The mermaid as Pygmalion and the masthead as Galatea offers a potentially interesting gender studies angle
The implications of the counter-reformation's propaganda being expressed through immersive art is fascinating. Here's the baroque section.
I don't really fuck with the frivolous shows of aristocratic hedonism in this age and art as a status symbol as a leftist, but I do fuck with the aesthetics of the rococo... Think of this section as divorced from the political implications of this style.