^ I (A /'y /;' 5?d CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FINE ARTS LIBRARY Cornell University Library NA 590.B76 1914 Baroque architecture, 3 1924 015 689 775 ^^ Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924015689775 Fig. I. — Venice. S. Maria della Salute. (See pp. 88-90.) ^ '"" ' J^. rfCur'. BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE BY MARTIN SHAW BRIGGS A.K.I. B. A. iAulhor of " In the Heel of Italy " WITH 109 ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY ^ y ; ' 1914 ,iMvMV NA (^Ay n^/i/j reserved) In all ages there have been some excellent workmen, and some excellent work done. — Walter Pater. PREFACE IT is commonly supposed that the purpose of a preface is to explain the scope of a book to those who do not read so far as the first page. There is a touch of cynicism in such an opinion which makes one loth to accept it, but I prefer to meet my troubles half way by stating at the outset what I have emphasized in my last chapter — that this book is not in any way an attempt to create a wholesale revival of Baroque Architecture in England. It is simply a history of a complex and neglected period, and has been prepared in the uncertain intervals of an architectural practice. The difficulty of the work has been increased by the fact that the subject has never been dealt with as a whole in any language previously. Gurlitt in his Geschichte des Barockstiles, published in 1887, covered a considerable part of the ground, but his work is very scarce and expensive. To students his volumes may be recommended for their numerous plans, but for details and general views they are less valuable. In recent years several fine mono- graphs have appeared dealing with Baroque buildings in specific districts, and very recently in a new international series the principal buildings of the period in Germany and Italy have been illustrated. But these books have little or no explanatory letterpress. The bibliographies at the end of each of the following chapters have been compiled with care, and will assist those who wish to carry their researches further than the limits of this modest volume. My thanks are due to the Editors of The Builder and The Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects for their courtesy in allowing me to use much literary material and many illustrations already published in the form of articles. I also wish to acknow- ledge here the kindness of those friends who have assisted me in the preparation of this book, M. S. B. Mill Hill, August^ 19 13. CONTENTS PAGE I. The Nature and Origin of Baroque Architecture 21 Derivation and significance of the words " Baroque " and " Rococo." Limits of Baroq,ue period. A development from late Renaissance types in Italy. Current and past opinion on the style. Various authorities cited. The real facts. Importance of Baroque archi- tecture in Italy and elsewhere. Need for closer study of the period, State of Italy in the seventeenth century. Social and religious, conditions. The Counter-Reformation. The Jesuits and other religious orders, inliuence ot spam, 'ihe later Renaissance archi- tects. Michelangelo, Palladio, Vasari, and Vignola. Th^ir pnsii-ian in regard to the Baroque period. II. Roman Popes and Churches . . -33 State of Rome before Counter-Reformation. Rome the birthplace of Baroque art. Sixtus V and the pompous spirit of his age. Vandalism of the Papal builders.' Wealth and power of the seventeenth-century Popes. Their building schemes. The principal Baroque churches in Rome. S. Peter's, S. John Lateran, S. Maria Maggiore, the Gesii, S. Luigi dei Francesi, S. Maria della Vallicella, S. Andrea della Valle, S. Ignazio, S. Maria della Vittoria. Borromini's churches. S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, S. Ivo alia Sapienza, S. Filippo Neri, S. Agnese. S. Maria in Campitelli, S. Luca e Martina, S. Carlo al Corso, S. Maria della Pace, SS. Vincenzio ed Anastasio, S. Antonio de' Portoghesi, S. Girolamo della Caritk, S. Maria di Montesanto, S. Maria dei Miracoli, SS. Domenico e Sisto, S. Carlo ai Catinari. Late churches. S. Croce in Gerusalemme, S. Cecilia. III. The Work of Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) . 48 Principal architect of seventeenth century in Italy. His close connection vnth the Papacy. Birth and youth. Early sculpture : Cardinal Borghese and Cardinal Barberini (later Urban VIII) his first patrons. His marvellous versatility. He is disgraced owing to an accident at S. Peter's. Returns to favour. His varied work, fame, and death. His architecture analysed. Always sculpturesque. Comparison with work of Michelangelo. His churches, at Castel Gandolfo, at Ariccia, and on the Quirinal. Their interior decoration and treat- ment. His work at S. Peter's — the belfry-towers, colonnade, the Scala Re^a, baldacclAno, reredos. Palazzo Barberini. Palazzo Chigi. Palazzo Ludovisi, Designs for the Louvre at Paris. His journey to France. Decorative details and sculpture. Monumental tombs. Influence of Bernini on posterity. His unique relation to Rome. CONTENTS PACB IV. Roman Palaces and Gardens . . -59 Official palaces of the Papacy. The Vatican, Lateran, Quirinal, etc. Propaganda, Palazzo della Consulta. The earlier private palaces. Palazzi Borghese, Altemps, Gius- tiniani, Lancellotti, Ruspoli, Zuccari. Private palaces of the seventeenth century. Palazzi Sciarra, Rospigliosi, Mattel, Barberini, Monte Citorio, Pamfili, Altieri, S. Calisto, Madaraa, Spada. Later examples. Palazzi Doria, del Grillo, Toni, Bolognetti, Corsini. General principles of palace design in Rome. Difference between palaces and villas in Italy. The origin of the villa. Principles of garden design. Various examples described, in Rome, and at Tivoli, Frascati, Bagnaia, and Viterbo. Minor civic architecture. Number and importance of Roman fountains. Baroque " town-planning " in Rome. V. Genoa . . . . . . .72 Interest of Genoese architecture. History of the city. Condition during seventeenth century. Great wealth and prosperity. Close intercourse with Spain. The " Street of Palaces." Alessi and his buildings. Birth and early career. His Porta del Molo. S. Maria in Carignano. The Via Nuova. Palazzi Cesare Cambiaso, Lercari-Parodi, Rosso, Adorno, Giorgio Doria, Serra, Spinola. Characteristics of Alessi's work. His influence. Another tendency towards Baroque art. Rich mural decoration introduced from Lombardy. Castello and his work. Rocco Lurago and the Municipio. Palazzo Bianco. Bartolommeo Bianco. Palazzi Balbi-Senarega, Durazzo-Pallavicini, and the Universita. Palazzo Reale. Albergo dei Poveri. Baroque churches. S. Ambrogio, SS. Annunziata, S. Maria di Castello, S. Salvatore, S. Siro, S. Giorgio, S. Torpete, S. Carlo, S. Pietro dei Banchi. Civil buildings. The Porta Pila and Borsa. Genoese villas and gardens. Their distinctive features and romantic situation. Gardens of Palazzo Doria. Villas at Sampierdarena, Pegli, San Francesco d'Albaro, and in the city itself. VI, Venice ...... The unique position of Venice. Criticism of Venetian architecture, Ruskin and his teaching. Condition of the city during the seven- teenth century. A great centre for pleasure-seekers. The decadence in social life and its effect on art. Great prodigality of the noble ' families. First indication of Baroque influence. Two famous bridges. 10 83 CONTENTS Late Renaissance churches — S. Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore. S. Maria della Salute, one of the greatest of Baroque churches. Ruskin quoted. Longhena and his work. S. Maria ai Scalzi. S. Maria Zobenigo. S. Lazzaro. S. Moise. S, Eustachio. S. Maria For- mosa. S. Maria dei Gesuiti. S. Maria dei Gesuati. The pompous Baroque tombs in Venetian churches. Principal Baroque palaces. Palazzi Rezzonico, Pesaro, da Lezze, and Labia. The Dogana. The villas and gardens on the mainland near Venice. The Brenta. VII. Northern Italy and the Papal States . 97 The importance of local tradition in the different States of Italy. Geographical division of subject. Turin almost a Baroque city. Its ancient plan. Influence of France very noticeable in architecture, especially in Castello del Valentino. Principal architects in Turin, Guarini and Juvara. Their various works. Pellegrino Tibaldi and his buildings in Northern Italy. Birth and training. Collegia Borromeo at Pavia. Churches at Milan. Novara, etc. Character of his architecture. Other architects in Milan. Ricchini and his palaces. Alessi's Palazzo Marino. The Seminario. S. Alessandro. Villas and gardens in Lombardy and on the Italian lakes. Isola Bella. Villa d'Este, Cernobbio. Castellazzo. Baroque buildings at Brescia, Varese, and Cremona. Scanty memorials of the style in Florence. Pitti Palace and Boboli gardens. Other buildings. Tuscan villas. Verona, Vicenza, and other Venetian towns. The Gran Guardia Vecchia at Verona. Bologna and the Papal States a favourable district for studying Baroque architecture. The seventeenth-century school of Bolognese painters. Their work in church-decoration. The church of the Madonna di San Luca, near Bologna, an interesting example. Street- arcades. Baroque gateways. Minor examples in Parma, Ancona, Viterbo, Orbetello, Civita- vecchia, etc. VIII. The Kingdom of Naples .... 108 Differences between Northern and Southern Italy. Former historical boundaries adopted as a division in this work. The slow progress of the Renaissance south of Rome. Mediaeval tradition surviving, mingled with new Spanish influences. The Spaniards and Jesuits in the kingdom of Naples. The cjty of Naples and its art. Lack of local talent. Painters imported from Bologna and elsewhere. Florid character of Neapo- litan churches. San Martino a typical example. Other churches, " Guglie " and fountains. II CONTENTS PAGE The church of Montecassino. The great palace at Caserta. Lecce a remarkable instance of a Baroque city. Situation and characteristics. Principal buildings described. Other Apulian cities. Barletta and Foggia. Sicilian towns. Palermo and its interesting school of modelhng. Serpotta's works in stucco. A Baroque church at Messina recently destroyed. The cathedrals of Syracuse and Catania. Benedictine convent at Catania. Baroque palaces, villas, and fountains in Sicily. Malta The city of Valetta and its importance in the Baroque period. Fortifications and gateways. The "auberges" of the Knights of S. John. IX. An Analysis of Baroque Architecture in Italy 121 Treatment adopted in this chapter. The uneven progress of the Baroque movement. Advance in planning and design of churches. Lighting. Domes, belfries, and external features. Decoration of fa5ades and interiors. Planning and design of palaces. Staircases, saloons, galleries, libraries, courtyards. Tricks of perspective to increase efffect of size. The design of villas and gardens. Theatres and public buildings. Fountains. Architectural details. Doorways. Windows. Use of the Orders. Roofing. Mouldings. Finials. Secular character of church decora- tion. Use of marble. Colour. Frescoes. Altar paintings. Sculpture. Use of the human figure. Monumental planning a feature of Baroque work. Baroque architects and draughtsmen. X. Baroque Architecture in Germany and Austria 134 Limits of Germany in the seventeenth century. Differences between Renaissance architecture of Germany and Italy. Bavaria the principal centre of Baroque art. The character of German Renaissance build- ings. Comparison with England and France. Strong tradition of Middle Ages. A test for definitions of Baroque architecture. Heidel- berg Castle and other transitional buildings. Arrival of the Jesuits. Their remarkable influence on education. New churches, colleges, and schools erected in great numbers. Effect of their buildings on German architecture generally. XL Some Austrian Cities .... 143 Salzburg an ancient centre of Catholicism. Heresy appears and is crushed by a new Archbishop. His ambitious building projects. His mundane tastes and his love of horses shown in his palace and stables. A new Cathedral designed by Italian architects. The CoUegienkirche and the introduction of Rococo. Other important churches and 12 CONTENTS PAGE palaces. The interesting town-planning scheme in the centre of the city. Fountains. The prince-bishop's villa at Schloss Hellbrun an embodiment of the Baroque spirit. Prague. Importance as capital of Bohemia in seventeenth century. Strength of Italian influence in its architecture. Imperial, Wallenstein, Kinsky, Czernin, Schwarzenberg, and Clam Gallas Palaces. The Villa America. The Klementinum, Loreto, and other religious institutions. S. Nicholas' Church. 3s»>uit CA^/oU . Vienna. Local style more apparent and influence of Italy less obvious. The Jesuit church essentially Italian. Martinelli and the Lichtehstein Palace. The two Fischers von Erlach and their remark- able architectural triumphs. The Karlskirche. Extensive works at the Royal Palace. J. H. von Hildebrandt another successful architect. Kinsky, Belvedere, and Schwarzenberg Palaces. Other towns. Innsbruck, Steyr, Brunn, Durnstein. Kloster Melk. The ceiling-painters of the Tyrol. XII. Some German Cities . . . • ^SS Preponderance of Baroque influence in southern part of Germany. Catholic churches. Munich. S. Michael's Church, Theatine Church, Chapel of die Trinity. Wurzburg, Bamber^^fc".' ■ Other typical Jesuit churches. Importance and immense size of conventual establishments, especially Kloster Einsiedeln near Zurich. Their magnificent planning. Protestant churches. Their different characteristics. Theatre-like arrangements for large congregations. Parallel in England. Eighteenth-century churches in Dresden and elsewhere. Their curious plans.. Steeples of churches in Berlin. Scholastic buildings. The University at Breslau. Larger private country houses and chateaux. Colossal dimensions. Formal gardens. Comparisons with Italian examples. French influence. Interior decoration. Louis Seize features freely adopted. Palaces and large private houses in towns. The Royal Schloss at Berlin. Smaller secular works. The Rathhaus at EUingen. Other small town-halls. Dwelling-houses and market-places. The Rococo movement. The Zwinger pavilion at Dresden. Potsdam. The Classic Revival. XIII. Baroque Architecture in France . . 163 The Renaissance in France a diflicult period for students. Com- parisons showing characteristics of florid buildings in early Renaissance and Baroque periods. The remarkable power of France in the seventeenth century. Historical outline. Influence of Richelieu and Mazarin. Two Medici queens introduce much Italian design. Culminating glory under Louis XIV. 13 CONTENTS FACE Comparatively small success of Baroque movement in France. Paris exceptionally important during period as seat of a very strong central Government. The Louvre and other great palaces. Bernini. Luxem- bourg. Palais-Royal. Institut de France. Invalides. Character of French public architecture in seventeenth century. Versailles and French garden design. Baroque influence. Private houses in Paris. Their imposing courtyards and entrances. Civic monuments. The Porte St. Denis. Jesuit churches in Paris. S . Gervais. S. Paul et S. Louis. Ste. Marie. S. Roch. Notre Dame des Victoires. S. Louis-en-l'Ile. Church of Sorbonne. Val-de-Grlce. Assomption. Church of College Mazarin. Guarini's rejected designs. Decoration and details of French Baroque buildings. Other towns. Toulon. Jesuit churches at Nevers, S. Amand, Lille, Blois, Dijon, Havre, Eu. Various buildings at Lyons. Nancy almost a Baroque city. La Rochelle and its unusual architecture. XIV. Baroque Architecture in Spain, Portugal, AND Spanish America .... 178 Complexity of architectural development in Spain. Differences between " Plateresque," "Grotesque," "Rococo," and "Baroque" styles. Intercourse between Spain and Italy. Prosperity of Spain in sixteenth century and subsequent decadence. Character of Spanish Renaissance architecture. Herrera and the Escurial. The Jesuit Society originated in Spain. Spanish taste favourable to the Baroque movement. Principal buildings of the period. Granada, Seville. Cordova. Jerez. Murcia. Valencia. Madrid. Salamanca. Galicia and its interesting Baroque churches : Santiago de Com- poitela, Loyola, etc. Portugal has very similar characteristics. Churches in Lisbon and elsewhere. Palaces. Fountains. A noteworthy villa. Spanish America. A great number of Baroque buildings in Cali- fornia, South America, West Indian Islands, and especially in Mexico. Jesuit activity after the conquest of Mexico. Characteristics of Mexican churches, palaces, fountains, etc. Close parallel with buildings of Southern Italy. XV. Baroque Architecture in Belgium and Holland 193 Position of Belgium and Holland in Europe during seventeenth century. Religious and racial differences. Spanish dominion. The wars of liberation. Decline of Belgian trade, and rapid rise of Holland. Art during Baroque period. Rubens at Antwerp. For- tunes of other cities. Malines the most flourishing. Reasons for this. Florid buildings of the Late Renaissance in Germany and Holland. Seventeenth-century churches in Belgium, at Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Malines, and Namur. Fergusson quoted. CONTENTS PAGE Luc Faid'herbe and his work at Malines, Louvain, etc. Rich decorations of churches. Bar9que craftsmanship. . Rubens and the Baroque style. The Guild Houses of Brussels and Antwerp. Maison du Gouverneur at Bruges. Lille an interesting centre of Baroque art. Belgian fountains. Baroque buildings scarce in Holland. Reasons for this. An essentially Protestant country. The Abbey at Middelburg. Dutch gardens. XVI. Baroque Influence in England . . . 205 Need for accurate terminology. Influence of Italy in the Renaissance. John Shute. The seventeenth century a splendid age of genius. The earliest Italian artists in the previous century. Torrigiano. Negligible effects of Counter-Reformation in England. Influence of Flemish workmen at end of Elizabeth's reign. Curious originality of detail among rustic builders. Cause of this. Early Baroque examples. Gates at Holdenby House. A desire for external display appears. Formal gardens. Gateway at Plymouth. Riding School at Bolsover. Use of symbolism. Inigo Jones. Indications of Baroque influence in his work. York Gate Water Stairs. Porch of S. Mary's, Oxford. Wren. His Baroque towers and steeples. Temple Bar. His followers. Vanbrugh. Castle Howard and Blenheim. Smaller works. Chippendale. XVII. Conclusion ..... 215 Reason for a study of the Baroque period. Walter Pater quoted. The inspiring motives of the period analysed. Originality and deca- dence in Italy. Artificiality permeates most of buildings. Redeeming features in many cases. Latin and Catholic nature of Baroque art. Unsuitability for wholesale reproduction in this country. Contem- porary life and conditions. An age of pleasure, luxury, and display. Lack of devotional feeling in Baroque churches. Unpopularity of movement in England and Holland, Protestant nations. Advance in other aspects of architecture. Planning and design. All constructional problems solved. Domes, staircases, church- planning. Town-planning. Decorative features. Value of Baroque ornament to posterity. Florid character of the Jesuit church-interiors. Their paganism. Use of coloured marbles, gilding, and the human form. Quality of execution. The misuse of architectural forms, particularly by Borromini, Guarini, and Pozzo. Concluding remarks. Unfairness of criticism. The increasing adoption of Baroque principles in modern architecture. The value of the period to architects to-day. Index ....••■ 225 IS ILLUSTRATIONS Venice. S. Maria della Salute. Exterior Rome. FIG. I. 2. 3- 4- 5- 6. 7- 8. lO. n. 12. 13- H- 15- l6. 17. i8. 19- 20. 22. 23- 24. 25- 26. S. Maria Maggiore S. Maria della Pace Gesu. Interior S. Agnese. Exterior S. Ignazio. Interior Gesu. Plan „ S. Maria della Pace. Plan „ S. Agnese. Plan „ Vatican Palace. Scala Regia ,, Piazza di S. Pietro. Colonnade „ The Spanish Steps „ Piazza Navona. Fountain „ Palazzo della Consulta „ „ Bolognetti „ DORIA Frascati. Villa Borghese „ „ torlonia Rome. Piazza del Popolo „ FONTANA DI TrEVI 21. Genoa. S. Maria in Carignano. Plan Doorway „ Palazzo Doria-Tursi (Municipio) „ „ PoDESTA. Fountain in Corttle „ „ dell' UniversitX. Cortile „ „ DoRiA. Gardens 27. On the Brenta, near Dolo 28. V 55 »> ... 29. Venice. Dogana 30. „ S. Maria della Salute. Plan ji. „ S. Moisl Exterior 17 Frontispiece FACING PAGE 36 . 38 40 • +2 42 pigt 43 • „ 43 „ 43 52 52 54 • 56 60 62 64 68 68 ■ 70 70 page 74 74 ■ 77 78 • 78 80 • 83 84 . 86 . page 88 ■ 90 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. 32- 33- 34- 3S. 36. 37- 38. 39- 40. 41. 42. 43- 44- 45- 46. 47. 48. 49. SC- 52. S3- S4- SS- 56. 57-. 58. 59- 60. 61. 62. 63. Venice. S. Maria ai Scalzi. Exterior ' „ „ Formosa. Campanile „ Palazzo Rezzonico „ „ Pesaro Turin. Palazzo Madama. Staircase „ The Superga Milan. Palazzo Regio Comando „ Seminario. Doorway Ancona. Fontana DEI Cavalli Naples. Church of the Carmine. Interior „ „ „ Exterior Lecce. S. Croce In Lecce ..... A Lecce Street .... In Lecce ..... Catania. Cathedral .... „ Fountain Rome. House in Via Tomacelli. Doorway . Albano. Fountain Assisi. Doorway .... Rome. Palazzo Cagiati. Window „ Fontana Paola Nuremberg. Pellerhaus Munich. S. Michael's Church. Exterior Prague. Jesuit Church. „ Salzburg. Residenz. Doorway Mozart's House. Doorway Pferdeschwemme ScHLOss Mirabell. Staircase . S. Peter's Church. Exterior Schloss Leopoldskron Cathedral. Plan . 