200 years of Baroque art and architecture 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, and showy. 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.