EASTERN VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ALLIED DISCIPLINE

TACLOBAN CITY

ARCH 252 History of Architecture 2

Research No. 02- Baroque and Rococo Architecture

Prepared By:
Aidyl Kate A. Bernal
BSAR-2B

Presented To:
Ar. Claudette De Veyra, uap
Instructor

November 2020
Introduction to Baroque Architecture
Baroque Architecture is an architectural style that emerged in the late 16th-century
Italy to achieve a dramatic, impressive appearance. It was a more theatrical version of
Renaissance architecture, with dramatic lighting and color, illusory effects such as trompe
l’oeil, and designs that played games with architectural features, sometimes leaving them
incomplete.

During a period of chaos for the Catholic Church, baroque architecture expanded. It
was part of a response to the Protestant Reformation, where reformers led a series of
challenges that culminated in the Catholic Church being rejected by Protestants. The latter
responded with the Counter Reformation, which was a series of reforms, but also a display
of power and wealth meant to reaffirm the church's status in society and faith. You could
consider early Baroque architecture, which focused on churches, as a visual form of
propaganda promoting the church. Baroque architecture spread through Europe, including
England and Spain, and as far away as South America.

Baroque architecture was deeply emotional. All those shadows and curves created a
sense of movement and a powerful impression. It was an attempt, through architecture, to
pull people back to the Catholic Church. Baroque is characterized by spatial complexity and
drama created by light from undisclosed sources. Its effects were achieved through the
dynamic play of concave against convex curves to create illusions and dissolve physical
boundaries.

BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

Opulent and dramatic churches with irregular shapes and extravagant ornamentation
from the word BAROCCO, means “bizarre” Extravagant, exuberant new style.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Complicated shapes with curved and oval forms

2. Deliberately incomplete architectural elements

3. Dramatic use of light

4. Illusory effects such as Trompe l'oeil paintings. French for "fool the eye," is a
decorative paint technique used to create a false impression of perspective on a flat wall or
ceiling.
 Baroque architecture was meant to make a statement. Structures often had grand
curving walls and elongated, distorted architectural elements.

Niches (recessed areas in walls for sculptures), porticoes (covered entrance porches),
and columned arcades (rows of columns covered by a roof) increased the interplay of light
and shadow, making structures seem dramatic.

Baroque architecture also included massing or grouping of elements like columns and
pilasters (square pillars that aren't completely freestanding) to make structures seem
impressive and substantial. It often repeated architectural elements across surfaces.

Interiors were full of bold colors and decoration. They had rich surface treatments,
including plenty of gilt, or very thin layers of gold.

A. PLANS
 Long narrow naves replaced by broader or circular forms

 Baroque architects prefer the oval and the Latin cross which implied a feeling
of movement on their longer axes
 A number of ecclesiastical buildings of the Baroque period in Rome had plans
based on the Italian paradigm of the basilica with a crossed dome and nave,
but the treatment of the architecture was very different than what had been
carried out previously.
B. WALLS
  Facades are treated more like sculpture and often features an attention-
grabbing concentration of rich elements (e.g. curved walls, columns, blind
arches, statues, relief sculpture) around a central entrance.
C. DECORATION AND ORNAMENTS
 Ornate finishings: The ceiling frescoes in this type of architecture are usually
large scale. One feature that is common with Baroque architecture is the use of
ornaments, plaster or marble finishing that give it a decorative look.
 The interiors became shell for paintings and sculpture


ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES

THE GESU- ROME, ITALY by Giacomo Barozzi Da Vignola

The Gesu is the transition church between the High Renaissance and Baroque.
Vignola’s church was longitudinal church with an open, aisles, barrel vaulted interior, free of
the columns, aisles, chancel, and other units that distracting worshipers and separating them
from the pulpit and altar. This was part pf the new ‘psychology’ of architecture in which the
church was oriented toward worshiper.

