Examines the designs of Italian buildings in the baroque and rococo architectural styles and discusses the careers of architects such as Gianlorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, and Pietra da Cortona

Baroque and Rococo art and architecture have become popular once more, after a century and a half of neglect, misunderstanding and scorn. This radical shift in taste has led to a rapid growth of detailed knowledge about the artists who created these exhilarating styles. The famous masters have been reassessed and whole areas of achievement - Italian Baroque painting, German Rococo architecture - have been brought to a new, enthusiastic public. Germain Brazin's engrossing survey of this rich subject ranges over all Europe and traces the orgins and effects of Baroque and Rococo - from the Counter-Reformation to Neoclassicism, Exoticism, and even Art Nouveau.

This classic survey of Italian Baroque art and architecture focuses on the arts in every center between Venice and Sicily in the early, high, and late Baroque periods. The heart of the study, however, lies in the architecture and sculpture of the exhilarating years of Roman High Baroque, when Bernini, Borromini, and Cortona were all at work under a series of enlightened popes. Wittkower's text is now accompanied by a critical introduction and substantial new bibliography. This edition-now published in three volumes-will also include color illustrations for the first time.