Module 5- Renaissance, Baroque & Rococo Architecture | KTU | Semester 4 | History of Architecture

SEMESTER 4
EH202-HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
GOVT. ENGINEERING COLLEGE, THRISSUR
Faculty: Ar. Gary Gilson (Asst. Professor) | 2019

1. Renaissance Architecture
Characteristics of Renaissance architecture
Example - Cathedral Of St. Peter, Rome
2. Baroque Style of Architecture
Detail study of Piazza Of St. Peter, Rome.
3. Rococo Style of Architecture

The intellectual transformation that happened during the Renaissance
has resulted with this period being viewed as a bridge between the
Middle Ages and the Modern era.

• The Renaissance (Italian: Rinascimento, from ri- "again" and nascere "be
born") was a cultural movement that spanned roughly from the 14th to the
17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later
spreading to the rest of Europe.
• Approx. 1400 – 1700 AD
• Italy - In the middle ages, was composed of different city-states and
kingdoms
• Eg: Florence, Venice, Milan, Mantua.
• Florence – is considered as the birthplace of the Renaissance.
• In Florence, the wealthy wool merchants and bankers sought prestige and
status through their patronage of arts and letters, and architects and artists
displayed their support through their development of new forms in
painting, sculpture and architecture.

• As a cultural movement, it encompassed a rebirth of learning
based on:
• Classical sources.
• The development of linear perspective in painting.
• Gradual but widespread educational reform.
• Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual
pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best
known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such
polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired
the term "Renaissance man”.

Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture

Brunelleschi’s Discovery of Perspective
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)

Renaissance style emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and
he regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of
classical antiquity and in particular ancient Roman architecture, of
which many examples remained.

Characteristics
• Inspired by Roman buildings, orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the
use of semi-circular arches hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the more
complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings.
• Plans: Square, symmetrical appearance in which proportions are usually based on
a module.
• Facades: Symmetrical around their vertical axis, domestic buildings are often
surmounted by a cornice.
• Columns & Pilasters:
The Roman orders of columns are used:
Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.
• Arches: Semi circular.
• Vaults: Do not have ribs.
• Domes: The dome is used frequently, both as a very large structural feature that is
visible from the exterior.

• Plans - square, symmetrical,
appearance in which proportions
are usually based on a module.
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore or
the Florence Cathedral.
Plan of Chateau de Chambord, France

Walls - external walls are generally of highly finished ashlar masonry, laid in
straight courses, the corners of buildings are often emphasised by rusticated
quoins, basements and ground floors were often rusticated.
Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo.

Quoining on the corners of Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga, Rome.

Architects of Renaissance Period
• Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 –1446)
• Michelozzo di Bartolomeo (1396-1472)
• Leon Battista Alberti( 1404-1472)
• Donato Bramante (1444 –1514)
• Andrea Palladio (1508 –1580)
• Giacomo da Vignola (1507 –1573)
• Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475 – 1564)

Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377-1446)

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) was one of the foremost
architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is
perhaps most famous for his discovery of perspective and for
engineering the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his
accomplishments also include other architectural works,
sculpture, mathematics, engineering and even ship design.
His principal surviving works are to be found in Florence, Italy.

The Florence Cathedral dome (1436) by Filippo Brunelleschi

The Foundling Hospital (1421-1444)
by Filippo Brunelleschi

Pazzi Chapel (1460)
The facade was inspired by the Roman
triumphal arch.
San Lorenzo, Florence, (1430-33)
This church is seen as one of the
milestones of Renaissance architecture,
with Pietra serena or dark stone
articulation.
Other Brunelleschi projects

The Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito ("St. Mary of the Holy Spirit"), 1481

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo
(1396-1472) Italian architect and sculptor.

Michelozzo Bartolomeo (1396-1472) and the Palazzo Medici

The Palazzo Medici, Florence 1444

Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-1472)
Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher,
cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath.

The Palazzo Rucellai (1446-1451) was the first building to use the classical
orders on a Renaissance domestic building.

San Maria Novella was the first completed design for a
church facade in the Renaissance. Alberti linked the lower
aisle roof to the pedimented higher nave with
flanking scrolls.

