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What Is Baroque Art?

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What Is Baroque Art?
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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.84

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		chiaroscuro, grotesque, lightdark, roundly, artistic, realistic, campout, contrast, spite, symmetry, lifetime, unique, graphite, sugary, mysterious, artists
	content words:		Rembrandt Harmenszoon, Night Watch, Civil Guard

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What Is Baroque Art? By Colleen Messina

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¹     Baroque is a Portuguese word that means "irregularly shaped pearl." The word rolls roundly off of your tongue like a sugary gumball, but Baroque art doesn't have anything to do with round things like gumballs or pearls. It was an art style that some people thought was a little crazy.
 
²     When people first called works of art Baroque, it was an insult. Today, the word is still unflattering. It means grotesque. The Baroque style of art was a dramatic change from the Renaissance style that came before it. During the Renaissance, artists tried to show perfect people and classical themes. Renaissance artists liked the art of ancient Greece with its symmetry and grace. But by the 1500s, artists wanted to relax a little. Baroque artists painted real people with all of their warts, wrinkles, and bumps. They enjoyed the down-to-earth art of ancient Rome.
 
³     Baroque art itself had a bumpy start, but after a while it gained the respect of the artistic world. People began to like the realistic detail and intense emotions they saw in Baroque drawings and paintings. Oddly enough, something that you take for granted helped Baroque artists achieve realistic art. They were thrilled with an amazing new invention called the pencil.

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