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Il
Gesù, Vignola
1568 -1584
Vignola was a Mannerist. He followed the classical rules but
stretched them to their limits and added embellishments and
ornament that the classicists would not have.
The façade of IL Gesù is a modified,
some say improved, version of Alberti's San Andrea in Mantua.
Mannerist elements can be seen in exaggerated scrolls that and
the broken pediment on the second level. The first level is
two super-imposed Orders with niches and a large crest. The
niches barely contain their scultpures.
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St. Peter's Piazza
1655-67
Bernini is responsible for the
Piazza - 198m (657 feet) wide, which clasps the vast space in
front of the cathedral. It is composed of 284 Tuscan columns
making a four fold colonnade.
The colonnade is kept to low to integrate with the surrounding
space, is symbolic of the protective arms of the church as they
embrace the faithful collected in the square to receive the
words of the pope.
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Baldachino - Bernini
1655-67
For most Baroque design it is
difficult to say where sculpture ends and architecture begins.
This is illustrated in the large ornate canopy covering the
High Altar, which stands over the crypt of St. Peter and under
Bramante's dome.
The whole perspective of the
church converges on this central altar. The Baldachino is 100
feet high (30.5 m) made of bronze.
Four huge twisted bronze columns are more sculptural than structural.
On top of each is a bronze angel flanked by cherubs. The pinnacle
is an orb with a cross supported by huge bees, the symbol of
the Barberini family who paid for it.
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San Andrea al Quirinale Bernini
1633-58
Bernini was also an important
figure creating sculptures in many of the major churches and
works of the time.
This is the best known of Bernini's
churches which are all small, but widely imitated later on.
The protruding vestibule comprises a pair of overlaid plain
Corinthian pilasters, with pedimented entablature above, enclosing
an archway and a semi-circular two-columned porch, on which
is a large, sculptured coat of arms. (Fletcher)
The Quirinale family were a strong
force in Rome.
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San Andrea al Quirinale interior
1658
Behind the sculpted portico
lies an elliptical dome 80 feet by 55 feet across (24m x 16.8m).
The scheme is similar to the Pantheon in that the central area
is surrounded by eight radiating chapels. The walls are very
thick.
Above each clerestory
window is a set of sculpted figures, some adult, some children.
The ribbed dome is inset by sextagonal coffers.
Unlike the Pantheon whose occulus is open, this one is capped
but with enough light to make it appear a floating disk of gold.
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S.
Carlo alle Quattro Fontane 1665 - 67
Borromini
The façade of
this church shows the undulating curves that are typical of
the Baroque era. An exaggerated cornice
above an inscripted architrave
is supported on four composite giant order
columns. The second level within the columned area contains
large exuberant figures. The first level
niches contain crowned, elliptical openings within a secondary
set of columns.
The play of curves and counter-curves is a well
known motif of Baroque architecture. This was the first building
to employ them.
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S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
1665 - 67
The upper section of the façade shows the
same dynamic curves. The central bay curves forward while the
lateral bays curve back. It is a pliant spatial form. The two
angels seem to be flying in front of the church to hold up the
large oval medallion.
Borromini worked in the studio of Bernini, on
the Baldachino and on the Palazzo Barberini. This church, affectionately
known as San Carlino, is the first work that is truly his own.
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S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
1665 - 67
This detail of the corner fountain shows the playfulness
of the overall design.
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Doorway
Across the street is this fabulous door surround
obviously from the same period.
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St. Agnese - Borromini
1652 - 1666
Along with Bernini, Borromini set the tone for
the Baroque age. The façade fronts onto the Piazza Navona
in Rome. Borromini was the most eccentrically imaginative of
all the Roman designers. He was accused of violating good taste
in his pursuit of the new. His anguished, tense, emotional sculpture
is dynamic.
The plan is comparatively restrained, but the
splendid composition with recessed front, twin campanili, and
commanding dome is largely due to Borromini The interior is
by Rainaldi. (Fletcher)
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S. Maria della Pace- Rome -
1656
Originally built by Bramante, the façade
with semicircularportico was redone
by Cortona. Like the Quattro Fontane, this is a study in convex
and concave forms. The heavy pillars and columns provide the
solid structure and the building is woven through them.
This portico may have been copied by Christopher
Wren when he did the South Portal of St. Paul's Cathedral.
