Baroque was born and developed in a historical period worn out by conflict between the Catholic Counter-Reformation and Protestantism that led to the Thirty Years’ War, a scene of blood and death in Europe.
With the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, freedom of worship was approved for the three main faiths (Protestant, Calvinist and Catholic), despite the fact that the major European powers involved in the conflict sought the undisputed dominance of one religion.
The Catholic Church had a decisive role in spreading Baroque, which was used as a propaganda tool against the rampant forms of Protestantism and heresy.
Baroque art was born to celebrate the power of the Catholic Church, leading artists to create pictorial, sculptural and architectural representations that amazed and astounded the observer.
Baroque encouraged a new vision of the world in which reality and fiction merged to create veritable masterpieces.
Colour and colourful marble were used to decorate church interiors and unusual, often curvilinear shapes such as ovals were used for church floor plans. It was important to incite amazement and demonstrate the greatness of papal authority.