18 PACING PAGE - 90 page 92 93 94 99 100 IOO» 102 102 108 110 no page III 112 page "5 117 117 121 page 123 )» 128 130 130 134 136 - 138 143 143 144 • 144 145 14s page 146 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71- 72. 73- 74- 75- 76. 77- 78. 79- 80. 81. 82. 83- 84. 85- 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91- v92- 93- 94. 95- Salzburg. Collegienkirche. Prague. Kinsky Palace „ Villa Amerika „ LoRETO Vienna. Karlskirche Kloster Melk . Munich. Theatine Church. Plan Exterior Interior Bamberg. Rathhaus ..... Paris. S. Etienne-du-Mont. Interior „ Church of Val-de-Grace. Interior „ Invalides. Central Pavilion . „ Porte St. Denis ..... „ Hotel de Chalons et Luxembourg. Doorway „ Hotel de Lavalette. (Ecole Massillon.) Detail „ S. Paul et S. Louis. Door „ Hotel de Lavalette. (Ecole Massillon.) General „ Church of Val-de-Gr&ce. Exterior . A Design by Jean Le Pautre .... Montreuil-sur-Mer. S. Austreberthe Nancy. Place Stanislas ..... Santiago de CbMPOSTELA. Cathedral . Cordova. Fountain ..... Segovia. Archw^ay ..... La Granja. The Gardens .... Madrid. S. Jose ..... „ PuENTE de Toledo .... Murcia. Cathedral ..... Salamanca. Plaza Mayor ..... ChapultePec, Mexico. Fountain MoRELiA, Mexico. Cathedral .... Namur. S. Loup ..... 19 FACING PAGE page 147 148 • 149 150 • 152 153 • 15s 156 160 163 • 163 1 68 . 168 170 ■ 171 172 View 173 173 • 174 176 . 176 178 . 178 180 . 180 i8z . 182 184 . 186 188 • 194 197 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. FACING PAGE 96. Malines. Notre-Dame-d'Hanswyck. Confessional 197 97. LouvAiN. S. Michael . . . . • '99 98. Brussels. Maisons des Corporations . 199 99. Lille. Bourse ....-• 200 100. „ Gateway . 201 101. MiDDELBURG. ThE ABBEY StEEPLE (" LaNG JaN ") . 202 102. „ Oostkerke. Doorway .... 204 103. Holland House, Kensington. Gazebo . 207 104. TiLLEY Manor, Somerset. Window . page 209 105. BoLsovER Castle. The Riding School . 210 106. Plymouth. Gateway to the Citadel . .211 107. Old Temple Bar, now at Theobalds Park . 211 108. Carshalton. Monument in Church . . .213 109. On the Brenta. Palazzo Foscari, Riscossa . 215 I.— THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE OF all the many phases of art there is surely none which has suffered more from misunderstanding and ignorance than has Baroque Architecture. For years it has laboured under a curse, the curse of a nickname whose origin is lost in obscurity and whose meaning is doubtful of definition. But, like the majority of nicknames, this one has caught a hold on the imagination and is remembered in all its pristine bitterness by the average man of to-day who remains in complete ignorance as to its significance. The purpose of this book being to attempt some description and some criticism of the style in the principal countries of Europe, o^_firet_ concerjLinust be with its genersjly accepted ,Hmits, our next to consider how far limitation, is justified jjy-^facts. What, then, is Baroque Architecture and how did it become so called .'' Even Dr. Murray's infallible dictionary does not help us here beyond a certain point. ' The word is found in French (in the form most familiar to us), in Italian, in Spanish, in modern Portuguese. It may have come from Africa to Portugal. In its present connection it occurs in the writings of Saint-Simon (1760- '1825). \The most plausible hypothesis is, that from signifying -; in Latin (verruca) "a wart,", it came to be applied by jewellers to )an ill-shapen pearl (J?aroccd), and at a later date to the fantastic, ( the bizarre, and the decadent in art or even in nature. A second theory derives it from harocco, a term used in logic,' but this is discredited by the best authorities. The first explana- tion, moreover, has a certain rational basis which, as it may not have been remarked before, is perhaps worth setting down here. One hesitates before ascribing any great invention to Cellini, who surely of all men who ever lived had too good an opinion of him- self. But may not he and his feUow-craftsmen have carried this strange word from goldsmiths' work to architecture ? Consider his statue of Perseus at Florence, or rather the details of its beautiful pedestal. In these strange, uncommon scrolls, in this departing from the well-trodden ways of Renaissance art, may we not imagine a reason for his jeweller-friends and admirers applying to the work the first slang word which came to their tongues, a ' " Baroko or Barocco, A mnemonic word representing by its vowels the fourth mood of the second figure of syllogisms, in which the premises are a universal affirmative and particular negative, and the conclusion a particular negative." (Murray's New English Dictionary.) 21 B* NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE word in daily use at their benches? The idea is fanciful, no < doubt, yet we know that in some of these smaller works of art ^^ ( we find the freedom of jd fisign. which afterwards came to be called > i " Baroque " Iong~"Eafore it reached the realms of architecture. / And, in any case, we must account somehow for a term which J\,has becorne so important after so mean an origin. Putting aside further speculation in this direction as futile, we next come to the question of what is generally ^understood by Barog^ue .archilEfiture, and how far_c.ritics are justified in the position they Shave_Jaken_ug. At the outset we find another obstacle, for many writers draw no distinction between the words " Rococo " and " Baroque," which are far from synonymous. The former term is often carelessly used to describe any specially florid work of the later Renaissance periods, and has come to imply something of the sort as an adjective, just as " Flamboyant " Gothic has lost much of its particularized meaning. (The word is almost as uncertain in its origin as " Baroque," but is \ usually derived from the French rocaille, describing a kind of rustic rockwork. In France, and to some degree in Germany, there was a definite Rococo style during the eighteenth century, and with this aspect I shall deal in due course, but in Italy, Spain, and England Vits influence was slight. If the object of this volume were to perpetrate paradoxes, it might be said that Baroqiie^ architecture !i s Italian, and is described by a French name, while EQeQCp_Js essentiallY a F renc h phase, and is therefore known by an Italian te rm, ^ut whereasaJ Rococo building often loosely implies an ov er-deaM-ated b uildinglm'liny'tnQdern "style, a Baroque" building is a more or less ornate example of a usually florid style. The one is a term applied to isolated examples, the other in general to the buildings of a more or less historical periodT/' And, while many Baroque buildings are Rococo, it does not foHrow that all are. If this were the age of Ruskin it would be an opportunity for printing here in black type, as an " aphorism " : — "The terms 'Bococo' and 'Baxoque' are not interchangeable." This being conceded, we arrive at another i^mportant_obj[ecti^ — , that Baroque i s used as an historical_term, yetthat m~all coun&ies t' of Europe we find exampTeFoT'iFcKitectufe in the period so pure, so severe, and so obviously free from " the germ of the barocco corruption," that they cannot by any possibility be regarded other- wise than as survivals of the earlier and more conventional Renais- saftce-of-Eaikdio-and-his-eotttemporaries. An answer to this~rnay : NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE readily be found in the more familiar architecture of our own country. For we have not discontinued the use of the term "Jacobean" because, isolated exa^iples of seventeenth-century Gothic remain to us — such as St. John's Church at Leeds — nor, has our definition of "Georgian" been weakened by the fact of Tudor string-courses and mullions existing in Yorkshire dales and Cotswold villages long after the time of Wren. In fact, a defini- tion of an architectural period cannot be absolute, but it generally applies to ninety examples out of every hundred. Lastly, before leaving this question of terminology, we must indicate as briefly as possible the meaning of the word " Renais- sance " as applied to ItaliarT architecture in the following pages. The revival of letters and of the arts which revolutionized Europe, and which is usually comprised under this name, may be regarded as attaining its maximum extent in Italy in the work of Michel- angelo and Palladio in the realm of building. After their day comes the epoch with which we are here concerned, and in spite of the logical development from one to the other (which cannot be too strongly emphasized), some such convenient boundary-line must be drawn between what is generally classified as Renaissance architecture and that implied under the description of Baroque. The Baroque period dates from the time when architects began '\ to revok—against— the pedantic -rules- of the Later Renaissance!^ schoolmen, " and tf "lasts until they tired of their untrammelled p freedom and returned to their pedantry once more. As with | contemporary movements in literature and other arts, its limits in architecture are difi^erent in every country and in almost every city of Europe. In some countries, such as Spain, it reaches the point of insanity, but its grades seem to be personal rather than local, and an exceptionally florid building is usually due to the i work or influence of one wild brain, rather than to a prevailing / tendency. Baroque architecture is a normal development from Bramante's or ■ Peruzzi's Renaissance types in Italy, from other Renaissance master-! pieces in other countries. It was encouraged by similar tendencies r in painting and, as we have seen, in minor arts such as goldsmiths' \ work. For architecture is always the last art to feel a revolutionary change. I It is too structural, too permanent, too eternal, one rhight almost V say, to be blown from' its course by every trifling aesthetic) movement. Lastly, th&-buildinffs„ .of the Baroque period may, with few excep- ts NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE ^ tions, be recognjasd.hy.Jlie. general principles of their design and ijf not by the abundance pf their ornament alone. These conclusions might be emphasized in the Ruskin manner as our second aphorism : — ' "Baroque Architecture may be limited to an historical period, varying in date in different countries and cities, but in general beginning as the Eenaissance spirit declined to pedantry and ending with the return to pedantry in the eighteenth century. Its buildings may be recognized by the general principles which govern their design rather than by the abundance of their ornament." Having defined to some extent the meaning of Baroque archi- tecture, we will proceed to compare some of the criticisms which _^have been made of it as a whole. ■ Writers on architecture, both within and without the ranks of the profession, have dealt with the period with marked bias. In general one expects to find amateur criticism more bigoted than that of the architect himself, but in the particular case in view both seem to have determined to ignore the whole period. So, although modern intellect in the profession has long ago embraced Baroque, consciously or unconsciously, though its characteristics are to be seen in most of the best public buildings of our day, the man in the street is little further than he was when Ruskin told him .to beware of "the foul torrent of the Renaissance." JFergussonj for example, is now generally recognized as a critic wHiosernost level judgments were on Oriental rather than on Western architecture, yet his influence on the British public has been enormous. His pen is not quite so bitter in relation to isolated Baroque buildings as we should expect, yet his conclusion is characteristic of most Victorian writers on the subject : — / / " . . . The history of Italian art may be summed up in a few words. \ \ During the fifteenth century it was original, appropriate, and grand ; during ji] the sixteenth it became correct and elegant, though too often also tinctured 1 with pedantry ; and in the seventeenth it broke out into caprice and affeftation till I it became as bizarre as it was tasteless. During the eighteenth it sank down \ to a uniform level of timid mediocrity, as devoid of life as it is of art." * Even if we allow something for this writer's well-known acidity, we find his opinions echoed in more recent times. Take, for instance, some of the thirty lines in Mr. Banist gg. F letcher' s popular History of Architecture, for this isTalT the space devoted to a style which looms so large all over Europe : — ' Fergusson, History of Modem Architecture, p. 169 (1891 Edition). 24 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE "The Rococo period . . . represents an anarchical reaction. Sinuous frontages, broken curves in plan and elevation and a strained originality in ,' detail are the characteristics of the period. Columns are placed in front of / pilasters, and cornices niade to break round them. Broken and curved j pediments, huge scrolls, and twisted columns are also features of the style. 1 In the interiors, the ornamentation is carried out to an extraordinary degree K without regard to fitness or suitability, and consists of exaggerated and badly [ designed detail, often over-emphasized by gilding and sculpfured figures in exaggerated attitudes. . 7 . Carlo Maderna, "Bernini, and Borromini are among the more famous who practised this debased form of art. Among the most outstanding examples are the Roman churches of S. Maria della Vittoria by Maderna, S. Agnese by Borromini, and many churches at Naples." I Anderson in his well-known book on Italian Renaissance archi- tecture is possibly less abrupt, but practically ignores Bernini, mentioning him only in connection with a part of his work at St. Peter's. He indeed ignores many very important buildings in Rome, and sums up his views on Baroque in a final sentence, as follows : — " By such freaks and caprices almost every building of the era, though, like | certain of the Venetian works, not ignoble in composition, is more or less k disfigured." = ) More judicious and informing criticisms than these are to be found in one or two books of a nipre historical nature than the sources from which I have quoted, /but in all the works most in vogue among architectural students we find the Baroque period dismissed in a few paragraphs, cold and contemptuous in tonej (in fact, no beginner is given any hint that Baroque may hav^ts redeeming features, nor is he quite honestly informed of its extent, many buildings undoubtedly Baroque in character being in some mysterious way excluded from the style^ If any justification were needed for devoting a volume to this subject it may be found in these extracts from the most widely- read handbooks of architecture at the present day. There must be many m the profession who at one time accepted these criti- cisms literally, and who were in the position of the present writer when first he visited Italy, believing that in Baroque there was no good to be found and that in studying it lay the quickest way to perdition. He expected to find in Italy a few brazen, shameless examples I Banister Fletcher, History of Architecture, p. 231 {Third Edition). ' Anderson, Italian Renaissance Architecture, p. 162 (First Edition). 25 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE of the style still standing conspicuous among cities of early Re- naissance palaces and Pazzi chapels, a sort of living monument to the lost souls of those who had designed them, a stern and dreadful warning to all young architects. And instead he found Rome a Baroque city, with a classical quarter where the excavations lay. He sought for a pure Peruzzi building and discovered it with some difficulty, measured its mouldings, and went to rest in a Baroque garden. He tried to become enthusiastic about the Cancellaria, but remained placid till he reached Bernini's colonnade. And so it is with all of us as we travel through Italy, or, for that matter, through almost any continental country. In Venice and in Genoa, Baa2qiie__jr£Mtecjmre _dQmjnato the streets, in nearly every smaller town from remote Syracuse to Austrian Trieste Baroque architecture supplies the most picturesque and interesting features ^f_the scene. The gardens and fountains, the - villas and terraces were almost all built in this accursed seven- teenth century. You may deceive a layman into believing that the style is in- herently bad by trading on his ignorance and throwing dust in his eyes, but you cannot persuade an architect of to-day that the work which followed the Renaissance movement had no redeeming features, that its greatest achievements are as nothing compared with the infantile stages of earlier days. There are those who would place Cimabue and Giotto far above the vigorous Michelangeloj and with such people argument is useless. We have passed the time when histories of art rang down the curtain at the year 1 550, and the epilogue is as interesting and most certainly as instructive as the phases which precede it. Indeed, this age of eclecticism, when every man prides himself on being able to appre- ciate everything, should be a particularly auspicious occasion for considering in some detail and with an open mind the monuments of Baroque architecture in the principal countries of Europe. ***** There are good reasons why in this survey the first place and the most careful study "should be given to Italy, for in _I^Jy we find Baroque architecture_inj,ts most diversified and^interestmg lforms . The charm of Renaissance culture in Italy Ties in its infinite variety, in the varying genius which inspired art and literature in each individual city. The courts of the Renaissance, more pagan than in Imperial Rome, were brilliant centres where the high-born 26 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE and the talented jostled in merry intercourse with townsmen and common people. It was to a happy, joyous, immoral Italy — a pagan, sociable, and wonderfully intellectual land — that there came two upheaving move- ments, so that in a short time the whole character of the people, their art, their literature, their religion, and their very customs, changed completely. The first was the Reformation, with all that it caused and led to ; the second was the ascendancy of Spain. The Church in Italy at one time appeared to be hard, pressed to defend herself against the Reformation movement, but liberal ten- dencies from 'within proved a strengthening factor and saved her from disaster. Her _ ultimate. triumph.