(17th–18th century) Era in the arts that originated in Italy in the 17th century and flourished elsewhere well into the 18th century. It embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts, and music. The word, derived from a Portuguese term for an irregularly shaped pearl and originally used derogatorily, has long been employed to describe a variety of characteristics, from dramatic to bizarre to overdecorated.
The style was embraced by countries absorbed in the Counter-Reformation; artworks commissioned by the Roman Catholic church were overtly emotional and sensory. The period's most notable practitioners were Annibale Carracci (&see; Carracci family), Caravaggio, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. A spectacular example of the Baroque arts is the Palace of Versailles. In music, the Baroque era is usually considered to extend from &circa; 1600 to &circa; 1750, when such significant new vocal and instrumental genres as opera, oratorio, cantata, sonata, and concerto were introduced and such towering composers as Claudio Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, and George Frideric Handel flourished.
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