The Wizards of the Marvellous

Underlying this period was a fascination with the grotesque, the outlandish and the ghoulish. Focusing on Rome, in many ways the center of the Baroque style, this film looks at some of the forerunners of the movement. In painting these are Caravaggio, with his dramatic, strained realism, Pietro da Cortona and the Carraccis, with their softer, sometimes more informal atmosphere, and Guercino, whose sweetness has often been considered cloying, but whose importance is increasingly recognized. Rubens personifies the transition between Renaissance and Baroque, with his sinuous lines and diaphanous vitality. These characteristics are also exemplified in the Baroque fountains of Rome, the inventive buildings of Borromini, and in the virtuosity of Bernini's swirling sculptures, such as his Daphnis and Chloe.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.