The word Baroque was first used as a term of disparagement often associated with the synonym for strange and bizarre. This gothic word has been abandoned though and replaced with a time in history that began about 1600 in Italy and lasted until about 1725. No single artistic style has encompassed the astonishingly varied developments made in Italian art during this time period. .
The Baroque period made great strides in the art world with paintings, sculptures, and even architecture. Many great artists made their names known during this time period. There works are still looked upon today as some of the best paintings ever done. Some of the great artist and sculptures emerging during this time were Annibale Carracci, Caravaggio, Ludovico Cardi, Carlo Saranceni, Guido Reni, Domenico Zampieri, Giovanni Lanfranco, Giovanni Francesco, Pietro Da Cortona, Bernini, and Salvator Rosa. .
One of my favorite from this time period is Caravaggio. Caravaggio was born in 1573 with the given name of Michelangelo Merisi. After extensive training in Milan, Caravaggio arrived in Rome during the 1580's. Caravaggio was an ill tempered man and this caused him many harsh experiences and brushes with the law. During his years in Rome however he created many half figure pieces of art. Caravaggio had a knack for making realistic pieces that often enraged townspeople's conservative religious taste. Caravaggio had a strong sense of style and loved to make his work seem mysterious and illuminated. In 1606 Caravaggio was accused of murder and he fled Rome. Finally, after four years of wandering this great artist lost his life to Malaria.
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After Caravaggio's death many artist attempted to recreate his works and take his style and incorporate this into their own personal pieces. These people became known as the Caravaggesque artist. Among these artists was Roman born Domenico Fetti. Fetti arrived in the early 1620's. Upon his arrival Fetti had worked many years at the Court of the Gonzagas in Mantua and while there he had created a number of small scale illustrations of Biblical parables, such as The Lost Silver.