Storiadellarte.com: italian art history

Baroque painting is very variable and highly complex and the counter-reformation Church was the main commissioner of paintings. The Church discovered that art, through the persuasive power of beauty, was the right way to lead the Christian world back to the true faith because it was able to influence feelings. The number of holy scenes painted in this period increased considerably. The main topics were the subjects which had been criticised by the Reformation, such as the cult of the Virgin Mary. Town halls and other buildings and especially churches were decorated by enormous and grandiose frescos which closely resembled reality, thanks to the absolutely natural representation of the characters. This gave credibility to the holy scenes they represented, which appealed to the faithful. Great importance was given to ceiling decorations. Baroque painters used their skills with the art of perspective to increase architectural space by creating a virtual space which united heaven and earth. The ceiling of the Church of Sant'Ignazio, in Rome, painted by Andrea Pozzo is an example. Figures float in the air, suspended between heaven and earth, creating a trompe d'oeil effect.
Two artistic currents developed in the XVII century, the naturalistic current with Caravaggio and the classicist current proposed by the School of the Carracci brothers.
Caravaggio introduced everyday situations and reality into his paintings; even when he painted religious subjects he looked for the truth when representing the figures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the apostles. He used ordinary people (like the ones encountered in the streets) as models and painted them in a special light. This naturalist painting style spread rapidly in Italy during the first 20 years of the XVII century. Some of the most important representatives are painters like Orazio Gentileschi and his daughter Artemisia, Bartolomeo Manfredi and Battistello Caracciolo, as well as a number of foreign artists working in Italy, including the French painter Valentin de Boulogne and the Spanish painter Jusepe de Ribera.
The school developed by the three Carraccis tried to bring back the principles of clearness, monumentality and balance typical of the Renaissance period.
Annibale Carracci was the most successful of the three Carracci (Ludovico, Agostino and Annibale). This classic-like style was used by artists such as Guido Reni and Domenichino.