The Catholic Counter-Reformation is closely related with Baroque, which peaked in Rome around 1630–1680. Despite its origins in Rome, the Baroque style influenced people all around Europe. Its rapid pace, striking realism (giving spectators the feeling that they were watching an actual event), and direct emotional appeal were perfectly suited to announcing the Catholic Church’s renewed vitality. It was also employed to show a variety of non-religious themes, as evidenced in portraits, still lifes, and mythological subjects.
Sculptor and architect Bernini in Rome, and Sir Peter Paul Rubens in northern Europe, whose ceiling decorations for the Banqueting Hall in London, commissioned by Charles I (Stuart), are still in existence. In Britain, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Rubens’s great pupil, painted in the Baroque style and served as Charles’s court painter from 1632 to 1641. William Dobson, Sir Peter Lely, Jacob Huysmans, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and painters of wall and ceiling decorations such as Antonio Verrio and Sir James Thornhill are among the British followers.
Source
Tate. (n.d.). Baroque – art term. Tate. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/b/baroque.