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S. Maria della Pace - detail
Here is a detail of the Santa
Maria della Pace. Note the medallion that looks like a coin.
On top of it is a scroll. It is being supported by two cherubs
who are sitting on floral cushions. The scroll is elliptical,
not round. The entablature is plain, but it is not flat, two
small columnar sections protrude on each side.
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Victor Emmanuel
Sacconi 1885
The monument to Victor Emmanuel
II started many years later illustrates the academic application
of Baroque forms.
Great bronze sculptural groups
adorn the paired end pavillions of the colonnaded terrace. In
the center is an equestrian statue of the King. This harkens
back more to the Baroque than to the Renaissance.
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Victor Emmanuel
Sacconi 1885
An interesting Post Modern film
encompassing many concepts of Roman architecture is peter Greenaways
The Belly of An Architect. Like most Greenaway films
it is severely twisted, but an excellent allegory of Roman building
and subsequent intellectual thought.
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Palazzo Barberini _1628
- 38_
This Palazzo was designed by Maderna but was finished
by Bernini and Borromini. The palazzo has no courtyard, but
instead is an H shape. The façade is rhythmic, composed
of Roman Order pediments.
The windows on the inner area are more sculptural.
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Palazzo
16??
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Rococo Design
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Broken Pediment
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Palazzo Barberini
1628-1638
This design was done by Maderna, but executed
by Bernini and Borromini. The two lower floors are fairly standard,
with a straightforward application of the "Roman Order"
design; first floor with engaged Doric columns, and the second
with engaged Ionic. The third floor, however, has the seven
windows treated with perspective. There are overlaid pilasters
leading to the entablature and cornice. Richer ornamentation
and the trick of perspective are what gives this a Baroque air.
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Longhena was the most distinguished Venetian architect
of the period. Santa Maria was designed and built in gratitude
for the end of the plague. It is an octagonal church with temple
fronts on each side capped with oversized scrolled buttresses
supporting a massive circular dome. Atop the buttresses are
acropodiums.
A secondary dome over the altar has the same
general shape and lantern as the central dome.
The façade of the church fronts onto the
This church exemplifies the Venetian Baroque period.
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Palazzo Pesaro
Longhena
This palazzo illustrates how
the Roman palazzo style, with first floor rustication and subsequent
tiers of orders, was translated into Venice. Arches between
the columns show the ornament particular to the Venetian area.
Garlands, swags and lions heads adorn the cornice and show the
decorative style that was typical of the period.
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Baroque
in Spain
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The extreme form of Baroque Classicism seen in Italy was
echoed in Spain with the work of a family of stuccoists
called Churriguera. It took the form of detailing more than
the sculptured undulating façades and elliptical
interiors, but it was as elaborate as anything done in Italy.
The trend was started by Alonso Cano for the Churriga family
in Salamanca and then spread through Spain. It is generally
very elaborate stucco detailing found on door and window
surrounds. Stucco had been seen for centuries in Spain in
the decoration of mosques and palaces for the large Saracen
and Muslim population. The Alhambra in Granada, the palace
in Seville, and the beautiful decoration in the north, Leon,
Salamanca and other centers, set the stage for this movement.
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Prior to the Chirruguesque style in Spain was the Plateresque
style.
Chirruguesque detailing includes a wide variety of subject
matter. Where France has mostly natural elements on the
carving, Spain includes mythological creatures such as centaurs
and griffins, a wide variety of angels, cherubs and putti,
and an equally profuse amount of historical portraits as
can be seen in the images below..
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Cartuja
Monastery Sacristy - Granada
The Plateresque style in Spain was an interesting
mixture of Renaissance and Gothic imagery. The Chirruguerra
style which started in Salamanca and then graveled across Spain
is even more ornate. The sacristy of the monastery shows the
full extent of the exuberant style which can only be described
as Over The Top.
"an embarrassment of mouldings in white stucco,
repeated three or four times like a series of pleats or folds"
Nuttgens
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Cartuja Monastery - Granada
The altar shows a similar passion for layering,
one on top of the other. This is the very opposite of understated
elegance.
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University
of Granada
The main door of the University of Granada has
Solomon columns similar to those in the Baldachino in St. Peter's.
Like Bernini's San Andrea al Quirinale, there are a wide variety
of classical elements, all used in distinctly unclassical ways.
