BAROQUE AND ROCOCO ARCHITECTURE - Solomonic column/ Curved and twisted columns

Renaissance
- Rebirth of classical style
- Famous architects: Brunelleschi and Alberti
- Later came: Michelangelo

"Baroque"
- Derived from the Portuguese word "barroco",
meaning misshapen pearl. Baroque often meant
"odd" and often used initially a derogatory sense, in
the same way, "Gothic", originally meant barbaric
St. Peter's Basilica's Facade & Piazza, Rome
- Was associated with a standard designation of a
(1600-1657)
period in Western art from 1600 to 1750
- by Carlo Maderna - plan of the basilica; Bernini
- Promoting the idea of one "sculpted space"
with the piazza
Religious Factor.
- Curved and twisted columns
- Roman Catholic church lost power and influence
- Oval shaped piazza; Tuscan style colonnades
(in Europe) many converted to Protestantism
- Guilded ceilings = painted with gold to represent
- Lure people back to the church by dramatizing
heaven
religious authority and to appeal to the sensuous
- Colossal columns = exceeds the 1st floor
perceptions of the people
- Irregular spacing of columns
Italian Baroque Buildings.
- Loggia of blessing; where the pope stands to see
- Aim: "Counter-Reformation"
the people
- Religious architecture promoted drama, illusion,
and perhaps, confusion (play with people's curiosity
through ornamentations and dynamic forms)

Baroque Architecture
Architectural Characteristics:
A) Use of abundant materials such as marble, gilt,
and bronze
B) Baroque pediments were often highly decorated
or interrupted at the center; tips turned into scrolls
and were gilded
C) Architectural treatments used to express emotion Fountain of the 4 Rivers, Rome
and usually used by the upper class - by Bernini
D) Use of illusionism (ex. the use of trompe l'oeil, - Basin: travertine rocks to support four river gods
which is a type of painting wherein the images are - Egyptian obelisk surmounted w/ the Pamphili
rendered realistically) as a show of artistic play in family emblem of a dove with an olive twig
the architectural treatment - 4 gods (4continents which papal authority spread):
E) Oval is the most distinct shape; complex the Nile - Africa, the Danube - Europe, the Ganges -
interlacing ovals allowed architects to have larger Asia and the Rio de la Plata - America
spaces
F) Columns placed in from of Pilasters
G) Broken and Curved pediments
H) Huge scrolls and twisted columns
I) Integrated Rococo carving; Stucco and Fresco at
Zwiefalten

BALDACHINO
- The papal altar @ St.Peter's Basilica, Rome
- Famous Architects: Christopher Wren and Gian
Lorenzo Bernini
- Baroque from " barroco", meaning misshapen
pearl; "odd"
San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane, Rome (1633 - 1667) San Lorenzon Church, Turin (1666-1683)
- by Francesco Borromini ( Baroque style thru - by Guarino Guarini
curvilinear forms to create vital spatial effects) - Logical geometry plan
- alteration of concave-convex surface finish on - interwoven succession of spaces
walls - Looks: plain exterior because of it palazzo-like
- The interior is a provocative variation of a massing
centrally-planned church: a Greek cross pressed - Plan: octagonal with curved sides is converted into
into an oval, creating a space of tension and a Greek cross plan at the pendentive level then into
compression a circular plan at the drum's base
- The compressed plan also fitted well to the
somewhat limited lot on which the church is
standing
- Use of curvilinear forms to create vital spatial
effects
- Unimpeded/Unobstructed flow of dynamic space
from the entrance to the altar

Baroque Outside Italy

- The architectural style became associated with
aristocracy and absolutism
- Style reached to Germany, Austria, France, Spain,
and England (also reached the Americas and Asia,
including the Philippines)

