week 12

Gianlorenzo Bernini 1598- 1680
-father was a sculptor
-at 9 began working w/ him and would be one of sculptors on the chapel for pope paul v
-would become the most famous artist in Europe
-was the favorite of eight successive popes including Urban VIII whose relationship was very important at the beginning of his career
-he was very literate, well liked, brilliant organizer
-created a studio that was able to produce and function for him on the many large scale projects he was involved
-was a family man and a religious man
-compared to Michelangelo and Raphael in that he was the personification of his age as they had been in theirs

Baldachin, 1624-33
-Bernini, St. Peters, Rome
-the was a problem of casting on such a large scale(90 ft tall) due to the large size of the pillars and it would take 3 years to cast them in bronze
-he designed spiral columns inspired by those still in the basilica from the high alter of old st. peters which according to legend, had been brought by Constantine from the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem
-there was a combination b/w architecture and engineering to solve the problem
-it is not solid, illusionism of materials is used
-theatrical approach, element of dramatic qualities
-cornice looks as though solid brick guilded, material of scrolls are actually wood w/ brass sheets over them
-thinks about architecture as though figural sculpture
-columns in barlequino look like the columns of old st. peters
-makes the tassels to seem as a material rather than bronze

-spiral columns have olive branches on them- actually took olive branches and guilded them
-he has a playful side shown by use of symbols a bee the barbarini bees(for pope who commissioned it) laying the identity of the pope onto this sacred work
-assistant he was using may have contributed to some of the more practical notions (boromini) he probably designed the ornate scrolls at the top of the Baldachin

Cornaro Chapel 1645-52
-Bernini, Rome
-the left transept of S. Maria della Vittoria
-sense of rhythmic alternation of concave and convex, having multiple planes
-Bernini possessed the unique ability to capture, in marble, the essence of a narrative moment with a dramatic naturalistic realism which was almost 
shocking.

-the chapel is decorated with stuccos and frescos
-view of side figures, 1647-52, Bernini--->
<--Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Four Rivers Fountain 1648-51
-Bernini, Rome
-obelisk and relationship of fountain to entire urban space, water is to elevate obelisk even higher
-had members of his studio execute this
-see interest of art and nature, uses different kinds of water effects in the sculpted elements
-at top of obelisk is a dove with an olive branch (dove represents Christianity, holy spirit and olive branch represents the arch suggesting the domination of Christianity)

S. Andrea al Quirinale 1668-1671
Bernini, Rome 
-was built for the Jesuit novitiate with financial assistance from the members of the Pamphili family, descendents of the late Pope Innocent X
-creates an ovally planned church due to the space given due to being on the street
-gives more space. the site is shallow and constricted
-chose a transverse oval for the plan because the space was wider then it is deep
-exterior and interior can be read as communicating some of the same ideas
-on façade connecting it to other buildings are concave wings on the sides
-alternation of concave and convex up and down and across
-idea of a projecting porch rather than a flat façade
"reaching out to welcome the congregation" (Varriano, 91)
-interior carried out in a very rich marble (red and white)
-pilasters and engaged columns to put attention onto the alter, and it is illuminated by a lantern giving of a golden light

-broken pediment (Baroque) at the top is St. Andrew going up towards the dome and seems to be a symbolic heaven
-he uses sculpture to tell a story
-on the lantern there is a ring of little cherubs and in the base of the lantern is a dove of the hold spirit
-very strong connection b/w natural and architectural
-use of coffering and ribs denies the traditional structure of each

St. Peters Facade 1626
Carlo Maderno, Vatican City, Rome

Early Baroque architect- Carlo Maderno
-he makes the step from renaissance to baroque
-w/ his use of a new scale and a sense of theater
-projecting and recessing elements have a kind of dynamic quality in a monumental and theatrical way
-façade of st. peters stands out as a different and monumental look
-use spacing for an emphasis on the central (1626)
-now is a kind of movement of the entire surface not just the orders
-center almost standing out as a separate unit
** Bernini proposed towers, similar to those planned by Maderno, (1637) but cracks began to appear in the substructure and work on them was abandoned

St. Peters Square 

-Bernini, Vatican City, Rome
-Pope Alexander VII was elected in 1655 and called for a great colonnaded piazza

-1656 given commission to regularize the external space

-need to accommodate large crowds for function of the pope and wanted to accommodate visual appearance of façade and dome from a distance

-his idea of pilgrim approaching St. Peters would be that you would see indicators of it from afar such as the dome only would have been experienced once one entered the oval and then the trapezoidal area

-piazza he creates has a double portico which is lower so the entire façade would be visible

-had to take into account the obelisk 

-from correct perspective appears to be only one column on the loggia although there are four 

*unusual that there are Doric orders yet there is no triglpth metopy frieze 

-he did not intend you to approach straight on, he intended it to be a keyhole shape(a small trapezoid with a large oval)
-four rows of columns converge, overlap and separate

Scala Regia, 1663-66
-Bernini, Vatican Palace, Rome
-Alexander XII
-a grand ceremonial staircase leading from the narthex of the Basilica and North Colonnade into the Vatican Palace 

- the regularity of the columns changes illusion that it is equal, the space is in a trapezoidal rather than rectangular form
-Bernini, "Made every effort to construct a handsome but functional corridor in an anomalous space with a minimal amount of recognizable artifice" (p. 86, Varriano) 

-Venetian window shape is used 

-distance b/w columns and wall are different 

-at the landings he would also create other sculptural elements from castille to the palace