Basilica of Sant'Andrea, (1472-94)

Interior: The assemblage of classical elements on the
interior presents the first Renaissance vision rivalling the
monumentality of the interior spaces of such ancient
Roman ruins as the basilicas or baths.

Donato Bramante
(1444 –1514)
was an Italian architect, who introduced Renaissance
architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to
Rome, where his plan for St. Peter's Basilica formed the
basis of the design executed by Michelangelo.
His Tempietto (San Pietro in Montorio) marked the
beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome (1502) when
Alexander VI appointed him to build a sanctuary that
allegedly marked the spot where Peter was crucified.

The Tempietto, Rome
(begun 1502)

St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, (1505)

• The Saint Peter’s Church, also
called St. Peter’s Basilica is a late
Renaissance church within
Vatican City. It is Europe’s largest
Christian church.
• It is the second church to stand
above the crypt (tomb) believed
to hold the body of Saint Peter,
the first pope.
• St. Peter’s is built in the shape of
a cross.

• There has been a church on this site since the 4th century.
• Construction of the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica,
began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.
• As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.

• The first St. Peter’s Church was
begun by Constantine the Great
about 325. He built the church to
celebrate his acceptance of
Christianity.
• The church was modelled on the
Basilica, a rectangular building used
as a meeting hall by the Romans.
Four rows of columns, extending
almost the length of the church,
divided it into a nave with two aisles
on either side.

• In 1452, Pope Nicholas V began to restore and
expand the church. The restoration continued
until 1506, when Pope Julius II decided to
rebuild the church completely.
• During its construction, 10 different architects
worked on St. Peter’s and changed its design.
• The first architect was Donato Bramante. He
designed a domed, perfectly symmetrical
church in the form of a Greek cross(a cross with
four arms of equal length).

Evolution of St.Peter’s Basilica Plan
1. Donato Bramante
Bramante proposed a Greek Cross plan, the centre of which would be
surmounted by a dome slightly larger than that of the Pantheon.
2. Giuliano Da Sangallo
He strengthened and extended the peristyle of Bramante into a series of
arched and ordered openings around the base. In his hands, the rather
delicate form of the lantern, based closely on that in Florence, became a
massive structure, surrounded by a projecting base, a peristyle and
surmounted by a spire of conic form, but the plan was simply too eclectic to
be considered.

3. Raffaello Sanzio
The main change in Raphael's plan is the nave of five bays, with a row
of complex apsidal chapels off the aisles on either side.
4. Baldassare Peruzzi
Maintained changes that Raphael had proposed to the internal
arrangement of the three main apses, but otherwise reverted to the
Greek Cross plan and other features of Bramante.
5. Antonio Da Sangallo The Younger - Main practical contribution was
to strengthen Bramante's piers which had begun to crack.

6. Michelangelo
He reverted to Bramante’s original design, the Greek Cross and converted its
snowflake complexity into massive, cohesive unity.
7. Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola
Appointed by Pope Pius V as a watchdog to make sure that Michelangelo's
plans were carried out exactly after his death.
8. Giacomo Della Porta
He subsequently altered Michelangelo’s design by adding of lion's masks
over the swags on the drum in honor of Pope Sixtus and adding a circlet of
finials around the spire at the top of the lantern, as proposed by Sangallo.
Also proposed to raise the outer dome higher above the inner one.

9. Carlo Maderno
He made the most significant contribution since Michelangelo, because he
pulled down the remaining parts of Old St. Peter's and proceeded to
transform Michelangelo's centralized Greek-cross design into a Latin cross
with a long nave.
10. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
He was regarded as the greatest architect and sculptor of the Baroque
period. Bernini's works at St. Peter's include the baldacchino, the Chapel of
the Sacrament, the plan for the niches and loggias in the piers of the dome
and the chair of St. Peter.

Bramante’s Plan
• Donato Bramante won Pope Julius II Della
Rovere’s design contest for the new church.
Bramante proposed a Greek Cross plan, the
centre of which would be surmounted by a
dome slightly larger than that of the Pantheon.

Raphael’s Plan
• Raphael’s plan was for a basilica in the form
of a Roman Cross with a short pronaos and a
façade.

