ABSTRACT
The nomenclature of art history is regrettably imprecise and confusing. The Copernican revolution brought in its train a sense of the infinite which was to permeate seventeenth-century art and thought. One can hardly speak of Baroque naturalism without taking notice of Baroque psychology. The preoccupation with 'the passions of the soul' is to be observed both in the artists and in the philosophers of the period. Some of the most splendid allegorical creations of the Baroque epoch were devoted to the glorification of monarchy. The Copernican revolution brought in its train a sense of the infinite which was to permeate seventeenth-century art and thought. The idea of a spatial continuum is also fundamental to the art of stage design, which seeks to coordinate the perspective space of the theatre with the real space of the auditorium. The pioneers of Baroque classicism were the Bolognese painters led by Annibale Carracci who established themselves in Rome early in the seventeenth century.