Della Porta’s design for the façade of the Gesu reflected the new dynamic spirit of
the Baroque. The entrance bay became a strong visual center as the volume of the orders
increased towards the center. The central cornice was pushed forward and the entrance portal
is set into a bay projecting even farther forward. ‘

The Gesu- Rome, Italy by Giacomo Barozzi da

Vignola
 FACADE OF SANTA SUSANNA by Carlo Maderno: The design elements of this
church signaled a departure from the prevailing Mannerist style of architecture at the time.

It is one of the most expressive examples of the vitality of early Baroque architecture in
Rome.
Represents a move from the flat surfaces of the Renaissance to the more sculptural surfaces
of the Baroque.

SAINT PETER’S- VATICAN, Rome, Italy (1606-1612) architect: Carlo Maderno

Maderno designed a balcony for the façade for papal benedictions that fit well with
Michelangelo’s original temple front design. But on the façade, Maderno emphasized the
central aisles with full, engaged columns while the side aisles had flat, pilasters. Maderno’s
revisions to the nave and façade brought St. Peter’s into the Early Baroque phase.
 The same concerns with plasticity, massing, dramatic effects, and shadow and light
are evident in the architectural work of Pietro da Cortona, illustrated by his design of Santi
Luca e Martina (of which construction began in 1635) with what was probably the first
curved Baroque church façade in Rome. These concerns are even more evident in his
reworking of Santa Maria della Pace (1656–8). The façade of the building, with its
chiaroscuro half-domed portico and concave side wings, closely resembles a theatrical stage
set and projects forward so that it substantially fills the tiny trapezoidal piazza .

SANTA MARIA DELLA PACE: Pietro da Cortona restored the edifice of Santa
Maria Della Pace, adding a Baroque façade.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The piazza, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is formed principally by two
colonnades of free-standing columns centered on an Egyptian obelisk . Bernini’s own
favorite design was his oval church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, decorated with polychrome
marbles and an ornate gold dome. His secular architecture included the Palazzo Barberini
(based on plans by Maderno) and the Palazzo Chigi-Odescalchi (1664), both in Rome.
 ST. PETER’S SQUARE BY GIAN LORENZO BERNINI: St. Peter’s Square is an
iconic example of Baroque theatricality.

In Madrid, a vernacular Baroque with its roots in Herrerian and in traditional brick
construction was developed in the Plaza Mayor and in the Royal Palace of El Buen Retiro,
which was destroyed during the French invasion by Napoleon’s troops. Its gardens still
remain as El Retiro park. This sober brick Baroque of the 17th century is still well
represented in the streets of the capital in palaces and squares.

PLAZA MAYOR: Three sides of the Plaza Mayor, well known for its Spanish
Baroque architecture.

The Churriguera family, which specialized in designing altars and retables, revolted
against the sobriety of the Herrerian classicism and promoted an intricate, exaggerated,
almost capricious style of surface decoration known as the Churrigueresque. Within half a
century, they transformed Salamanca into an exemplary Churrigueresque city. Between 1680
and 1720, the Churriguera popularized Guarini’s blend of Solomonic columns and composite
order, known as the “supreme order”. Between 1720 and 1760, the Churrigueresque column,
or estipite, in the shape of an inverted cone or obelisk was established as a central element of
ornamental decoration.
 CARAVACA DE LA CRUZ.: The Churrigueresque column, or estipite, was a
central element of ornamental decoration in the Spanish Baroque, as shown here in the
Estipite in the Church of Caravaca de la Cruz.

CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO DE
COMPOSTELA IN SPAIN.: The facade of the
Santiago de Compostela reflects the
Churrigueresque facade; the lavish details of the
facade have little structural use.
Examples of the most eye-catching
creations of Spanish Baroque are the energetic
façades of the University of Valladolid (Diego
Tome and Fray Pedro de la Visitación, 1719) and
the western façade (or Fachada del Obradoiro) of
the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Fernando
de Casas y Novoa, 1750). In these examples, as in
many others, the Churrigueresque design involves a
play of tectonic and decorative elements with little
relation to structure and function. The focus of the florid ornamentation is an elaborately
sculptured surround to a main doorway. If one removed the intricate maze of broken
pediments, undulating cornices, stucco shells, inverted tapers, and garlands from the rather
plain wall it is set against, the building’s form would not be affected in the slightest.

