Some scholars state that the French word originated from the Portuguese term barroco ('a flawed pearl'), pointing to the Latin verruca, ('wart'), or to a word with the suffix -ǒccu (common in pre-Roman Iberia). The English word baroque comes directly from the French. Origin of the word Pendant in the form of a siren, made of a baroque pearl (the torso) with enameled gold mounts set with rubies, probably circa 1860, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York). New motifs introduced by Baroque are: the cartouche, trophies and weapons, baskets of fruit or flowers, and others, made in marquetry, stucco, or carved. The classical repertoire is crowded, dense, overlapping, loaded, in order to provoke shock effects. But a general feature is that everywhere the starting point is the ornamental elements introduced by the Renaissance. The departure from Renaissance classicism has its own ways in each country. In the decorative arts, the style employs plentiful and intricate ornamentation.

By the 1730s, it had evolved into an even more flamboyant style, called rocaille or Rococo, which appeared in France and Central Europe until the mid to late 18th century. The style began at the start of the 17th century in Rome, then spread rapidly to France, northern Italy, Spain, and Portugal, then to Austria, southern Germany, and Poland. The Baroque style used contrast, movement, exuberant detail, deep colour, grandeur, and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art, and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in the past often referred to as 'late Baroque') and Neoclassical styles. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including the Iberian Peninsula it continued, together with new styles, until the first decade of the 19th century.

The Baroque ( UK: / b ə ˈ r ɒ k/, US: /- ˈ r oʊ k/ French: ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. Top: Venus and Adonis by Peter Paul Rubens (1635–1640) centre: The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini (1651) bottom: the Palace of Versailles in France ( c.1660–1715)

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