spanish. Available online by subscription.
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The Northern and Southern Netherlands

The spread of Baroque style reached northern Europe rather quickly, as many Northern artists, for example Peter Paul Rubens, studied, worked, and lived in Italy before returning home. The split between the northern and southern provinces of the Netherlands in the late 16th century (official break in 1648), also formed the religious boundaries between the two: primarily Protestant in the North (Dutch Republic) and Catholic in the South (Spanish Netherlands). Studies on Northern Baroque art are likewise divided in this manner. Vlieghe 1998 provides a comprehensive study of Flemish art and architecture. Rosenberg and Slive 1995 presents a useful survey of Dutch Baroque art and architecture. The “State of Research” series of articles provide a useful starting point in evaluating the current state of scholarship on Baroque art of the Netherlands, as well as new directions and new potential avenues of research. Haverkamp-Begemann 1987 observes the vitality of scholarship in 17th-century art in the Netherlands in recent years. This vitality, however, is one that has manifested in contentious debates among scholars. Bearing this observation in mind, Haverkamp-Begemann tries to take an objective approach in his evaluation of scholarship (controversial and noncontroversial) by treating each study among broader themes or methods of approach. Westermann 2002 was published fifteen years after Haverkamp-Begemann’s article on the state of research in Baroque art in the Netherlands. Westermann provides an updated evaluation of the scholarship but approaches it chronologically rather than thematically.

Haverkamp-Begemann, Egbert. “The State of Research in Northern Baroque Art.” Art Bulletin 69 (1987): 510–519.
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Useful overview of the state of research in Baroque art in the Netherlands. Haverkamp-Begemann does not treat the southern Netherlands (Flanders) and the Dutch Republic separately but rather organizes his evaluation through broad categories or methodologies. Considers the state of research in general studies, painting genres, single artists, the Rembrandt Research Project monographs, and economics and society. Available online by subscription.
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Rosenberg, Jakob, Seymour Slive, and E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture, 1600–1800. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.
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Survey of Dutch art and architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, with particular emphasis on painting.
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Vlieghe, Hans. Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585–1700. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
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Survey of Flemish art and architecture divided into four parts. A valuable discussion on the historical context of painting in the Netherlands can be found in Part 1. Parts 2 and 3 focus on paintings, but separated according to genres: historical painting, then specializations (portrait, genre, landscape, and still life). Discussions on sculpture and architecture are combined in Part 4.
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Westermann, Mariët. “After Iconography and Iconoclasm: Current Research in Netherlandish Art, 1566–1700.” Art Bulletin 84 (2002): 351–372.
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Begins by providing a summary of the institutional and scholarly situation of Netherlandish scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s as a means to explain the slow progress of Netherlandish art studies in embracing newer methodologies, then discusses current research in a historical (and chronological) rather than thematic manner. Available online by subscription.
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Art Theory and Art Writing

Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1550, 1568) also served as models for writers in northern Europe (such as Karel van Mander and Samuel van Hoogstraten), but in a manner that supported their own objectives. In the sphere of religious treatises, however, the Netherlandish theologian Johannes Molanus was the first writer to expand upon the Council of Trent decrees.

Primary Sources

Van Mander 1994 is an important source on 15th- and 16th-century artists. The 1604 Schilder-Boeck (Painter’s book) is divided into six sections and includes a section on the lives of ancient painters (following the model of Pliny’s Natural History), a section on the lives of famous contemporary Italian painters, and a section on the lives of famous Netherlandish and German painters. The author of van Hoogstraten 1969 models his own treatise on Van Mander; however, he places a larger emphasis on the theoretical framework of painting as a means of validating and raising the profession of painters. Molanus 1771 examines the significance and the implications of the Council of Trent’s decree on images formulated in its final session in 1563.