Michelangelo’s Plan
• Michelangelo changed Bramante’s plan for
a balanced and restful dome into a
dynamic construction. He put a drum(ring)
at the base of the dome that appears to be
squeezing the dome and forcing its sides to
spring upwards. He shortened Raphael’s
nave, but Carlo Maderno added back the
nave and added the famous façade.

Carlo Maderno’s Plan
• He made the most significant
contribution since Michelangelo, because
he pulled down the remaining parts of
Old St. Peter's and proceeded to
transform Michelangelo's centralized
Greek-cross design into a Latin cross with
a long nave.

Maderno’s Plan
• This extension of the basilica was undoubtedly necessary from the point of view of
practical requirements, but it destroyed Michelangelo's great conception and substituted
something less impressive, since the great dome can no longer be appreciated from
every point of view.
• As a result of these alterations, Maderno had to design a facade which would not detract
too much from the dome and, at the same time, would be worthy of its setting and also
contain a central feature, the Benediction Loggia, to provide a frame for the figure of the
pope when he appeared in public.
• These conflicting requirements were met as far as possible by Maderno's adaptation of a
typical Roman palace facade, with decorative motives taken from Michelangelo's works.
• The plan to provide bell towers at the ends to frame the dome in distant views had to be
abandoned because the foundations gave trouble. The work, including the decoration,
was completed and consecrated on Nov. 18, 1626.

Maderno’s Façade
• The façade designed by Maderno, is 114.69 metres (376.3 ft) wide
and 45.55 metres (149.4 ft) high.
• It is built of travertine stone, with a giant order of Corinthian columns
and a central pediment rising in front of a tall attic surmounted by
thirteen statues: Christ flanked by eleven of the Apostles (except
Peter, whose statue is left of the stairs) and John the Baptist.

The Exterior
• The church was given an impressive setting
by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of its architects.
• An avenue almost 1.5 km long leads from the
Tiber River to the Piazza Di San Pietro
(Square Of St. Peter), a large open space in
front of the church.
• A red granite obelisk (shaft) stands 26 meters
high in the piazza’s centre. It was brought to
Rome from Egypt about A.D. 37, and was
moved to the piazza in 1586.
• The Piazza which was completed in 1667,
contains two fountains and two colonnades
(rows of columns) arranged in semicircles on
opposite sides of the Piazza.

The Interiors
• The interior of the church is decorated in Baroque style.
• Bernini, who was also a sculptor, created many of its famous
features in the 1650s.
• He built the elaborate bronze canopy over the main alter, which
stands beneath the dome. It closes the extremely long sweep of
the nave and is 95 Ft. high.
• As may be seen in the accompanying plan, the four principal
divisions of the basilica extend from the dome and are connected
with each other by passages behind the dome piers.
• To the right and the left of the nave lie the smaller and lower aisles,
the right of which is bordered by four lateral chapels, the left by
three chapels and the passage to the roof.

• The general decoration consists of
coloured marble incrustations,
stucco figures, rich gilding, mosaic
decoration, and marble figures on
the pilasters, ceiling, and walls.
• The panelling of the pavement in
geometric figures is of coloured
marble after the designs of
Giacomo Della Porta and Bernini.
• Beneath it is the Confession of St.
Peter, where the body of the Prince
of Apostles reposes – the tomb of
St. Peter’s.
• No chairs or pews obstruct the
view; the eye roves freely over the
glittering surface of the marble
pavement, where there is room for
thousands of people.

Dimensions
• Major axis of the piazza - 1115.4 feet.
• Minor axis of the piazza - 787.3 feet.
• Vestibule of the basilica - 232.9 feet wide, 44.2 deep, and 91.8 high.
• Height and width of the nave - 151.5 feet and 90.2 feet respectively.
• Entire length of the basilica including the vestibule - 693.8 feet.
• From the pavement of the church (measured from the Confession) to the
oculus of the lantern resting upon the dome the height - 404.8 feet;
• To the summit of the cross surmounting the lantern - 434.7 feet.
• The measurements of the interior diameter of the dome vary somewhat,
being generally computed at 137.7 feet, thus exceeding the dome of the
Pantheon by a span of 4.9 feet.
• The surface area of St. Peter's is 163,182.2 sq. feet.