The paired receding columns on the upper level
support an ornate entablature with a broken pediment crowned
by a cartouche. Under this entablature is a niche containing
the robed female figure of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.
The lower level columns are also paired. They
support the Baroque style temple front described above which
is sitting on an entablature that has two broken Florentine
pediments on either side. The bases have the Spanish Muquarna
molding design. The spandrels and the frieze are both decorated
with almost arabesque floral patterns.
Every possible surface is decorated with acanthus
leaves, volutes, scrolls, or orbs.
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Baroque in France
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In Italy Baroque architects were continuing the reinterpretation
of the Classical ideals of the past mixed with the Humanist
ideas of the Renaissance, all tempered by a good sense of
design, but pushing the accepted forms to their very maximum
and adding drama and energy.
Renaissance forms and proportions had taken root in France
as well, and by 1650 architects were following a similar
reinterpretation of forms. This time it was along a much
more philosophical level which incorporated ideas of purity,
austerity and formal discipline. During the Renaissance,
the French had adapted s superficial finish with classical
detailing as the accepted vocabulary. During the Baroque
era in Italy, the French embraced the Italian architectural
treatises and used them to create their own rational system
of harmonies and proportions which resulted in the French
Golden Age of Classical architecture. Examples of this are
the Institute of France, the new
wings of the Louvre, and Mansart's
new wing on Château de Blois.
The style can be seen in Paris for centuries to follow.
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The other side of French architecture during the 17th
and 18th century was an elegant and lighthearted style designed
for the fashionable society in Paris. Decoration was pushed
to the limit. Instead of the simple forms of the classical,
there was a profusion of surface ornament. The style became
known as Rococo or Rocaille after the rocks, shells and
natural elements that were some of the natural forms used
in the decoration. It was first introduced in the Château
de la Menagerie commissioned by Louis XIV for the thirteen
year old fiancée of his eldest grandson. The decoration
was to be light and airy, befitting a child.
Baroque is the architecture of pageantry. It is also the
design for interiors fit for music, string quartets, writing
letters, and courtly flirtations. The frescoes of the French
Baroque period produced by Watteau and Fragonard do much
to illustrate the time. The mixture of the pageantry and
the courtly elegance are seen in Versailles.
Versailles 1675
Jacques Lemercier 1585 - 1654
Francois Mansart 1598 - 1666
Louis Le Vau 1612 - 1670
Le Notre - great gardener
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Institute of France
1662 Louis le Vau
The Institute of France, also known as the "College
of the Four Nations", was constructed for those students
coming from territories which had recently come under French
rule through the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Treaty of
the Pyrenees (1659).
During the Italian Renaissance and the Baroque
periods, France twice invaded Italy. Charles VIII 1494 , Francois
1515 were not impressed with the overall style, but found some
of the detail impressive. The role of the decorative designers
was predominant.
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Louvre
Pavilion de l'Horloge 1650
The Pavilion de l'Horloge was added to the Louvre
by Louis XIII. It lead the way to the more flamboyant designs
commissioned his son Louis XIV in Versailles. As well, this is
where Charles II and Christopher Wren stayed while exiled in
France after the death of Charles I. This building had a huge
impact on English architecture.
As can be seen in the following pictures, roofs
were very important to the French. The Mansard roof, invented
in the Late Renaissance by François Mansard, allows a
row of rooms on the upper and usually fourth floor under the
roof.
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Blois
1635
Francois Mansart
This is one of Mansart's finest works showing
the grand simplicity of the French Classical style. The massing
of the blocks is masterful. Like the Coliseum, the ground floor
has the Doric order, the second level has the Ionic, and the
third or attic story has a truncated version of the Corinthian
order.
The crowning feature of this design is the high
pitched roof with two angles broken by dormers that bears his
name.
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Blois 1635
Francois Mansart
The main door of this wing of Blois was approached
by colonnades with paired and clustered columns.
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Paris
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Paris
Claridges
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Versailles
1675
Louis XIV
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Versailles
Versailles was built in a period of eloquence and
insatiable pageantry. There were no sanitary conveniences. It
was made around Le Notre's grand garden design. The trianon
and the Petit Trianon were built within the palace walls so
that the inhabitants could have a bit of privacy.
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Versailles
Jules Hardouin Mansart 1646 - 1708 is the interpreter
of Louis Xiv architectural ambitions.
