HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2 - MIDTERM - BAROQUE & REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE

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BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE- architecture of the curved line

General Features

The fundamental characteristic of Baroque art is dynamism (a sense of motion).

Strong curves, rich decoration, and general complexity are all typical features of Baroque art.
While the full-blown Baroque aesthetic (full Baroque) was embraced in southern Western
Europe, northern Western Europe struck a classical-Baroque compromise (restrained
Baroque).
The full Baroque aesthetic emerged during the Early Baroque (ca. 1600-25), then culminated
during the High Baroque (ca. 1625-75); both periods were led by Italy.
The restrained Baroque aesthetic culminated during the Late Baroque (ca. 1675-1725).
The Baroque age concluded with the French-born Rococo style (ca. 1725-1800), in which the
violence and drama of Baroque was quieted to a gentle, playful dynamism.
The Late Baroque and Rococo periods were led by France
phase of the Baroque age
Early Baroque (ca. 1600-25)
High Baroque (ca. 1625-75)
Late Baroque (ca. 1675-1725)
Rococo (ca. 1725-1800)

leading region
Italy

France

Baroque architecture is distinguished primarily by richly sculpted surfaces.

Whereas Renaissance architects preferred planar classicism (flat surfaces veneered in
classical elements), Baroque architects freely moulded surfaces to achieve
three-dimensional sculpted classicism.
And while the surface of a Renaissance building is typically neatly divided into sections (in
accordance with classical clarity and order), a Baroque surface is treated as
a continuous whole.
Indeed, a Renaissance facade often consists of many similar sections, such that one's eye is
not drawn to any particular part of the building.
A Baroque facade, on the other hand, often features an attention-grabbing concentration of
rich elements (e.g. curved walls, columns, blind arches, statues, relief sculpture) around a
central entrance.
Churches are the most splendid form of Baroque architecture in Italy,
while chateaux (country mansions) are the outstanding Baroque works of France.
England should also be noted in a discussion of Baroque architecture, for two reasons. Firstly,
this period featured Christopher Wren, often considered the greatest of all English architects.
Wren designed many of London's buildings after the Great Fire, including his masterpiece, St
Paul's Cathedral.
Secondly, the Baroque age witnessed the rise of Palladian style architecture in England, which
became massively popular during the subsequent Neoclassical period.

EARLY BAROQUE
1) Carlo Maderno

The foremost pioneer of Baroque architecture

His masterpiece is the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica

(RIGHT), Vatican City. (Constructed under various

architects throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, Saint Peter's features a mixture
of Renaissance and Baroque components, the facade
being one of the latter.)

The facade of Saint Peter's contains a number of typical

Baroque elements, including double columns (close-set pairs of columns), layered

columns, colossal
columns(columns that
span multiple stories),
and broken
pediments (in which the
bottom and/or top of a
pediment features a gap,
often with ornamentation
that "bursts through" the
pediment).
All of these elements were
pioneered during the Late
Renaissance, in mannerist architecture.
St Peter's also makes extensive use of coffered ceilings, a common feature of monumental
Western architecture. (A "coffer" is a sunken ceiling panel, typically square, rectangular, or
octagonal in shape.)

HIGH BAROQUE
2) Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Famous works 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.
His most famous building is likely the small

church of Sant'Andrea al
Quirinale (RIGHT)("Saint Andrew's on
Quirinal Hill"). Quirinal hill is one of the
"seven hills of Rome"

3) Francesco Borromini

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 (LEFT)("Saint Charles at the Four
Fountains"). This building is also found on Quirinal
Hill.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2 - MIDTERM - BAROQUE & REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE

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. (below)
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-Baroqu
e 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
(above,

an example of A Russian Palace inspired by

Versailles)

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ROCOCO

Rococo artists embraced the curves and

elaborate ornament of Baroque, but reigned in
its weighty drama.
The result was a gentle, playful style typified by
pastel colours and delicate, asymmetrical
decoration.

Though most
Rococo art was
centred
in France (the
birthplace of the
style), Rococo
architecture
culminated
in Austria and
southern
Germany,
especially in the form of churches

NOTES:

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2 - MIDTERM - BAROQUE & REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE

18TH - 19TH CENTURY REVIVALISM: NEOCLASSICISM + ROMANTIC ARCHITECTURE

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The Rotunda, University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson (1822-26)

