This book draws on extensive research into Baroque ceiling painting in Bohemia and Moravia. Three case studies of residential decoration present different representational strategies used by 17th century noblemen. Emphasis is placed on the way that social changes brought about by the Thirty Year's War and the Battle of White Mountain altered the historical circumstances of artistic patronage in Central Europe. The formal models inspiring 17th century artistic production are explored in detail - the influence and appropriation of sources from Italy, France, the Low Countries and Central Europe - and it is shown that appropriation was never mere imitation, but was mediated by the representational strategies of the nobility in specific historical circumstances.