The Ducal Palace Urbino, Italy (1468)

Andrea Palladio
(1508 –1580)
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice.
Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily
by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in
the history of Western architecture. All of his buildings are located in
what was the Venetian Republic, but his teachings, summarized in
the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide
recognition.

The Four Books of Architecture

Villa Barbaro, also known as the Villa di Maser, is a large villa at Maser in the Veneto region of
northern Italy. It was designed and built by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio.

Giacomo da Vignola
(1507 –1573)
was one of the great Italian architects of 16th
century Mannerism. His two great masterpieces are the Villa
Farnese at Caprarola and the Jesuits' Church of the Gesù in Rome.

"Canon of the five orders of architecture”, 1562

The Church of the Gesù, Rome, 1568

Michelangelo Buonarotti
(1475 – 1564)
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni commonly known as Michelangelo was an Italian
Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence
on the development of Western art. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the
disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title
of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.

The Medici Chapels are two structures at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy, dating from the 16th and
17th centuries, and built as extensions to Brunelleschi's 15th century church, with the purpose of celebrating
the Medici family, patrons of the church and Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The Sagrestia Nuova, ("New Sacristy"),
was designed by Michelangelo. Material: white stucco walls with gray pietra marble

Tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de'
Medici with Night and Day
Tomb of Lorenzo di Piero
de'Medici with Dusk and Dawn

The Laurentian library, Florence, 1524

Michelangelo's Pietà, a depiction of the body of
Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after
the Crucifixion, was carved in 1499, when the
sculptor was 24 years old.
The Statue of David, completed
by Michelangelo in 1504, is one of
the most renowned works of the
Renaissance.

Papal Basilica of Saint Peter has the largest interior of
any Christian church in the world.

The Renaissance in France
French Renaissance Architecture is the style of architecture
which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th
century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions.
During the early years of the 16th century the French were
involved in wars in northern Italy, bringing back to France not just
the Renaissance art treasures as their war booty, but also stylistic
ideas. In the Loire Valley a wave of building was carried and many
Renaissance chateaux appeared at this time, the earliest example
being the Château d'Amboise.

The Renaissance in France – the Chateaux

In contrast to this town-based chateau, the Chateaux de Chambord (1519-47) was built in
the countryside in the style of a fortified castle within a bailey or outer wall, thus neatly
overlaying Renaissance symmetry and detailing on a fundamentally medieval building type.
The Chateaux de Chambord
By Domenico de Cortona.

The Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century,
Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis I renovated the site
in the French Renaissance style.

The Place des Vosges, Paris, 1605

The Renaissance in England
Renaissance architecture arrived in England during the
reign of Elizabeth I, having first spread through the Low
countries where among other features it acquired
versions of the Dutch gable, and Flemish strapwork in
geometric designs adorning the walls. The new style
tended to manifest itself in large square tall houses
such as Longleat House.

W ll Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, Robert Smythson (1580-88). Wollaton
was built between 1580 and 1588 for Sir Francis Willoughby and is believed
to be designed by the Elizabethan architect, Robert Smythson, who was the
architect of Hardwick Hall
Elizabethan Country Houses
Wollaton Hall by Robert Smythson, 1580

Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, Robeert Smythson (1590-97) Hardwick Hall, in Derbyshire, is one of
the most significant Elizabethan country houses in England. In ith common with its architect
Robert Smythson's other works at both Longleat House and Wollaton Hall, Hardwick Hall is one
of the earliest examples of the English interpretation of the Renaissance style of architecture,
which came into fashion when it was no longer thought necessary to fortify one's home.
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire by Robert Smythson
1590-97

• Europe colonizes
• Spread to the new world in mass England, France, The Netherlands,
Belgium, Portugal, Spain but Italy States never colonize.
• There was no unity among them, only constant fighting amongst each
other.
• New found source of wealth due to increase trading (East & West Indies
trading companies).
• New products to trade like tobacco and the quest for gold and silver.
• Monarchies became wealthy.
• People have a hope for success.
• Act in the name of God- Religious conversion.
• A means of getting what they wanted more peacefully.
• Countries develop and grow Russia, Prussia, Austria, Germany.