France
Sant Ivo Alla Sapienza, Rome (1599-1667) - French Baroque is often characterized as a more
- by Borromini subdued and restrained form of the style
- A synthesis of the Renaissance DOME (cosmic - Baroque opulence (meaning: extravagant/lavish) is
symbol) and Gothic TOWER (religious faith) often noticeable in the main reception halls and
- Plan: star-shaped hexagon, ends with alternately spaces associated with the ruler's royal functions
convex and concave curves
- There are attributions to the plan as based on the VERSAILLES PALACE (1661-1708)
shape of a bee, an insect that is found in the coat of - Hunting lodge --> lush and splendid palace and a
arms of Pope Urban VIII, an important patron of the seat of his absolutist government (by King Louis XIV)
project - The chateaux was planned in several stages and
projected Louis XIV’s ideals of absolute power
- Focus of the plan: HIS QUARTERS at the end of the
courtyard and BEDROOM on an axis with the garden
and the towns of Versailles and Paris
- King Louis XIV known as the "Sun King" and his
phrase "L'etat c'est moi" (I myself am the nation)
- Inspired by the residence owned by Nicolas
Fouquet
- So... hired the same architect, Louis Le Vau, for his
palace together with interior decorator Charles Le
Brun and gardener Andre Le Notre
- Weariness of the grand monumentality of the style Germany & Austria
promoted by Louis XIV was observed after his death - Development of Baroque churches culminated in
in 1715 ( style popularly known as "Rococo") Southern Germany and Austria
- Developed buildings with mathematical precision
Rococo --> derived from the French word "rocaille", and lively movement and imagination
which meant loose water-borne stones and shells
- Interior spaces, was characterized by opulent OTTOBEUREN CHURCH (1735-1766)
ornamentation combining seashells, flowers, and - Part of a Benedictine Abbey founded by Blessed
vines that seem to crawl on architectural elements Toto in 764 A.D
in a naturalistic, and at times, bizarre stylized ways - Built by Abbot Rupert Ness
- Style went beyond just decor - Completed by his successor Anselm Erb
- More delicate and intricate with the use of brighter - Somewhat Romanesque massing outside
pastel-based colors - Interior pops out with the use of ornamental
- Significant emphasis was given to intimate and disguises ( trompe l’ oeil effects and
personal spaces and the design of interiors well-thought-out interior lighting)

VIERZEHNHEILIGEN, Germany (1743-1772)

- Has the symmetrical massing of the two-tower
ST. LOUIS DES INVALIDES, Paris (1675-1706) church is reminiscent of Romanesque design
- Jules Mansart’s most massive yet rhythmical and - Located on an elevated section overlooking the
dynamic Baroque composition River Main
- DOMINATING FEATURE: dome resting on two - Dedicated to the 14 Holy Helpers of the church
drums and lack of broad base and omission of - Designed by Johann Balthasar Neumann (who
colonnades in front completed Guarini's notion of spatial penetration
- Depicts the vanishing power of the absolute through the curves that let the oval ceilings interact
monarchy with the abundant decorations and lively colors)
- Inside: luminous space made up of series of oval
baldachins overhead
- Layout follows the traditional Latin cross
- Space produces the impression of a space in
motion
WURSBURG RESIDENCE, Germany (1744)
- Architect: Lucas Von Hildebrandt and Maximilian
Von Welsch
- Commission by Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg Johann
Von Schonborg and his brother Friedrich in 1720
- Grand and symmetrical facade; vast garden at the
back
- Note the ceiling treatment with trompe l'oeil
paintings that included an image of the architect
Neumann himself

England
- While France was heading into absolutism
- England had already experienced its bourgeois
revolution including the civil war and abolition of the
monarchy
- England remained predominantly Protestant thus
there's no need to follow the same approach of
Counter Reformists in Italy

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, London (1675-1710)

- By Sir Christopher Wren, who was strongly
influenced by Italian Baroque
- Constructed after the Great Fire of London in 1666
- Considered as a variant of the St. Peter's Basilica,
with its facade and dome
- The dome’s diameter is as wide as the nave and
aisles combined and composed of three layers, the
inner (lower dome is seen from the interiors) and
outer (dome on drum topped by a lantern) layers