История архитектуры барокко
самой красивой жемчужины неправильной формы - ArtCraft Media
Католическая церковь и жемчужина неправильной формы: история барокко. Барокко развивался в европейских странах от начала XVI до конца XVIII века ...
означает
Барокко развивался в европейских странах от начала XVI до конца XVIII века. Есть несколько основных версий происхождения названия этого стиля: от португальского языка «барокко», что <anchor>означает</anchor> жемчужину неправильной формы, или от итальянского «barocco», что означает искаженные идеи. С самого начала это искусство ассоциировалось с динамикой, хаосом и искривлениями. Но почему?
Baroque art and architecture | Definition, Characteristics, Artists, History, & Facts | Britannica
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[Baroque art and architecture](https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture)

Table of Contents


- [Introduction & Top Questions](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture)

- [The origin of the term](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture#ref284072)

- [Three main tendencies of the era](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture#ref284073)

- [Architecture, painting, and sculpture](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture/Architecture-painting-and-sculpture)


[References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture/additional-info) [Quick Facts & Related Topics](/facts/Baroque-art-and-architecture)

[Images & Videos](https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture/images-videos)

[![Artemisia Gentileschi: Judith with Her Maidservant](https://cdn.britannica.com/52/19352-004-085CBDFD/Judith-Maidservant-Artemisia-Gentileschi-Pitti-Palace-Florence.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/52/19352-004-085CBDFD/Judith-Maidservant-Artemisia-Gentileschi-Pitti-Palace-Florence.jpg)[![Caravaggio: The Calling of St. Matthew](https://cdn.britannica.com/14/182114-004-4823C3AB/The-Calling-of-St-Matthew-oil-canvas.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/14/182114-050-7CEA511C/The-Calling-of-St-Matthew-oil-canvas.jpg)[![Francesco Borromini: coffered ceiling of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane](https://cdn.britannica.com/35/7635-004-647AE40A/ceiling-cupola-S-Carlo-alle-Quattro-Fontane.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/35/7635-050-52C864DC/ceiling-cupola-S-Carlo-alle-Quattro-Fontane.jpg)[![Georges de La Tour: The Lamentation over St. Sebastian](https://cdn.britannica.com/62/43662-004-789B3A9F/Lamentation-over-St-Sebastian-canvas-Georges-de.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/62/43662-050-D7012841/Lamentation-over-St-Sebastian-canvas-Georges-de.jpg)[![Palace of Versailles](https://cdn.britannica.com/81/130081-004-101F672C/Marble-Court-Palace-of-Versailles-France.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/81/130081-050-A9B7180D/Marble-Court-Palace-of-Versailles-France.jpg)[![The unique drama of Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ](https://cdn.britannica.com/83/248783-138-2D92FD3A/The-Entombment-of-Christ-Caravaggio.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](/video/248783/The-Entombment-of-Christ-Caravaggio)[![St. Peter's Basilica](https://cdn.britannica.com/23/138723-004-38A7FE16/Gian-Lorenzo-Bernini-baldachin-interior-Vatican-City.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/23/138723-050-252C620C/Gian-Lorenzo-Bernini-baldachin-interior-Vatican-City.jpg)[![What is everyone looking at in Las Meninas?](https://cdn.britannica.com/70/239470-138-AABC2F15/Diego-Velazquez-Las-Meninas.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](/video/239470/Diego-Velazquez-Las-Meninas)[![Nicolas Poussin: Landscape with Saint John on Patmos](https://cdn.britannica.com/36/27036-004-3DC3D95B/Nicolas-Poussin-Poussinists-restraint-oil-painting-St.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/36/27036-050-D759803E/Nicolas-Poussin-Poussinists-restraint-oil-painting-St.jpg)[![Did The Night Watch cause Rembrandt's downfall?](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/240498-138-7736B25A/Rembrandt-van-Rijn-The-Night-Watch.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)](/video/240498/Rembrandt-van-Rijn-The-Night-Watch)

Related Questions


- [Where does the term _Baroque_ come from?](/question/Where-does-the-term-Baroque-come-from)
- [What are the characteristics of Baroque art and architecture?](/question/What-are-the-characteristics-of-Baroque-art-and-architecture)
- [How did Baroque art and architecture come about?](/question/How-did-Baroque-art-and-architecture-come-about)
- [Which artists are associated with the Baroque style?](/question/Which-artists-are-associated-with-the-Baroque-style)
- [How did the Rococo style differ from the Baroque?](/question/How-did-the-Rococo-style-differ-from-the-Baroque)

