John the Baptist, are not depicted as ideals, perfect exterior forms but as specific and personal figures who are able to inspire and stir emotions. The viewer is no longer separated from the object of the painting, but becomes closer to it. In this sense, the viewer is able to relate to the experience of the characters. Young Mary is much more than an ideal of purity and grace; she becomes a representative of women, of believers, of children. The power is now in the hands of the audience who is able to attribute particular roles to the figures they see on the canvas. The content of the paintings thus becomes more intimate and emotional. Nonetheless, Baroque paintings continued to illustrate form and features similarly to the Renaissance, but it enriched the harsher lines and colors of the painting belonging to the previous centuries with the warmness of the chiaroscuro and the emotional depth of the inner psychological world. This allowed the audience to actively participate in the painting instead of simply looking at it from the outside. The viewer was no longer denied access into the experience on the canvas, but invited in its dynamic and deep setting. To conclude, it is safe to say that Baroque art does not represent an abrupt departure from the Renaissance. Despite important innovations such as the use of colors and lighting, as well as a deeper faithfulness to the details of tangible reality, Baroque art employs to a great extent the same themes and approaches as the art of the Renaissance. Baroque was a movement which resulted from a change in social order juxtaposed...

Moreover, the new Baroque style of the 16th and 17th centuries mirrored the growth of absolutist monarchies and was considered a manifestation of power in art; in fact, it is precisely this sense of dynamism and power that generates a sense of movement and great energy in Baroque paintings, sculptures and buildings. In some sense, Baroque art was a more realist continuation of Renaissance art, a continuation which focused on more or less the same artistic themes, but expanded them with the help of considerable advancement in terms of technique and artistic perspective.
Baroque, in Art and Architecture." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004.

Baroque Art. http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c17th-mid19th/baroque.htm

Blatt, Ethel S., and Sidney J. Blatt. "The Discovery and Development of Linear Perspective: The Renaissance, Mannerism, and the Baroque." In Continuity and Change in Art: The Development of Modes of Representation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1984: 197-290.

Caravaggio: The Holy Family with the Infant and St. John the Baptist. http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2434650850037029906dJmCQI

Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez: The Supper at Emmaus (14.40.631)." In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vela/hod_14.40.631.htm

Francisco de Zurbaran: The Young Virgin (1632-3)." In Department of Religious Studies. University of Alabama. http://www.as.ua.edu/rel/nancarrowlecture.html