Molanus, Johannes. De historia SS: Imaginum et picturarum: Pro vero earum usu contra abusus: Libri IV. Louvain, Belgium: Typis academicis, 1771.
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Originally published in 1594, this treatise is an expanded version of the author’s 1570 Counter-Reformatory text, De picturis et imaginibus sacris liber unus. Includes extensive catalogue and explanations of dangerous subjects, underscoring the importance of biblical and textual accuracy.
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Van Hoogstraten, Samuel. Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst. Utrecht, The Netherlands: Davaco, 1969.
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First published in 1678 and available only in the original Dutch, van Hoogstraten’s lengthy text includes a mixture of theoretical discussions and recollections of the author’s own life. Van Hoogstraten’s treatise is particularly important for his first-hand knowledge of Rembrandt.
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Van Mander, Karel. The Lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters. Vol. 1, The Text. Edited and translated by Hessel Miedema. Doornspijk, The Netherlands: Davaco, 1994.
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English translation of Van Mander’s Schilder-Boeck (Painter’s book) alongside a facsimile of the 1604 original. Published in Haarlem in 1604, it is the primary source for information on northern European painters of the 15th and 16th centuries and is equally valuable for the author’s discussion of his Italian contemporaries. His book is further distinguished for including the first mention of Caravaggio.
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Secondary Sources

The far-reaching influence of Vasari’s Lives is difficult to ignore. Melion 1991 acknowledges Van Mander’s debt to Vasari but also demonstrates how the author deviated from his Italian model in order to make a case for the excellence of Netherlandish art. Brusati 1995 and Weststeijn 2008 bring a relatively obscure and undervalued Dutch artist and writer, Samuel van Hoogstraten, into the dialogue on Netherlandish theory. Van Hoogstraten’s 1678 treatise on painting, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst (Introduction to the Academy of Painting), draws from the example of both ancient and contemporary treatises as models, including Van Mander. His treatise is not available in English; therefore, Brusati and Weststeijn’s respective contributions are particularly valuable. Freedberg 1971 explores Molanus’s position on nudity in sacred art.

Brusati, Celeste. Artifice and Illusion: The Art and Writing of Samuel van Hoogstraten. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
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Monographic study of the art and writings of the Dutch painter and theorist Samuel van Hoogstraten. Includes an overview of van Hoogstraten’s artistic career, an in-depth examination of his paintings, and a critical discussion of the artist’s major treatise, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst (Introduction to the Academy of Painting, 1678).
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Freedberg, David. “Johannes Molanus on Provocative Paintings: De historia sanctarum imaginum et picturarum, Book II, Chapter 42.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1971): 229–245.
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Study centers on Molanus’s position on nudity in sacred art as expressed in his 1570 (expanded version, 1594) Counter-Reformation treatise. Available online by subscription.
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Melion, Walter S. Shaping the Netherlandish Canon: Karel van Mander’s Schilder-Boeck. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
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In his examination of the relationship between Van Mander’s Schilder-Boeck (Painter’s book, 1604) and Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, Melion demonstrates how Van Mander deviated from his Italian model in order to outline the distinct qualities of Netherlandish art and highlight Northern ideas about art.
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Weststeijn, Thijs. The Visible World: Samuel van Hoogstraten’s Art Theory and the Legitimization of Painting in the Dutch Golden Age. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2008.
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Drawn and expanded from Weststeijn’s 2005 doctoral dissertation, this book is an invaluable study of Samuel van Hoogstraten. Provides a comprehensive examination of van Hoogstraten’s major literary work Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst (Introduction to the Academy of Painting, 1678) including his understanding of nature, mimesis, and expression of passions.
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Painting in the Southern Netherlands (Flanders)

Van Puyvelde and van Puyvelde 1971 provides a useful survey of the masters of Flemish Baroque painting. Filipczak 1987, on the other hand, takes a unique focus on the subject of images about paintings.

