Drawing, St.George and the Dragon by Raphael; Biblical Scene; Disposition by Caravaggio; Ero e Leandro; Love by Lambert Sustris; Spinning Girl by Domenico Fetti; Verso- Apollo and Muse by Poussin; (CH 18118395)

By the last decades of the 16th century, the refined Mannerism style had ceased to be an effective means of religious art expression. Catholic Church fought against Protestant Reformation to re-establish its dominance in European art by infusing Renaissance aesthetics enhanced by a new exuberant extravagance and penchant for the ornate. The new style was coined Baroque and roughly coincides with the 17th century. Baroque emphasizes dramatic motion, clear, easily interpreted grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, dynamism, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and details, and often defined as being bizarre, or uneven. The term Baroque likely derived from the Italian word barocco, used by earlier scholars to name an obstacle in schematic logic to denote a 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, and this usage still survives in the jeweler’s term baroque pearl. Baroque spread across Europe led by the Pope in Rome and powerful religious orders as well as Catholic monarchs to Northern Italy, France, Spain, Flanders, Portugal, Austria, southern Germany, and colonial South America.

Domenico Fetti was an Italian Baroque painter born in Rome around 1589. He trained with Ludovico Cigoli and later worked with Guido Reni in Bologna. Fetti's style was influenced by Caravaggio and he is known for his dramatic use of light and shadow. Fetti's early works were religious paintings, but he later became famous for his portraits. His most famous painting is 'Melancholy' (1620), which depicts a woman lost in thought and surrounded by symbolic objects. Fetti's career was cut short when he died at the age of 34. However, his influence on Baroque art was significant and his works can be found in museums and collections around the world.