ROCOCO ARCHITECTURE
Rococo, sometimes called Late Baroque, was a style found in decorative arts,
architecture, and fine arts. The word Rococo is a combination of Italian word barocco and
French word rocaille, that refers to rocks and the shell-shaped ornaments used on fountains. It
emerged in France in the early 1700s, associated not with the church but with a monarch,
namely King Louis XV. It represented a turn away from the heavy emotion and drama of
Baroque architecture to a more lighthearted but still very decorative style. It grew out of the
Baroque, but rejected the heavy, overly emotional elements of that style.

If Baroque represented the power of the church, Rococo represented secular high
fashion. However, while the focus was palaces and manor homes, Rococo was also used on
some churches. It was used for special rooms like salons. Salons were spaces for entertaining
visitors and guests and holding gatherings with the intelligentsia. Rococo was favored by
French aristocrats, and it spread to places where growing aristocratic classes wanted to
demonstrate how fashionable they were. It became popular across Europe in the 18th century,
especially in places like Germany, Poland and Russia. It declined in popularity in France by
the late 1780s, but hung on longer in other places; in fact, some of the most fanciful examples
of Rococo were built in Germany.

Rococo developed first in decorative arts and interiors and spread to architecture. It was used
for special rooms like salons. Salons were spaces for entertaining visitors and guests and
holding gatherings with the intelligentsia. Rococo was favored by French aristocrats, and it
spread to places where growing aristocratic classes wanted to demonstrate how fashionable
they were. It became popular across Europe in the 18th century, especially in places like
Germany, Poland, and Russia. It declined in popularity in France by the late 1780s, but hung
on longer in other places; in fact, some of the most fanciful examples of Rococo were built in
Germany.
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Complicated shapes with curved and spiral forms
2. Asymmetrical forms shaped like shells and plants
3. Light, pastel colors
4. Lighter, more graceful, and more elaborate than Baroque architecture.

FAMOUS BUILDINGS IN ROCOCO

IGREJA DE SÃO FRANCISCO DE ASSIS IN SÃO JOÃO DEL REI, 1749–1774, by the
Brazilian master Aleijadinho

CZAPSKI PALACE IN WARSAW, 1712– 1721, reflects rococo's fascinations of

oriental architecture
 ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH IN KIEV, 1744– 1767, designed by Francesco
Bartolomeo Rastrelli
TERMINOLOGIES
Counter-Reformation: The period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent
(1545–1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years’ War (1648); sometimes considered
a response to the Protestant Reformation.

Baroque: A period in western art from c. 1600 to the middle of the 18th century,
characterized by drama, rich color, and dramatic contrast between light and shadow.

Herrerian: A style of architecture developed in Spain during the last third of the 16th century
under the reign of Philip II (1556–1598) and continued in force in the 17th century,
transformed then by the Baroque current of the time.

Moorish: Of or pertaining to a style of Spanish architecture from the time of the Moors,
characterized by the horseshoe arch and ornate, geometric decoration.

Baroque: A period in western art from c. 1600 to the middle of the 18th century,
characterized by drama, rich color, and dramatic contrast between light and shadow.

Obelisk: A tall, square, tapered stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently
used as a monument.

arcade: A row of arches.

parapet: Part of a perimeter that extends above the roof.

pilaster: A rectangular column that projects partially from the wall to which it is attached; it
gives the appearance of a support but is only for decoration.
References
Architecture of the Baroque
Period.https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/architecture-of-the-
baroque-period/
Baroque and Rococo Architecture. Retrieved from
https://www2.slideshare.net/JoeDerek/baroque-rococo-architecture?qid=05ef149a-33c6-
4b07-8866-5648011b9ea1&v=&b=&from_search=3
Baroque and Rococo pdf. Retrieved from https://www.coursehero.com/u/file/45856137/rw-
baroquerococopdf/?justUnlocked=1#question
Lect 13_Baroque (1). Retrieved from https://www.coursehero.com/u/file/41247387/Lect-13-
Baroque-1ppt/?justUnlocked=1#question