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Versailles
1662 Louis le Vau
Francois Mansard 1598 - 1666
Louis Le Vau 1612 - 1670
Le Notre - great gardener
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Versailles
1662 Louis le Vau
Development of the "French Order" started
when Francis I set up his hunting lodge at Fontainbleau into
a design center, thereby setting up the French center of the
Renaissance. Il Rosso and Primaticcio were the court painters
brought in from Italy. They changed their proportions for the
French style. The French had very large fireplaces, large windows
and great chimneys.
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Versailles
1662 Louis le Vau
Francois Mansard 1598 - 1666
Louis Le Vau 1612 - 1670
Le Notre - great gardener
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Versailles
1662 Louis le Vau
Francois Mansard 1598 - 1666
Louis Le Vau 1612 - 1670
Le Notre - great gardener
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Versailles Garden
Le Notre
Parterre - various sized and shaped garden beds
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Baroque
in the North: Russia, Estonia, Belgium and Holland
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The extreme theatricality of the Italian Baroque was not
seen outside Italy.
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Russia
Hermitage
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Russia
Hermitage - corridor
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Estonia
Francois Mansart
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Estonia
Palace of Peter the Great
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Netherlands
Gable
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Bruges
- Belgium
******
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Baroque
in England
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Inigo Jones - was trained in the Palladian discipline and
brought back drawings to England of the Greek and Roman
ruins.
Christopher Wren was as close to Baroque as England ever
became.
Restoration 1660
Great Fire of London 1666
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The Baroque in England is distinctly different from anything
in the rest of Europe.
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Christopher Wren
50 Churches
The great fire of London gave Wren an unparalleled
opportunity for church building. Christopher Wren did not study
architecture, but studied science. He was invited to Paris by
Louis XIV, while there he was introduced to Bernini, Mansard,
and Le Vau.
The Royal Commission to rebuild London, after
the fire, was headed by Christopher Wren.
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Trinity College Library
Cambridge - Wren
We know more about what Wren was actually thinking
when he designed this than in any other building because he
documented his thoughts in a letter sent to the administrator.
Here he is deliberately following the method of the ancient
Romans in creating a double walkway. He studied Palladio's books
extensively for the detailing of the Doric order engaged columns.
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Georgian
Salisbury
This Georgian House with an ornate portal is typical
of the time.
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ST. Paul's Cathedral
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The first of many versions of the cathedral is believed
to have been built by the Saxons in about 604 AD. This cathedral
was built in wood and burned down about ten years after
it was built. The Cathedral was rebuilt a number of times
over the next hundred years, progressing in architecture
and style every time it was rebuilt. The third St. Paul's,
which was built by the Normans, took over two hundred years
to build and was finally completed in the 14th century.
By the 16th century, St. Paul's was severely decaying and
over the next hundred years went through many renovations
until it was destroyed the Great Fire of London in the 17th
century. 1666 to be exact. Christopher Wren built a sanctuary
exactly 6660 inches long.
The story of the new St. Paul's begins with the inscription
RESVRGAM engraved on the first stone laid, meaning 'I resurrect'.
There are many, many great stories attached to this building.
Wren's original design for the cathedral was rejected by
the church as being too modern. The second design, submitted
in 1675, was a domed church in the shape of a Greek Cross.
This, too, was rejected. This time the reason given was
that it was too modern and too Italian (read Catholic).
The scale model of this design, called the Great Model,
can be viewed in the crypt of the present St. Paul's.
Finally in 1675 Wren gave the clergy what they wanted; a
traditional English church design with a long nave and spire.
King Charles II granted Wren a royal warrant approving this
design with the interesting proviso that the architect was
free to make "variations, rather ornamental than essential".
One can almost imagine Charles giving his favorite Wren
a sly wink as this was penned.
On the strength of the Royal Warrant Wren proceeded to quietly
change just about every essential element of the design
the clergy thought they were getting. He got rid of three
bays in the nave, did away with the spire, enlarged the
dome, and raised the aisle walls.
Much of this work proceeded behind scaffolding and protected
from prying eyes. By the time the furious clergy realized
what Wren had done the church was too far gone to be altered.
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They were not the only ones to be hoodwinked by Wren. The
London Building department would not approve the design
for the dome since a dome with that rotunda height topped
by a dome had never been done. The triple-layered dome that
crowns the cathedral is the second largest in the world.