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Contents


[Visual Arts](/browse/Visual-Arts)[Architecture](/browse/Architecture)

# Baroque art and architecture



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External Websites


- [UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Renaissance Through Contemporary Art History - Baroque art, an introduction](https://uen.pressbooks.pub/arth2720/chapter/baroque-art-an-introduction/)
- [Boise State University - Introduction To Art - Baroque Architecture](https://boisestate.pressbooks.pub/arthistory/chapter/baroque-architecture/)
- [Victoria and Albert Museum - The Baroque style](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-baroque-style)
- [Khan Academy - Baroque art, an introduction](https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/baroque-art1/beginners-guide-baroque1/a/baroque-art-in-europe-an-introduction)
- [The Spruce - What Is Baroque Architecture?](https://www.thespruce.com/baroque-architecture-4797911)
- [The Art Story - Movements - Baroque Art and Architecture](https://www.theartstory.org/movement/baroque-art-and-architecture/)
- [Art in Context - Baroque Art - The Key Artists and Paintings of the Baroque Period](https://artincontext.org/baroque-art/)
- [The J. Paul Getty Museum - Visions of Grandeur: Drawing in the Baroque Age](https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/visions_grandeur/)

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

- [Baroque - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)](https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Baroque/352827)
- [baroque period - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)](https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/baroque-period/317029)



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External Websites


- [UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Renaissance Through Contemporary Art History - Baroque art, an introduction](https://uen.pressbooks.pub/arth2720/chapter/baroque-art-an-introduction/)
- [Boise State University - Introduction To Art - Baroque Architecture](https://boisestate.pressbooks.pub/arthistory/chapter/baroque-architecture/)
- [Victoria and Albert Museum - The Baroque style](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-baroque-style)
- [Khan Academy - Baroque art, an introduction](https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/baroque-art1/beginners-guide-baroque1/a/baroque-art-in-europe-an-introduction)
- [The Spruce - What Is Baroque Architecture?](https://www.thespruce.com/baroque-architecture-4797911)
- [The Art Story - Movements - Baroque Art and Architecture](https://www.theartstory.org/movement/baroque-art-and-architecture/)
- [Art in Context - Baroque Art - The Key Artists and Paintings of the Baroque Period](https://artincontext.org/baroque-art/)
- [The J. Paul Getty Museum - Visions of Grandeur: Drawing in the Baroque Age](https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/visions_grandeur/)

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

- [Baroque - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)](https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Baroque/352827)
- [baroque period - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)](https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/baroque-period/317029)

Also known as: Baroque period


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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.](/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419)

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• [Article History](https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture/additional-info#history)


Table of Contents


[![Artemisia Gentileschi: Judith with Her Maidservant](https://cdn.britannica.com/52/19352-004-085CBDFD/Judith-Maidservant-Artemisia-Gentileschi-Pitti-Palace-Florence.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop)](https://cdn.britannica.com/52/19352-004-085CBDFD/Judith-Maidservant-Artemisia-Gentileschi-Pitti-Palace-Florence.jpg)

Artemisia Gentileschi: Judith with Her Maidservant

[See all media](https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture/images-videos)

Key People: [Guarino Guarini](/biography/Guarino-Guarini)[Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Baronet](/biography/Sir-Sacheverell-Sitwell-6th-Baronet)[Palomino De Castro Y Velasco](/biography/Palomino-de-Castro-y-Velasco)[Jean-François de La Harpe](/biography/Jean-Francois-de-La-Harpe)[Francisco Pacheco](/biography/Francisco-Pacheco)_(Show more)_

Related Topics: [the arts](/topic/the-arts)[Baroque music](/art/Baroque-music)[Baroque architecture](/art/Baroque-architecture)[Late Baroque](/art/Late-Baroque)[Neo-Baroque](/art/Neo-Baroque)_(Show more)_

[See all related content →](/facts/Baroque-art-and-architecture)

Ask the Chatbot a Question

Ask the Chatbot a Question

Top Questions


### Where does the term _Baroque_ come from?

The term _Baroque_ probably derived from the Italian word _barocco_, which philosophers used during the [Middle Ages](https://www.britannica.com/event/Middle-Ages) to describe an obstacle in schematic logic. Subsequently, the word came to denote any contorted idea or involute process of thought. Another possible source is the Portuguese word _barroco_ (Spanish _barrueco_), used to describe an imperfectly shaped pearl. In art criticism the word _Baroque_ has come to describe anything irregular, bizarre, or otherwise departing from rules and proportions established during the [Renaissance](https://www.britannica.com/art/Renaissance-art). Until the late 19th century the term always carried the implication of odd, exaggerated, and overdecorated. It was only with [Heinrich Wölfflin](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Heinrich-Wolfflin)’s pioneering study, _Renaissance und Barock_ (1888), that the term was used as a stylistic designation rather than as a term of thinly veiled abuse and that a systematic formulation of the characteristics of Baroque style was achieved.