GENERAL FEATURES

As the elaborate age of Baroque and Rococo drew to a close, appreciation for classical
restraint resurfaced.
This trend was accelerated by the excavation of numerous ancient ruins, both Roman (e.g.
Pompeii) and Greek (e.g. Athens), which rekindled interest in antiquity and expanded classical
architectural vocabulary.Such excavations also made clear the distinct architectural styles of
the Greeks and Romans.
This finally allowed architects to deliberately design buildings that were purely Greek, purely
Roman, or a Greco-Roman hybrid.
Concurrent with Neoclassical architecture was the Gothic Revival, a British-born movement.
Gothic Revival (aka Neogothic) may be considered the architectural manifestation
of Romanticism, given the Romantic affinity for medieval nostalgia and the wild, fanciful
nature of the Gothic style (as opposed to the restraint and order of classicism). (It should be
noted that Gothic construction had never gone completely dormant in Western Europe, given
the style's suitability for churches and university buildings.)
Neoclassicism and Neogothic flourished across Western Europe (especially in the north) and
the United States, and to a lesser extent in Eastern Europe.
Both aesthetics thrived in the form of sacred and secular architecture.
Indeed, construction in these styles diminished only gradually in the twentieth century, and even
continues (to a limited extent) to this day
For most of history, temples (buildings for religious ceremony) and palaces (grand residences)
served as the leading forms of monumental architecture. During the Neoclassical/Romantic era,
these building types were superseded by government architecture (e.g. legislatures, courts,
public service buildings, schools) and commercial architecture (e.g. office and apartment
buildings, performing arts centres, transportation terminals). Today, government and
commercial buildings dominate cityscapes the world over
It should be noted that while Neoclassical and Neogothic architecture were the main focus of
this period (ca. 1750-1900), they were accompanied by a variety of less popular styles. In
addition to Gothic, Romanesque was also revived; the resulting style is known specifically
as Neoromanesque, though the term "Neogothic" is often stretched to include it. Likewise, the
term "Neoclassical" is often stretched to include the Neobaroque aesthetic.
This period also featured significant influence from non-Western art and architecture.
Elements were borrowed from such exotic traditions as Islamic, Indian, Chinese, and Egyptian

2. Palladian architecture - is derived from the villas of Andrea Palladio, the greatest architect of
the Late Renaissance. Palladio, like famous
artists generally, was followed by
many successors who absorbed and worked
in his style

THREE MAIN TYPES

1. Temple style buildings - were uncommon during the Renaissance; architects of that period

focused mainly on applying classical elements to churches and modern buildings (e.g. palazzos, villas).
Temple style architecture exploded during the Neoclassical age,
thanks largely to wider familiarity with classical ruins. Many
temple style buildings feature a peristyle (a continuous line
of columns around a building), which is rarely found in
Renaissance architecture.
The most famous
temple style
buildings of the
Neoclassical age
may be
the Panthon (ABOVE)(Paris, by Jacques-Germain
Soufflot) and the British Museum (RIGHT) (London, by Robert Smirke). The former
is Roman-based (modelled after the Pantheon in Rome), while the latter is Greek-based.

The most famous Palladian architect of

the Neoclassical period is
Britain's Robert Adam, who designed
many fine country houses. These
mansions illustrate that while Palladian
architecture shares certain basic
features (derived from the villas of
Palladio), it takes diverse forms. For instance, Adam's design for Osterley Park (above)
includes a classical gateway, corner towers,
and a courtyard, none of which are found in
any villa by Palladio. Another famous
example of Adam's creativity is the facade
of Kedleston Hall (left), which mimics a
triumphal arch.

The most famous of all Palladian

buildings are two American civic buildings,
the White House and United States
Capitol. Both were constructed over long
periods under various architects.
The buildings usually feature a balustrade (a railing with vertical supports) along the edge of
the roof. (The vertical supports within a balustrade are known as "balusters" or "spindles".) The
balustrade is a common classical method of crowning a building that has a flat/low-lying roof.

Monticello (house in virginia, thomas

jefferson (right)

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2 - MIDTERM - BAROQUE & REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE

3. CLASSICAL BLOCK
A classical block building features a vast

rectangular (or square) plan, with a flat (or

low-lying) roof and an exterior rich in classical
detail.

The exterior is divided into multiple levels, each of

which features a repeated classical pattern,
often a series of arches and/or columns. T

he overall impression of such a building is an

enormous, classically-decorated rectangular block.
(The classical block aesthetic is also known as
"Beaux-Arts style", since it was developed
principally by the French cole des Beaux-Arts.)
The leading early practitioner was Henri Labrouste, whose masterpiece is the Library of

Sainte-Genevive. (RIGHT)
The most famous classical block of all is

the Palais Garnier, 1860-75,a Neobaroque

opera house designed by Charles Garnier
(LEFT)
classical block architecture flourished most

strongly in the United States, particularly in

New York

4. GOTHIC REVIVAL

The Gothic Revival movement was initiated in

the late eighteenth century by wealthy British
pursuing the Romantic dream of living in a
castle.
Consequently, the earliest Gothic Revival
buildings were simply country houses
embellished with a veneer of Gothic
elements.
Over the ensuing decades, however, architects thoroughly
revived the Gothic aesthetic and building techniques, allowing
them to design authentically Gothic structures.
The style was especially popular for churches and public
buildings.
Neogothic buildings feature castellation: crenellated walls and
towers in imitation of medieval castles. Indeed, heavily
castellated Neogothic buildings are often referred to as "castles",
even though they never served a defensive purpose
Gothic Revival flourished throughout the West, especially
in Britain and the United States.
The two favoured

building materials were stone and brick.

The foremost Gothic Revival monument of Britain

is Westminster Palace (aka the Houses of

Parliament (1839-52) ), by Charles Barry (LEFT)

the crowning American work is St. Patrick's

Cathedral (New York) 1858-79 , by James Renwick
(ABOVE)

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