Italian Baroque

Major themes: growing importance of active space –sculpt out urban spaces propaganda of the Church –counter reformation synthesis of the arts –Concetto

Piazza Navona pride of Baroque Roman art history

defined as a public space in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred to it—follows the plan of an ancient Roman circus

Palladio’s Villa RotundaGuarini’s San Lorenzo

ceiling of the Royal Church at San Lorenzo in Turin, Italy

Allegory of the Missionary Work of the Jesuits Padre Andrea Pozzo, Nave of S. Ignazio Sotto in su: in ceiling paintings, extreme foreshortening of figures

synthesis of the arts architecture painting sculpture textiles

Pazzi Chapel, Florence, by Brunelleschi

Cornaro Chapel Sante Maria della Vittoria Rome Bernini, 1650s designed entire chapel, a subsidiary space along the side of the church, for the Cornaro family

Cornaro Chapel Sante Maria della Vittoria Rome Bernini, 1650s Saint Theresa, the focal point of the chapel, is a soft white marble statue surrounded by a polychromatic marble architectural framing

Ecstasy of Sta. Theresa described the love of God as piercing her heart like a burning arrow Bernini literalizes this image by placing St. Theresa on a cloud while a cupid holds a golden arrow and smiles down at her St. Theresa's face reflects not the anticipation of ecstasy, but her current fulfillment

structure works to conceal a window which lights the statue from above

places viewer as spectator in front of statue with Cornaro family leaning out of their box seats, craning forward to see

St. Peter’s, Vatican, Rome new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes, light-and-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void

Bernini's ingenious solution was to create a piazza in two sections

part nearest basilica is trapezoid—rather than fanning out from the façade, it narrows, gives the effect of countering the visual perspective second section of the piazza is a huge elliptical circus which gently slopes downwards to the obelisk

symbolic of the arms of "the Roman Catholic Church reaching out to welcome its communicants

Bernini made the whole complex expansively relate to its environment

Scala Regia Vatican, Rome, Bernini, a flight of steps designed by to connect the Vatican Palace to St. Peter's Basilica

Scala Regia, (popes’ royal staircase), Vatican, Rome, by Bernini, site is awkwardly shaped with irregular converging walls on a narrow piece of land between church and palace

Scala Regia (Popes’ Royal Staircase) Vatican, Rome Bernini, Bernini used a number of typically theatrical, baroque effects in order to exalt this entry point into Vatican

In interiors, Baroque movement around and through a void informed monumental staircases that had no parallel in previous architecture staircase proper takes the form of a barrel- vaulted colonnade that becomes narrower at the end of the vista, exaggerating the distance

above the arch at the beginning of this vista is the coat of arms of Alexander VII, flanked by two sculpted angels

The Conversion of Constantine Vatican, Rome Bernini, Constantine sees a vision of the cross with the words “In this sign, you will conquer”

Emperors and other monarchs, having paid respects to the Pope, descended the Scala Regia, and would observe the light shining down through the window, with the motto, reminiscent of Constantine's vision, and be reminded to follow the Cross

In Bernini's statue of Constantine, he is awed and his horse rears, as Constantine realizes that he will win only with the power of the Christ

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane Rome Borromini built as part of a complex of monastic buildings on the Quirinal Hill for the Spanish Trinitarians

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane Rome, Borromini, concave-convex facade of San Carlo undulates in a non- classic way

the layout of the cramped and difficult site—arrangement seems to refer to a cross plan

light floods in from windows in the lower dome that are hidden by the oval opening and from windows in the side of the lantern hierarchical structuring of light: illuminated lantern with its symbol of the Holy Trinity is the most brightly lit coffering of the dome is thrown into sharp and deep relief light gradually filters downwards to the darker lower body of the church

oval entablature to the dome has a 'crown' of foliage and frames a view of deep set interlocking coffering of octagons, crosses and hexagons which diminish in size the higher they rise

Royal Hunting Lodge (Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi) Stupinigi, near Turin, by Filippo Juvarra, c (for Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy and King of Piedmont-Sardinia)

Royal Hunting Lodge of Stupinigi near Turin Filippo Juvarra c works started in 1729— within two years construction was far enough advanced for the first formal hunt to take place

building has a saltire plan: four angled wings project from the oval-shaped main hall

Royal Hunting Lodge of Stupinigi, near Turin, by Filippo Juvarra, c original purpose of the hunting lodge is symbolized by the bronze stag perched at the apex of the stepped roof of its central dome, and the hounds' heads that decorate the vases on the roofline

new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes, light- and-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void

detail of the central salone

light-and-shade (chiaroscuro) 'painterly' color effects

Royal Hunting Lodge of Stupinigi, near Turin, by Filippo Juvarra, c the other Baroque innovation in worldly interiors was the state apartment, a processional sequence of increasingly rich interiors that culminated in a presence chamber or throne room or a state bedroom

Italian Baroque Furniture 1640s-1700

Throne Chair, 1640s-1700

Miscellaneous Italian Baroque furniture, 1640s-1700