THE 10 MAIN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BAROQUE - HISTORY - 2025

Some of the main representatives of the Baroque in literature, music, painting and architecture are Miguel de Cervantes, Antonio Vivaldi, Caravaggio, Carlo Fontana, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, among others.

The baroque period had very influential representatives worldwide. This style originated in Western Europe and spanned the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reached several Latin American colonies and was reflected in different cultural and artistic manifestations of the time.

Bach, one of the great representatives of the Baroque.

Literature, painting, sculpture, architecture and music were just some of the areas that were strongly influenced by this style.

The general characteristics of the Baroque period have to do with the exaltation of the ornaments, the realistic representation and with works with a high level of contrast, in some cases even violent.

The historical context in which the baroque style appears is characterized by the intention of the Catholic Church to demonstrate its power; Biblical and religious references appear in the different genres. The intention was to excite through artistic expressions, for this reason dramatic resources were used to exaggerate realism and generate emotions.

Main most representative artists of the baroque period

- Literature

Miguel de Cervantes

This novelist, poet and playwright was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1547. Although his penchant for writing was early, he had military commitments that made him concentrate on the battlefield.

He fought in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, was a prisoner of the Turkish army in 1575 and released five years later. It was then that he returned to Spain and devoted himself to writing novels.

Between 1605 and 1615 he published "The ingenious hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha", his masterpiece and the greatest representative of Baroque literature.

The baroque literary field was characterized by being the scene of the debate between realism and idealism, and in "Don Quixote" a constant opposition of these concepts is evident.

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

Juana Ramírez de Asbaje, better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, was a self-taught Mexican writer born between 1648 and 1651 (her date of birth is not exactly known).

He specialized in poetry, although his writing encompasses such varied figures that range from sonnets to the so-called "swashbuckling comedies" in Spain, plays whose main argument deals with the love affair between a lady and a gentleman.

His work is characterized by integrating the bombastic forms typical of the Baroque with the importance of going in search of knowledge. His poem "First Dream" (1692), is a reflection of his characteristic style.

- Music

Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach, one of the great representatives of the Baroque.

Bach was born in Germany in 1685. He was a composer and singer, and also played the violin, viola, organ and harpsichord.

His music is considered an expression of the baroque period par excellence. His compositions are characterized by having a main melody with accompaniment, and by emphasizing "harmonic color", a term that refers to the interaction of major and minor tones.

He was a very religious man and his compositions were in search of generating joy of spirit and praising God. One of his most representative works is “Tocata y fugue in D minor”, ​​which has even been used in modern audiovisual contexts.

Antonio Vivaldi

Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, and he is considered the most representative Italian composer of the Baroque period. He ordained himself as a priest, but devoted himself entirely to music.

He was a virtuoso on the violin and composer of baroque concerts considered great influences on music. His compositions are characterized by demanding a lot of skill from the interpreters.

One of his most important works is "The Four Seasons", a concert made up of four sonnets. Vivaldi's complete work includes nearly 500 concerts.

- Painting

Rembrandt van Rijn

This Dutch painter was born in 1606. Rembrandt's works are characterized by being very realistic, through the use of light and shadow. The themes of his paintings are primarily biblical, mythological and historical.

He made many portraits and also self-portraits; the latter make up about a tenth of his work. Its most important characteristic is its ability to reproduce faces and emotions in a realistic and impressive way.

Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in Italy in 1571. As a good representative of the Baroque period, he was a painter whose work was characterized by its realism and naturalism.

Caravaggio avoided idealized creations; He preferred to reproduce the subjects as they were and used real models to paint his pictures, a revolutionary practice for the time. He was considered the most important painter in Rome between 1600 and 1606.

- Sculpture

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

This Italian sculptor and architect was born in 1598 and is considered the greatest representative of Baroque sculpture and architecture.

Bernini's sculptures are characterized by expressive gestures and show simplified but powerful emotions; his works are dynamic and allow the viewer to appreciate them from all angles.

Bernini paid great attention to the details of texture in his works and always sought to impress a sense of movement in his creations. Among his most iconic sculptures are "The Rape of Proserpina", "Ecstasy of Santa Teresa" and "Apollo and Daphne".

François Girardon

This French artist, born in 1628, is the most renowned Baroque sculptor in France. He worked on the decoration of the Palace of Versailles during the reign of Louis XIV.

Girardon's masterpiece was the bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV erected on the Place Vendôme in Paris. This was destroyed during the French Revolution, but smaller replicas still exist.

His work is influenced by the Baroque school, although his works are considered more conservative and less vigorous than the artistic expressions of this period.

- Architecture

Francesco Borromini

He was born in 1599 under the name of Francesco Castellini (in 1627 he changed his name). Borromini's work is characterized by the curves of its facades and the complexity of its structures.

He was an innovative artist: he dared to experiment with forms and generated a "living" architecture, full of movement and dynamism. His works were based on geometric, modular shapes.

Borromini lived in celibacy, he devoted himself to architecture fully and with great discipline. One of his most representative works is the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, also called "San Carlino" because of its small dimensions.

Carlo Fontana

Fontana was born in 1638. He was an architect and engineer. He worked as an assistant to Gian Lorenzo Bernini on various projects and, after Bernini's death, he became the most influential Roman Baroque architect.

Fontana gave importance to the interaction between the sculptures and the urban environment. One of its most representative structures is the facade of the San Marcello al Corso church, in Rome.

Within the legacy of Fontana is a large number of manuscripts, protected in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

References

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