The age of freedom of spirit
• Explosion of arts- sponsored by monarchies
• Fine arts- painting, sculpture, architecture- Bernini, Rubens,
Velasquez, Rembrandt
• Literary arts- Moliere, Cervantes, Milton
• Music- the beginning of opera (polyphony)- Mozart, Bach, Beethoven,
Handel, Monteverdi, Vivaldi

The beginnings
• Architects started to write books about architecture.
• How to use orders (Vignola) and How to break the rules (Palladio)
• Mann eristic of high renaissance overtook the rules of classicism
• Emphasize creativity. Michelangelo made it ok to break the rules
because he did so in the holiest places. (St. Peter’s)

• Baroque- an emphasis of sculptural & painted forms
• Rococo- a subset of baroque

The Paintings
• Quadratura –Painted on a horizontal surface in illusionistic perspective
• Quadro Riportato –Images in illusionary framing
• Di Sotto in Su –Painted on a ceiling or dome -upwardly illusionistic
Parallax
• The architecture & Artwork create an exaggerated sense of perspective. Gives an
increased illusion of depth.
The Actions
• Baroque Architecture took cues from Theatre Design. The use of stage sets and back
drops gave the illusion of infinite space.
• The use of the proscenium arches between the stage and the crowd delineated space
• Theatrical lighting –I.e. spot lighting, shadows, ambient lighting all play roles in how to
address space.
• A return to Gothic elements –Windows, elaborate vaulting

• Michelangelo broke the rules first. He did so in the papal church.
Pilasters broke the Classical Mold. The addition of the sculpture broke
the classical mold. It gave license to the other architects to begin to
break the rules of the Renaissance
St. Peter’s Nave looking East St. Peter’s Nave looking West St. Peter’s Basilica

Baroque Style
• The name is derived from Baroque pearls - pearls with unusual, odd
shapes.
• Baroque Style spread throughout Europe
• Italy, Holland, France, Spain, and England.
• Compared to Renaissance art, it was considered to be “over-dramatic”.
• The architecture, “overly decorated”.
• The term Baroque once had a negative meaning.

The baroque period covers some 150 years from about 1600 to 1750.
Divided into three phases:
• Early Baroque c 1600-1625
• High Baroque c 1625-1675
• Late Baroque and Rococo 1675-1750.

Political Context
• Europe: political restructuring-30 years war (1618-48)
• All of Europe & Ottomans
• Secularization of Government
• Friction between Catholic and Protestant
• Treaty of Westphalia1648: Freedom of Religion
• Divine Right of Kings replaces Pope
• Consolidation of power
• Advanced military needs more bureaucracy

Roman Catholic Church supported Baroque Art
• In response to the Protestant Reformation (movement to reform
Catholic Church).
• Communication of religious themes with viewer's for a direct and
emotional involvement.
Aristocracy adopted Baroque style
• To impress visitors and to express triumphant power and control.

Scientific Revolution
• Exploration of the Universe Intellectual and Rational approach.
• Galileo, Descartes, Hobbes
• Astronomy, anatomy, Physics -Isaac Newton

Characteristics of Baroque Architecture
• Architecture of theatre
• A strong movement in 17th& 18thcenturies
• Elaborate ornaments and exuberance. e.g. Beauty & The Beast
• Interplay of natural lighting, lighting & shadow
• Spatially complex composition

• Blurred physical boundaries between building elements.
• Hiding of structural features.
• Expansive curvaceous form –swirling movements to create dynamic
movements.
• Plasticity of materials.
• Sense of mass, complex interplay of geometry.
• Combination of architecture, painting & sculpture.

The church has a single nave without aisles, so attention is focused
on the high altar. In place of aisles there are a series of identical
interconnecting chapels behind arched openings. The most striking
feature of the interior decoration is the ceiling fresco-Triumph of
the Name of Jesus by Giovanni Battista Gaulli.
Early Baroque Style
Church Il Gesu- sometimes called pre-baroque or proto-baroque.

• Nave of Il Gesu: Dedicated to St. Ignatius Loyol.
Quintessential Baroque: Fusion of architecture,
sculpture, painting and music.

• Horizontal and vertical
articulation.
• Disappearance of the all surface
by increasing sculptural richness,
cartouches, niches, statuary.
• Dynamic movement horizontally
as well as structurally.

