Baroque paintings featured a realistic approach to the human form. Artists abandoned idealized models of human perfection, such as Peter Paul Rubens version of "Venus in Front of the Mirror," which featured the mythical lady in a much more human style. Baroque paintings featured strong lighting effects and stark contrasts between lit areas and darkened areas. Rubens', "The Crucifixion," depicts Christ's crucifixion while using the image of Christ as a light source, angling all shadows from his place on the cross. Artists also used vivid colors that added a dramatic texture to their paintings.
Sculpture from the Baroque period focused on energy, the suggestion of movement and passion. Bernini's "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa" depicts a passionate meeting between St. Teresa and a powerful angelic figure. Baroque sculpture featured art that onlookers could view in the round: from any position in the room. This required that artists pay more attention to detail, while changing the perspective of sculpture from something that decorated a wall into art that served as a room centerpiece. Baroque sculpture used new elements such as hidden light or moving water. This added a sense of movement and focus to the art, such as Bernini's "Fountana del Moro Roma," one of his many fountains that used water to suggest movement and life.
Baroque architecture continued the creative use of light and shadows, designing buildings that purposefully allowed light onto some areas, while creating long shadows to darken other angles. Architects often used a sense of central projection, establishing a central point on a building and designing all windows, doors and angles along projected lines extending from the central point. Baroque architects embellished their work with strong uses of color on the interior of their buildings.
Musicians in the Baroque period developed new musical techniques, such as their use of functional tonality: using additional musical instruments that play independently, while contributing to the central tone of a work. Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the early masters of the Baroque style, creating intricacy in his work that audiences had never heard before. The complexity of music increased. Baroque musicians established the genre of music known as opera, focusing scores of music which followed the central tone of the singer's voice.