Baroque Architecture

MADERNO

Santa Susanna, Roma (1603-1605) - First truly baroque façade, it has a 3D

character, the 3D composition prevails. In this façade there are all the possible

expressions within one order (flat pilasters, semi columns, Michelangelo’s capital…)

Saint Peter, Rome (1607-1620) - He will finish the church. Maderno’s Saint Peter

has Michelangelo’s plan with a great façade, which is nearly a separated building

housing a porch. This façade was huge: it was a difficult task. Maderno finds a

sophisticated technical solution.

Church of Saints Luca and Martina ↔ Church Saint Maria in Todi: comparison by

Millard about the 2 centralized plans.

Chapel of Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (Cornaro Chapel), Venice – he

creates the space to house the statue. Maderno reconfigurates the space in order to

host the representation. → Definition with one concept of a 3D space + exhibition of

great wealth, which is hidden at the same time. Here there will be the request for the

creation of a source of light so Bernini will create a projecting volume, which can be

open. This source of light is hidden by a complete entablature. Very rich materials;

colored marbles.

GIAN LORENZO BERNINI 1598-1680

Bernini trained as a sculptor, he had the support and patronage of the most powerful

figures in the Roman Church. Bernini moved well among some of the most powerful

people of his time (King of France). He achieved international acclaim.

He was a set designer and made machines for theatrical production.

Baldacchino of Saint Peter, Rome, design under directions of Bernini - is his

first major work as an architect. The columns are 11 m high, and all together the

structure is 20 m high. It is a symbolic object, is both an architecture, both a sculpture,

is built under the dome. (the problem was to create a central space: baldacchino).

Gigantic scale (importance of the scale in baroque architecture) material: bronze.

There are bees all over = symbol of the papal family (Barberini). Spiral columns =

colonne tortili: they seems lighter but also enlarged copy of columns of the covering of

the first alter of S Peter, and those columns were probably spoiled by the temple of

Gerusalem at the time of Titus.

1645, Cornaro Chapel, Venice to be built on the left transept of the Church of

Santa Maria della Vittoria - In the upper part of the transept-chapel Bernini

designed an illusionistic fresco around the window showing clouds and angels, with

some of the clouds carved in stucco and covering part of the architectural moldings.

Moreover the curves of the wall and the vault curve together and are covered with

molded clouds so that it becomes hard to understand the physical limits of the space,

which become blurry. The marble-paneled side box of the chapel contains box seats in

which Bernini depicted the members of Cornaro family, at the center there is an

aedicule, which seems to be pushed forward by a force behind it, breaking the

pediment; on the stage the statue of Santa Teresa d’Avila (one of counter-reformation

saints): this is illuminated by a window behind the pediment which cannot be seen

from the spectator.

→ Architecture becomes an armature for sculpture and painting. It becomes a

total work of art.

The play between three-dimensional reality and mystical illusion was very blury.

1672-1685, complection of the ceiling decoration of the Gesù by Giovanni

Battista Gaulli – he modeled architectural molding of stucco which served as a frame

for the illusionistic frescoes showing clouds and angels rising to heaven, making it very

difficult to understand the difference between the perspective of the drawing and the

moldings.

Saint Ignatius, by Padre Orazio Grassi, vault painted in 1691-1694 by Padre

Andrea Pozzo showing “The glory of Saint Ignatius”: illusion of architectural elements

that extend into the sky; for the spectator is nearly impossible to understand that is a

barrel vault and were the painting starts.

This kind of illusionism was pushed even further in pilgrimage and monastic churches

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in Bavaria, in early 18 century, as we can see in the Augustinian Priory Church of

the Assumption at Rohr, Germany in the sculptural complex at the end of the

choir, by Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirim Asam, were there are screens of

columns carrying broken pediments which hide the sources of light, and in the center

the figure of the Holy Mary ascending to heaven rising from an open sepulcher,

surrounded by dramatic figures. The figure of the Virgin is standing in the air

supported by an iron arm. Here we see the emotion impact pushed till the point the

technology was allowing. th

The longitudinal plan of the church of Gesù became the model for 17 century Roman

Catholic churches, but for smaller chapels and votive churches the centralized plan

was preferred, especially the oval form. This direction has already been suggested by

Vignola in his Sant’Anna del Palanfieri, Rome, 1565, which was a point of

departure for Bernini.