„over heresy, her wonderful r-t success in stamping out opposition in every form, is largely due to X the invigorating inflaerice of the great sixteenth-century Orders, the Capuchins, the Theatines, and, above all, the Jesuits. . There is nothing more remarkable in that century than the forma- ^ tion of this Society of Jesus and its instant magnificent triumph. The Theatines and Capuchins had done wonders towards creating a more devotional and serious spirit within the Church, but the Jesuits became in a very few years masters of the situation. Their rules and tenets appealed to the minds of educated men, their vows secured complete secrecy and complete subservience, above all, their wonderful, new educational system ensured that the next generation would have imbibed their principles and would spread them through the world. It was the success of the Jesuits which carried the Church to victory through the difficult times of the Reformation ; it was the wealth and power of the Church which- was iresponsihle- in ^ne way or another for almost all the most famous buildings, r eli gious, palatial, or monumental, of the Baroqu e perio d. The influence of Spain is "of" almost equal importance to us. We find in Renaissance times a fine democratic burgher spirit existing all over Italy, a striving among artists and writers to excel one another for their craft's sake, a strange freedom from social barriers, and a glorious abundance of joie-de-vivre. The Spaniards changed all this. Black garments for gentlemen of rank displaced the gor- geous fabrics which formed so staple a part of Italy's manufactures, cloistered seclusion or dishonest intrigues for ladies took the place of the easy and stimulating manners of the Renaissance courts. An elaborate code of etiquette ruled the world of society. It was deemed ignoble to work with hands or brain, and militarism took the place of civic pride. Every comfort was sacrificed among 27 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE these erstwhile gay Italians in order to share in the trumpery titles bestowed by Spain, to make, a brave show before the world, tg,^- , play a dazzling retinue of servants and carriages, It is, then, to the v^J Spanish supremacy that we owe the formality and ostentation of this ^ 1 period, the inordinate craze for heraldry and external ornament, the (fine staircases and facades,, the stateliness and the dignity of it all. Music and science Jb^an- about this time to make great strides in Italy, for "writers were debasing their art by becoming fulsome flatterers, and artists came at last to be often onlj^ the employees of wealthy patrons, so that intellect sought a new object. But one must not forget that this whole Baroque movement had its parallel in other countries, in the " quaint conceits " of the English Euphuists or the Pricieux in France. There was an artificiality in the atmosphere which explains many things, and the hypocritical stiffness caused by an admixture of Spanish etiquette with the Counter-Reformation concealed as loose a moral code and as pagan a /- mind as ever marked the Renaissance. The Baroque movement was \ largely due to the Jesuits and the Spaniards, but we will examine in Q detail the usual opinion that it first found vent in the work of Michelangelo and Palladio. It is difficult for one who believes, in common with most of his generation, that Michelangelo and Palladio were by far the greatest architects of the Renaissance wholly to appreciate the views of those whose admiration is exhausted by Peruzzi's mouldings or Brunelleschi's dome, by Giotto's tower or Sangallo's churches. \ So far from agreeing with Fergusson's description of his " dreadful vulgarities " and " fantastic details," we of to-day think of Michel- angelo in the words of an anonymous writer whose criticism lies by me as "one to whom the service of beauty was a religion." We remember his long struggle against enemies and circumstances, and how he lived all his life in the midst of intrigue and treachery, though he was a lover of simplicity and solitude. We recollect his reply to the Cardinal who had been persuaded to hold an indignation meeting during the building of S. Peter's, and who protested that the choir would be too dark. On being told that there would be three windows more than they knew of, the Cardinal complained that this was the first they had heard of it. Michelangelo's answer was in these words : — " I am not, nor do I mean to be, obliged to tell your lordships or anybody else what I ought or wish to do. It is your business to provide the money and to see that it is not stolen. As regards the plans of the building, you have to leave them to me." 28 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE He was far above them, a man whose name is famous when the Pope and the Cardinals, the jealous clerk of works, and the petti- fogging committee are all forgotten. He will remain one of the world's greatest men when his carping critics' platitudes are out of date. A pedantic hack armed with a two-foot rule and a book of the Five Orders will doubtless discover novelties in JVIichelangelo's detail ; that does not alter the fact of his magnificent achievements in art — of his sculpturesque architecture, or of his architectural sculpture and painting. He_is responsible Jbr^theJ,' barocco cor- ruption" only to this extent^ that he introduced into Italian^ Rendssance architecture a boldness of conception and a vigour of execution .which may in alLjjaslice.. be considered, not as the first step of the decline, but as the grand culmination of this great period. And what of Andrea Palladio and his " dull and depressing cify of Vicenza," as it has been styled ? His reputation has resisted rkany similar sneers, and will withstand many more, for every year the qualities of his genius are increasingly realized. Different as was his style from that of Michelangelo, the principles which guided them in design were seldom at variance. He, too, strove for the dignified and the grand, but from the standpoint of the architect rather than of the artist-of-all-trades. He adhered a little more closely to rules because from boyhood he had been brought up on rules, whereas Michelangelo came to them late in life. It was not in his rules that Palladio 's genius lay, but in his application of the accepted Orders to all the varied problems of architecture, in his ^ ingenuity and inventive faculty. So, although his latest biographer says that — " His style in general has been defined as a mean between the severe use of ancient forms and the licentious style of those who reject all rule whatever," ^ — he also quotes Palladio's own words on public buildings : — "Whereinj because they consist of larger dimensions and that they are beautified with more curious ornaments than private ones as serving for the use and cohveniency of everybody, princes have a most ample field to show the world the greatness of their sou\ and .architects are furnished with the fairest opportunity to demonstrate their own abilities in excellent and surprising inventions." * ' Banister Fletcher's Andrea Palladio, p. 14. '^Ibid. p. 21. 29 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE The words italicized show that Palladio was no stickler for pedantry — his work bears it out ; yet in this case, again, it seems fairer to him, and in all ways more equitable, to admit that he prepared the way for Baroque, as did Michelangelo, not by eccentricity or jfr vulgarity, but by the dignified and appropriate originality of a great and powerful mind. /Palladio's inventive faculty lay chiefly in the direction of the *l general proportion of a design rather than in its less important Vietails, yet in each respect his work is above reproach. As regards the former, his work exhibits a wonderful freshness of idea in apply- ing his Orders to any sort of site and any sort of building. He it was who first familiarized people with the attic storey as a new feature in building, and who borrowed from ancient Roman models so many things that upholders of the Early Renaissance shrink from with uplifted hands. The "motif Palladio" is no newer than Diocletian's palace at Spalato, and was probably first reused in the sixteenth century by Peruzzi. Palladio certainly broke away from established custom in some cases of minor detail also. His use of statuary has aroused much criticism, and he adopted the idea of reclining figures from Michel- angelo and Sansovino. Though he never used broken pediments, we find broken entablatures in several cases (again a reversion to late classic models). His villas and gardens display all the ostenta- tion and the dignity of the Baroque examples, yet their composition is for the most part abbve suspicion. It is both despicable and ignorant to taunt him with the poverty of the materials which misfortune placed to his hand, to decry his beautiful palaces because the stucco is peeling off their fagades, and because his patrons were, in many instances, too parsimonious to provide him with the stone for which he designed his buildings. Stucco in itself cannot be attacked on purely aesthetic grounds except as an imitation of stone, and if its use as a veneer is to be criticized, there are many marble-covered masterpieces which purists would be loth to sacrifice to similar reasoning. In such artistic arguments consistency is an essential factor. Palladio's genius has been admirably summed up by Mr. Banister Fletcher in these words : — " He was not slavishly bound by his own rules as to the proportions of the classic columns and their entablatures. Like many another, he was an exemplar of t^ saying that a genius can be above rules which are made for smaller men." t 'Banister Fletcher's Andrea Palladio, p. 13. 30 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE To determine whether P alladio and Michelangelo can be actually held responsible for the introduction of Baroque architecture into Italy is by no means easy, but becomes almost so when we view their buildings in comparison with what appear to be the accepted views on Baroque architecture. They mayjiave prepared the way, ^ but they^ certainly did not venture on the tortuous paitR themselves. There are several other architects of "slightly^ less notoriety whose position is very similar. Among these the four most prominent names are those of Giorgio Vasari (151 1-74), Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-73), Galeazzo Alessi (1500-72), and Pellegrino Tibaldi (i 527-98). With the two last we shall deal in later chapters, and Vasari and Vignola play so important a part in architectural history of the later sixteenth century that -some attention must be given to their work. The former deservedly goes down to posterity as a great art historian and a very mediocre painter. As an architect he was never a genius, and his reputation is unfortunately bound up with more than one commission which he finished for Michelangelo in his own way. The entrance to the Mediceo-Laurentian Library at Florence is a case in point, and displays in all its details the less worthy attributes of the Baroque period then dawning, with none of its bolder qualities as a redeeming feature. Vignola is a virile and arresting figure, one of the greatest masters of the later Renaissance. His reputation has recently been en- hanced by an admirable essay ' on his work, and it is probable that his buildings will repay further study in the future. But so far from being the copy-book practitioner of many critics' descrip- tions, he was without a doubt one of the most original and daring men of his time. His great castle at Caprarola, near Viterbo, is full of novel methods of planning and design. Hisxircular internal courtv, his vast spiral staircase with a raking entablature, even his satyric grotto in the, basement storey, and above all, his quaint pentagonal plan, proclaim him one of those to whom, equally with. Michelangelo, the Ba^roque movement owes ' its immediate origin. The garden loggia of the Farnese Palace is a refined and beautiful work of the latest Renaissance type, and his-plans for the Gesu church.- in Rome .heralded a revolution in Church design. Other buildings attributed to Kmi "With" less certainty- are in many cases quite Baroque in style, but without them we can emphatically ") claim Vignola as largely responsible for the new fashion. It is r recognized in modern architectural circles that a man who edits a ^ Vigttola and his Masterpiece, by F. R. Hiorns, in Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, February, 191 1. 31 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF BAROQUE book of the Orders is not of necessity a pedant in his own designs, and Vignola's originality is at least as praiseworthy as his scholarship. WORKS OF REFERENCE I.— BOOKS DEALING WITH ITALY DURING THE BAROQUE PERIOD Burnet, Bishop . . Some letters containing an ac- Rotterdam 1686 count of what seemed most remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, etc. Brosses, Le President de Lettres familieres dcrites d'ltalie Paris 1858 en 1739 et 1740 Evelyn, John . . . Diary ..... Numerous editions Ranke, Leopold von . History of the Papacy . . „ „ Vernon, Mrs. H. M. . Italy from 1494. to 1790. (The Cambridge 1909 most convenient history of the period) Ward, A. W. . The Counter-Reformation . London 1889 II.— ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES IN the year 1443, when Eugenius IV returned to Rome, the city was become a mere dwelling of herdsmen ; her inhabitants were in no way distinguished from the peasants and shepherds of the surrounding country. The hills had been long abandoned, and the dwellings were gathered together in the levels along the windings of the Tiber ; no pave- ments were found in the narrow streets, and these were darkened by project- ing balconies and by the buttresses that served to prop one house against another. Cattle wandered about as in a village. From San Silvestro to the Porta del Popolo all was garden and marsh, the resort of wild ducks. The very memory of antiquity was fast sinking; the Capitol had become "the hill of goats," the Forum Romanum was " the cow's field." To the few monuments yet remaining the people attached the most absurd legends. The church of S. Peter was on the point of falling to pieces. Such was the state of Rome in early Renaissance days, as described ' by the great German historian of the Popes, at the time when Florence, Genoa, Venice, and many other smaller States were enjoy- ing the highest prosperity. And when we remember that eighty years after this date Rome was sacked by a ruthless mercenary armv. we mav place the beginning s of modern Rome in t\)f p_spa^thy with ^^ antiquity and few scrxiples^ abo»t - its.,.des]xuction. The image- breaking and window-smashing that marked the defeat of Roman Catholicism in England was contemporary with the destruction of many classical treasures by the Catholics in Rome. A point that has never perhaps been commented on, it is both interesting and instructive. ,«^ In the case of the Popes the object was the same as among the \ Protestants here, to proclaim the supremacy of their Jaitk. But as,/! for Sixtus V, it is to be feared that much of the damage he wrougfit | was due to his lack of innate culture, for many of the Popes were J ' L. von Ranlc6's Hiitary of the Popes, vol. i. pp. 382-4 (1908 Edition). 35 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES nouveaux riches, and it need not be inferred that all his fellows were of like mind : — " When it was perceived," said Cardinal Santa Severina, " that the Pope seemed resolving on the utter destruction of the Roman antiquities, there came to me one day a number of the Roman nobles, who entreated me to dissuade his Holiness with all my power from so extravagant a design," ^ He entirely demolished the Septizonium of Severus, and intended to destroy the tomb of Cecilia Metella, but was prevented. He threatened to destroy the Capitol itself unless some pagan statues JL^hich the citizens had recently placed there were removed. 1 During the seventeenth century the Popes became enormously rich, j an ifhpbrtant factor in their architectural history. It is impossible I to say exactly what the amount of their gains wias from their office, / but, as they ceased, to employ a mercenary army, they concentrated I their energies on founding a position and a fortune for their families. Their revenues were chiefly drawn from three sources. The fertile I and prosperous territory in Italy, greatly increased in the sixteenth ■* century, which formed the patrimony of S. Peter, wa&ztaJSgd to its utmost capacity and beyond it. The contributions of the faithful throughout the worldwere augmented by persuasion, and coercion long past the point of being voluntary. Lastly ,-as a final resource, vast quantities of sinecure offices were established in Rome, and whole "colleges" whose rne'inbers paid subscriptions for nominal privileges and titles, drawing a sort of life annuity. Yet in spite of all these sources of wealth the income of the Popes, which was largely" devoted to their bnildings, was insufficient to meet the enormous demands made upon it, and so we see the foundations laid of an iminense debtr — We must, therefore, bear in , mind that, although the great achievements of the Baroque period are due to the seventeenth-century Popes, we cannot credit them with having provided all the necessary funds. This was an __ unwelcome legacy to their successors. The debt, which in 1587 may be computed at ^^ 1,900,000 in our money, had risen in forty years to ,^4, 500,000 ; and Sixtus V, among other economies, reduced his table expenses to 3s. a day to cope with* it. On the other hand, we find the Popes accumulating vast sums of money for their families. The Borghese acquired eighty estates in the Campagna, and are said to have received in sixteen years the ' L. von Ranke's History of the Popes, vol. i. p. 381 (1908 Edition). 36 s •S5 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES equivalent of ^250,000 in money and offices. The Aldobrandini were equally fortunate, but the Barberini far surpassed both. Their income from the Papacy is estimated at ^^ 166,000 per annum, and we are told on good authority that the incredible sum of j^26,ooo,ooo passed into their hands during their pontificates. These figures make one realize easily the origin of the great palg£gs.in the centre of Romerandr those- luxurious villas on its out- skirts which, bear the names of 4he papal families. For to every one who knows Rome what names are more familiar than those of the Aldobrandini, the Borghese, and the Ludovisi, the Barberini and the Chigi, the Odescalchi and the Albani ? — all of them families whose fortunes were made by the seventeenth-century Popes. Their official dwellings, too, the Vatican and Lateran palaces, much of the Quirinal also, owe almost all their splendour and wealth to this period. Bernini's Scala Regia in the Vatican may have been built out of extortionate taxation, or its cost may have been added to the vast debt of the Popes, but it is alL part and. parcel of a time of magnificent display, the time when .Modern ^ome was made. Their genuine zeal for the Church led them into many bold enterprises, and the seventeenth-century churches of Rome may literally be reckoned by the hundred. They range from vast buildings, such as St. John Lateran and the Gesu, down to tiny chapels and oratories. Yet among the churches we may infer that the worst acts of vandalism were committed, for these modern champions of Christendom had small veneration for Christendom of the distant past. Lastly must be mentioned those buildings of the Popes which represent their sense of public spirit and civic pride in the glory of Rome, buildings which ensured' for them an almost constant popularity in the iitfjiespite . their extrassagance. For their mercenary habits in the Papal States were matched by their prodigality in Rome. From two-and-twenty miles away in the hills Sixtus V brought a fine supply of water into the city, desiring to produce a work " whose magnificence might compete with the glories of Ancient Rome." Cost and difficulties aUke werelffiOthing to him ; to think imperially was his aim. Paul V, who emulated him in the splendour of his schemes, built an even more lengthy_aqueducty-aiid the water which gushes forth from his bombastic Acqua Paolina is borne thirty-five miles. Vo realise fully the part which the Popes played in Rome at this time we must add such great works as the Piazza di S. Pietro, the Piazza del Popolo, the '^Sp anish Ste ps " in the Piazza di Spagna, most of 37 c* ( ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES ^Jthe fountains, and many of the features which we should class as part of their " town planning." " Jjot.,jJtQgether -exaggeration. to say that seventeenth-century building in Rome was restricted to the Popes and the Papal femilies. Meanwhile, the city was settling down, and the official class, at first largely bachelor in character, was giving place to a population of families. From the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Popes began to beautify and establish the city, Rome was slowly and steadily developed, and has maintained its position as the capital of the world. In the succeeding century the Borghese held the remarkable privilege " of being exempt from all punishment for whatever demolition they might choose to commit." The Baths of Constantine, at that time in very fair preservation, were razed to the ground, a palace and gardens being erected on the site. The Temple of Peace was mutilated, and when travertine was required for the Fountain of Trevi, permission was actually given to destroy the tomb of Cecilia Metella, which had already had a narrow escape, and was only saved now by violent resistance on the part of the people of Rome. In reviewing the Baroque churches of Rome only a few examples can be even mentioned from the countless number. Gurlitt, in his volume on the period in Italy, describes about a hundred, but these form only a proportion of the total. / We may first consider how the work of the Baroque architects / affected the three greatest historic churches of Rome — -S. Peter's, / S. Giovanni in Laterano, and S. Maria Maggiore. I S. Peter's both lost and gained at the hands of those who followed Michelangelo. Up to his day only Bramante had played a really prominent part in its design, and the church as we now see it is largely due to Michelangelo's adoption or adaptation of Bramante's original ideas^ combined and infused with his. own genius. The donie we may consider entirely Michdangelo'-s. creation, as Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana worked from his model after his death, -^igaok designed the cupolas- -surrounding the central dome. These may or may not have been inspired by Michelangelo, but are certainly worthy of him, though the criticism has been made with some justification that they are perhaps out of scale with the central dome. We now find ourselves in the Baroque period, and have to consider what Maderna and his successors left for posterity in S. Peter's. Carlo Maderna (1556-1629) was a 38 \ P^S- 3- — Ro7Jie. S. Maria della Pace, (See pp, 43-4.) 