If the term baroque did not exist would it be necessary to invent it? (with apologies to Voltaire)

Baroque has been the focus of writers spanning the chronolgical and conceptual breadth of architectural history. Heinrich Wolfflin (1888) saw it as a reaction agaisnt the style of the Renaissance, John Summerson,(1953) argued for a specifically English version of baroque, while Gilles Deleuze (1988) wanted us to see it as a multiciplicity of possibilites and repetitions. This article explores the uses and usefulness of the term baroque to see what it tells us about the historiography of architectural history. This can help us open up the conceptual framings of architectural history in order to contribute to the ongoing transformation of it and our understanding of notions baroque.

Special issue: Unfolding the Baroque: Cultures and Concepts edited by Catherine M. Soussloff and Alena Smieskova