The stylistic period roughly spanning the 17th century is known as the baroque; characterized by dynamic intensity, it had its origins in Rome. Its offshoot, the more delicate, decorative style characteristic of the early part of the 18th century, is known as rococo; this style originated in France. See Baroque Art and Architecture; Rococo Style. Italy Gianlorenzo Bernini was the outstanding personality of the baroque age; like Michelangelo, he was a child prodigy, had a long and prolific career, and was a painter, sculptor, and architect. Bernini's works are highly dramatic, and their depth of emotional expression suited the intense spirit of the Counter Reformation. 

A strong interplay of light, shadow, and movement characterizes all of Bernini's works, including Apollo and Daphne (1622-24, Galleria Borghese, Rome), which also shows his incredible technical virtuosity in handling marble. One of his early works, David (1623-1624, Galleria Borghese), is, in sharp contrast to Michelangelo's restrained, classical representation of David, a self-contained contemplative figure, shown before his encounter with Goliath. Bernini's figure is frozen in motion, his attention riveted on the unseen adversary, his body twisting to throw the shot. Many of Bernini's largest sculptures are in Saint Peter's Basilica, the colonnaded piazza of which he also designed; these works include the gigantic baldachin, or canopy (1624-33), over the high altar, the enormous Cathedra Petri (Chair of Saint Peter, 1657-66), several monumental statues of saints, and two papal tombs. 

One of his most celebrated creations, however, is the ornate Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome with its spectacular Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1645-52). Bernini united the sensual with the spiritual experience in an unprecedented manner in this, his most theatrical work. His enormous output also includes portrait busts and several superb sculptured fountains in Rome, including the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers (1648-51) in the Piazza Navona. France and Germany In France, the leading baroque sculptors were François Girardon, who did much garden sculpture at the Palace of Versailles, and Antoine Coysevox and Pierre Puget, both of whom were influenced to some extent by Bernini. 

Puget's most notable sculptures are a portal for the Hôtel de Ville (1656) in Toulon and the marble Milo of Crotona (1671-83, Louvre), whose contrapposto pose and intense emotionalism exemplify the baroque aesthetic. Puget in turn inspired the 18th-century rococo French sculptors Étienne Maurice Falconet, Jean Baptiste Pigalle, and Claude Michel, called Clodion. The spirit of their work is more lighthearted and playful and the scale frequently smaller than the sculpture of their baroque predecessors. The theatrical aspects of the rococo were best exemplified in Germany by the colorful works of the brothers Egid Quirin Asam and Cosmas Damian Asam, who were painters and architects as well as sculptors. Best known is their ornate decoration for the Church of Saint John Nepomuk (1733-46) in Munich.

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"Sculpture," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.