BERNINI → modified central plan

1658-1670, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Rome, (from Vignola in his Sant’Anna del

Palanfieri, Rome, 1565) sponsored by Cardinal Camillo Pamphili to serve the Jesuits on

the Quirinal Hill. The round plan is clearly visible from the exterior upper wall; there

are half-oval walls curving out to enclose the entry, which give a hint of what may be

inside; the concave curve is countered by the convex curve of the portico capped by a

broken curve pediment. Inside the line of movement is along the short axis of the oval,

but actually there is not real perpendicular axis because there are four chapels on

each side of the short axis. The principal alter is in a niche behind a portico with pair of

marble Corinthian columns; the painting behind the alter is lighted up by a hidden

source. Over all there is an oval dome were we find a lot of carved figures and putti

among and on top of architectural elements.

1667, piazza of Saint Peter Basilica, Rome. The church was finished by

Maderno, who elongated the east arm of Michelangelo’s plan and did the façade.

Bernini had to define the space in front of it in such a way that could

accommodate a lot of people. The problem was that the existing buildings of the

Vatican made impossible to create a single large space. Bernini solution was to divide

the piazza into two spaces: the portion nearer to the façade with a trapezoidal shape,

while the more distant one an oval enclosed by curved arms of Tuscan Doric

colonnades, focused on two fountains and in the center the Egyptian obelisk, brought

there by Pope Sixtus V.

FRANCESCO BORROMINI (1599-1667)

Borromini was trained as an architect, but he manipulated space and traditional

classical orders far more sculpturally than Bernini. Borromini received commissions

from smaller organizations and won limited recognition.

1634-1667, church San Carlo delle Quattro Fontane, also called San Carlino –

he based the entire composition on a union through the base of two equilateral

triangles enclosing two circles, all contained in an oval. This approach may have been

inspired by his contemporary Galileo, who described the universe as being based on

geometrical triangular relationships. The lines of the triangles are clearly visible

among the outlines of the walls, to enclose the groundfloor he used an undulated, fluid

cornice sustained by pairs of columns, among this there is a traditional level with four

pendentives that rise to form an oval base ring for the coffered oval dome. The dome

is open at the top by a lantern at the very top of which there is the figure of the Holy

Spirit circumscribed by a triangle.

1665, Borromini was called for the completion of the façade designed before. Also in

this he used a system of generating triangles related to the plan scheme, the

entablature is curved and the surfaces are full of architectural and sculptural

decorative elements.

This church was immediately visited by a lot of people and lot of them came back

more than once; the procurator general of the order wrote that a lot of countries asked

for the plan of it. This church had a special character, which then became common in

the Baroque, which was that everything was arranged in such a way that made the

spectator wonder about the architecture.

1642-1660, chapel of Sant’Ivo delle Sapienze, University of Rome, Rome, built

at the end of the courtyard previously built by Giacomo della Porta. This is again based

on equilateral triangles which lay one over the other forming a six-pointed star around

an hexagon. Three lobes corresponding to one triangle are semicircular apses, the

other three have convex walls pushing in. These conflicts are unified by a massive

molded cornice resting on Corinthian pilasters that articulates the planes of the wall.

From the cornice a particular, deeply molded, dome rises, following the convolution of

the star plan.

GUARINO GUARINI (1624-1683)

He brought further the molding of space. He worked especially in Turin. He was in the

Theatine Order, he was sent to Rome at 15 years old were he studied theology,

philosophy, mathematics and architecture. he traveled across Europe, building

churches for the order in France and Portugal. He was influenced a lot by Borromini,

and a bit less, by Bernini.

1652-1663, church of Santa Maria della Divina Provvidenza, Lisbon – it was

destroyed in the earthquake in 1755 but the plan was recorded in the posthumous

book of Guarini Architecttura civile. The façade presents reverse curves which recall

San Carlino, but the interior is the traditional latin cross plan of the Gesù, but each of

the component of the spaces has an oval plan and so the ribs of the vaults cross the

nave diagonally.

Guarini was engaged by Carlo Emanuele of Savoy while he was enlarging Turin, which

was becoming the capital of the duchy of Savoy.

1679-1683, Palazzo Carignano, Torino – it was the house for the ducal family.

1664, he designed an undulating façade, inspired by the Louvre’s one. The palace was

designed around an oval salon, with a concave curve modulating to a projecting

central convex projection.

Since the House of Savoy possessed the Holy Shroud, Carlo Emanuele wanted to built

a chapel at the end of the cathedral of Turin to house it.

1667-1690, Cappella della Santissima Sindone – consisted of a round base from

which rise three pendentives converging to a smaller circular ring, here rests an

hexagonal arcade which forms the base of the dome. The base of the dome consists of

6 segmental arches resting on the arcade, 6 smaller arches resting on the crowns of

the first six, 6 smaller arches resting on the crowns of the second layer and so on till

the top of the dome. Between each level there are windows so that the dome is filled

in with light. It is characterized by mathematical clarity and directness of structural

function.

One of the important features of the Baroque is the