'I'oface 11.38, ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES Lombard by birth, as were also Martino Lunghi the Elder, his son Onorio (1561-1619), and his grandson Martino the Younger (d. 1657), Domenico Fontana (i 543-1 607), and his -brother Giovanni (1546-1614), Carlo Fontana (1634-1714), his nephews Girolamo and Francesco, Carlo Stefano Fontana, Flaminio Ponzio, and Francesco Borromini (1599-1667), besides many others of less importance. This formidable list shows the great influence exerted by Lombard architects in Rome. Madg rna's work at S, Peter's consisted in lengthening the nave r from its original plan to' form a Latin cross and in prx)viding a west front. The glaring failure o_f__this design is so generally known that it is needtessr tO'saylnore here than that the view of the grand dome from the west has been for ever ruined thereby, and that even the proportions and details of the architectural composition are^had. ^ The inter'columniati^n__is jdefective and the disposition ( of openings particularIy"unFortunate. Possibly Maderna felt the difficulty of working ,Q.n Michelangelo's jscale, certainly the idea of j lengliHenTng^the church originated with his emplayei; and not with him, but, at any rate, the worst point about this facade is its existgnce at all, blocking up. the most- important vista towards the dome. The vast portico within this facade is a finely conceived """"aJite-chamber for a great cathedral. Maderna's golden Confessio bgars witness to Paul V'slove^of, display, and he also designed two \ bell-towers for the angles of the west front, the non-erection of which we may apparently regard with gratitude. He was succeeded by Bernini, whose work here and elsewhere is of such importance that he claims a separate chapter, and at a later date Carlo Rainaldi took charge of the building, but his work calls for no notice, S. Giovanni in Laterano is at least as noteworthy historically as f S. Peter's, and is officially the Mother Church of all the world, \ but its architecture is not commensurate with its importance. , Leaving out of the question the remarkably interesting buildings i which surround the church proper, and the extraordinarily hideous ■and garish extension of the choir in modern times, most of what y we see is due to three Baroque architects. In the days of Sixtus V I (1586) Domenico Fontana built the Loggia and facade of the south transept and most of the adjoining palace, in a style which is / Baroque in detail, but severe in its general lines. Sixty-four years I later Borromini's over-ornate but magnificent nave (marred by the I bizarre niches on the piers) showed the change in taste, and lastly, \^ Galilei's colossal west front, dwarfing everything else in the 39 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES neighbourhood, displayed some of the strength and much or the weakness of the Baroque period. Ih -Santa-Maria Maggiore, on the other hand, with an equally long range of building activity, we find the architecture at a high level throughout. The church loses nothing by its fine and carefully planned situation, isolated in a huge piazza, and forming the vista at the end of several long streets. Here, by reason of its glorious traditions, was a suitable place for Sixtus V to dazzle the world by a display of costly marbles and beautiful architecture. His Capella del Presepio fulfilled both his wishes, and in 1611 Paul V, whose object was to emulate the achievements of Sixtus, built a chapel corresponding to the Presepio, and surpassing it in magnificence, if not in elegance. Between 1670 and 1676 Carlo Rainaldi remodelled the whole of the east end and succeeded admirably. His work shows nothing florid or out of place, and is in perfect harmony with the papal chapels and with its surroundings. It is an excellent example of the Baroque style at its best, and of its especial fitness for monumental subjects. As late as 1743 the architect Fuga erected the striking west front, deeply recessed, bold, and recalling jjiafher the style of the seventeenth than his own century. Of Roman churches erected before 1600, it may in general be said that they exhibit a less mature character than later examples, that where they are bad they are not so bad and where they are good they are not so good. In the Forum of Trajan there already existed a charming little domed church (S. Maria di Loreto), erected in 1507 by Antonio da Sangallo, and this influenced successive church designs. Among late sixteenth-century examples there may be cited as typical' the G^^S. Luigi dei Francesi, and S. Maria della Vallicella. The first or these is, of course, the,jJiiH;ch of the Jesuits, and was begun b v_Vignola in 1^68 ; the second was consecraFedrTiri589 as the national church oFthe French, and the third owed its foundation to the great religious leader, St. Philip Neri, who died in 1591. In the first two cases the facade was designed by Giacomo della Porta, the last being Ma-tino Lunghi's best work. These buildings are typical of the architecture of Sixtus V's pontificate — a most important architectural era in Rome. We should perhaps add to the group the large and handsome church of S. Andrea della Valle, designed by Pietro Paolo Olivieri (1551-99), and begun in 1594. The facade, by Maderna, is several years later, and in a much more florid style, bufthe body of the building closely resembles the Gesu, and the plan still more so. 40 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES It is interesting to compare the interiors of these two great churches, which lie close to each other in one of the busiest streets in the city. At first sight they appear almost identical, even the number of bays in the nave being the same ; but on closer inspection it will be found that the advantage lies with S. Andrea, where the arcade is larger in proportion to its order than at the Gesu, and in this case more successful, while the walls above the arcade at the Gesu, crowded with sculpture and ornament, compare unfavourably with S. Andrea. However, the Gesu dome is wider and more impres- sive than at the neighbouring church. ^ Both these interiors are magnificent, ,and adapted evidently jfor greaching~to aTarge con- gregation, while an ample., range. 4j£ljfhapels is provided".' Delia Porta's two facades — the Gesu and S. Luigi — show the advent of Baroque in the bQM_recessing,. and it is fortunate that Vignola's ' inferior design for the Gesu was not carried out. Yet they also possess an admitted Baroque weakness in their appearance of isolation from the building behind, the facade tending to become more and more .a great stone screen on which, deagns were carved rather than a constructive part of a church. The seventeenth-century churches in Rome have perhaps been more abused than any existing, and though some examples justly merit it, others have so many points in their favour that the scale is evenly balanced. One or two built early in the century display but little extravagance in their design. Thus S. Ignazio, erected by the architects Zampieri and Grassi between the years 1626 and 1675, has an almost severe interior with the usual dome over the crossing ^, and Maderna's facade to S. Suzanna (i 595-1 603) has only one objectionable feature, a sloping balustrade above the pediment. This might appear a heinous fault, but against it may be set the otherwise excellent design and proportions of the facade, well suited to the church which it terminates, the richness of the decoration (which in no case is bizarre), and the admirable fenestration and detail. Of very similar character but more uniformly pleasing is the facade of S. Maria della Vittoria (1605), also by Maderna, where pilasters are used throughout. The facade of S. Ignazio is the work of Alessandro Algardi (1602-54), an architect borii in Bologna. The architect for whom all the choicest epithets in architectural literature have been reserved is Francesco ^orrominij( 154^9—1 677)7" and indeed he has thoroughly earned -his reputation. Just as Bernini's genius sometimes seemed togiye place to a 'riotous 41 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES fancy, so Borromini is guilty of the wildest and most extravagant mannerisms. ItjWjouliLappearthat alltliTOagiLthis Baroque_period two'tendencies were to be found — a legitimate developing on classical lines, such as in S. Maria Maggiore, S. -Agnese, or S. Marla^lla Pace — and, on the other hand, a frantic striving after originality at \ any. cost, regardless of architectural canons and ^traditions. ' To the latter category belong three of Borromini's best known churches — S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (1640-67), S. Ivo alia Sdpienza (1660), and S. Filippo Neri (1650). The first is the most familiar of the trio and has hardly a single point in its favour J internally or externally. It is most unfortunate that the inventive f talent which this architect possessed — in itself an admirable quality — should so frequently have led him astray, for the plan of this church, with its brilliant utilisation of a cramped corner site, falls far short of Wren's dazzling success in S. Stephen's, Walbrook, and the facade is simply grotesque. S. Ivo is a chapel forming part of the Universita della Sapienza and is now used as a classroom. The collegiate buildings surrounding it were originally designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1576, and at the present time 2,000 students attend the institution. The plan of the chapel is said to have been derived from the shape of a bee, the heraldic insect of the Barberini family, but the analogy is not very apparent. The lower part of the exterior forms an apsidal end to Delia Porta's graceful quadrangle, and the upper portion, culminating in an extraordinary spire, exhibits Borromini's fondness ^ for smuous^curves. any where and everywhere. This chapel may be regarded as showing, together with the designs of Andrea Pozzo, the Jesuit -(1642-1709), and of Guarino -Giiacini, the Theatine (1624-83), tfiB~MghrWater mark of Baroque eccentricity. The fa^tdg^bf the oratory of S. Filippo Neri has not even the daring of the last two examples to recommend it, and the hideous tower and belfry of S. Andrg^ delle Fratte have no quality save ugliness. Borromini has, however, one great church to his name which prevents wholesale condemnation of his architecture, and in S. Agnese in the Piazza Navona we see a seventeenth-century masterpiece. It has been claimed as his greatest work by many writers, but much of the credit is undoubtedly due to Carlo Rainaldi (1611-91), who played a prominent part in the building if noTin the actual design. It was rebuilt in 1652 on the site of an early structure, and the mag|itfieentGreek-:cr§ss^lan provides a large area for preaching. Collegiate buildings surround the church and have the curious destiny of providing education for members of the 42 Fig. 5. — Rome. S. .4gnese. Fig. 6. — Rome. S. Ignazio. (See p. 41.) To face p. 42. ■M THE GESU CHURCH , ROME Fi^s. 7, 8, 9. — Plans of Roman Churches. 43 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES Pamphili family, whose palace by Rainaldi (1650) also adjoins S. Agnese, The design of the principal front towards the piazza displays BorrQmini's_JiabituaiJhad»ess for curves, but in this case so subordinated to the bolder lines of hls'^ofder that they cease to offend. The attic above the order is unusually deep, but, speaking in general of this facade, its chief and alnlost its only defect is in the lack_Qf-42ffipQrtign between the flanking towers and^thg_. fine central dome. It would be interesting to know whether Wren ever saw a drawing of this church when preparing his designs for S. Paul's, for there are remarkable points of resemblance. S.* Agnese gains by its position, for the Piazza Navona is one of the chief centres ^_ Baroque art in Rome. Carlo Rainaldi was himself an architect's son, and is also responsible for S. Maria in Campitelli (1659), built to receive a miraculous image of the Virgin, which is said to have stayed a pestilence in 1656. The interior of this church is cleverly planned and well lit, with rich yet delicate detail, and the facade is also admirable. The contrast of this scholarly and dignified composition with Borromini's aberrations of taste is striking. S. Luca e Martina (1636) in the Forum, a bold domed church on a Greek-cross plan, with a curved facade towards the Forum, is by Pietro da Cortona (i 596-1 669), or Pietro Berrettini, as he is properly called. He also designed the dome of S. Carlo al Corso (16 12), perhaps the best of the city's many domes, and the perfect little church of S. Maria della Pace' (1655—7). The whole scheme of this beautiful building is a direct progression from the tradition of the best architects of the Renais- sance, but shows its kinship with the livelier works of the Baroque school by its boldness and originality of conception. Martino Lunghi the younger, who died in 1657, designed SS. Vincenzio ed Anastasio (1650) and S. Antonio de' Portoghesi (1652), the first being built to the order of Cardinal Mazarin. The facades of these represent the great middle class of Baroque architecture and combine breadth of treatment with a curious laxity of execution. The church of S. Girolamo della Carita has a noteworthy historical interest, for in addition to a very early origin it possesses the dis- tinction of having housed St. Philip Neri for over thirty years, but to us its chief feature is a beautiful doorway designed in 1660 by Domenico Castelli. Two churches familiar to all visitors to Rome are S. Maria di Montesanto and S. Maria dei Miracoli, erected at the expense of Alexander VII's treasurer in 1662 from the plans of Carlo Rainaldi, 44 " ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES with later modifications by Carlo Fontana. , These buildings occupy an importa nt po sition, at ■.tk&.termination of streets radiating from the immense Piazza dfiJ.Popolo and, sr.^ admirably adapted for their purg^. They are not absolutely identical, but are so nearly so as to deceive any but the most careful observer, and their belfries are, on the whole, of better design than their domes. "^ The church of SS. Domenico e Sisto (1623), near Trajan's Forum, has a wonderful formal arrangement of balustrades and stairways by Vincenzo della Greca and some very effective sculpture. This work is more in the nature of civic adornment than church design, but it merits attention from students of Baroque. S. Maria Maddalena has an ugly florid facade of the Borromini type. S. Carlo ai Catinari is a Barnabite foundation and dates from 16 12, but its chief attraction is of later date, the chapel of S. Cecilia (1685) by Antonio Gherardi. This chapel has a rich elliptical dome with vigorous stucco figures and decoration recalling the style so popular in Palermo in the next century. In spite of the richness of this dome there is nothing of Rococo about its lines. The third and last Baroque church-building period in Rome, the eighteenth century, produced but few noteworthy examples. We have already alluded to the facade of S. Giovanni in Laterano, and to that of S. Maria Maggiore, showing respectively the pedantic or .traditional and the picturesque or unrestrained tendencies. We may add to the latter class, perhaps, the two remaining churches to be mentioned here — the eccentric and over-decorated facade of S. Croce in Geirusalemme, by Gregorini (1744), and the gorgeous interior of the SS. Apost'bli (1702-24), rebuilt by Carlo Fontana. Ferdinando Fuga (1699- 17 80), who designed the west front of S. Maria Maggiore, may also be remembered as architect of the entrance (1725) to the courtyard or cloister of S. Cecilia in Trastevere, a scholarly piece of work which is secular rather than ecclesiastical. Many other churches might be mentioned, but enough has been said to indicate the main characteristics and the dual tendency of the period in Rome. 45 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES WORKS OF REFERENCE 11.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN ROME {See also p. 133) {For Roman Villas and Gardens, see /• 7 1 ) Alveri, Gasparo Armellini Baglione BONANNI . BORROMINI, F. . BURCKHARDT, JaCOB BuSIRI-VlCI COSTAGUTTI, G. B. Falda, G. B. . FoNTANA, Carlo fontana, domenico Giannini, Seb. . Gnoli, Domenico Letarouilly, p. Magni, Giulio Milizia . Orbaan, J. A. F. OzzoLA, Leandro Passeri . Roma in ogni state Le Chiese di Roma Vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti dal pontificato de Gregorio XIII sino a tutto quello di Urban Vlll Templi Vaticani historia Opera della Chiesa e Fabbrica della Sapienza di Roma, etc. Der Cicerone La Piazza Vaticana Architettura della Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano II nuovo teatrodelle fabbriche ed edifizii in prospettiva di Roma moderna Le Fontane di Roma Templum Vaticanum . Della transp. dell. Obelise. Vatican. Opera del Cav. Francesco Borromini Roma e i Papi nel Seicento . Le Vatican et la Basilique de Saint Pierre de Rome Edifices de Rome Moderne . II Barocco a Roma : I. Chiese. ,, „ II. Palazzi. Le Vite dei piu celebri archi- tetti Sixtine Rome L'Artei alia Corte di Ales- sandro VII Vite de'^ pittori, scultori, ed architetti che hanno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 164.1 fin al 1673 46 Rome Leipzig Rome 1664 1891 1642 1696 1720 1898 1890 1620 1665 1675 1694 1590 1720 Milan Paris 1895 1882 Turin Rome 1840-57 1911 1913 1768 London Rome 1911 1908 1772 ROMAN POPES AND CHURCHES FoLLAK, Friedrich . . Alcssandto Algardi, in Zeit- — 191 1 scirift Jur Geschichte der Anhttektur Reymond, Marcel . RiEGL, Alois . Strack, H, XIX Jahrhunderts L'art Roman du XVII siScle, in Revue des Deux Mondes Paris 1912 Barock kunst in Rom . Vienna ,1908 Baudenkmaeler Roms des XV- — 1891 47 III.— THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (i 598-1680) IF there is one man among architects of the seventeenth century in Italy whose name is known to English readers, that man is unquestionably Lorenzo Bernini, who enjoyed an almost incredible popularity in his own day. The extensive literature which has recently arisen about his work in foreign languages is, however, matched by a complete neglect of his art in this country. The scheme of the present volume is local rather than personal, but in the one case of Bernini an exception must be made and a chapter devoted to the career of so outstanding a genius. There are particular reasons why his work should be considered at this stage, closely following the church architecture of the Roman popes. For Bernini was essentially a Roman and he was essentially a papal architect. as~r^ie^ -of ihe ^ "^ / Evangelists at Castel Gandolfo, are both decorative and charming. , iO ' The striking interior of S. Andrea is said, with some foundation, to be based on the design of the Pantheon, which Bernini had had cause to study during its restoration in 1665. TheifiUipticaL/orm is of course an. innovation,, and it is curious that he placed his main entrance opposite ,iiis high altar on the minor axis sfc.the^^elKpse. Over the recess containing the high altar is a concealed laintern which floods with dramatic light a bevy of angels and gilded sun- rays, while in the coffered and festooned dome many more of the celestial host disport in pagan attitudes. ~ These "SguresPand the Xich-Jnacbles^ which line all the building within, make the interior of S. Andrea one of Bernini's most gorgeous works. He was concerned with the completion or renovation of various other churches, and designed the lantern of the dome at S. Maria di Monte Santo, as well as two campanili for the Pantheon, now fortunately destroyed. But his work at S. Peter's is_of._qutstanding irnpiortance. The belfries terminating the facade, about wETcH 'so hot a controversy raged, were the subject of mucKlhottghrTrrc-the'pS-T of Bernini and of his predecessors. TheTiesignrwMch""he"prepafed, and which so nearly proved' his undoing before they reached completion, still 52 I^ig. lo. — Rome. Vatican Palace. The Scala Resia. Fig. 11. —Rome. Colonnade in Piazza di S. Pietro. To face p. 52. THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (i 598-1 680) exist in his own sketches, and possess that curious kinship with Flamboyant Gothic that is so frequently found in French and German Rococo detail. Indeed^ if these campanili were in existence, they would undoubtedly be classed as Rococo together with the facade of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, and many of the works of Borromini, Guarini, Pozzo, and the Sicilian architects of the eighteenth century. They are lighter and more graceful than most Jtalian work of the Baroque period, and they are not so manifestly Italian in feeling as most of Bernini's architecture. Structural reasons had something to do with the slenderness of his piers and columns in this case, nor were his fears groundless, as subsequent events proved. A reference to his drawing in the Chigi collection will show that human figures took the place of crocketed pinnacles in terminating his piers, and that, though S, Peter's would have gained nothing by the addition of the belfry-towers, we are deprived of a most remarkable exarnple of an architectural hybrid. Theltnarvellous colonnade forming the piazza outside the cathedral was also the result of many preliminary drawings and studies. One of these actually provided for an arcade in two storeys on a curving plan, with a cornice at the same level as that of the cathedral facade. So colossal a scheme would have been far inferior to that which was actually executed. The latter is probably the best of Bernini's projects for this piazza, though one drawing showing ^^ar^de with coupled columns and a balustrade above is very attractive. This sketch also shows a suggestion for modifying the facade of S. Peter's itself. The colonnade as built is of gigantic simplicity, and its vast dimensions are difficult tQ|:e,aK?e.' Sundry details of the design are worthy of notice. The approximately elliptical form adopted for the plan increases the apparent size of the. piazza toa spectator and dis- plays another of Bernini's resourceful devices. .The columns increase slightly in dianieteE-in-ea€hr-Fa»ge--£t:om..the centre outwards, so. that any one walking_inj.he_pitf,»2di.itself may not notice- the. dispropor- tion between Jjie-Koids. of the outermost and innermost row. So say some of Bernini's critics, but this does not appear an adequate solution for an optical problem which suggests the intricate refine- ments of the Parthenon. Above the balustrade and entabia.tui:,e are arrayed a veritable army of jtose. energetic "statues jsQ.,chaEacteristic of 'the-^riod, and we are assured that twenty-two out of the whole sixty-two are due to the master himself. Cicognara has said that I The dimensions are as follows : from the portico of the church to the west side of ellipse about i,ioo feet, major axis of ellipse about 780 feet. 53 D* THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (i 598-1 680) if we wish to impartially distribute Bernini's success in his three great works at the cathedral-^the„/y/^«£C4^»?.»lhe Chair of S._P(^^^^ and the colonnade — we may consider that by the first two he obtained the approval of his contemporaries and by the last the admiration of posterity — a judgment which will be generally applauded by English readers. In close juxtaposition to this masterpiece is another which forms part of the same splendid scheme, the famous Scala Regia or Royal Staircase (1663-66), which leads from the piazza to the Vatican palace. In general it may be said that staircase-design in Italy found its highest expression in the work of Alessi and Bianco at Genoa, where the terraced character of nearly all the city involved a palatial series of flights to the principal floors, but the Scala Regia is a clever treatment of a perfectly straight corridor with a gentle slope and a diminishing width. Bernini turned this last attribute to good account by using it to magnify the perspective effect, and in the centre of the length he contrived a small landing, where the necessary light was obtained. The coupled columns and the barrel-vaulted ceiling are ingeniously arranged to prevent any effect of distortion. His •baldacchino under the dome of the cathedral is, to northern eyes, one of the most difficult to appreciate of all his many designs. Executed between 1624 and 1633, it belongs to an earlier period than any of the work we havT~s6~fal- considered and outrages our sober British taste. But two facts at least must be considered as extenu- ating circumstances before wholesale condemnation is passed. In the first place Bernini did not introduce twisted columns for the first time:- He borrowed the type, as he borrowed so many far more attractive ideas, from late Roman architecture, and before his day Raphael had used .the same feature .in a famous.