Art History Baroque — Compare and contrast the differences in Baroque art between the Protestant and Catholic countries —use specific examples of artworks to support your ideas

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Art History Baroque
The Baroque period began around 1600 in Rome and Italy and later spread to almost every part in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. It is during this era that the reformation and the counter-reformation emerged. Counter-reformation is a period between 1545 and 1563 which saw the Catholic revive itself through the use of bible stories art. The Catholic church began the baroque art as a response to the Protestant Reformation that was initiated by Martin Luther to change the Catholic church in the 16th century (Ibáñez 113).
The Catholic baroque art was meant to spread propaganda, and therefore, the works of art were large scale. It dwelled on monumental wall-paintings and big murals for the ceilings and domes of palaces and churches. The paintings represented the Catholic dogma relating to the bible or mythical or metaphorical masterpieces. The Catholics aim was to attract viewers, and therefore they mostly dwelled on religious art (Xu et al. 62). For example, the crucifixion of saint peter was created by Caravaggio, who was a catholic baroque artist. The work of art symbolized the humiliating execution of saint peter. On the other hand, the Protestants responded by creating art that was not linked with religion. They created genre paintings that showed their audiences moral teachings. The Protestant baroque artist used their paintings to portray their emotions. An example of Protestant baroque art is the night watch created by Rembrandt.

It lacks a religious theme since Protestants sensed that everyday life was essential (Riegl et al. 72).
The similarity between the Catholic and Protestant baroque art is that they both tended to have open space. The objects and scenes were created in such a way that they were in a position of motion thereby generating emotions. The paintings were created in circular or diagonal compositions due to the general knowledge that was circulating that time that the earth was moving. The stories that were shown in these paintings appeared to occur during the time and space of the onlookers. The baroque art focused on naturalistic and exact details (Riegl et al. 94).
Works cited
Ibáñez, José Javier Ruiz. “The Baroque and the Influence of the Spanish Monarchy in Europe (1580–1648).” The Transatlantic Hispanic Baroque: Complex Identities in the Atlantic World 1580.1648 (2016): 113.
Riegl, Alois, Andrew Hopkins, Arnold A. Witte, and Alina A. Payne. The Origins of Baroque Art in Rome. Los Angeles, Calif: Getty Research Institute, 2010. Print.
Xu, Guobin, Yanhui Chen, and Lianhua Xu. “Western Art.” Introduction to Western Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2018. 57-89.