• It was Carlo Maderno, too, who completed the building of St Peters. The original
plan for St Peters by Bramante completed in 1506 was for a centrally planned
church.
• Michelangelo simplified Bramante’s plan but preserved the centralized character
when he redesigned the structure in 1546.
• One of the first of the baroque Popes, Paul V, decided to alter the centralized
plan and add a great nave. Maderno began the great nave in 1607, completing it
in seven years;and completed the façade in five years.

Michelangelo’s vision vs. Carlo Maderno

Maderno’s façade of the St.Peter’s
• Rejection of Central plan (pagan) now longitudinal.
• Addition of 3 nave bays.
• Pushed dome back from new façade.

High Baroque
• Covers the fifty years from 1625 to 1675.
• The outstanding genius of the period was Gianlorenzo Bernini,
sculptor, architect and painter.
• Bernini’s Calennalli before St Peters built between 1624 and 1633, set
new standards in axial planning, and was of immense influence in the
emergence of the monumental and majestic vistas associated with
baroque planning.

Baldachin of St. Peter’s Cathedral
• Example of Baroque art - the first
masterpiece by Bernini for St.Peter's
Basilica.
• It is a fantastic, sumptuous bronze
canopy supported by four spiral
columns, richly decorated with gold,
as it majestically rises upward.
• It is the largest known bronze
artwork.
• He spent most of his life working on
St. Peter’s Cathedral

Bernini’s Piazza of St. Peter's
• Emphasized height of a
long, low building.
• Trapezoid with oval Wings:
brings building closer to
viewer.
• Christ as realized in the
welcoming arms of the
church.

• The great staircase of the
Vatican, in which the diminishing
width of the corridor is disguised
as it rises towards the landing by
his monumental order of Roman
iconic columns.
• Connects papal quarters with
Narthex of St. Peters Stairway to
heaven.
• Rationality: use of architectural
perspective

S. Agnes, Rome
• It is the High Baroque revision based on the centralized plan of St Peters.
• The dome has elegant ribs and lantern tower and placed it on a much higher
drum, and recessed the central portion of the façade so that instead of hiding
the dome, as the Maderno’s façade does at St Peters the dome itself becomes
almost a visual part of the façade. It s flanked by to elegant towers which frame
the dome and give height and grace to the building.

Baroque characteristics:
• Undulating motion
• Convex and concave
• Oval
• Sculptural
• Not segmented like renaissance
Francesco Borromini, façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane,
Rome (1665-1676)

Borromini, Sant’Ivo della
Sapienzax, Interior of Dome, 1642
• Renaissance Dome: Separate unit placed
on a supporting block.
• Baroque: organic part that evolves out
of the walls.
• Complicated design translated into a
unified structure.

Guarini, Guarino Palazzo Carignano 1679-92 West facade
• Dynamic and emotional,
• Sculptural, undulating
forms
• Use of the oval, convex
and concave
• Large scale
• Theatrical effects of
lighting and motion
• Renaissance segmented;
Baroque flowing

Francisco Boromini
Chapel of Saint Ivo, College of Sapienza 1642
• Upper level only.
• Convex and concave.
• Dome rises from the base.

Bernini’s Fountain of Four Rivers in Rome

• There is a theatrical sense of excitement and drama.
• Sculpture is integrated into the architectural setting.
• Multisensory.
• Figures are caught in the middle of doing something.
• Different textures are used to identify the quality of the stone and
the smoothness of flesh.

How is Baroque Different?
• The difference between the Renaissance, Mannerist and early
Baroque architecture which had preceded it is based upon his system
of proportioning.
• Borromini rejected the classical principles of planning by means of
modules: that is by multiplying and dividing a basic arithmetical unit,
such as the diameter of a column.

• He designed by means of geometric units. In the one case the plan
and its divisions was achieved by adding module to module; in the
other by taking a particular geometric figure and dividing it into
coherent geometric subunits.
• Borromini was able to develop complex spatial geometric surfaces.
The dome of S. Carlo is oval; the dome of the church S Ivo della
Spaienza, Rome, is a complex star-hexagon structure.