Read more below:
[The origin of the term](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture#ref284072)

[Heinrich Wölfflin](/biography/Heinrich-Wolfflin) Read about historian Heinrich Wölfflin, who refashioned the word _Baroque_ from a thinly veiled term of abuse to the name of a distinctive style and period.

### What are the characteristics of Baroque art and architecture?

The work that distinguishes the Baroque period is stylistically complex and even contradictory. Currents of naturalism and [Classicism](https://www.britannica.com/art/Neoclassicism), for example, coexisted and intermingled with the typical Baroque style. In general, however, the desire to evoke emotional states by appealing to the senses, often in dramatic ways, underlies its manifestations. Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, dynamism, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.

Read more below:
[The origin of the term](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture#ref284072)

[San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane](/topic/San-Carlo-alle-Quattro-Fontane) See an example of the characteristic drama and movement of Baroque architecture in Francesco Borromini’s design for San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.

### How did Baroque art and architecture come about?

Three broad tendencies had an impact on Baroque art, the first of which was the [Counter-Reformation](https://www.britannica.com/event/Counter-Reformation). Contending with the spread of the [Protestant Reformation](https://www.britannica.com/event/Reformation), the [Roman Catholic Church](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism), after the [Council of Trent](https://www.britannica.com/event/Council-of-Trent) (1545–63), adopted a propagandist program in which art was to serve as a means of stimulating the public’s faith in the church. The Baroque style that evolved was both sensuous and spiritual. Whereas a naturalistic treatment rendered the religious image more accessible to the average churchgoer, dramatic and illusory effects were used to stimulate devotion and convey the splendour of the divine. The second tendency was the consolidation of absolute monarchies—Baroque palaces were built on a monumental scale to display the power of the centralized state, a phenomenon best displayed at [Versailles](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Palace-of-Versailles). The third tendency was a broadening of human intellectual horizons, spurred by developments in science and explorations of the globe. These produced a new sense of human insignificance (particularly abetted by the [Copernican](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus) displacement of Earth from the centre of the universe) and of the infinitude of the natural world. Landscape paintings in which humans are portrayed as minute figures in a vast setting were indicative of this changing awareness of the human condition.

Read more below:
[Three main tendencies of the era](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture#ref284073)

[Counter-Reformation](/event/Counter-Reformation) Read more about the Counter-Reformation, a propagandist program adopted by the Roman Catholic Church to meet the spread of the Protestant Reformation through the use of art and architecture.

### Which artists are associated with the Baroque style?

[Annibale Carracci](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Annibale-Carracci) and [Caravaggio](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caravaggio) were the two Italian painters who helped usher in the Baroque and whose styles represent, respectively, the classicist and realist modes. The painter [Artemisia Gentileschi](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Artemisia-Gentileschi) was recognized in the 20th century for her technical skill and ambitious history paintings. [Gian Lorenzo Bernini](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gian-Lorenzo-Bernini), whose accomplishments included the design of the colonnade fronting [St. Peter’s Basilica](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Peters-Basilica) in Rome, was the greatest of the Baroque sculptor-architects. The orderly paintings of [Nicolas Poussin](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolas-Poussin) and the restrained architecture of [Jules Hardouin-Mansart](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jules-Hardouin-Mansart) reveal that the Baroque impulse in France was more subdued and classicist. In Spain, the painter [Diego Velázquez](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diego-Velazquez) used a sombre but powerful naturalistic approach that bore only some relation to the mainstream of Baroque painting. The style, meanwhile, made limited inroads to northern Europe, notably in what is now Belgium. That Spanish-ruled largely Roman Catholic region’s greatest master was the painter [Peter Paul Rubens](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Paul-Rubens), whose tempestuous diagonal compositions and full-blooded figures are the epitome of Baroque painting. Art in the Netherlands, however, is more complex. Conditioned by the realist tastes of its middle-class patrons, such towering masters as [Rembrandt](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rembrandt-van-Rijn), [Frans Hals](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frans-Hals), and [Johannes Vermeer](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Vermeer) remained largely independent of the Baroque in important respects, but many art texts nonetheless equate them with the style. The Baroque did have a notable impact in England, however, particularly in the architecture of Sir [Christopher Wren](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Wren).

