Week 13 - Baroque Europe

Plasticity

malleable form (like a clay sculpture)

Dynamism

form that seems to be in motion

Empathy

in architecture, the idea of relating to a building as if it were a body (so that the building seemslike it's moving, for example)

Absolutism

government with an all-powerful ruler

Promenade

circulating for public display (like riding in a carriage up and down a boulevard)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

the premier architect of Baroque-era Rome

Francesco Borromini

anti-social architect of intricate geometries in Baroque-era Rome

Borromini, San Carlino alla Quattro Fontane

1638: intricate geometrical chapel in simple white plaster

Bernini, San Andrea al Quirinale

Rome, 1658: a chapel with lavish materials

Bernini, Piazza of St Peter

1657: oval public square with colossal "curtains" of columns

Le Vau and La Notre, Versailles Palace and Gardens

1680: center of 17 th century absolutism, where thepower of Louis XIV (the Sun King) radiated