BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

Revision

Cronology and geography

• From the end of 16th century until 1750.

• Geography: whole Europe+ America.• Characteristics of the period:

– Religious and political conflicts– Geographical colonization– Scientific development– New astrological discoveries Sun

centre of Universe

Baroque Style

• The word means imperfection• New naturalism that reflects the

scientific advances• Taste for dramatic action and

emotion:– Colour and light contrasted– Rich textures– Asymmetrical spaces– Diagonal plans– New subjects: landscape, genre, still-life

Baroque Style

• Variety within the style• Art at the service of power• Two main centres:

– Rome: Pope’s authority– France: powerful monarchy

• Influence of the Counter-Reform• Worry about plastic values

Architecture: Characteristics

• Long narrow naves replaced by broader or circular forms

• Dramatic use of light

Architecture: Characteristics

• Dramatic use of light

• Large-scale ceiling frescoes

Architecture: Characteristics

• Large-scale ceiling frescoes

• Interior a shell for painting and sculpture

Architecture: Characteristics

• Illusory effects

• Ekialdeko Europan tipula-kupulak

Architecture: Italy

• They evolved from the Renaissance forms

• Movement toward grand structures with flowing, curving shapes

• Landscape was frequently incorporated• New elements as gardens, squares ,

courtyards and fountains.• Influence of the rebuilding of Saint

Peter, in which classical forms integrated with the city.

Architecture: Italy

• Maderno– He made the Vatican’s façade– His work destroyed partially

Michelangelo’s design– His work combined the dome with the

creation of an space where the Pope could appear publicaly

– Other works:• Santa maria della Vittoria• Palazzo Barberini

Vaticano’s façade

Santa Maria della Vittoria

Palazzo Barberini

Architecture: Italy

• Longhena– He worked mainly in Venice– His design was selected for building

Santa Maria della Salute– It is building of central plan with a great

dome that became the symbol of Venice.

Ca’ Rezzonico

Santa Maria of Nazaret

Santa Maria della Salute

Architecture: Italy

• Bernini– He created a fusion of architecture, painting

and sculpture– He used false perspective and trompe-l’ oeil to

impact– He used a palace façade that became a model

with massive pilasters above a rusticated base.– Works:

• Saint Peter’s square• Baldaquin

San Peter’s colomnade

San Pete’r Baldaquine

Architecture: Italy

• Borromini– His works spring from the contrast

between convention and freedom– He used tradition as a basis, but not as a

law– Works:

• San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane• San Carlo Borromeo• Oratorio degli Fillipenses

San Carlo alle quattro fontane

San Ivo’s dome

Oratorio degli Filipensi

Palacio Spada (trompe l’oeil)

Stairs

Architecture: France

• It was elegant, ordered, rational and restraided

• It is a rectilinear model, closer to classicism

• It aimed at showing the power of Louis XIV monarchy.

• The main works are:– Louvre: Le Vau and Perrault– Versailles: Le Brun, Le Vau, Le Notre

Louvre palace

Versailles palace

Architecture: Central Europe

• It began later due to the Thirty Years’ War• Austria developed the Imperial style with

Fischer von Erlach and Hildebrandt• In Germany, in the Catholic South Jesuit

models were followed while in the Protestant North works were less important

• Palace architecture was important in the whole area

Fisher von Erlach: Karlskirtche and Schönbrunn

Hildebrandt: Belvedere palace

Architecture: England and Russia

• In England is important Wren• Baroque was the style used to design

town planning• In Russia it is very decorative, in

quite traditional churches sometimes made of brick; later it was imported from the Low Countries and finally it became an extravagant art.

Wren: San Paul

Wren: Cambridge Emmanuel chapel

Cambridge library

Architecture: Spain

• At the beginning it continued the pattern of the Escorial

• Decoration tends to concentrate just in the façade

• The Rococo was the time of the development of the Churrigueresque style, with exaggerated decoration around the door

• The Plateresque (last Renaissance that imitates the work on silver) and the Churrigueresque were exported to America, mainly to Mexico.

Jose Benito Churriguera: Salamanca’s San Esteban convent altarpiece

Alberto Churriguera: Salamanca’s main square

Rococo

• French style for interior decoration• It developped mainly at the end of 1720• It was used in other countries as a

French Style• Characteristics:

– Galante: luxurious things– Contraste: asymmety– Chinoiserie: exotic character imitating

Chinese arts

Rococo Architecture

• It caught the public taste• Small and curious buildings• Elegant parlours, dainty sitting-rooms and

boudoirs• Walls, ceiling, furniture and works of metal as

decoration• Ensemble of sportive, fantastic and sculptured

forms• Horizontal lines almost completely supressed• Shell-like curves• Walls covered by stucco• White and bright colours.