Filipczak, Zirka Zaremba. Picturing Art in Antwerp, 1550–1700. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.
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Provocative study on paintings about art. Organized into four chronological parts, the book examines early gallery paintings, connoisseurship, portraits of artists at work, and artists’ studios.
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Van Puyvelde, Leo, and Thierry van Puyvelde, eds. Flemish Painting: The Age of Rubens and Van Dyck. Translated by Alan Kendall. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.
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English translation of La peinture flamande au siècle de Rubens, originally published in French in 1970. Examines the development of Flemish style and the work of Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, and lesser-known masters. Includes a supplemental section on genre painting.
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Painting in the Northern Netherlands (Dutch Republic)

The essays in Spicer and Orr 1997 highlight the work of Dutch painters in Utrecht. Franits 1997 includes both classic and new essays on the subject of realism in 17th-century Dutch art, which not only provide a valuable perspective of the evolution of scholarship from the 1960s onward but also suggest new potential avenues of research. Westermann 2005 thematically examines the paintings of Dutch masters.

Alpers, Svetlana. The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.
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Defines the nature of “realism” in Dutch 17th-century painting. Proposes that Dutch realism is distinct from related manifestations in other artistic centers, and in particular, Italy.
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Franits, Wayne E., ed. Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art: Realism Reconsidered. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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Collection of fourteen essays, including both classic studies and new contributions on Dutch realism. Provides a broad perspective of the changes in methodological and interpretative methods utilized by scholars from the 1960s to the 1990s in the study of realism in 17th-century Dutch art.
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Spicer, Joaneath A., with Lynn Federle Orr, eds. Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht During the Golden Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.
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This exhibition catalogue (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, 13 September–30 November 1997, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 11 January–5 April 1998, and National Gallery, London, 6 May–2 August 1998) highlights painters of Baroque Utrecht. The first part includes eight essays, which include a chronology of painting in Utrecht and overviews of the social, economic, religious, and artistic environment of Utrecht. The second part includes the catalogue and artists’ biographies.
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Westermann, Mariët. A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic, 1585–1718. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005.
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Second edition of a highly useful book on Dutch painting of the Golden Age. Organized thematically, covering key issues such as the art market, genres, realism, and artistic identity, among others.
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France

The complexities of competing styles—Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo—in 17th-century France present a challenge to art historians. Blunt 1999 charts these stylistic trends expertly, while providing excellent discussions of French art and architecture. Blunt 1982 further contributes to the study of French art and architecture in his assessment of the state of research in French Baroque painting.

Blunt, Anthony. “French Seventeenth-Century Painting: The Literature of the Last Ten Years.” Burlington Magazine 124 (1982): 705–711.
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Assesses the state of research in French Baroque painting, including new contributions by exhibitions, research on major and minor painters, studies on individual paintings, collecting, and specific genres such as still lifes. Available online by subscription.
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Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700. Edited by Richard Beresford. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1999.
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First published in 1953. Essential study of art and architecture in France systematically organized into eight chapters centered on key historical events. Each chapter is further divided into four subsections: historical background, architecture, sculpture, and painting. This study charts Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque stylistic trends in France, while placing them into a larger sociohistorical framework.
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Art Theory and Art Writing

A major center of theoretical and practical discourse in France was the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) founded in 1648 in Paris. Although modeled after the Accademia di San Luca (Academy of St. Luke) in Rome, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture sought to break all associations with the notion of art as a craft and the guilds. The quantity of theoretical ideas and texts emanating from the Royal Academy therefore comes to no surprise, as the goal of the Academy and its members was to supplant the manual aspect of art-making with the intellectual.

Primary Sources

Félibien 1725 outshines Vasari in terms of the breadth and scope of the author’s collection of biographies published between 1666 and 1668. Félibien not only provides information on artists from antiquity through much of the 17th century but also includes the recordings of the conferences held in 1667 at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, where Félibien served as the official historiographer. Another key theoretician of the Royal Academy was Roger de’ Piles, who made significant contributions to aesthetic theory. De’ Piles 1711 tackles the debate (familiar to us today) between the merits of design over color. This dialogue figures only as a starting point for De’ Piles’ long engagement in the defense of color, and particularly the work of Peter Paul Rubens.

