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The Baroque Era In Architecture
Cultural Expressions Of The
Age
Baroque and late Baroque, or Rococo, are loosely defined terms,
applied by common consent to European art of the period from the
early 17th century to the mid-18th century.
Baroque was at first an undisguised term of abuse, probably derived
from the Italian word barocco, which was a term used by philosophers
during the Middle Ages to describe an obstacle in schematic logic.
Subsequently, this became a description for any contorted idea or
involuted process of thought. Another possible source is the
Portuguese word barroco, with its Spanish form barrueco, used to
describe an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl; this usage still
survives in the jeweler's term baroque pearl.
The derivation of the word Rococo is equally uncertain, though its
source is most probably to be found in the French word rocaille,
used to describe shell and pebble decorations in the 16th century.
In the 18th century, however, the scope of the word was increased
when it came to be used to describe the mainstream of French art of
the first half of the century; Neoclassical artists used it as a
derogatory term. Fundamentally a style of decoration, Rococo is much
more a facet of late Baroque art than an autonomous style, and the
relationship between the two presents interesting parallels to that
between High Renaissance and Mannerist art. (P.C.-B. /D.J.Wa.)
During the Baroque period (c. 1600-1750), architecture, painting,
and sculpture were integrated into decorative ensembles.
Architecture and sculpture became pictorial, and painting became
illusionistic. Baroque art was essentially concerned with the
dramatic and the illusory, with vivid colours, hidden light sources,
luxurious materials, and elaborate, contrasting surface textures,
used to heighten immediacy and sensual delight. Ceilings of Baroque
churches, dissolved in painted scenes, presented vivid views of the
infinite to the worshiper and directed him through his senses toward
heavenly concerns. Seventeenth-century Baroque architects made
architecture a means of propagating faith in the church and in the
state. Baroque palaces expanded to command the infinite and to
display the power and order of the state. Baroque space, with
directionality, movement, and positive molding, contrasted markedly
with the static, stable, and defined space of the High Renaissance
and with the frustrating conflict of unbalanced spaces of the
preceding Mannerist period. Baroque space invited participation and
provided multiple changing views. Renaissance space was passive and
invited contemplation of its precise symmetry. While a Renaissance
statue was meant to be seen in the round, a Baroque statue either
had a principal view with a preferred angle or was definitely
enclosed by a niche or frame. A Renaissance building was to be seen
equally from all sides, while a Baroque building had a main axis or
viewpoint as well as subsidiary viewpoints. Attention was focused on
the entrance axis or on the central pavilion, and its symmetry was
emphasized by the central culmination. A Baroque building expanded
in its effect to include the square facing it, and often the
ensemble included all the buildings on the square as well as the
approaching streets and the surrounding landscape. Baroque buildings
dominated their environment; Renaissance buildings separated
themselves from it.
The Baroque rapidly developed into two separate forms: the strongly
Roman Catholic countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, Bohemia,
southern Germany, Austria, and Poland) tended toward freer and more
active architectural forms and surfaces; in Protestant regions
(England, the Netherlands, and the remainder of northern Europe)
architecture was more restrained and developed a sober, quiet
monumentality impressive in its refinement. In the Protestant
countries and France, which sought the spirit through the mind,
architecture was more geometric, formal, and precise--an appeal to
the intellect. In the Roman Catholic south, buildings were more
complex, freer, and done with greater artistic license--an appeal to
the spirit made through the senses.
Treatises on the orders and on civil and military architecture
provided a theoretical basis for Baroque architects. While many
16th-century architects published treatises on architecture or
prepared them for publication, major 17th-century architects
published very little. Two fragmentary volumes by Francesco
Borromini appeared years after his death, and Guarino Guarini's
major contribution (though he brought out two volumes on
architecture before he died) did not appear until well into the 18th
century. Other Italian publications tended to be repetitions of
earlier ideas with the exception of a tardily published manuscript
of Teofilo Gallaccini, whose treatise on the errors of Mannerist and
early Baroque architects became a point of departure for later
theoreticians.
In France, François Blondel and Augustin d'Aviler published notes
for lectures given at the Academy of Architecture, but the most
important publications were those of Fréart de Chambray and Claude
Perrault. Perrault attacked established Italian theory. Other
notable French works included writings by René Ouvard, André
Félibien, Pierre Le Muet, and Julien Mauclerc. In England, Sir Henry
Wotton's book was an adaptation of Vitruvius, and Balthazar
Gerbier's was a compendium of advice for builders. Among the notable
17th-century German publications were books by Georg Boeckler, Josef
Furttenbach, and Joachim von Sandrart.
During the period of the Enlightenment (about 1700 to 1780), various
currents of post-Baroque art and architecture evolved. A principal
current, generally known as Rococo, refined the robust architecture
of the 17th century to suit elegant 18th-century tastes. Vivid
colours were replaced by pastel shades; diffuse light flooded the
building volume; and violent surface relief was replaced by smooth
flowing masses with emphasis only at isolated points. Churches and
palaces still exhibited an integration of the three arts, but the
building structure was lightened to render interiors graceful and
ethereal. Interior and exterior space retained none of the bravado
and dominance of the Baroque but entertained and captured the
imagination by intricacy and subtlety. |