Baroque 1620-1800: Style in the Age of Magnificence
V&A, until 19 July
The Baroque is a style of drama, movement and opulence. Until the 19th century it was a term for the grotesque or absurd; then it was taken over by those who sought to categorise the mainstream developments of European culture. As an adjective, Baroque still means florid or overblown, but if the age it adorned was devoted to spectacle, it was also dedicated to unity and balance, unlike the sensationalism of today.
I had misgivings about this exhibition. As the V&A’s director, Mark Jones, proudly points out in the foreword to the catalogue (a vast and lavish doorstop at £40 in hardback), ‘this show rejects the orthodox principle that the art of painting should be privileged in historical accounts of visual culture’. He reminds us of the crucial importance of the applied and decorative arts.
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