San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane: A Masterpiece of Italian Baroque Architecture
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (by Borromini)
a) Historical Context
The architectural work was built between 1634 and 1667. During the seventeenth century, Europe experienced a confrontation between Catholicism and Protestantism. One of these clashes was the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), which marked the decline of Spain, exemplified by the loss of Holland in 1648. In France, the absolutism of Louis XIV emerged, leading to a centralized bureaucratic state. This form of government faced opposition from two fronts: the parliament in England and the Enlightenment thinkers and the French Revolution of 1789 in France. New powerhouses emerged in Europe: Russia and the Austro-Hungarian crown.
In Italy, particularly within the Papal States, there was a flourishing of courts. Italy faced a unique situation as its territories became battlegrounds for European powers like France and Spain. This led to a distinct political and administrative structure in Italy, especially within the Papal States.
Culturally, Baroque art originated in Rome and steadily became the focal point of European art. The ideology of the Counter-Reformation heavily influenced artistic forms. Art was sponsored by popes or affluent families, often belonging to the clerical nobility. Art collectors gained significant importance. The Counter-Reformation served as the ideological foundation for the cultural and Roman Catholic world.
b) Architectural Style
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane embodies the Italian Baroque style, characterized by its Catholic and Counter-Reformation influences.
Spatial Characteristics:
- Dynamic Space: Achieved through ellipses, counter-curves, and curves, breaking away from the static formulas of classical tradition.
- Illusionistic Space: Created through optical effects, perspective, and decoration. Light and lighting effects play a crucial role in generating spatial illusions, enhancing the theatricality of the architectural order and maintaining a sense of playfulness. The space appears to extend beyond the ceiling, capturing a sense of infinity.
- Unitary Open-Plan Space: Characterized by a single nave covered by a dome. The use of a complex, dynamic, theatrical plan filled with colors and light contributes to the internal unity. The space is diaphanous, allowing for unobstructed views.
Structural Characteristics:
The structure retains classical elements, but with innovative applications. Pillars, columns, and entablatures are classical in nature. The main element rests on an undulating wall, combining convex and concave shapes. The columns attached to the wall serve a decorative function. They are giant, composite columns, combining Ionic (columns) and Corinthian (acanthus leaves) elements.
Conceptual Characteristics:
While noble ideology still held sway in Europe, Protestant countries witnessed the rise of the bourgeois class. Catholic countries maintained the validity of traditional society. This difference between Protestant and Catholic Europe led to wars fought by various states in defense of their respective religions. Art became a tool for propaganda, with artists serving as messengers.
Baroque art integrated all art forms, but architecture held primacy. It expressed the pessimistic, realistic, and self-aware mood of seventeenth-century humanity, emphasizing theatricality and illusion.
c) Plan and Interior
Type of Plan:
The plan is a studied and complex rhomboid shape. It is considered scheduled due to the presence of two equilateral triangles and symmetrical because of its horizontal and vertical axes.
Parts of the Interior Space:
The interior features an oval plan upon which intricate, winding, and undulating elements are layered, creating a dramatic fusion. Sixteen giant columns support the entablature-shaped cornice that follows the outline of the church plan. These columns mold the wall, giving it its own rhythm, and their disproportionate scale creates an illusion of a smaller space.
Despite the small dimensions, the concave shape of the undulating wall creates a sense of dynamism. The columns, arranged in groups of four, connect the plan and the dome. The interior is richly decorated with architectural and sculptural elements, highlighting the transformation of functional elements (like columns) into decorative ones.
The rejection of simple geometric approaches, the use of a complex plan, the dynamic and theatrical space, the interplay of colors and light, the use of the dome, and the undulating walls all contribute to the creation of a unified interior space that maximizes movement. These elements, combined with the treatment of light, both direct and indirect, create a clear spatial illusionism that enhances the theatricality of the whole.
d) Exterior and Facade
Parts of the Exterior Space:
The facade is divided into two distinct levels that maintain a close correspondence. A giant order of columns is repeated on both floors, coexisting with a minor order of columns and horizontal openings shaped like niches, all topped with a type of entablature. The ground floor cornice is replicated on the upper floor, culminating in a pediment-like structure.
The Corinthian capitals are stylistically consistent, but the curves spiral outward instead of inward.
Parallel Elements:
This work draws inspiration from architectural halls with Corinthian columns. The freestanding columns create a sense of perspective, depth, and movement. The entablature above forms concave and convex shapes, with protruding and moving lines and surfaces. The interplay of volumes accentuates the play of light and shadows, creating different effects throughout the day. The undulating wall serves as the primary supporting element. Above the entablature, an intermediate body formed by four arches with shell-shaped heels supports the dome.
Supported Elements:
The architectural work is crowned by a dome. The center of the dome features coffers with an oriental influence. At the apex, a skylight allows natural light to enter.
Structure of the Facade:
The facade is divided into two floors separated by a heavy entablature. It is further divided into six streets: three on the first floor and three on the second. The two side streets are concave and convex, while the central street is convex. The main streets are more prominent and elaborately decorated, combining giant composite columns with smaller columns beneath. The cornice and balustrade are emphasized, adding to the facade’s majesty.
The lower level features niches, with the niche above the door dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo, the founder. The undulating facade is crowned with a medallion that breaks the entablature. The movement is generated by the interplay of the various elements that make up the facade and its structure, designed with alternating indentations, projections, concave and convex shapes.
Ornaments:
Decoration plays a significant role. The decorative elements include the columns, the eye images in the niches, the balustrade, and the entablature.
e) Meaning and Function
Meaning:
The idea of change is emphasized through the spatial composition, the use of ornamentation, the treatment of light, the dynamic structures, and the predominance of form over function.
The work, commissioned to honor a saint, underscores the importance of venerating saints (and their relics), a concept criticized by Protestants. In line with the Counter-Reformation, it aims to evoke feelings and emotions in the faithful, promoting socially conservative models of acceptance.
The theatricality and illusionism offer an escape from the daily miseries and reflect the pessimistic mood of seventeenth-century humanity. The Baroque style, evident in this dynamic religious building, emphasizes the pursuit of infinity (through the use of curved lines, volumes, and spatial depth), a taste for theatricality and grandeur. The Baroque appeals to the senses and serves as an instrument of the Catholic Church.
This work is a testament to Bernini’s profound religious devotion.
Function:
In this work we box functions:
– Aesthetics: Roman beautify (for location), giving the sense of a greatness, to reflect lAutoritat Rome and, by extension, the Papacy.
– Propaganda, both religious and church Lorde.
– Teaching-ideological (catechist), the teachings of the church to display Counter.
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