Baroque in Architecture

Movement and drama in baroque architecture was achieved by ‘facades full of movement’, ‘twisted columns’ and ‘grounds plans consisting of rounds and ovals’. (Victoria and Albert Museum 2009)

Bernini’s architectural designs for St.Peter’s in Rome abound in dramatic proclamations of the church’s glory. His baldacchino (ex. 16) which is located over the tomb of St.Peter features twisted columns and at twenty-nine meters, is of extravagant height, symbolising the ‘authority and splendour’ or the Catholic Church. (Watkin 2010: 283)

                                   (Example 16 ‘Baldacchino’ Gian Lorenzo Bernini)

                                                       (Kleiner 2010: 652)

Bernini’s colonnades (ex.17) which form an oval piazza in front of St.Peter’s are characterised by ‘swinging movement’. (Watkin 2010: 284) According to the artist himself they are designed to ‘receive Catholics in a maternal gesture in order to confirm their belief, heretics in order to reunite them with the church, and infidels in order to reveal to them the true Faith.’ (Watkin 2010: 284)

                                   (Example 17 ‘An aerial view of St. Peter’s, Rome) 

                                                        (Kleiner 2010:651)

Fransesco Borromini’s architecture is more dramatic, introducing a multiplicity of curves and countercurves, such as on the facade (ex.18) of his San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane as well as displaying great complexity in the distribution of spaces. The latter is expressed in the ground plan (Ex.19) for San Carlo which can be read as a convex Greek cross due to the four chapels pushing out from the main oval. (Kostof 1985: 514-515)

                  (Example 18 ‘Façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane’ Francesco Borromini) 

                                                           (Kostof 1985:519)

           (Example 19 ‘Ground plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane’ Francesco Borromini)

                                                               (Watkin 2010:287)

Another innovation was how Borromini had achieved the ‘sinuosity of the church’s outline’. At the time a common device to create a sense of ‘baroque plasticity’ was the manipulation of columns and pilasters attached to the plane of the wall. Borromini, however, twisted the plane of the wall itself. (Kostof 1985: 514)

French architectural style was dominated by classical forms, reflecting the philosophical and intellectual trend which ‘valued reason above fervour’. (Kostof 1985: 532) French churches are characterised by their ‘static rectilinear composition, the absence of those curves and counter curves that are so beloved of Rome.’ (Kostof 1985: 532) In secular architecture the classical forms reflected the grandeur achieved through the authoritarian state. Buildings such as Claude Perrault’s facade of the Louvre (ex.20) declare a triumph of the logical solutions imposed by Colbert on French contemporary life.  (Clark 1696: 156)

                                (Example 20 ‘Façade of the Louvre’ Claude Perrault)

                                                                 

                                                        (Clark 1969:156)

In England, as in France, architecture also incorporated some classical elements. This was especially noticeable in buildings by Inigo Jones (ex.21). However, in the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren, who had met Bernini in Paris in 1665, the Baroque style is explicitly expressed. (Bazin 1964: 154-156) His St.Paul’s Cathedral in London (ex.22) imitates St Peter’s in Rome with its vast dome and colonnade. Meanwhile the colonnade for Greenwich Hospital imitates Bernini’s before St.Peter’s. Further baroque tendencies in St.Paul’s are displayed in the ‘heavily decorated choir stalls’. (Bazin 1964: 161)

                                    (Example 21 ‘The Queen’s House’ Inigo Jones)

                                                       (Bazin 1964:155)

                               (Example 22 ‘St Paul’s Cathedral’ Sir Christopher Wren)

                                                         (Bazin 1964:159) 

Classical trends also reigned in the Netherlands where Inigo Jones was a great influence. (Zirpolo 2010:507) Jacob van Campen who is credited with introducing the Baroque classicism style to the Netherlands examined Italian architecture of Vitruvius and Palladio during his stay in Rome from 1616-1624 and as a result produced buildings such as Mauritshuis and the town hall of Amsterdam which with their five part facade division, triangular pediments, ionic columns and classical entablatures express clear classical ideals. (Palmer 2009: 63)