The Baroque Art Accessibility Consortium

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The Baroque Art Accessibility Consortium

We aim to make Baroque artists and their works universally accessible, fostering appreciation through education, resources, and collaborative exhibitions.

We are committed to deepening public understanding and engagement with Baroque art’s enduring legacy

06/12/2026

Long before the drama and emotion of the Baroque, Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert laid the groundwork for a new way of seeing the sacred.

Painted around 1480, Bellini fills the landscape with radiant light that seems to transform the entire natural world into a vehicle for divine revelation. St. Francis does not experience holiness apart from nature; rather, he encounters it through nature. This fusion of spiritual experience, realistic observation, and atmospheric light would profoundly influence later artists, from the Venetian masters to Baroque painters seeking to make religious experience feel immediate and tangible.

The golden illumination that envelops Francis anticipates the Baroque fascination with light as a manifestation of God's presence. Centuries later, artists such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt would use light to reveal spiritual truth, but Bellini was among the first to make light itself the protagonist.

At the Frick Collection, this remarkable painting reminds us that the roots of Baroque spirituality reach deep into the Renaissance.

06/05/2026

Louise, Princesse de Broglie, Jean‑Auguste‑Dominique Ingres (c.1851–1853)
This portrait isn’t Baroque; it’s Neoclassical, polished, and impossibly refined. But look closely and you can feel the Baroque echo: the luxurious fabrics, the glowing skin tones, the quiet drama of her gaze. Sometimes the best way to grasp what Baroque art truly is is
by seeing how later artists borrowed its richness while stripping away its theatrical intensity.

06/01/2026

Officer and Laughing Girl, Johannes Vermeer (c.1657) This Frick favorite shows how Vermeer takes the drama of Baroque lighting and transforms it into something tender. The officer looms in shadow while the young woman glows with laughter. It is a perfect study in contrast, mood, and Vermeer’s gift for turning everyday life into something cinematic.

05/29/2026

The Progress of Love: Love Letters, Jean‑Honoré Fragonard (c.1771–1772)
Fragonard’s world is all soft color, flirtation, and decorative fantasy; a far cry from the emotional weight and spiritual urgency of Baroque art. In fact, looking at Rococo works like this is one of the easiest ways to understand Baroque: by seeing what it isn’t.

05/27/2026

Mistress and Maid, Johannes Vermeer (c.1666–1667) At The Frick Collection, this luminous scene captures Vermeer’s gift for turning a quiet moment into a world of emotion. The mistress pauses over a letter while her maid leans in, the soft light revealing a story we’re invited to imagine but never fully know. A masterpiece of stillness, intimacy, and Vermeer’s unmistakable naturalism.

05/25/2026

King Philip IV of Spain, Diego Velázquez (c.1644) At The Frick Collection, this commanding portrait shows Velázquez at the height of his power. With his unmatched eye for naturalism and royal psychology, he captures Philip IV not as an icon, but as a living, breathing monarch; poised, restrained, and unmistakably human.

05/23/2026

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s self‑portrait (c. 1670–1675), at The Frick Collection, captures the quiet confidence of one of Spain’s greatest Golden Age painters. Known for his radiant religious works and tender depictions of Seville’s street children, Murillo was also a master of portraiture; a part of his legacy that remains surprisingly understudied. A timeless window into the artist behind the brush.

05/10/2026

"Girl Interrupted at Her Music" Johannes Vermeer (c.1658). On Display at the Frick Collection in NYC. Vermeer was underappreciated during his lifetime, but if its any consolation his ~35ish paintings are now some of the most well studied and sought after paintings in the world. In the US, we only have 3 museums with permanent Vermeers on display. The Frick Collection and a few blocks North, the Met in New York City as well as the National Gallery in DC.

The first thing you notice when you first observe Vermeer's work is that they are small, very small; especially if you are used to looking at Italian, Spanish and French Baroque pieces. For example this piece measures only 15 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (39.4 x 44.5 cm). Once you get over the size and get in for a closer look you will find amazing detail and mastery of light. You can see the notes on the sheet music and the cittern (stringed instrument). I wonder if anyone has tried to identify what song is the page?

04/21/2026

With The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art – I just made it onto their weekly engagement list by being one of their top engagers 🎉

04/17/2026

With Detroit Institute of Arts – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

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1 East 70th Street
New York, NY
10021

Website

http://baroqueart.org/

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