^.icture. In the second place Bernini was not aiming at a ponderous Work of archi- tecture under the cathedralrbof^ ibr he rightly regarded the bal- dacchino as a decorative feature which must not conflict with the powerful structural lines of the colossal dome. But these facts do not exonerate him from criticism, and although some writers have seen in this strange erection the highest flight of his genius, it can never appeal to us of the present day with the same force as his colonnade or his staircase. The btoiize curtains are even less easy to*-defend than the twisted columns, and in this great work he failed, just as so many men have failed in the ciborium type, notably Scott in his Albert Memorial. The Chair of S. Peter (1656-65) may be regarded as a reredos, and 54 1 ^ § ° 6^ S I " ■b 8 THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (i 598-1 680) dates from a late period. Here again Bernini heralds the approach of Rococo elements, always exotic in Rome. Two important palaces must also be mentioned, the Palazzo Bar- berini (1629) and the Palazzo Chigi (1665), both for great Papal families. As the next chapter deals with the palajce architecture of Rome, it is unnecessary to dwell on these examples in any detail. The former building had been already commenced by Carlo Maderna, and Bernini, instead of following Michelangelo's treatment of a palace front, leaned towards the style of Bramante in the lightness of his mouldings, and introduced an amount of window surface in an arcaded faqade which was entirely new. In the Palazzo Chigi, more familiar as the Palazzo Odescalchi, as it was afterwards known, he departed from custom in his use of a great order of flat pilasters. In neither case is there any redundance^pf- ofnameH in~tKe~fa5ades, severity being a characteristic. His designs for the Palazzo Ludovisi ( 1 6-50) or Montecitorio ' were never completed, for his employer died in 1655, and the huge foundations on the site of an ancient amphitheatre were later in- corporated in the building which now houses the Italian Parliament. But there remains one great scheme, which, had it been carried out, would have affected all the succeeding architecture of France. It was in 1664 that Bernini was invited by Louis XIV to come to Paris with a view to the completion of the Louvre, and after much persuasion he was induced to leave his beloved Rome the following year for the first and only time in his long life. The account of his journey to the French capital and his reception there recalls the " progresses " of our own Queen Elizabeth. But the des^n which he prepared amid such blowing of trumpets was rejected on the grounds of its unsuitability for French surroundings, and six months after leaving his native city he returned homer=^— Colossal,^ in seale-aiid_ssvere in detail, it typified the majesty of the Baroque style so populaf-in -RoTfle,''and would have expressed the glory of the Roi Soleil well enough had it been less obviously Italian. Bernini's favourite methods in decoration, beyond his fondness for curved lines, in which Borromini even surpassed him, may be sum- marized as a passion for introducing the human figure anywhere and everywhere and a delight in the rich hues of variegated marbles. It was precisely in these respects that he usually went astray. The love of animated nature expressed in such groups of statuary as Apollo a^ TfapMe is -striking enough, but it is legitimate. His extraordinary facility with marble enabled him to reproduce the ' See article on this palace by Selwyn Brinton in The Builder, May 30, 1913. 55 THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (1598-1680) delicate movements of flesh with amazing fidelity, and on technical grounds all criticism of his sculpture would fail. His portrait busts of Scipio Borghese, of Costanza Buonarelli, of Innocent X, his statues of S. Bibiana, of David, of S. Jerome, of Luisa Albertoni, his groups mentioned earlier in this chapter — all these are in widely different ways masterpieces. But when sculpture played a part in an architectural scheme his success was only at times assured. In the Cappella Raimondi in S. Pletro in Montorio may be seen an exquisite group depicting the Translation of S. Francis (1636); lit fromjibg^jlL^hy .axQOCsakd.limdow, and displaying a refinement as delicate as that of Phidias and a spirit as Christian as Donatello's. Nearly thirty years later, in 1665, he produced The^Visitation, a group for the Cappella Siri at Savona, which recalls^, the, works of Delia-fiebbia. Of a more architectural character are two superb monuments in S. Peter's, one to the Countess Matilda (1635), the other to his friend and patron Pope Urban VIII (1642-7). The former stands in a tiiche, and consists of a sarcophagus decorated with bas-reliefs and richly moulded, supporting two amorini\ who bear a wreathed scroll. Above, on a plain pedestal, is the beautiful queenly figure of Matilda, carved with all that mastery of the feminine form that Bernini could show so well, alike in draped or nude figures. There is nothing outri about this monument, and again he evinces a sympathy with the classic tradition of Florence. Heavier, more ambitiouSj yet stiU_res^^[iilgd^axid_noble, ijM^ tomb of Urban VIII, again placed in a marble-lined niche. The sarco- phagus is of coloured marble, and stands between two supporting figures of the Virtues. Above is the great dark marble effigy of the Pope seated above a pedestal, depicted in the act of pronouncing benediction. But the whole artistic value of the monument is spoiled by the representation of a skeleton climbing out of the sarcophagus and displaying on a banner the name and title of the deceased Pontiff. It would be out of place in this book to discuss the ethical teaching of a skeleton, but from a purely aesthetic point of view men of all creeds will agree that such a feature is unjusti- fiably grotesque. The tomb of Alexander VII belongs to the later years of Bernini's life (1672-8), and is succinctly described in Murray's Handbook for Rome as his "last and most disagreeable work." Unfortunately, there is much of truth in the description. The inevitable female figures supporting the sarcophagus, instead of being grouped in dignity and repose on either side, appear to be striving in frantic eagerness to attract the attention of the Pope kneeling above, and one of them so far outraged the modesty of a S6 THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (i 598-1680) later Pontiff that he provided a decent and effective garment of painted lead for her shapely limbs, while at a more recent date it was found necessary to still further conceal her charms from the eyes of the faithful. The skeleton no longer climbs slowly from the sarcophagus, for here no sarcophagus exists, but hangs pre- hensile from the heavy folds of a marble curtain, brandishing an hour-glass. Even the statue qfjhe Pope himself lacks, the benig- nant greatness of Urban Vfll, the surrounding decoration is garish and tawdry, and the clumsy sweep of the marble draperies outrages all canons of architecture and of the legitimate use of marble itself. This,is Indeed Bernini's most disagreeable work, and, like the Chair of S. Peter and the -!^a^lK'^fA^»(^ near by, itsf^rominenceJaas gained it a notoriety which all admirers of his great talents must deplore. The little white ma rble or stucco Cupids and goddesses (for they are all PagaJfTln every line~ of their supple forms) who leer from the tops of pediments or round- the corners of pedestals in his mof e frivolous works show this same tendency, and the extra- ordinarily vital figures of angels on his Ponte S. Angelo suffer by comparison with the superb groups on that most beautiful of all modern bridges — the Pont Alexandre at Paris. Yet Paris more than any other city has felt the influence of Bernini, for those who followed in his footsteps were nearly all French artists, and the great French sculptors of the eighteenth century are his direct descendants in the art world. Even the staircase of the Opera House at Paris owes something to the tradition of the famous Roman master. His name will appear again in the next chapter as a designer of fountains and as a planner of public places, but the leading char- acteristics of his art are to be found in those churches, palaces, and statues which have now been mentioned. He was a man of commanding genius and his errors are few in comparison with his successes. The world is better £br-^i9-or-igirnftli'ty--aad his love of beauty for its own sake^ that -quality whkh prflslaims-the, trjie humanist. There is a passage in M. Marcel Reymond's charming monograph on Bernini which will form a fitting conclusion to this chapter : — " Cette ville de Rome qui a vu tant de civilisations diverses se pr^sente aujourd'hui a nos yeux comme 6tant surtout une ville du dix-septieme siecle. Rome est vraiment la ville du Bernin." ^ ' ' Reymond, Le 'Bernin, p. 175. 57 THE WORK OF LORENZO BERNINI (1598-16 80) WORKS OF REFERENCE III.— BOOKS DEALING WITH THE LIFE AND WORK OF BERNINI {See also /. 46) . Vita del Cav. Bernino . . Florence 1682 . Vita del Cav. Gio. Lorenzo Rome 171 3 Bernino . Lorenzo Bernini, seine Zeit, Leipzig 1912 sein Leben, sein Werk . 11 Bernini .... Milan 1900 . Bernini and the Baroque Style, London 1906 in The Fortnightly Review . Opere del Bernino, in t^rte e — — Storia, Anno XVIII . Lorenzo Bernini Baldinucci Bernini, Domenico boehn, m. von Fraschetti Phillipps, E. M. POGGI, VlTTORIO POLLAK, FrIEDRICH Reymond, Marcel Le Bernin (contains a biblio- graphy) Stuttgart Paris 1909 Recent 58 IV.— ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS THE architectural labours of the Popes were by no means confined to churches, for, although, as we have seen, an incredible and perhaps disproportionate number of these buildings were erected, the pontifical energies were equally active in other channels. Their «ewl^iL5fflakened. theories as to nepotism and the establishment of their fajmiUes account for their magnificent palaces in Rome and villas in the country, while their desire to beaiilify and ennoble their Church and their city produced their more official buildings and their civil monuments. Wh^t we may group as official palaces of the Papacy are the Vatican, Lateran, and Quirinal palaces, the Sapienza, CoUegio Romano, Propaganda, etc. Their purpose was to house the Pontiff and his vast retinue on the one hand, the army of Papal officials on the other. In modern times there have been many changes of ownership, and the crossed keys over several famous palace doors have been superseded by the arms of United Italy, Yet the Vatican and the Lateran continue in the unbroken succession of many centuries. It was some five hundred years after Christ that the first Popes came to dwell in the Vatican, but it was a thousand years later when the Renaissance Popes increased it to any great size. Nicholas V decided, about 1450, to make the Vatican the most imposing palace in the world, uniting under its roof all the offices of his Government and all the dwellings of his cardinals. In the ensuing century the first library, the Appartamento Borgia and the Stanze, the Torre Borgia, Sistine Chapel, Belvedere, and Bramante's great court were erected. This, then, was the extent of the Vatican at the beginning of the Baroque period. The lovely little casino in the gardens — the Villa Pia — is the first building for us to notice, but it barely seems to belong to the Baroque style, rather to that vague category of villas and garden- houses which includes the Pamphili, Medici, and Borghese villas, and which is neither pure Renaissance nor Baroque. Here, as in the Villa di Papa Giulio which preceded it by several years, the architecture seems to breathe the spirit of classic times, perhaps recalling the days of Imperial Rome with its rich and almost debased refinements in marble. Sixtus V left his mark upon the Vatican buildings, and of his additions the best known is the Library, which divides Bramante's enormous court into two parts, the Cortile di Belvedere and the Giardino della Pigna. But between 1585 and 1605 was erected that strange amorphous group which has now become the real 59 ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS home of the Popes, the greater part of the palace being devoted to art collections. Fontana adopted a facade closely resembling that at the Lateran, which he was building simultaneously — a simple Late Renaissance treatment with a good cornice. Maderna's work at the Vatican is apparently limited to the water- garden ; and Bernini, who followed him, in addition to the Scala Regia described in the last chapter, remodelled the Sala Ducale for Alexander VII about the same time. This room, however, is of no great importance. The Vatican has of course been considerably extended since the seventeenth century, and in every case the alterations have been improvements. The Lateran Palace is more compact and less straggling in arrangement. From early Christian days down to the fifteenth century it was the official dwelling of the Popes, but, as we now see it, it is largely the work of Domenico Fontana, who " restored " it in 1586. It consists of a group of buildings round a square court with arcades. For some seventy years it has served as a museum to contain part of the incomparable treasures of the Popes. In appearance it closely resembles Fontana's work at the Vatican, a great facade crowned by a heavy cornice, fifteen windows in the whole length and three stories high, with a rusticated central doorway. The Quirinal Palace, now occupied by the King of Italy, was formerly a summer residence of the Popes, to whom its healthy situation appealed. It is also largely the work of Baroque archi- tects, having been begun in 1574 by Flaminio Ponzio, continued by Domenico Fontana, and completed by Bernini. The celebrated Sala Regia here (16 17) was designed by Flaminio Ponzio and Carlo Maderna. The extensive outbuildings of this palace enclose a fine garden. The decorations are particularly sumptuous in all the principal rooms. The CoUegio Urbano (1627) attached to the Congregation De Propaganda Fide is an early work of Bernini and of little interest. The Palazzo della Consulta (1730), adjoining the Quirinal, is a very large building with a striking facade in a style which, though Baroque in all its details, is restrained and severe, the colossal figures above the cornice alone breaking its formal lines. Here was formerly the seat of the Supreme Court of the Papal States. The remaining official buildings of the Popes are of no great architectural importance here, though often on a considerable scale, and the rest of this chapter may better be devoted to other matters. The greater private - palaces of Rom£ are, with a few- exceptions, 60 P'p^ajjJjlUSSi^ Fig. ii,.—-Rome. Palazzo delta Consulta. 'ro fare p. (5o. ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS the residences of families whose fortunes were mide^when one of their members Isecame Pope,^ and dating in no case earlier than the fifteenth century. The Palazzo di Venezia and the Palazzo Colonna, though differing so much in general appearance, are not separated by a wide span of years, and both belong to this period. The growth of Roman prosperity in the earlier part of the six- teenth century, however, is marked by a succession of large palaces by Bramante, Peruzzi, and Sangallo, and by their successors — Michelangelo and Vignola — in whose work, we are told, may first be discerned the "germs of the barocco corrtlption." Putting aside for the moment all buildings outside the city proper, we find that Sangallo and Michelangelo's Palazzo Farnese represents the culminating-point of the pure Renaissance palaces, and perhaps the prototype of the sumptuous Baroque designs which followed. In the work of Fontana at the Vatican and Lateran the influence of the Palazzo Farnese is easily to be traced, and one may assume that it was regarded even in those days as a masterpiece. In Lunghi's Palazzo Borghese we notice the same motive, an immensely long and lofty fa9ade, with a great cornice and a simple system of fenestration, ornament being restricted to the central doorway. Yet this design is in most ways inferior to the Farnese. The courtyard of the palace is charmingly treated with coupled columns and arches. This building was bought by Paul V during its construction for one Cardinal Dezza, a Spaniard, and was eventually completed by Flaminio Ponzio. Martino Lunghi also built the Palazzo Altemps (1580), and to this same semi-Baroque period, corresponding to the epoch of the earlier Counter-Reformation churches, belong the PaJazzi Gius- tiniani (1580, by Giovanni Fontana, finished by Borromini), Lancellotti (1586, by Volterra), and Ruspoli (1586, by Am- manati). In striking contrast to these moderate designs is the riotous, fanciful detail of the Palazzo Zuccari (1586) designed by its owner, Federico Zuccari. A gigantic grotesque figure in stone surrounds the whole doorway, a figure which is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and which defies description. The adjoining window is, if possible, even more startling, for it is formed in the yawning jaws of another terrible monster, stretched to a rectangular shape. These features are, with the possible exception of the Palazzo Toni, mentioned below, by far the most extraordinary manifestations of the Baroque spirit in the city or even in Italy. The early date 61 ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS of the building is worthy of notice, for it is apparent that late examples have not a monopoly of bizarre elements. Montaigne, in his visit to Rome in 1580, gives some account of life among the grandees of the city, and appears astonished at the brilliance of Rome and its people, which he considered comparable with his beloved Paris. In those days French influence and manners were in the ascendant, for it was many years before Spanish etiquette had completely altered the face..Qf_^ungs, and reduced tie -xicciipations of the aristocracy tQ ...makiilg^ a_display and conforming., with tables .of precedence. Yet even in 1580 Montaigne tells us : — " The city is all for the courts and nobility, every one adapting himself to the ease and idleness of ecclesiastical surroundings. There are no main streets of trade ; what there are would seem small in a small town, palaces and gardens take up all the space. " In the palaces the suites of apartments are large, one room after the other, and you may have to pass through three or four rooms before you come to the chief saloon. " In certain houses where M. de Montaigne dined in ceremony the buffet was not set in the dining-room, but in one adjoining, whither the servants would go to fetch drink for whomsoever might call for it ; there, too, was displayed the silver plate." Of the palace gardens he says that the most beautiful are — "Those of the Cardinals d'Este at Monte Cavallo and Farnese at the Palatine ; of Cardinals Orsini, Sforza, and Medici ; of Papa Giulio and of Madama ; those of the Farnese and of Cardinal Riario in Trastevere, and of Cesio outside the Porta del Popolo." Returning to our study of the more noteworthy of Baroque palaces in Rome, we find that the seventeenth century provides a long list. The Palazzo Sciarra or Sciarra Colonna (1603) was built by Car- dinal Barberini, who may have bought the site for the gardens existing there, which were already laid out. These gardens he embellished still further, and the beautiful fountain adorned with cupids is of the Baroque period. The facade is simple and dig- nified, and the principal doorway is variously attributed to Vignola and to Antonio Labacco. The Palazzo Rospigliosi (1603) was built by Flaminio Ponzio for Cardinal Scipio Blorghese, and the Palazzo Mattel (16 15) by Carlo Maderna for Asdrubale Mattel. The Palazzo Barberini has already been mentioned in the last chapter. It is one of the largest in the city, and is the joint work 62 Fig. \ 5. — Rome. Palazzo Bolognetti. To face p. 62 ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS of Maderna, Borromini, and Bernini. The spiral staircase is very finely planned and, like that at Caprarola, has Doric columns as a principal element in the design. But each pair of columns stands at a different level and a restless effect is thereby produced. The same method is used at Caprarola. The facade towards the Via Quattro Fontane, recessed between wings, is one of Bernini's happiest compositions and is essentially Roman in character, a development from Bramante's work in the Vatican. On the opposite side is a projecting wing designed by Borromini with ^ an unpleasantly broken entablature as its most objectionable feature. The arrangement of this great palace on a steep hill- side is interesting and on the whole successful. Externally its huge plain fagade gives the lie to its Baroque parentage, but it must be remembered that most of the beautiful gardens have been sold and built over in recent times. The palace of Montecitorio was commenced from Bernini's designs in 1642 for Innocent X and completed from those of Carlo Fon- tana. The facjade forms part of a polygon on plan, following the lines of the ancient amphitheatre below, and this fact does not enhance the external effect as it might do. There is nothing particularly characteristic of the Baroque period about this building. The Palazzo Pamphili (1650) in the Piazza Navona was designed by Girolamo and Carlo Rainaldi, and forms part of the most interesting group of Baroque buildings in Rome. Near the Gesu church stands the huge Palazzo Altieri (1670), built by the Cardinal of that name from the designs of Giovanni Antonio dei Rossi, and containing fine rooms and decoration. Of much architectural interest are two palaces attributed to Paolo Marucelli. The Palazzo di S. Calisto is a little-known example, but of admirable proportions, with a large decorated cornice. The wall-surfaces are of Roman bricks, an unusual feature, as stone and stucco are the conventional materials. The facade of the Palazzo Madama (1642), which MarUcelli is said to have constructed from designs by Lodovico Cardi (or Cigoli) has been selected by Gurlitt to illustrate typical Baroque architecture in the opening chapter of his exhaustive work, and is of a more florid character than the last example. The decoration is not, however, excessive, and there is nothing of the wild eccen- tricity of Borromini or of the Palazzo Zuccari in its rich yet legitimate detail. A mere mention will suffice for the Palazzo Spada, which in 1632 63 ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS suffered from some of Borromini's vagaries, including a clever but useless perspective effect in a colonnade. In conclusion, a group of palaces should be noticed which indicate the same dual tendency in design which marks the churches of the early eighteenth century* The Palazzo Doria in the Corso is the largest in Rome, and was designed by Pietro da Cortona, Borromini, and Valvasori, The last-named architect is responsible for the lofty facade (1690) towards the Corso, which is in a late and florid Baroque style, though not actually Rococo. The treatment is, however, very free, curved lines are profusely employed, and the lightness of the ornament suggests the influence of the later phase. Rocogo work may nevertheless be seen in some of these palaces, as, for example, in the eighteenth-century facade, and especially in a hideous doorway in the Palazzo del Grillo, a fountain in the courtyard being far more attractive. The most remarkable of these later examples is the small Palazzo Toni or dei Pupazzi, which although distinctly Baroque rather than Rococo is quite the most ornate in Rome, and certainly the most original as regards the quality of its decoration. The whole effect of the design suggests influence from Lecce or Syracuse, where such things may be seen more frequently. On the other hand, the influence of a classic reaction is noticeable in the two last instances to be cited here. Carlo Fontana's Palazzo Bolognetti (1700) and Ferdinando Fuga's additions to the Palazzo Corsini (1729-32). The former is a simple application of seven- teenth-century principles to a facade, but is altogether more refined than the Palazzo Doria of nearly the same date. The general principles of .palace .design in JRQme_during_-the Baroque period .xmderweat Ij.ttle important changej_aiid_developed normally from late Renaissance models. There was, however^ an increased tendency to magnify those features which prod^cgd an impression of magniice;nce— the lay-out on axial lines, the principal staircase, the suite of inter-communicating reception^oioms.'"t:E:?tEit^ nally the same trait is observable in the disposition of ornament and heraldry over' the main entrance door and in the terraces and forecourts leading up to -the centre of the facade. Internally the decoration became mojejgyish and involved the free use of coloured marbles, modelled stucco, and chiaroicura -work., in Edition to the rich frescoes and gilding of the previous period. It may seem strange to any who have not considered the sjibject that a hard-and-fast line should be drawn between the town houses 64 I ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS of the Popes in Rome and the villas and gardens which lie just outside the city, or at most a few miles away on the Alban Hills. For there is not the same apparent difference in planning and design as in the case of modern English town and country houses as we know them. Nor may it have occurred to the reader how much these villas are bound up with the Baroque period. Of late years it has become fashionable to take some notice of the old gardens of Italy, and several sumptuous volumes have appeared illustrating and describing them in detail. It is not surprising to find architects figuring as students of this phase of Italian art, for there is much to be learned by a careful study of the subject, more indeed than appears at first sight. What the Baroque arshitect realized so fully. was exactly that quality which has only just begun to dawn__pn the mind of the -modern Englishman, that the effect of a Tiiouse depends very largely on its setting. We might even go further and- say that the former cared more for the setting than for the house itself, and perhaps a reason for this may be found later. The " villa habit," if so one may describe it, was largely the outcome of climatic conditions, and was especially welcome in Rome. For malaria still hangs round the city in the summer months, and must have been far more virulent before men knew of any precautions with which to meet it. This disease is chiefly prevalent in marshy and low-lying country, so that the majority of villas are found either on the hills immediately surrounding Rome or on the more distant and loftier slopes of Frascati. The Romans built villaa long before .the. sixteenth,century. The Villa Adriana at Tivoli, for instance, was erected a little more than a hundred years after Christ, while Tusculum, almost on the site of modern Frascati, was a favourite summer resort in classic times. The villas of Pliny and Mummius have been exhaustively dealt with by many writers, but the chief value of these researches is that we are thereby enabled to trace a close and exact parallel between the Roman country houses of pagan and of Papal times, and thus to add yet another to the long list of similarities between Rome of the Emperors and Rome of jthe Popes. During the Dark and Middle, Ages villa Hfe and the cult of gardens alike waned, the country house being fortified against marauders, while gardening was restricted to domestic requirements, and a patch of vegetables was often all that was to be seen from the close- barred windows. Moreover, this fortified state is said by some to 65 '~ E ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS be reflected in the massive basements of the later Frascati villas, where the incursions of brigands from the lonely hills was a constant dread. Although there are a few previous isolated examples, a little group of villas and gardens of the early sixteenth century indicates the revival of interest in this branch of art and the gradual return of Rome to its classic past. In ten years or so we find four well-known examples being laid out — the Villa Madama just across the Tiber (possibly by Raphael), the Palazzo del Te at Mantua, the Palazzo Doria at Genoa, and the Villa d'Este on Lake Como, all on more or less formal lines. By the time that Vignola and Ammanati were at work on the Villa di Papa Giulio (1550) some general principles of garden and villa design had become established, and these may well be considered here before passing on to the later examples. The villa or casino varied greatly in size, sometimes being very little more than its name implies in England, at others attaining to the scale of a great mansion. — Jtos. pe rhaps too mu ch to say that the., I'i^-is-subservientto its garden, but it 4s never too large for the:-garden. The internal arrangements were invariably simpje^- and did not cater for the more complex life of a town. The ' rooms, though often lofty and richly decorated, were few in number, usually en suite and without any connecting cor'ridor. Their architecture may be classified under three heads. The classic refinement of the Villa di Papa Giulio and the Villa Pia in the Vatican Garden developed into the peculiar design of the Villas Medici, Pamphili, and Borghese, where a new style seems to have been evolved particularly suited to the purpose — a style not at all suited to the street of a busy town, but capable of execution in stucco. Then we have such grandiose buildings as the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati, most bombastic of all, but not, one feels, so well adapted to a garden, however splendid ; and, lastly, there are such simple and unpretentious country houses as the Villa Torlonia, also at Frascati, where the style can hardly be defined, being rustic and cosmopolitan. Yet the fact undoubtedly remains that these houses are unimportant. Their sole interest is as a part of a garden scheme, of which they invariably formed a centre. Nearly every famous villa in or near Rome lies upon the slope of some hill, and its position on the site is always contrived with consummate skill. An axial line is uaualLy -taken-^om the- main entrance to the grounds through the centre of the house and 66 ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS beyond, and a formal treatmeiitis adopted. But the whole triumph ^6f"tMs~Mian garden design lies in its adaptation of nature to a conventional treatment, for, as several writers have remarked, in comparing the formal garden with the English landscape school of Repton and " Capability Brown," the object of thejtalians was not to create nature but to adorn it. So the main principle of these- architects seems to have been to lead one in gentle stages from the saloons of the house to a formal terrace with balustrades and statues, from the terrace to a formal alley between close-clipped ilex hedges, from the ilex walk to the rustic wilderness of the bosco or wood beyond. Occasionally more of a contrast was aimed at, so that in the bosco one came unexpectedly on the main axial line of the house prolonged in cascades and terraces. The power of the Italian sun accounts for the almost complete absence of flowers, so apparent a want to English eyes, yet not so much in Rome, where the brilliant rays cause one to demand but two things in a garden — shade and running water. Of these there is always abundance, and at one period the hydraulic engineer contested with the. architect the post of chief importance in a garden. His task was not only to supply water for the cascades and fountains of every kind, which are so prominent a feature in all these gardens, but in some cases to devise " quaint conceits " for dousing the delighted guests of the cardinal or other lordly owner. In full accord with the broad and lusty humour of Shake- speare's day is the extract from Evelyn's diary at Tivoli many years later, where he talks of "many devices to wett the unwary spectators, so that one can hardly walk a step without wetting to the skin." Of the same delicate character was that collapsible island near Isola Bella, where the house- party — happily watching the sunset — gradually sank under the lake till drowning was suffi- ciently imminent to proclaim the joke complete. Montaigne tells us, too, of organs played by water, of chirping birds and un- expected owls appearing, and of many scientific tricks of the sort, though he had seen the same things elsewhere, he says. These general remarks on Italian gardens describe as far as possible in a few paragraphs the gardens of the Baroque villas in and near Rome. Those within the city boundaries include the gardens of the Vatican, Quirinal, and Colonna palaces, and the Sciarra and Corsini Villas, while in the environs are the Borghese, Pamphili-Doria, and Chigi Villas. 67 ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS At Tivoli is the Villa d'Este, at Frascati the Villas Aldobrandini, Torlonia, Borghese, Mondragone, Muti and Falconieri, at Bagnaja the Villa Lante, and at Viterbo the castle of Caprarola. This short list does not include the famous Villa Medici, which is slightly earlier than our period, nor the Villa Albani, which dates from the classical revival in the latter half of the eighteenth century and has become famous as the home of the great critic Winckel- mann. Nor are many other familiar examples mentioned, for these Roman gardens have been profusely described and illustrated ever since the seventeenth century, when Giovanni Falda produced his admirable series of engravings. The Quirinal garden is of no great interest, but that of the Vatican is one of the most charming of all, and is only a few years later than that of the Villa Medici. It was designed about 1560 by Pirro Ligorio, a Neapolitan, and many of the beautiful marbles were taken from classical ruins in the city. Among its ornaments are a fine fountain by Vasanzio, Bernini's deservedly famous bronze ship, and an immense bronze fir-cone which formerly stood on the roof of the Pantheon. The planning of the garden on the slope of the Mons Vaticanus, and above all the design of Ligorio's charm- ing Villa Pia, are worthy of most careful study. The Colonna gardens are on a confined town site with a steep slope which lends itself to a treatment of cascades, the connection with the palace itself being made by four balustrated bridges which span the small intervening street. In this respect the prevailing Genoese type is followed. The Borghese and Pamphili-Doria Villas have both suffered from a craze for imitating the landscape garden originated in Eng- land last century, but retain many of their original features, the latter villa being magnificently placed in alignment with the dome of St. Peter's. The casini are the work of Giovanni Vasanzio and Alessandro Algardi respectively, and their dates are 1616 and 1650. As examples of garden-architecture they are meritorious and, like the Villa Medici, they follow Raphael's tradition. The north front of the casino at the Villa Pamphili is of much better design than the loftier and more ostentatious elevation usually illustrated. The gardens of the Villa Chigi, just outside Rome in the Cam- pagna, are not planned on an ambitious scale but are attractive. The Villa d'Este at Tivoli was laid out by Pirro Ligorio in 1 549, but many of the features are of later date. The great casino which crowns the whole is one of the largest of such buildings, but it is unfinished and shabby, and it forms a strange contrast 68 Fi!^^. 17. — Frascati. Villa Borghese. Loggi Fig. 18. — Frascati. Villa Torlonia Garden stairway. To face p. 63. ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS with the priceless marbles of the Villa Pia at the Vatican designed by the same hand. Th©;:.Baroque water^oEgan in its grandiose excesses represents the worstpKase of seventeenth-century garden- architecture ; the Fountain of the Sibyl, the Hundred Fountains, and some of the smaller adornments are more pleasing, while the arrangement of terraces and axial-lines with the superb prospect of Rome is unsurpassed. The numerous villas at Frascati form the best group in Italy and show a great variety of design. The most important is the Villa Aldobrandini, commenced in 1598 from designs by Giacomo della Porta and Giovanni Fontana, with Oraizio Olivieri (who had acted in a similar capacity at the Villa d'Este) as water engineer. The huge and somewhat ugly casino is situated on a vast terrace, 900 feet by 120 feet, commanding the plain of the Campagna. Behind the casino is a large water-theatre in the form of a hemi-cycle, from which rises an elaborate cascade in many stages to a fountain on the top of the hill. The whole scale of the scheme and its details is colossal and all the statues are several times life-size. Equally magnificent but far more attractive is the terrace of the Villa Torlonia with its many flights of wide steps. Some distance higher, in the bosco, far above the simple casino and the terrace, is a beautiful reservoir, surrounded by balustrades, and supplying the cascade, which descends in curious ramps. The Villa Falconieri, originally planned in 1548, was extensively restored by Borromini in the seventeenth century, and, with the exception of one gateway, is characteristic of his style. The group of cypresses by the lake hei-e can hardly be considered as architec- ture, but forms one of the most beautiful scenes in Italy. The casino of the Villa Lancellotti closely resembles the last, and the Villa Muti has been much altered in modern times. Mention must also be made of the Villa Mondragone, commenced in. 1 5 67 by Martino Lunghi and now used as a Jesuit college. This stupendous building may be seen from Rome when the sunset strikes on its numerous rows of windows, and is finely situated. It is grouped round a large cortile, and on the terrace are an unusual row of isolated Doric columns, which in reality form the chimneys from the kitchen buildings beneath. As at the adjoining Villa Borghese, there is much excellent garden-architecture here. Nearly all these villas at Frascati are placed on a hill-side, and the same is true of the Villa Farnese at Caprarola, where is a fine series of stairways and cascades leading up to the casino. This is seventeenth-century work and surpasses most of that at Frascati. 