This is a nonchronological introduction to Baroque, one of the great periods of European art. John Martin's descriptions of the essential characteristics of the Baroque help one to gain an understanding of the style. His illustrations are informative and he has clearly looked with a fresh eye at the works of art themselves. In addition to the more than 200 illustrations, the volume contains an appendix of translated documents.

This is a nonchronological introduction to Baroque, one of the great periods of European art. John Martin's descriptions of the essential characteristics of the Baroque help one to gain an understanding of the style. His illustrations are informative and he has clearly looked with a fresh eye at the works of art themselves. In addition to the more than 200 illustrations, the volume contains an appendix of translated documents.

The thirty-nine ceiling paintings which Rubens painted in 1620-1621 for the newly-built Jesuit Church in Antwerp constituted the most extensive commission he had received up to that thime. They perished by fire in 1718, however, many of Rubens's spirited grisaille sketches and final oil sketches for the canvas paintings have survived, and they, together with documents and with contemporary copies by other artists, allow us to reconstruct not only the iconography and compositions of the paintings, but also their style and the overall effect of the series. In this volume, the author discusses the building of the Jesuit Church and the terms of the commission given to Rubens, deals with the fire of 1718 and the work of the copyists, and gives a critical catalogue of the surviving sketches by Rubens.