They insisted that Wren have a chain, similar to that put
in Hagia Sophia when it started to crumble, around the bottom
of the dome. Wren put in the chain but was not convinced
that it was necessary. On December 29, 1940, the night of
one of the most devastating German aerial attacks, the Cathedral's
dome caught fire from one of the burning buildings surrounding
it. Flames arose from the dome but did only superficial
damage, it didn't collapse. During the restoration in 1947,
structural engineers noted that the chain at the base of
the dome was built missing one link.
When stone was laid for the centre of the new building,
stones from the Old St. Paul's were used. Wren noticed that
one of the stones was marked with the Latin inscription
"resurgam", "I shall rise again". He
had the word inscribed on the pediment of the south door,
beneath a carved phoenix.
The Phoenix symbolizes rebirth, especially of the sun,
and has variants in European, Central American, Egyptian
and Asian cultures. At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix
builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites;
both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes,
from which a new, young phoenix arises. The new phoenix
embalms the ashes of the old phoenix in an egg made of myrrh
and deposits it in Heliopolis ("the city of the sun"
in Greek), located in Egypt. The bird was also said to regenerate
when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal
and invincible A new phoenix always rises from the ashes.
Ancient sources on the mythological bird include Clement,
Ovid, Pliny, Tacitus and Herodotus. Although descriptions
(and life-span) vary, the phoenix (Bennu bird) became popular
in early Christian art, literature and Christian symbolism,
as a symbol of Christ, and further, represented the resurrection,
immortality, and the life-after-death of Jesus Christ.
The phoenix, not a Christian symbol, is widely used by
Freemasons, as, indeed, is anything coming from Egypt. Wren
was certainly a Freemason as were many of the architects
of his time.
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St. Paul's 1675 - 1715
Christopher Wren
West Façade
St. Paul's was built by Wren after the fire on
the site of a medieval cathedral.
Wren's original plan was for a Greek Cross design.
This was given up for a traditional Gothic design
church, with classical detailing throughout. The clergy ordered
the change because of the services. Height is 366'. The lantern
bell and top are over 850 tons.
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St. Paul's
South Portal
In the pediment of the south portal is an image
of a phoenix . The semicircular portico is almost certainly
taken from Santa Maria della Pace in Rome.
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St. Paul's
Christopher Wren
"One Sunday night (we had been talking over
a morning we had spent in Newgate, and of our hazardous journeys
through the Dens and Kitchens of Whitechapel and Limehouse)
Dore suddenly suggested a tramp to London Bridge. He had been
deeply impressed with the groups of poor women and children
we had seen upon the stone seats of the bridge one bright morning
on our way to Shadwell. By night, it appeared to his imagination,
the scene would have a mournful grandeur. We went. The wayfarers
grouped and massed under the moon's light, with the ebon dome
of St. Paul's topping the outline of the picture, engrossed
him. In the midnight stillness there was a most impressive solemnity
upon the whole, which penetrated the nature of the artist.
"And they say London is an ugly place!" was the exclamation.
"We shall see," I answered.
Victorian London - Publications - Social Investigation/Journalism
- London : A pilgrimage, by Gustave Doré and Blanchard
Jerrold, 1872
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St. Paul's
Christopher Wren
The extraordinary richness of the surface decoration
found on St. Paul's is unusual in Wren's churches. He was probably
influenced by the rich decoration of the Louvre. The carved
panels found below the windows, such as this one, were carried
out by Grinling Gibbons. There are twenty-six carvings, each
different, underneath the round headed windows.
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St. Paul's
Christopher Wren
Even the brackets are richly decorated.
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St. Paul's
St. Paul's is as close to Baroque as England ever
got. Many people think of it as simply Classical, but the undulating
roofline, the extensive use of acropodiums, the overlayed pillars,
and the use of rococos in the niches are all very Baroque.
Wren was working, not with the lavish resources
of the Vatican, but for a Protestant community and a conservative
clergy. Resources were tight, as the whole city was being rebuilt,
and Wren had no formal training as an architect.
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Baroque
Extra Reading and Films
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Books
Gulland, Sandra, Josephine
B. Trilogy , New York, Scribner, 1995
by Sandra Gulland
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Films
Persuasion - Jane Austin's Novel
Restoration - Robert Downey Junior, Meg Ryan
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