Baroque and Rococo Architecture
Undulating Forms

Palace of Versailles in France (Louis XIV)

Origin
• Rococo was a very playful and decorative style of art that started in
France around 1700 before spreading throughout Europe.
• It developed in the early part of the 18th century in Paris, France as a
reaction against the grandeur, symmetry and strict regulations of the
Baroque, especially that of the Palace of Versailles.
• Evanescent of Late Baroque –dynamism & geometric complexity of
the 17thcentury Italian architecture & post Louis XIV France.
• Official style of architecture –dignity & solemn grandeur of the new
France and later spread to Germany & Austria.

• Derived from the word “rocaille” which means misshapen pearl in
French.
• Rococo artists opted for a more jocular, florid and graceful approach
to Baroque art and architecture.
• It was ornate and made strong usage of creamy, pastel-like colours,
asymmetrical designs, curves and gold.

Rococo Architecture
• Rococo architecture, was a lighter, more graceful, yet also more
elaborate version of Baroque Architecture, which was ornate and
austere.
• Whilst the styles were similar, there are some notable differences
between both Rococo and Baroque architecture, one of them being
symmetry, since Rococo emphasised the asymmetry of forms, whilst
Baroque was the opposite.
• The styles, despite both being richly decorated, also had different
themes; the Baroque, for instance, was more serious, placing an
emphasis on religion, and was often characterized by Christian
themes (as a matter of fact, the Baroque began in.
• Rome as a response to the Protestant reformation.

• Rococo architecture was an 18th-century, more secular, adaptation of
the Baroque which was characterized by more light-hearted and
jocular themes.
• Other elements belonging to the architectural style of Rococo include
numerous curves and decorations, as well as the usage of pale
colours.
• Unlike the more politically focused Baroque, the Rococo had more
playful and often witty artistic themes.
• The Rococo additionally played an important role in theatre. In the
book The Rococo, it is written that there was no other culture which
"has produced a wittier, more elegant, and teasing dialogue full of
elusive and camouflaging language and gestures, refined feelings and
subtle criticism" than Rococo theatre, especially that of France.

Characteristics
• Diffuse light flooded the building volume;
• Violent surface relief was replaced by smooth flowing masses with
emphasis only at isolated points.
• Mirror surfaces multiplied & angles softened
• Ornament –natural forms, branches, garlands, acanthus
• Abstract sinuosity –scrolls, interlace & arabesques

• Churches and palaces still exhibited an integration of 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.

• The origins lie in the late Baroque architectural work of Borromini
(1599–1667) and Guarini (1624–1683) mostly in Northern Italy but
also in Vienna, Prague, Lisbon, and Paris.
• Italian architects of the late Baroque/early Rococo were wooed to
Catholic (Southern) Germany, Bohemia and Austria by local princes,
bishops and prince-bishops.
• Inspired by their example, regional families of Central European
builders went further, creating churches and palaces that took the
local German Baroque style to the greatest heights of Rococo
elaboration and sensation.

Examples of Rococo
• Examples include the Catherine Palace, in Russia, the Queluz National
Palace in Portugal, the Charlottenburg palace in Germany, as well as
elements of the Chateau de Versailles in France.
• Architects who were renowned for their constructions using the style
include Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, an Italian architect who worked in
Russia and who was noted for his lavish and opulent works, Philip de
Lange, who worked in both Danish and Dutch Rococo architecture.
• Rococo architecture also brought significant changes to the building of
edifices, placing an emphasis on privacy rather than the grand public
majesty of Baroque architecture, as well as improving the structure of
buildings in order to create a more healthy environment.

Basilica at Ottobeuren (Bavaria):
• Architectural spaces flow together and swarm with life.

The Catherine Palace, Russia
It is of the northernmost Rococo building

It was one of the last Rococo buildings to be built in Europe.
The Queluz National Palace, Portugal

• Problem: Two original buildings.
• Solution: Model a the design
after the human body.
• Add a third building
• Central axis w/ focal point
• Trapezoid and oval
• Balance and symmetry
Campidolglio
1537 Michelangelo, Patron: Pope Paul

Module 5- Renaissance, Baroque & Rococo Architecture | KTU | Semester 4 | History of Architecture

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Module 5- Renaissance, Baroque & Rococo Architecture | KTU | Semester 4 | History of Architecture