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The Baroque style began as somewhat of a continuation of the Renaissance. Later, however, scholars of the time began to see the drastic differences between the two styles as the Renaissance style gave way to Baroque art. Baroque architecture, sculpture, and painting of a dramatic nature were powerful tools in the hands of religious and secular absolutism, and flourished in the service of the Catholic Church and of Catholic monarchies. The Baroque artists were particularly focused on natural forms, spaces, colors, lights, and the relationship between the observer and the literary or portrait subject in order to produce a strong, if muted, emotional experience.

The term polygamy, literally many marriages in late Greek, is the practice of marriage to more than one spouse simultaneously. Like monogamy, where each person has only one spouse at a time, the term is often used in a de facto sense, applying regardless of whether the relationships are recognized by the state. Polygamy is condemned or restricted by the majority of the world's religions. Anthropologists have observed that, while many societies have permitted polygamy, the majority of human partnerships are in fact monogamous.