De’ Piles, Roger. Dialogue upon Coloring. Translated by Mr. Ozell. London: Daniel Brown and Bernard Lintott, 1711.
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English translation of one of De’ Piles’ most important works, first published in Paris in 1673. De’ Piles’ text draws from the debate that emerged at the Royal Academy centering on the relative superiority of design over color. De’ Piles’ text comes to the defense of color, supporting the Venetian aesthetic and practice in the primacy of color.
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Félibien, André. Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellens peintres anciens et modernes. 6 vols. Trevoux, France: De l’Imprimerie de S. A. S., 1725.
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History of European art and compilation of biographies of artists from antiquity to the author’s own age, originally published between 1666 and 1668. Includes the most complete biography of Poussin by a contemporary.
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Secondary Sources

Harrison, et al. 2000 provides a very useful overview of theory from the mid-17th century to the 19th century. Puttfarken 1985 examines three key interrelated problems concerning De’ Piles’ critical views and theories on art. According to Puttfarken, De’ Piles reworked the definition of painting established by early academicians, such as André Félibien, who upheld the tradition of classical texts in which painting is conceived and understood by its unity of subject—action, place, time. De’ Piles, however, introduced the concept of unity of object, thereby underscoring the value of a painting’s formal qualities through color. Duro 1997 takes a broader perspective by evaluating the texts produced by the Royal Academy and their concepts regarding and discourse on history painting.

Duro, Paul. The Academy and the Limits of Painting in Seventeenth-Century France. Edited by Norman Bryson. Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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Examines and analyzes the texts produced by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, 1648) and its members. Focus is given to the Academy’s idea of history painting, which Duro suggests was critical to the creation of painting as a liberal art and the development of modernism. Includes analyses of Academic paintings and decoration.
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Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Jason Gaiger, eds. Art in Theory, 1648–1815: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
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Great introduction to theory of this period. Arranged thematically and chronologically, this handy anthology includes excerpts from key French primary sources, including Nicolas Poussin, André Félibien, Charles Le Brun, Paul Fréart Chantelou, and Roger de’ Piles, among others.
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Puttfarken, Thomas. Roger de Piles’ Theory of Art. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1985.
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Focuses on three problems with De’ Piles’ ideas and views on art: the problem of liberating the theory of painting from the dominance of literary theory; the problem of distinguishing between our visual interest in paintings and intellectual, moral, or religious interest in the subject represented; and the problem of separating how we perceive and respond to paintings and how we perceive and respond to the world around us.
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Painting

Mérot 1995 examines various aspects of French painting in the 17th century, including major French painters and their work, the French Academy of Painting, contemporary theory and literature, patronage, and connoisseurship, among others.

Mérot, Alain. French Painting in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.
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Comprehensive survey of French painting in the 17th century that places the examination of the works of key painters of the Baroque period—Poussin, de La Tour, Vouet—within the context of contemporary literature, and the historical environment of 17th-century France. Includes important discussions on the Royal Academy of Painting (founded in 1648) as well as issues regarding the status of the artist and patronage.
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Germany and Central Europe

Hempel 1965 surveys Baroque art and architecture in central Europe. Unlike other overviews of Baroque art in other regions of Europe, Hempel’s book places a larger emphasis on architecture and sculpture than on painting. Kaufmann 1995 examines how classicism binds the visual arts and architecture in central Europe from 1450 to 1800. A key contribution of Kaufmann’s study is his method of approach. He chronicles central European art and architecture through a cultural rather than period lens.

Hempel, Eberhard. Baroque Art and Architecture in Central Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland. Painting and Sculpture: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries; Architecture: Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. Translated by Elisabeth Hempel and Marguerite Kay. Baltimore: Penguin, 1965.
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Part of the Pelican History of Art series, this volume provides a useful survey of Baroque art and architecture in central Europe without delving into the theoretical issues and debates regarding the definition or application of the term “Baroque” or the qualitative characteristics that separate the Baroque period from the Rococo.
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Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta. Court, Cloister, and City: The Art and Culture of Central Europe, 1450–1800. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
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Monumental study that charts the classical thread that runs through the visual arts and architecture from the 15th through the 19th century in central Europe. Kaufmann approaches his study of the visual arts in central Europe in relation to cultural and social realities. Proposes that artistic styles such as the “Baroque” should be read as cultural indicators, and not period indicators.
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Art Theory and Art Writing

Sandrart 1925 presents key information on 17th-century German painters. As an important source from the Early Modern period, Sandrart’s text is now available online through a collaborative project called Sandrart.net. Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) in cooperation with numerous European institutions, Sandrart.net provides a searchable full-text edition of Sandrart’s Teutsche Academie that includes illustrations.

