the popularity and success of the baroque style was encouraged by the roman catholic church which had decided at the time of the council of trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement. the upper class also saw the dramatic style of baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant power and control. baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. in similar profusions of detail, art, music, architecture, and literature inspired each other in the baroque cultural movement as artists explored what they could create from repeated and varied patterns. some traits and aspects of baroque paintings that differentiate this style from others are the abundant amount of details, often bright polychromy, less realistic faces of subjects, and an overall sense of awe, which was one of the goals in baroque art.