69 K* ROMAN PALACES AND GARDENS In these various villas may be seen much that does not redound to the credit of the Baroque architects — vulgarities and eccentricities for which no excuse can be found. But on the other hand it must be remembered that the art of garden craft in Italy had only jijst been evolved when Baroque influence began, and that during the period all those admirable and fascinating elements that form the indefinable attraction of the Italian garden were evolved.. Almost exactly the same may be said of the innumerable fountains which, welcome as they are in a thirsty Southern garden, are doubly desirable in the sun-baked streets of Rome. There is no city in the world where fountains are more welcome or more plentiful, and for most of these the city has to thank the seventeenth-century Popes and their architects. * Indeed, it jbecame customary for each hew pontiff to bring an aqueduct into Rome which should excel that of. his predecessor. " The largest" of these Papal fountains is the hideous Acqua Paola on the Janiculum,, a clumsy structure of masonry which disfigures the whole neighbour- hood, designed by Domenico Fontana and finished by Maderna in 1612. Another important example is the Fontana di Trevi (1735-62), one of the finest monuments of the Baroque style. It is almost certainly the work of Ferdinando Fuga, but it is so much bolder in character than its date would suggest that many critics have sought to assign it to Bernini. Bernini's principal authenticated fountains are the group in the Piazza Navona, the Acqua Acitosa, that known as " La Barca " in the Piazza di Spagna, and the Fontana del Tritone in the Piazza Barber ini. Of these the first are most noteworthy and include a number of symbolical figures arranged with all his customary energy and executed by various sculptors. The central fountain represents four river-gods, that on the north Neptune and a sea monster, that on the south a Moor and Tritons. His Fontana del Tritone is of the same type as the Fontana Paola in the Piazza BocCa della Verita and the Fontana delle Tartarughe (1585) by Giacomo della Porta. All these are essentially works of sculpture rather than architecture and represent the most charming treatment possible for an isolated fountain in an open square. In the courtyards and gardens of many of the private palaces and gardens are to be found examples of another kind, where water is introduced in front of a wall surface and where a different treatment is involved. A good example exists in the Palazzo S. Croce. Lastly, any description of the architectural work of the Baroque 70 Fig. 10- — Rome. Piazza del Popolo. T I Fi^. 20. — Rome. Fontana di Trevi, To face p. 70, ROMAN PALACES AND GARDE^NS period in Rome would be incomplete which failed to record the wonderful strides made in- that art which has only recently been christened as " town-planning." The extraordinarily fine lay-out of*the Pra?za:":;dirS. Pietro, impressive as it is, only forms a "part of a niuch larger scheme, in which Carlo Fontana intended to remove the houses between the Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Nuovo and thus obtai® a view of the dome of S. Peter's, The Piazza del Popolo is still unrivalled in Europe, and in the steps leading to the church of SS. Trinita de' Monti or in the arrangement of streets and squares round S. Maria Maggiore may be seen an appreciation of possibi- lities which is matched in some smaller examples as the Piazze of S. Ignazio and S. Maria della Pace. This brief survey of the achievements of Baroque architects in Rome in the design of -chmxhes. palaces ^ villas. fountainSj3Bd._civic_ adornment will enable an idea to be formed~H^our indebtedness to these frequently misunderstood and maligned men. WORKS OF REFERENCE IV.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE GARDENS IN ITALY (_See also pp. 96, 107, and 133.) Falda, Giovanni Latham, Charles Leblond, Mrs. Aubrey Magni, Giulio Platt, C. a. . Percier et Fontaine RiAT, Georges Thorp, W. H. Triggs, H. Inigo )j • tuckermann, w. p. Wharton, Edith Li Giardini di Roma' The Gardens of Italy The Old Gardens of Italy II Barocco a Roma : III Ville e Fontane Italian Gardens Choix des plus celebres Maisons de Plaisance de Rome et ses environs 1 L'art des Jardins Villas and Gardens of Rome, Tivoli, and Frascati, in R.I.B.A. Journal The Art of Garden Design in Italy Garden Craft^in Europe . Der Gartenkunst der Italien- ischen Renaissance Zeit Italian Villas and their Gardens Rome 1670 London 1906 5J 1912 Turin 1913 New York 1894 Paris 1809 )» 1900 London 1907 Berlin London 1906 1913 1884 1904 71 v.— GENOA IT may have already occurred to the reader's mind that the same proportionate amount of space cannot be devoted to other Italian cities as has been given to Rome in the pre- vious chapters. Rome is, of course, the cradle of Baroque archi- tecture and the place in which it can best be studied on a monumental scale, but perhaps it is as well, in view of the numerous examples existing all over the country, that one should be limited to a few centres, and that they should form, as it were, points of vantage from which the Baroque buildings of Italy can be surveyed as a whole. One of these cities is undoubtedly Genoa, where there exist many obvious instances of the style, and where, moreover, one may study with great advantage some of those cross-currents which determined its course. For various reasons the architecture of Genoa has not hitherto received the attention it merits. The town has long borne a title (La Superba) which proclaims the magnificence of its situation and also the splendour of its buildings, and its neglect by archi- tects can only be attributed to the fact that so many of its palaces and churches date from the last stages of the Renaissance or from the still more discredited seventeenth century. Closer attention to detail must surely convince every honest visitor that such an attitude is utterly mistaken. During all the years when these buildings were being erected the history of the Republic of Genoa was singularly unsettled. She was constantly at war — not, as formerly, with her maritime rivals, Pisa and Venice — but with France and Savoy. In these long wars she was generally to be found assisting Spain with ships and money, and indeed Spanish fortunes would have been in a parlous state without her. It was owing to the support of her wealthy financiers that Spain was enabled to gain so firm a footing in Italy. Wars with foreign, Powers were, however, only part of her anxieties, for she had also to face Corsican rebellions and constant faction-fights in her own narrow streets. Yet the turbulence of the age did not affect her splendid pros- perity, and Alessi's palaces to-day seem to share with the beautiful orange-groves and gardens of the surrounding villas a peculiar fitness in a city which is a remarkable combination of a historic past and a flourishing present. In the seventeenth century the Genoese merchant-princes controlled the finance of the Mediterranean and her chief internal dissensions were between these parvenus and the older military and naval families. 72 GENOA Trade had declined slightly, but moneylenders from Genoa migrated to Rome and purchased monti (offices) from the Popes as investments. In spite of civil wars, pirates, and plagues, her fine new streets wore an aspect of gaiety and magnificence unmatched in Europe, and the rich saloons of the Vi* Nuova were filled with gorgeous costumes and furniture. From Spain her rulers received many privileges, and, owing to the decline of Venice as a seaport, she became at this time the richest state in Italy. As a centre of artistic development Genoa occupies a peculiar posi- tion. The memorials of mediaeval times, though not comparable with those of Venice or Milan, are interesting and varied, but of the earlier period of Renaissance architecture little remains save several charming doorways in the older parts of the city. The reputation of Genoa is not due simply to the grand sweep of her harbour front or to her terraced suburbs and palms, not even to the magnificence of her port or the vast encircling wall of the Apennines, but largely to those few famous streets of palaces which Madame de Stael said were worthy to house a gathering of kings. It is not the least factor in Genoa's pride that she can boast of the finest historic street in Italy. This street, or rather its conpeption, is the work of one man. And one must think twice before claiming Galeazzo Alessi as an exponent of Baroque principles. The historical test and the visible test alike fail in such a case. For its palaces were raised in the debatable years just as Baroque was gaining a hold in Italy, and their architec- ture is neither fully developed Renaissance of the culminating period nor the Baroque style practised by Borromini and his contem- poraries. Yet it is in a measure the architecture of revolt, a new style originated to meet new requirements. It is, moreover, the architecture of a grandiose and ostentatious period, of a city at the highest point of a long prosperity. And these two principles — ostentation and originality — are among the recognized characteristics of the style, whether accompanied or not by two other frequent symptoms — picturesqueness and eccentricity. Alessi's palaces are very numerous, for he came at a fortunate time for himself and for the city. He was trained in Perugia, his native town (where he was born in 15 12), by an obscure artist — half painter, half architect — by name Giovanni Battista Caporali, and his forte was military architecture. But, like many others whose repu- tation lay in such a direction, his later fame rested on widely different work. He was summoned to Genoa, it is true, where his ability had evidently been talked of, by the Sauli family to 73 GENOA carry out various private commissions for them, and by the Re- public to remodel the harbour. Vasari states that he lengthened the mole, or breakwater, but what is of more importance to architects is his Porta del Molo, or entrance to the warehouses on the break- water. Built in 1549-53, it may be compared with those massive gateways at Verona erected by Sammicheli a few years previously, and with Inigo Jones's water-gate at York Stairs. In character it resembles the latter rather than the former, but in severity there is little to choose between these fine examples. It is, like all Alessi's work, scholarly but original, and it possesses two features common in Baroque buildings — an enormous inscription over the door, and a facade recessed on a curve such as we find in Borromini's Sant' Agnese at Rome. Fig. 21. — S. Maria in Carignano, Genoa. Plan. For the Sauli he began .that colossal church which dominates the city on the south, S. Maria in Carignano, and, though it is in some ways his most important work, it is perhaps the most disappointing. His intention seems to have been to follow Bramante's plan for St. Peter's, so we have the Greek cross as a basis, filled out with chapels to form a square. We do not know exactly how far Alessi was responsible for the design, which was not completed till 1603, but it seems probable that it was entirely his. The proportions of the exterior are its weak point, the dome being far too small for the church itself and for the two lofty campanili flanking the principal facade. The general lines of the fac^ades are Renaissance of an academic type, but in some of the detail, notably in the west portal, we find ornament of an uncontrolled originality. The interior is singularly light and of a magnificent simplicity. An 74 Fig. 22. — Genoa. S. Maria in Carig7iano. Doorway. To face p. 74. GENOA order of flat fluted Corinthian pilasters is used throughout and the barrel vaults are coffered. On the inner faces of the main piers carrying the dome are four large statues in niches, the work of Puget and others. There is practically no polychrome decoration in this church, an exceptional fact in Genoa. The dome externally has many points in common with the Jesuit church, S. Ambrogio. We may put aside Alessi's other work, his alterations at the cathedral, his rebuilding of part of the city walls, and concentrate on that wonderful effort in town-planning, the Via Nuova, which nowadays,- in common with many another important street in Italy, has been rechristened the Via Garibaldi. For town-planning it was, as town-planning went in those times. Old Genoa was a mazy labyrinth of dark lanes, much as it still is to-day in those picturesque alleys between the quays and Alessi's new street. The Genoese nobility wished for a street in which their projected palaces might be seen to advantage, and it fell to Alessi's lot to devise a scheme. The scheme is undoubtedly his, but only a few of the buildings. Of its twelve most famous palaces only two can be definitely attributed to him, and only four can with any certainty be attributed to his pupils. Of the remaining six we are assured that he furnished the designs, and many authorities consider that he carried them out. Be this as it may, we will begin by studying those two undoubted examples of his art — the Palazzo Cesare Cambiaso close to the Piazza Fontane Marose and the Palazzo Lercari-Parodi adjoining. There is a striking contrast between these two neighbouring buildings, a contrast which displays the versatility of Alessi's genius. The Palazzo Cambiaso is almost cubical in form and of a magnificent solidity. The height of the facade is between 60 feet and 70 feet ; the cornice is over 4 feet deep and of similar projection. Yet these two palaces are the least colossal in the Via Nuova and the best adapted in scale to the width of the street. The Palazzo Cambiaso facade — and here the facade is the most important feature^impresses one above all by its effect of monumental strength and simplicity, but in the broken pedi- ments of the ground-floor windows, in the decorative ornaments of some of those above, one may surely trace those deadly " germs of the barocco corruption." Yet Alessi's work, like Michelangelo's, belongs rather to that archi- tectural borderland which lies between all great styles, and which we term a transitional period. For the proportions of this Cambiaso palace follow classic tradition, and the signs of change are to be 75 GENOA found in trivial details or in a general picturesqueness of grouping. In common with those famous architects mentioned in the first chapter, he helped to make the Baroque period possible by his freshness and vigour of thought more than by any Baroque works of his own. This may again be seen in the Lercari-Parodi palace, a far more theatrical building. The lowest storey of the facade is rusticated to excess — rusticated, too, in those diamond-shaped blocks beloved of the later Venetians. But here Alessi is verging, further than ever Michelangelo went, towards admittedly Baroque proportions and towards an original use of legitimate elements that is hardly legitimate in itself. To him is due the credit for the introduction of the loggia in the form which later architects brought to such a pitch of perfection, and which shares with the monumental staircase the monopoly of interest in Genoese Baroque architecture. One feels inclined, then, to place Alessi between Michelangelo and the earlier architects of the Baroque period, and at the same time to recognize him as one of the greatest architects of the sixteenth century. In estimating his greatness one cannot altogether put out of court those five palaces in his Via Nuova which he may have designed, and for which much credit has already been assigned to him. They are the Palazzo Brignole Sale (No. i8, also called the Palazzo Rosso from its being painted red), the Palazzo Adorno (No. lo), the Palazzo Giorgio Doria (No. 6), the Palazzo Serra (No. 1 2), and the Palazzo Spihola (No. 5). It would be interesting to know definitely to what extent we owe this series to Alessi's genius — they must certainly have been the work of men inspired by his spirit and probably working under his direction. Each of them has its own characteristics ; the rusti- cation is varied ; the windows are differently grouped. Many of them still retain their magnificent interiors, and the gilding of one saloon alone in the Palazzo Serra is said to have cost a million of francs. This particular palace, with its white marble reliefs, caryatides, mirrors, and mosaic pavements, became known, in fact, as "The Palace of the Sun." In estimating these palaces by Alessi and his school we must not omit some reference to another important art movement which was in progress in Genoa, and which was also rapidly tending towards Baroque. We have already found that painters and craftsmen did much to foster such a tendency. Before the middle of the sixteenth century there were many buildings in Genoa whose chief decoration was the 76 Fig, 23. — Genoa, Palazzo Doria-Tursi (Municipio). To face p. 77. GENOA fresco-painting on their external walls. This fashion was greatly developed by Giovanni Battista Castello, of Bergamo, who died in 1576, and who was a close friend of Luca Cambiaso, He brought with him to Genoa the Lombard taste for luxurious and all-pej;vading ornament. Not only were his fagades painted with figures and symbolic objects, but the same features were repro- duced in modelled plaster — at first in low relief, then gradually becoming so richly and boldly executed that they proclaim the advent of a new manner in architecture. We may see his style in the Palazzo Carega-Cataldi and the Palazzo Raggio- Podesta, both in the Via Nuova ; but best of all perhaps in the Palazzo Imperiali, where the ornament is in high relief. This palace is thoroughly and unmistakably Baroque of a strong and attractive variety, yet is as early as 1560. Of the same character, if not by the same hand, is that facade of the Palazzo Pallavicini in the Salita Santa Caterina, an alley so steep and narrow that one cannot view aright the groups of charmingly carved goddesses and * garlands that seem misplaced in such a situation. Yet another contemporary of Alessi's, again a Lombard, was Rocco Lurago, who died in 1590, and who will go down to posterity as the author of one of the largest and most imposing palaces in Genoa — the Palazzo Doria-Tursi, now known as the Municipio. And, though all authorities seem to date this building as early as 1566, we can have little hesitation in classing it as a Baroque example. For throughout its vast bulk we ^d a spirit utterly alien to that of the Renaissance. Niccolo Grimaldi, for whom it was built, was called " The Monarch " by reason of his power, and there is power, wealth, crushing importance in every line of his great mansion. We see Baroque writ large in its very pro- portions — extolling size for its own sake — in the heavy and colossal cornice, in the coarse mouldings of the giant masonry, as well as in the wonderful originality of the flanking loggie and the unusual design of the ornamental features. The same could be said in a less degree of the interior courtyard, for, in spite of the Doric Order and a general air of simplicity, we feel we are in the presence of something foreign to the art of Bramante and Peruzzi. The Palazzo Doria-Tursi in view of its size alone exercised as much influence in the city as the work of Alessi or Castello, and, taken as a whole, its merits outbalance its defects. Passing over the Palazzo Bianco, built a few years later almost opposite the Doria-Tursi, we come to the work of the greatest of 77 GENOA Genoese architects, perhaps to us to-day the greatest of his century in Italy, Bartolommeo Bianco. We know little of his early life, but that some time early in the seventeenth century he was working in Genoa. Like Alessi, he occupied the position of Official Architect and Engineer to the Republic, but this was when he had gained a great reputation by his work for the Balbi family, and after a few years he resigned the care of the fortifications to other hands and devoted himself exclusively to those wonderful palaces which have made him famous for all time. They are but three in number, and they all are situated in the Via Balbi. This street was laid out later than the Via Nuova, and was made much wider, for the former, much praised though it be, is sadly too narrow. They were connected by various piazze, and by the short Via Nuovissima (now Via Cairoli), in a town-planning scheme which extended from the Palazzo Doria to the Piazza Fontane Marose, and which was largely due to Alessi. Bianco's first palace commission was for the Palazzo Balbi Senarega, commenced in 1609. The exterior is severe to bareness, and is in striking contrast to Alessi's vigorous masonry. The interior is also severely simple, but simplicity does not of necessity imply conventionality, and where but in the Baroque would we find these dosserets on the columns from which the graceful cross-vaults spring ? This wonderful vista, too, through courtyard and staircase hall, out through the garden, to a Rococo grotto with two marble giants and a sparkling fountain to end the view — is this of the Renaissance or of the Baroque period ? Almost opposite stands the immense Palazzo Durazzo-Pallavicini, commenced eleven years later and before the Palazzo Balbi was finished, so that Bianco handed the latter work over to a pupil, and devoted himself to preparing plans for his new commission. He adopted Rocco Lurago's scheme from the Doria-Tursi — a lofty central block flanked by open loggie, all standing on a basement ; but so colossal is his scal6 that the basement is three stories high. The crowning cornice is huge in proportion, and his detail justifies us in accounting this a Baroque work. His windows are simply rectangular openings, devoid of even an architrave, but the door- way, the balcony over it, and the main cornice are exuberantly rich. The interior courtyards of this palace and the neighbouring Universita, begun in 1623 for one of the Balbi as a Jesuit college, are to an architect the finest things in Genoa, and the finest piece of staircase-planning in Italy. Theatrical and ostentatious they may be christened by some, but not by any sane critic, who sees in 78 I J J^Z£'. 