Kirchner, Thomas, Alessandro Nova, Carsten Blüm, Anna Schreurs, and Thorsten Wübbena, eds. “Joachim von Sandrart: Teutsche Academie der Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste.” In Sandrart.net. Scholarly annotated online edition. 2008–2012.
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Complete and searchable online edition of Sandrart’s text. Includes useful indices of people, places, and works of art that appear in the Teutsche Academie, a comprehensive bibliography, and introductory essays in English on Sandrart and his book.
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Sandrart, Joachim von. Teutsche Academie der Bau- Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste. Edited by A. R. Peltzer. Munich: G. Hirth’s Verlag A. G., 1925.
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Originally published in three volumes between 1675 and 1680, Sandrart’s book is recognized as the key source for information on 17th-century German painters.
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England

Whinney and Millar 1957 examines English Baroque style through the dynamics between foreign-born artists who brought the Baroque style from the continent and native English artists. The question of whether England had a true Baroque period, however, is still a matter of debate. Many surveys of Baroque art touch upon this issue, but Praz 1964 evaluates the issue of the Baroque in England in a comprehensive manner and concludes that the term can only be legitimately applied to architecture. This helps to explain the brevity of chapters on England in surveys of Baroque art, and the greater attention scholars give to architecture in the context of Baroque style. A similar evaluation can be made with Hook 1976, who provides a nice introduction to the cultural milieu of Baroque England but places a heavy emphasis on interior and exterior designs for architecture.

Hook, Judith. The Baroque Age in England. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
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Introduction to the art and culture of England between 1630 and 1730. Although the emphasis of this book centers primarily on architecture, Hook also considers the artist’s role in society and the intellectual and economic context of art-making in Baroque England.
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Praz, Mario. “Baroque in England.” Modern Philology 61 (1964): 169–179.
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Tackles the problem with the application of Baroque style to the art and architecture of England. Suggests that the Baroque period in art had a short life in England (from 1692 to c. 1725) and is limited primarily to architecture. Available online by subscription.
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Whinney, Margaret, and Oliver Millar. English Art, 1625–1714. Vol. 8. The Oxford History of English Art. Oxford: Clarendon, 1957.
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Considers the English response to the Baroque style of continental Europe. Balanced discussion of the Baroque style that was brought to England by foreign artists, as well as the variant styles formulated by the native school of artists.
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Painting

Waterhouse 1994 provides a valuable resource on British painting from roughly the mid-16th century to the 18th century, particularly in light of the meager comprehensive studies on Baroque painting in England.

Waterhouse, Ellis. Painting in Britain, 1530–1790. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.
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Fifth edition of a classic text originally published in 1953. This book is a useful survey of Baroque painting in England, which includes works not only by well-known foreign artists who worked in England, such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, but also by native British painters like William Dobson, as well as lesser-known artists.
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Architecture

Downes 1966 provides a thematic study of English Baroque architecture, while Summerson 1969 is more broad in its chronological survey of English architecture.

Downes, Kerry. English Baroque Architecture. London: A. Zwemmer, 1966.
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Illustrated history of English Baroque architecture. Organized thematically rather than chronologically, Downes’ observations range from the general, such as the relationship between England and the rest of Europe, to more specific subjects like the works of Christopher Wren during his tenure as Surveyor-General of the King’s Works.
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Summerson, John. Architecture in Britain, 1530–1830. 5th ed. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1969.
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Broad survey of English architecture from 1530 to 1830 aimed at both general readers and specialists. Among the subjects considered are the work of Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren; also examines the role and activities of the Office of the Works.
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