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Lecture 06, Baroque Architecture

Baroque architecture originated in Italy in the late 16th century and spread throughout Europe. It was characterized by dramatic lighting effects, complex shapes with curved lines instead of classical straight lines, and elaborate ornamentation. Significant Baroque architects included Bernini, Borromini, and Maderno in Italy. Their works featured dramatic sculptural elements, complex plans, and illusionistic painting. Baroque architecture reached its height in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and spread influences throughout Europe, adapting to classical influences in France and Germany.

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Tanjina Rahman Dristy
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354 views27 pages

Lecture 06, Baroque Architecture

Baroque architecture originated in Italy in the late 16th century and spread throughout Europe. It was characterized by dramatic lighting effects, complex shapes with curved lines instead of classical straight lines, and elaborate ornamentation. Significant Baroque architects included Bernini, Borromini, and Maderno in Italy. Their works featured dramatic sculptural elements, complex plans, and illusionistic painting. Baroque architecture reached its height in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and spread influences throughout Europe, adapting to classical influences in France and Germany.

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Tanjina Rahman Dristy
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Baroque Architecture

ART & ARCHITECTURE – II


Lecture 06
Tanjina Rahman Dristy
Baroque Architecture
• Period of artistic style started in 16th century in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.
• Encouraged by Roman catholic church.
• It was characterized by new explorations of form, light and shadow, and dramatic intensity.
• Instead of straight lines of classicism, curved and broken line appeared.
• Decoration became more important and elaborate, and shapes became more complex.

Period for Baroque:


Roughly 3 phase :

• Early Baroque ( AD 1590 to AD 1625 )


• High Baroque (AD 1625 to AD 1660 )
• Late Baroque (AD 1660 to AD 1725)
Baroque architecture
• Architectural style originating in late 16th-century Italy and lasting in some regions, notably
Germany and colonial South America, until the 18th century. It had its origins in the Counter-
Reformation, when the Catholic Church launched an overtly emotional and sensory appeal to the
faithful through art and architecture.

Precursor and features:

• Michelangelo's late Roman


buildings, particularly St. Peter’s
Basilica, may be considered
precursor to Baroque architecture.

Figure 01: St.Peter Basilica (Early baroque


example)
Figure 02: Plan of St. Peter Basilica (Early baroque example)
Plan of St. Peter Basilica (Early baroque example)
Figure 04: Ceiling of Dome

Figure 04: Exterior of Dome


Precursor and features
 Distinctive features of Baroque architecture:

Bold massive colonnade and domes.


Broader naves and sometimes oval forms.
Fragmentary or deliberately incomplete architectural elements.
Bold play of volumes and voids.
Dramatic use of light; either strong light-and-shade contrasts (chiaroscuro effects).
as at the church of Weltenburg Abbey, or uniform lighting by means of several windows ( church of
Weingarten Abbey)
Opulent use of color and ornaments (figures made of wood (often gilded), plaster or stucco, marble or
faux finishing)
Large-scale ceiling frescoes.
An external façade often characterized by a dramatic central projection.
Precursor and features
The interior is a shell for painting, sculpture and stucco (especially in the late Baroque)
Illusory effects like trompe l'oeil
The blending of painting and architecture
Pear-shaped domes in the Bavarian, Czech, Polish and Ukrainian Baroque

Precursor and features


• Complex architectural plan shapes, often based on the oval, and the dynamic opposition and
interpenetration of spaces were favoured to heighten the feeling of motion and sensuality.

• Other characteristic qualities include grandeur, drama and contrast (especially in lighting),
curvaceousness, and an often dizzying array of rich surface treatments, twisting elements, and
gilded statuary.

• Architects unabashedly applied bright colours and illusory, vividly painted ceilings.
Significant architect of Baroque era
• Outstanding practitioners in Italy included Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Carlo Maderno (1556–1629),
Francesco Borromini, and Guarino Guarini (1624–83).

• Classical elements subdued Baroque architecture in France. In central Europe, the Baroque arrived
late but flourished in the works of such architects as the Austrian Johann Bernhard Fischer von
Erlach (1656–1723).

• Its impact in Britain can be seen in the works of Christopher Wren.

High Baroque
• The two foremost names in Baroque architecture are Bernini and Borromini, both of whom worked
primarily in Rome.
• Two masterpieces of Gian Lorenzo Bernini are found at St Peter's. One is the four-story baldachin
that stands over the high altar.(A baldachin is an indoor canopy over a respected object, such as an
altar or throne.) The other is the curving colonnades that frame St Peter's Square.
• Bernini's most famous building is likely the small church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale ("Saint
Andrew's on Quirinal Hill").Quirinal hill is one of the "seven hills of Rome".
• Francesco Borromini was the master of curved-wall architecture. Though he designed many
large buildings, Borromini's most famous and influential work may be the small church of San
Carlo alle Quattro Fontane ("Saint Charles at the Four Fountains"). This building is also found
on Quirinal Hill.
Late Baroque:
• The Late Baroque marks the ascent of France as the heart of Western culture. Baroque art of
France (and northern Europe generally) tends to be restrained, such that it can be described as a
classical-Baroque compromise. The most distinctive element of French Baroque architecture is
the double-sloped mansard roof (a French innovation).
• The most famous Baroque structures of France are magnificent chateaux (grand country
residences), greatest of which is the Palace of Versailles. One of the largest residences on earth,
Versailles was built mainly under Louis XIV, whose patronage of the arts helped propel France to
the crest of Western culture.
• The palace facade admirably illustrates the classical-Baroque compromise of northern Europe. The
walls are characterized largely by simple planar classicism, although they do contain such
Baroque elements as sculpted busts, a triple stringcourse, double pilasters, and colossal pilasters.

• Additionally, the mansard roof features a sinuous metal railing and rich moulding around the
dormer windows. Versailles became Europe's model of palace architecture, inspiring similarly
grand residences throughout the continent.
Comparison with renaissance:
German Baroque Architecture:

Wetenberg Abbey Church:

• The abbey is situated on a peninsula in the Danube, on the so-called "Wetenberg Narrows" or the
"Danube Gorge". The monastery, founded by Irish or Scottish monks in about 620, is held to be the
oldest monastery in Bavaria.
• In this church they use the lighting effects which called chiaroscuro.
• Chiaroscuro is a type of lighting effects, which means dark and light effects.
• Chiaroscuro literally means clear-obscure or light dark. It refers to the use of strong contrast or
unusual lighting to create a strong dramatic effect in art.
• Chiaroscuro is of Latin origin with Chiaro meaning ‘light’ or ‘clear’ & ‘oscuro’ meaning
‘obscure’ or ‘dark.’
WEINGARTEN ABBEY CHURCH
• Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's
Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on
the Martinsberg (St. Martin's Mount)
in Weingarten near Ravensburg in
Baden Württemberg (Germany).

• This church have rich decoration and interior.


• Coffered dome is use in abbey church.
• Coffered roof make dome high.
• The current church was built between 1715 and 1724 in the Italian-German Baroque style
according to plans by Franz Beer. The church is the second largest church in Germany, and is the
largest Baroque church in Germany. The 102 meter long church is known as the "Swabian St.
Peter's" since this church is almost exactly onehalf the size of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Interior View

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