Class 4: Urban Planning in Rome; Borromini

Francesco Borromini 1) San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (San Carlino), 1638-67

Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, commissioned 1634,interior completed in 1641; façade designed in 1665; completed 1677

Carl Maderno, Facade of St. Peter's 1606-16

Carlo Maderno (1556 - 30 January 1629) was an Italian[1] architect, born in today's Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture distant relative, CARLO MADERNO, the architect in charge of the completion of St. Peter's --> gave Borromini opportunities to design and execute iron grilles and carved stone door frames in St. Peter's Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the burial site of St. Peter, one of Christ's Apostles and also the first Pope; supposedly, St. Peter's tomb is directly below the high altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica of the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.[6] 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 St. Peter, whose statue is left of the stairs) and John the Baptist. [49] The inscription below the cornice on the 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall frieze reads: IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII (In honour of the Prince of Apostles, Paul V Borghese, a Roman, Supreme Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate) (Paul V (Camillo Borghese), born in Rome but of a Sienese family, liked to emphasize his "Romanness.") Maderno was hesitant to deviate from the pattern set by Michelangelo at the other end of the building. Lees-Milne describes the problems of the façade as being too broad for its height, too cramped in its details and too heavy in the attic story. The breadth is caused by modifying the plan to have towers on either side. These towers were never executed above the line of the facade because it was discovered that the ground was not sufficiently stable to bear the weight. One effect of the facade and lengthened nave is to screen the view of the dome, so that the building, from the front, has no vertical feature, except from a distance.[24] • Symmetry & Greek Cross and square on top of it (South side Michelangelo design?) • Entire body of the old church fits inside new St peters; very big • Maderno takes away the curvature, keeps really tall pillars (but uses engaged columns: cut in half columns that look attached to a wall) however Michelangelo's design has other kind of pillars • Both have giant order of columns that extend two stories and sort of pulls together the building • Pediment both have like a little temple around each window • Maderno creates a sort of three dimensional growth gradual push forward in the center, the emphasis on the center is an important thing. Rather than a diffused façade there is a pediment above doorway that draws you in

Sixtus V's planning and infrastructure improvements, c. 1585 (including moving the Vatican obelisk, under Domenico Fontana's direction

Class notes: Monday 1/30/16 Urban Planning in Rome; Borromini - Rome is fundamentally a baroque city --> The restoration of dilapidated anicent medieval city that began under succession of Renaissance popes continued - Sixtus V, followed by Alexander VII, began the process of breaking through labryinth of Rome, replacing barbarous irregularity with straight roads Sixtus V's planning and infrastructure improvements, c. 1585 (including moving the Vatican obelisk to the front of the church, under Domenico Fontana's direction • Only way to really be able to reshape a city is when there is a catastrophic thing like a big fire etc. but this Sixtus V's had enough power to not really care what neighborhoods were destroyed. He had the money and the power • His moving of the Vatican obelisk to the front of the church was the most noteworthy engineering feat of the century, moving the obelisk without breaking it even though only a quarter mile was really an amazing thing 1586 The obelisk was carved during the reign of Nebkaure Amenemhet II (1992-1985 BCE), and originally stood in the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis. The Roman emperor Caligula brought it to Rome in 37 AD as one of many tokens of the Roman conquest of Egypt, and erected the spoil on the spine of his eponymous circus, later renamed for Nero. A millenium and a half later, in 1585, Pope Sixtus asked Domenico Fontana to move the 330-ton Aswan granite the quarter mile or so to St. Peter's Square. The operation was carried out using hemp ropes and iron bars weighing 40,000 pounds, plus 900 men and 72 horses, and took about 5 months to complete. It was no easy move. Nevertheless, the entire event proved to be a spectacle, captivating the city's populace.

Francesco Borromini 1) San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (San Carlino), 1638-67 2) Sant'lvo alla Sapienza, 1642-50

