First Published in 1978, The Baroque focuses on eight areas where it expressed itself most successfully. The cultural movement called baroque dominated most of the Western Europe from the late sixteenth century to the 1720s. During that long time, it went through various phases, affecting some arts, some countries more than others. There are many overlapping definitions of baroque like from a mode of European painting to a style of architecture or rather a cultural phenomenon which manifested itself most noticeably in the fine and applied arts. In this book each chapter presents a separate exploration of different interlinked facets of this vast and maze-like subject. This book is an interesting read for scholars of European literature.