Read more below:
[Architecture, painting, and sculpture](/art/Baroque-art-and-architecture/Architecture-painting-and-sculpture)

[Artemisia Gentileschi](/biography/Artemisia-Gentileschi) Find out more about Artemisia Gentileschi, the Baroque painter whose accomplishments came to be celebrated in the 20th century.

### How did the Rococo style differ from the Baroque?

The [Rococo](https://www.britannica.com/art/Rococo) style originated in Paris about 1700 and was soon adopted throughout France and later in other countries, principally Germany and Austria. Like the Baroque style, Rococo was used in the [decorative arts](https://www.britannica.com/art/decorative-art), [interior design](https://www.britannica.com/art/interior-design), painting, architecture, and sculpture. It is often characterized as the final phase of the Baroque, but the style differs from its predecessor in its intimate scale, asymmetry, lightness, elegance, and exuberant use of curving natural forms in ornamentation. Rococo painting in France, for example, began with the graceful, gently melancholic paintings of [Antoine Watteau](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antoine-Watteau), culminated in the playful and sensuous nudes of [François Boucher](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Boucher), and ended with the freely painted genre scenes of [Jean-Honoré Fragonard](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Honore-Fragonard). French Rococo painting in general was characterized by easygoing, lighthearted treatments of mythological and courtship themes, the introduction of the family as subject, rich and delicate brushwork, a relatively light tonal key, and sensuous colouring.

[Rococo](/art/Rococo) Learn more about the Rococo, the style that is often regarded as the final phase of the Baroque but which differs from its predecessor in a number of ways.

**Baroque art and architecture**, the visual arts and building design and construction produced during the era in the history of Western art that roughly coincides with the 17th century. The earliest [manifestations](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifestations), which occurred in Italy, date from the latter decades of the 16th century, while in some regions, notably Germany and colonial [South America](https://www.britannica.com/place/South-America), certain culminating achievements of Baroque did not occur until the 18th century. The work that distinguishes the Baroque period is stylistically complex, even contradictory. In general, however, the desire to evoke emotional states by appealing to the senses, often in dramatic ways, underlies its manifestations. Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensuous richness, [drama](https://www.britannica.com/art/theatre-art), vitality, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.

## The origin of the term

The term Baroque probably ultimately derived from the Italian word _barocco_, which philosophers used during the [Middle Ages](https://www.britannica.com/event/Middle-Ages) to describe an obstacle in schematic [logic](https://www.britannica.com/topic/logic). Subsequently the word came to denote any contorted idea or involuted process of thought. Another possible source is the Portuguese word _barroco_ (Spanish _barrueco_), used to describe an irregular or imperfectly shaped [pearl](https://www.britannica.com/topic/pearl-gemstone), and this usage still survives in the jeweler’s term [_baroque pearl_](https://www.britannica.com/art/baroque-pearl).

In [art criticism](https://www.britannica.com/art/art-criticism) the word Baroque came to be used to describe anything irregular, bizarre, or otherwise departing from established rules and proportions. This [biased](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biased) view of 17th-century art styles was held with few modifications by critics from [Johann Winckelmann](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Joachim-Winckelmann) to [John Ruskin](https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Ruskin) and [Jacob Burckhardt](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Burckhardt), and until the late 19th century the term always carried the [implication](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implication) of odd, grotesque, exaggerated, and overdecorated. It was only with [Heinrich Wölfflin](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Heinrich-Wolfflin)’s pioneer study _Renaissance und Barock_ (1888) that the term Baroque was used as a stylistic [designation](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/designation) rather than as a term of thinly veiled abuse, and a systematic formulation of the characteristics of Baroque style was achieved.

## Three main tendencies of the era

[![](https://cdn.britannica.com/14/182114-050-7CEA511C/The-Calling-of-St-Matthew-oil-canvas.jpg?w=300)](https://cdn.britannica.com/14/182114-050-7CEA511C/The-Calling-of-St-Matthew-oil-canvas.jpg)

[Caravaggio: _The Calling of St. Matthew_](https://cdn.britannica.com/14/182114-050-7CEA511C/The-Calling-of-St-Matthew-oil-canvas.jpg) _The Calling of St. Matthew_, oil on canvas by Caravaggio, 1599–1600; in the Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.(more)