While Bernini and Pietro da cortona both made outstanding contributions to the architecture of 17th century Rome, only Francesco Borromini was is regarded as genius. - Most original, most influential architect (exclusively architect) - Bernini hired boRROMINI IN 1619, SOON AFTER HIS ARRIVAL FROM mILAN, WHERE HE HAD TRAINED IN WORKSHOP OF THE CATHEDRAL, A late Gothic extravaganza still under construction. Phenomenal grasp of mathematics and geometry Birllian draughtsman - Didn't respect rules of ancient Roman architecture (less respect than did Michelangelo) - Richly imaginative use of space and innovative decorative forms but some contemporaries found it strange - Celebrated for heresies against the nroms of classical architecture as Caravaggio was for basing his art on raw nature rather than on Raphael. - Family connections enabled him to find employment at St. Peter's under distant relative, CARLO MADERNO, the architect in charge of the completion of St. Peter's --> gave Borromini opportunities to design and execute iron grilles and carved stone door frames in St. Peter's 1) Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, commissioned 1634,interior completed in 1641; façade designed in 1665; completed 1677 - Most celebrated commission of his - Undulating facade and interior wals offer such a neat example of mythical "BAROQUE" architext's preference for cruves over flat surfaces and complexity over simplicity that it has become the canonical example of a "Baroque" church New plan for small churches began to resemble San CARLO--> first independent commission in Rome and wanted to show what he could do when not under Bernini's control - Here and elsewhere Borromini worked with limitations of space and budget that Bernini never faced Patrons: Spanish Discalced Trinitarians - Borromini laid out the various components of new onastery in small plot of land on corner of two busy streets with great ingenuity, fitting church, sacristy, refectory, library, dormitory, as well as small cloister into slightly under half of the trapezoidal lot, leaving the rest free for a garden. The cloister is no mere parade of columns supporting a cornice around a rectnagular space. Paris fo columns at the angles flank convex protrusions of the walls that buttress an arched opening at each end. Two similar arhced openings along each side. Smaller columns support the upper walkway with its ingenious balustrade whose vase shaped balusters are alternately inverted. Creates a rhythmic ripple of interest in an other wise austerely simple design of anadorned surfaces. thE CHURCHES oval plan is indented by two convex intrusions in the long sides. The entrance and main altar face each other on long axis; two more altars fill the concave centers of the long sides. The oval dome is supported on four semi domes, two small ones at each end, to larger ones at each side, that create pendentives filled with irregular ovals containing stucco reliefs depicting events in the life of St. Charles Borromeo, to whom the church is dedicated Dome deocrated with interlocking crosses, octagons, hexagons, diminishing in size to make it seemtaller than it is. At its summit in the lantern is a triangle containing an image of the dove of the Holy Ghost. The triangle refers to Holy Trinity, for what the order is named. - his departure from roman architecture esepcially easy to pic out when looking at his decorative details. --> cross versus romans putting rosette 2) Borromini, Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, 1642-50 - other church commission which head complete control, fit into a square space at end of existing rectangular cloister. - west facade and interior decoration took longer (finished after 1650) - View from entrance to clositer wshows how skillfully Borromini inserted his original centrally planned chruch into its conservative 16th century setting. By carrying both levels of the arcades of the cloister across his concave facade, he belended the old and the new. The arches are filled in, however with smaller arches and windows, except the central wones which contian the main door and a largewindow above. Outer dome roof rises in stages like that of the pantheon, though these tsteps are smaller and curved to conform to the interior desing. Above it all is a cupola with 6 pairs of small columns lined of with 6 ribs of the dome. Spiral ramp edge wit small flames rising to a crowning element of wrought iron with a globe and cross at its summit completes composiiton. MOST ORIGINAL DOME IN ROME, To be noted is the symbolism of its plan based on 6 pointed star representing wisdom, that is, "sapienza" - Great architect of the period, big personality, trained as stone mason and architect, trained in Milan - Bernini andn Borromini, Baldacchino, St. Peter's, 1624-1633. Gilded bronze, approx. 100 feet high, we r gonna say he influenced in even though other people don't always say that o Believe we should give him credit because part of the architecture that occurs was something that was so interesting to Borromini, and was the guy doing the architecture and structure. We know he carved the coates of arms of the pope down there, but we can assume he also did other things despite Bernini being considered main sculptor - Borromini came to Rome in 1619, worked with Maderno - Connects with Bernini in 1624 and then begins to work on that monument • San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (San Carlino), 1638-67 o Four fountains at the courner/intersection of the two streets; Borromini's first independent commission, done for relatively poor order of monks. On a very restricted lot, small lot kind of trapezoid shaped. o Façade actually done after the exterior of the building o Has this kind of flexibility to it, a sort of movement built into it (undulating form) o Interior—oval shape o Crypt o Cloister (opening to sky) o He kind of cuts the corners o Alternating vase shaped columns o Most baroque buildings in Rome are very classical, however this is kind of strange. o Borromini known as a fantastical person, lots of ideas, thinks of lots of things, can be seen in details like the vase shaped columns o Oval dome, much more dynamic form than circle. Walls themselves create this diamond kind of thing but the interior design within the dome = really complicated array of geometrical figures that fit together, hexagons, crosses, etc. Cross is dominant; forms bigger at the bottom and becomes smaller towards center/top tricks you into thinking the dome is even higher than already is o Outside designed just before death o Exterior, lots of concave shapes, some things coming forward others going back (banner = convex), really feels like its moving. Details also really quite amazing, a lot of sculpture built into this. o Lantern thing on top of building that lets light into o Patrons absolutely loved it, people were asking for the plans from San Carlo • Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, 1642-50 o Borromini feels at some level he should make things fit with what's already there o Motif of round arch with this pilaster, door and two windows above in center carry the theme of what was there before, but the curves over the windows have more depth and are bordering Squares o Pushing inward and pushing outward sense (concave vs. convex) o Reference to pantheon in the top part with the step like things, also possible he could be referring to Michelangelo's dome of St. Peter's -> kind of lines himself up with the two most famous domes in Rome o Because he was so fantastical, so many ideas he became isolated after conflict with Bernini and some other patrons. Grew melancholic, then committed suicide and killed himself with his own sword