Almost 200 years of Baroque art are presented in striking images and thought-provoking text—-capturing the theatrical pathos, illusionistic devices, and interplay of different styles that made 17th-century and 18th-century European culture extravagant, showy, and even pretentious. An in-depth study of moving works of art from various European countries exposes the sensual beauty of these objects as well as their allegorical representation of religious beliefs.