[![](https://cdn.britannica.com/35/7635-050-52C864DC/ceiling-cupola-S-Carlo-alle-Quattro-Fontane.jpg?w=300)](https://cdn.britannica.com/35/7635-050-52C864DC/ceiling-cupola-S-Carlo-alle-Quattro-Fontane.jpg)

[Francesco Borromini: coffered ceiling of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane](https://cdn.britannica.com/35/7635-050-52C864DC/ceiling-cupola-S-Carlo-alle-Quattro-Fontane.jpg) Baroque coffered ceiling of the cupola of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome, designed by Francesco Borromini, 1638–41. (more)

Three broader cultural and [intellectual](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectual) tendencies had a profound impact on Baroque art as well as [Baroque music](https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-music). The first of these was the emergence of the [Counter-Reformation](https://www.britannica.com/event/Counter-Reformation) and the expansion of its domain, both territorially and intellectually. By the last decades of the 16th century the refined, courtly style known as [Mannerism](https://www.britannica.com/art/Mannerism) had ceased to be an effective means of expression, and its inadequacy for religious art was being increasingly felt in artistic circles. To counter the inroads made by the [Reformation](https://www.britannica.com/event/Reformation), the [Roman Catholic](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism) Church after the [Council of Trent](https://www.britannica.com/event/Council-of-Trent) (1545–63) adopted a [propagandistic](https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda) stance in which art was to serve as a means of extending and stimulating the public’s faith in the church. To this end the church adopted a conscious artistic program whose art products would make an overtly emotional and sensory appeal to the faithful. The Baroque style that evolved from this program was paradoxically both sensuous and spiritual; while a naturalistic treatment rendered the religious image more accessible to the average churchgoer, dramatic and illusory effects were used to stimulate piety and devotion and convey an impression of the splendour of the divine. Baroque church ceilings thus dissolved in painted scenes that presented vivid views of the [infinite](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infinite) to the observer and directed the senses toward heavenly concerns.

[![](https://cdn.britannica.com/62/43662-050-D7012841/Lamentation-over-St-Sebastian-canvas-Georges-de.jpg?w=300)](https://cdn.britannica.com/62/43662-050-D7012841/Lamentation-over-St-Sebastian-canvas-Georges-de.jpg)

[Georges de La Tour: _The Lamentation over St. Sebastian_](https://cdn.britannica.com/62/43662-050-D7012841/Lamentation-over-St-Sebastian-canvas-Georges-de.jpg) _The Lamentation over St. Sebastian_, oil on canvas by Georges de La Tour, 1645; in the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. 1.6 × 1.3 m.(more)

[![](https://cdn.britannica.com/81/130081-050-A9B7180D/Marble-Court-Palace-of-Versailles-France.jpg?w=300)](https://cdn.britannica.com/81/130081-050-A9B7180D/Marble-Court-Palace-of-Versailles-France.jpg)

[Palace of Versailles](https://cdn.britannica.com/81/130081-050-A9B7180D/Marble-Court-Palace-of-Versailles-France.jpg) The Marble Court at the Palace of Versailles, France.(more)

The second tendency was the consolidation of [absolute](https://www.britannica.com/topic/absolutism-political-system) [monarchies](https://www.britannica.com/topic/monarchy), accompanied by a simultaneous crystallization of a prominent and powerful middle class, which now came to play a role in art patronage. Baroque palaces were built on an expanded and monumental scale in order to display the power and grandeur of the centralized state, a phenomenon best displayed in the royal palace and gardens at [Versailles](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Palace-of-Versailles). Yet at the same time the development of a picture market for the middle class and its taste for [realism](https://www.britannica.com/art/realism-art) may be seen in the works of the brothers [Le Nain](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Nain-brothers) and [Georges de La Tour](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-de-La-Tour) in France and in the varied schools of 17th-century Dutch [painting](https://www.britannica.com/art/painting). (For a detailed discussion of this phenomenon, _see_ [Rembrandt van Rijn](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rembrandt-van-Rijn).)

The third tendency was a new interest in nature and a general broadening of human intellectual horizons, [spurred](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/spurred) by developments in [science](https://www.britannica.com/science/science) and by [explorations](https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-exploration) of the globe. These simultaneously produced a new sense both of human insignificance (particularly abetted by the [Copernican](https://www.britannica.com/science/Copernican-system) displacement of the [Earth](https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth) from the centre of the universe) and of the unsuspected complexity and infinitude of the natural world. The development of 17th-century [landscape](https://www.britannica.com/art/landscape-art) painting, in which humans are frequently portrayed as minute figures in a vast natural setting, is indicative of this changing awareness of the human condition.