24. — Genoa. Palazzo Podestct. Fountain in Cortik. Fig. 25. — Genoa. Palazzo dell' Universith. , Cortile To face p. 78. GENOA their dignified simplicity (marred by no superfluous ornament) the highest achievement of Alessi's great Genoese tradition. After Bianco's death, in 1654, few important palaces were built. The enormous Palazzo Reale in the Via Balbi was in progress at the time, but its Lombard architect, G. A. Falcone, died of the plague three years later, and was succeeded by Pier Francesco Cantone. It is, however, of no importance to students of our period, nor for that matter — except also on account of size — is the huge Albergo dei Poveri, magnificently placed on the hill behind the city, which it commands like a fortress. Built by four different architects between 1655 and 1675, it was given to the Republic by a wealthy citizen, Emanuele Brignole. It holds 1,300 inmates, and it is said that all of them can witness the celebration of Mass in the chapel without leaving their beds. The exterior is of the simple type of the large Italian villa. In addition to S. Maria in Carignano, Genoa possesses numerous Baroque churches of interest. S. Ambrogio, the Jesuit church, was designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi, who has already been mentioned, and who will be further discussed in Chapter VII. It is palpably modelled on the Gesu at Rome, and has six small subsidiary domes in addition to the principal one. It is decorated with all the lavish colour to which this city was particularly addicted, and the whole arrangement of the plan is to provide a field for gorgeous frescoes and abundant light to display them to advantage. The Carlone family have supplied numerous statues in theatrical attitudes to complete the scheme, and as a gorgeous interior it is difficult to parallel in Italy. Equally florid, yet of a very difl^erent type, is the famous church of the SS. Annunziata (1587), by Giacomo della Porta. This building follows the type of the Roman basilica and has marble columns in place of the piers and pilasters usual in the seventeenth century. It is Baroque chiefly in the nature and abundance of its decoration, but also in minor details, such as the capitals of the principal columns. The facades of both these churches are later additions, that of S. Ambrogio being designed in. 1693 by the Jesuit Valeriani. Among other florid interiors may be noted S. Salvatore and the chapels of S. Maria di Castello, and especially S. Siro (1575), where the whole efi^ect is admirable. The small and little-known churches of S. Giorgio and S. Torpete, standing close together in a little piazza at the foot of the hill leading up to S. Maria di Castello, are interesting domed designs, and S. Torpete (1731, by Antonio Ricca) has an originality and charm of its own. 79 GENOA The University church of S, Carlo is another Jesuit foundation, and is approached by a lofty flight of steps, enclosed under the facade, to enable the floor-level to overcome the steep gradient of the hill-side. The little Chapel of the Crucifixion in this building is the work of Alessandro Algardi. But the most pleasing of the smaller Baroque churches of Genoa is S. Pietro dei Banchi, in a fiazza in the busy commercial quarter. It was erected in 1 5 8 1 by Rocco Lurago, and was specially ordered by the Senate. Standing on a balustraded -podium, it forms a pic- turesque group, and a spectator does not realize that the site is far from regular. A flight of steps leads up to a fagade with an arcaded loggia and two small campanili. The interior is barrel- vaulted, except for the dome, is lined with grey and white marble, and decorated with Corinthian pilasters. The vaults are orna- mented with delicately modelled reliefs in stucco, and colour is employed very sparingly throughout. In niches are eight excellent statues by Taddeo Carlone and Daniele Casella. In the neighbourhood of Genoa are some Baroque churches of a more extreme type, notably that of Santa Margherita, and the church at Sestri Ponente has an extravagant Rococo interior. Beside churches and palaces, a few minor buildings date from the Baroque period, among them the clumsy Porta Pila (1633), attri- buted to Bianco and now re-erected some distance from its original position, and the Borsa or Loggia dei Banchi, the authorship of which is uncertain. The gardens and villas in and around the city are an important series, and gain much of their interest from their situation on the hill-sides above the sea. The gardens behind the palaces in the Via Nuova and Via Balbi are cramped and confined, little more than terraces, but the humidity of the fine Riviera climate produces a far more luxuriant vegetation than in Rome, and this naturally has an eff^ect on garden design. Thus flowers are of greater value in a Riviera garden than in Rome, where summer heat quickly withers them, and foliage also has a different value. But in the great majority of cases the villa on the Riviera is governed by two factors, the sea and the hills, and the architect sets out to place the house as advantageously as possible with regard to both. Genoa boasts one of the earliest and most important of Italian villas, for the Palazzo Doria is certainly a villa in the strict sense implied in this book. It was planned as a country house on the confines of the city for Andrea Doria, the father of the Republic, in 1522, and presented to him by the State, but was largely altered 80 cs I GENOA and remodelled in 1529 by Fra Giovanni Montorsoli, and adorned with frescoes by Pierin del Vaga. This work was not finished until 1547, and included the charming loggie and galleries on the harbour side. But the actual laying out of the gardens was chiefly due to Andrea's son, and was not completed till near the end of the century. As we see them to-day they have lost much of their original splendour, for wharves and quays covered with trucks and merchandise surround them on the one hand, and trams and trains roar through what was once no more than a narrow lane spanned by bridges, whence the vista passed through terraces and bosco to the crown of the hill. From the palace to the colossal statue of Jove (" II Gigante," as the Genoese call it) is no longer an unbroken view, and the terraces and pergolas have had to make way for the enormous railway trafiic. Towards the sea a fine view still remains from the garden and the raised promenades over shipping and harbour, but the water-gate beneath has gone long ago, and funnels and masts break the prospect of the superb city and the beautiful coastline to Portofino. The garden between the palace and the sea-terraces, however, is still almost unspoiled, and the Baroque fountains are in existence which Taddeo, Giuseppe and Battista Carlone executed in 1 599-1 601. Another familiar example in the neighbourhood is the Villa Scassi at Sampierdarena, designed by Alessi for the Imperiali family. Although now enclosed by a large and smoky industrial town, this charming building and its garden have been preserved intact as a State girls' school. The central axis from the casino up many terraces to a balcony is again strongly marked, and is accentuated by grottos at the different levels. Water is used in fountains and in large reservoirs or ponds. There seems to be no record as to whether the axial line of this villa was ever prolonged r-'-oss the main road down to the sea, which is some distance away. The Villa Rostan, near Pegli, has this sea-gate, although both train and tram now cross the intervening space, and is a very fine example of a large garden scheme. Here again a little lane runs behind the house, and is traversed by small bridges, as at the Colonna Palace at Rome, connecting the house and the hill-side. A spacious lawn with marble seats at each side continues the vista to a casino in the bosco. A later and more florid example is the Villa Spinola at Sestri Ponente. On the east of Genoa there are a number of celebrated villas still used by ancient families, but in most cases they stand high on the hill of Albaro, and hence are without an approach from the sea. 81 F GENOA Of these the most interesting are the Villa Cambiaso by Alessi, a great cubical-shaped building with a heavy cornice, the Villa Paradiso, another large block with a graceful loggia, and the re- markable Villa Imperiali, all in or near the little village of San Francesco d'Albaro. To this list must be added the Villa Peschiere (1560-72) in Genoa itself, designed by Alessi for Tobia Pallavicini. This building, in many ways reminiscent of the Villa Scassi above mentioned, is pure in style, but with a boldness rare even in the later Renaissance, and with a Baroque tendency in the ornamental details of the crowning balustrade. In concluding this brief summary of Genoese villas of the period, it is perhaps necessary to mention that the most famous of the gardens in the district is the least Italian in design, and is, in fact, an importation from abroad. Let those who wish to see a typical Riviera garden of bygone days consult their guide-books before visiting that villa at Pegli, which they will find described as a recent Cockney innovation, and which Italians themselves regard only as a meraviglia d'arte marked by feracita d' invenzione and squisitezza di gusto. WORKS OF REFERENCE v.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE GENOA IN {See also p. 133.) ' Carden, R. W. . The City of Genoa (contains London 1908 FOVILLE, DE . full bibliography) G^nes, in Filles d'art cilebres . Paris 1907 Gauthier, p. Les plus beaux edifices de la ville de Ganes )» 1874 Grosso, Orlando . Portali e Palazzi di GenoVa Milano 1913 Reinhardt, R. Palast Architektur : Genua Berlin . 1886 Rossi .... Di Galeazzo Alessi . Perugia 1873 Rubens, Peter Paul Palazzi di Genova . Antwerp 1622 Suida, W . . . Genua, in KunststStten Mono- graphien Leipzig 1906 82 cq -c Q fc •^* VL— VENICE IN one respect at least Venice surpasses all the other fair cities of Italy — in its wonderful and romantic situation. Here all architecture gains an added glamour, and here the student of Baroque will expect his most academic and Philistine friends to admit the attractions of the style in a naturally picturesque setting. In Rome and in Genoa, as w6 have seen, one of the characteristic efforts of the seventeenth-century builders was to mould the face of Nature in order to glorify the work of man ; in Venice the artificial lines of the canals formed a natural guide for the designers of m^agnificent churches and palaces. Here, with the one great excep- tion of S. Mark's Piazza, no town-planning was possible, for the town plan had been drawn in mudbanks long ago in the Dark Ages. In Rome or Genoa the nobleman's palace was a part of a larger scheme in which gardens, gateways, and fountains had a share ; a church was probably the culmination of a vista. In Venice the architect had to design a town house or a town church pure and simple. He was bound down by problems of light and air ; he was cramped in his means of access ; he had to face all the thousand and one perplexities that beset a city architect to-day. But, ham- pered as he was in this way, he was building, as he must have known, on a site which for sheer fascination and charm has no rival. In the beauty of a Venetian summer day the most common- place of designs loses some of its monotony. Ruskin has said that if S. Peter's at Rome were to be seen properly it should be placed on the plain of Marengo or on the Grand Canal at Venice, where the scale is wholly human, and where Nature's insignificant Jani- culum would not dwarf the work of man. In criticizing Venetian architecture, then, one must beware of praising its masters for picturesqueness due to mere accidents of situation, just as one must ascribe to them credit for the way in which those accidents have been utilized to the best purpose. Another difficulty which confronts all honest students of to-day lies in the vasi* mass of criticism which has been lavished on Venice in the past. There can be but few cities which have inspired so much literature as Venice has done, and few where the amateur critic has played so prominent a part. Every few months a new, chatty handbook comes out which tells the visitor exactly what he must and must not admire, which pictures are good and which bad, where he must pause for the view, and where he must inevitably turn to the right. Side by side with these lighter works there comes a long series of valuable monographs on history or art, bring- ing to light in the majority of cases new lore about those glorious 83 VENICE centuries when Venice was one of the great Powers of the world. Yet, large as Is the number of books which tell of Venice and her story, there are few which are of use in enabling us to form our judgment on Venetian Baroque architecture. The Palazzo Rezzonico is the scene of Browning's death, the Palazzo Pesaro is converted into a gallery of modern art, the Salute is a monument to a plague, and so on. But as buildings of any artistic value, we are left to suppose them negligible. Occa- sionally there is a note of gasping admiration at the money which Venice could find to raise these sumptuous structures, but where any writer condescends to criticism his remarks are for the most part harsh. One man, and one alone, is responsible for all this hostility, and he is John Ruskin. His influence was so enormous, his public so large, his style so captivating, and his enthusiasm so disinterested, that all his statements about Venetian architecture have bec6me classic. Because Ruskin has written volumes on Venetian art which form a monument of English prose, English people are at the outset prejudiced against a large proportion of the greatest buildings in that city. This book does not pretend to be a panegyric of Baroque architecture ; but one must put in a claim for a fair hearing, and in Venice, much more than in other Italian cities, one is liable in defending any form of post-Gothic art to be shouted down by the ghost of Ruskin. For there is no doubt that in this respect, at any rate, he was biassed. He divides the Renaissance period bodily into two parts — the Roman Renaissance and the Grotesque Renaissance. It is into the latter category, of course, that our subject falls, and what his stand- point was may be inferred from one sentence, intentionally sym- bolical of his general attitude, whei"e, in speaking of a piece of carving on an historic church, he says : — " In that head is embodied the type of the evil spirit to which Venice was abandoned in the fourth period of her decline, and it is well that we should see and feel the full horror of it on this spot, and know what pestilence it was that came and breathed upon her beauty until it melted away. . . ." With the exception of Ruskin, however, the majority of critics whose opinion is worth anything are less severe on the Baroque buildings in Venice than in Rome. In the former city its pictur- esque side attracts them, and seems to suit the general scheme of things Venetian. Moreover, the average critic is less disposed to be cantankerous in Venice, where he feels himself to be on pleasure 84 Fig. 28. — On the Brenia. near Dolo. (See p. From ii drawing by the Author. To face p. S4. VENICE bent. Against us, then, we find three classes of critics arrayed — Ruskin tradition, openly and fiercely hostile ; amateur talent, negligent and negligible ; professional opinion, easygoing and not too discriminating. These circumstances, together with the unique personality which makes everything connected with Venice doubly interesting, provide sufficient reason why we should examine the Baroque architecture of the place and compare it with that of Rome and Genoa. The seventeenth century in Venice is usually described as the second part of the " Decline," but it is advisable to employ that word with caution, for men may differ as to what constitutes a decline. Ruskin, and many who hold with him, would date it from the League of Cambray in 1 508, when the principal Powers of Europe combined to ruin Venice, and in a sense achieved their object. It was a time of double-dealing, and the causes of the Decline are far more insidious than any treaty, underhand though it be. Venice had aroused the jealousy of two powerful rivals, civil and religious. Her enmity with Genoa rose from the keen maritime competition of the two States, her quarrels with the Pope were all due to her aggressive attitude in regard to matters of Church and State or to her tolerance in matters of theology. The long political struggle which finally broke the power of the Queen of the Adriatic may be traced to these two sources. Her armies were worn down by single-handed fights with the Turks or by con- tinual skirmishing on the borders of the Papal States. But what operated more than anything else to the undoing of the city was her isolation from the new trade routes. Up to the dis- covery of the Cape route the wealth of Northern Europe came over the Brenner from German towns, the treasures of the East up the Adriatic from Constantinople. The sixteenth century, however, saw Venice without the most of her German trade, and with a Constantinople which had changed from a hoard of riches to a bandits' stronghold. Protective tariffs were tried in vain, and her trade drooped and languished. But that lack of trade means lack of money to spend is a long- exploded theory, and just as it is often the sons of a parvenu who squander their self-made father's hard-won gains, so it was sixteenth and even seventeenth-century Venice who cast on the waters, in more senses than one,' the amassed wealth of the preceding years. ' An incident related in Douglas's Venice on Foot illustrates this : " Tradition says that on one occasion after a great feast in this palace [Palazzo Labia] the owner threw the golden dishes, etc., into the canal, exclaiming ' Le abia non le 85 F* VENICE " Inside the city," writes one of its most faithful historians,' " the char- acteristic note was the public splendour, the private pleasure-chase, overlying and partially hiding State impoverishment and secret fear. " The State and the great nobles still braved it in the eyes of Europe, but the bulk of her population was growing hourly poorer, her streets and squares were becoming the accustomed haunt of dissolute, pleasure-seeking Europe. The healthy vitalizing energies of commerce, of trade, and of industries were sapped. " But as a curiosity and as a pleasure-house Venice still remained unrivalled in Europe. Gorgeous ceremonies for the reception of distinguished visitors ; the theatre of San Cassiano, where the opera and Ballo of Andromeda was given in 1637, serenades, banquets, faction fights among the people, delighted the populace and attracted the foreigner. Young Englishmen of birth on the grand tour would not miss Venice, where they were presented to the Doge and taken over the Treasury of St. Mark. Plagues like those of 1577 and 1630 might sweep oflF fifty or eighty thousand inhabitants, but the scourge passed by, the masques and balls began again, and all that remained of the memory were splendid churches like the Redentore or Santa Maria della Salute. Bravi, gamblers, broken men, . . . quacks . . . witches . . . flourished and fattened on a cosmopolitan population, but the whole chorus of foreigners is unanimous in applause." Although, then, there must have been ah insidious decay in Venetian character and morals throughout this period, the normal course of things where an industrious and independent city becomes a mere pleasure resort for wealthy and luxurious outsiders, it does not seem fair to admit its outward manifestation at any rate until well into the eighteenth century. And among its external aspects one of the most obvious is in the character of its buildings. In the first half of the sixteenth century was erected that wonderful group of Renaissance masterpieces round the Piazza of S. Mark, including Sansovino's famous Loggetta, and towards the close of that century we detect in a very plausible guise " the germ of the Barocco corruption." Again reverting to our theory of Baroque being marked by originality of conception rather than by super- abundance of ornament, we find in the two most famous bridges of the city something which was not present in Renaissance work, even of mature date, a tendency towards the " quaint conceits " of the seventeenth century. Yet in the Ponte di Rialto one can admit no more than a striking boldness and freedom of design, an independence of conventionalLty abia saro sempre Labia * (Whether I have them or whether I have them not I shall still be Labia)." It is, however, generally believed that if this ever happened there was a net drawn across the canal to rescue the precious goods. ' Dr. Horatio F. Brown, The Venetian Republic, pp. 177-80. 86 VENICE which is remarkable, in view of the wave of pedantry sweeping over Italy. One could not but expect that in Venice there would be a greater licence, a greater lack of architectural restraint, a more fantastic spirit than in other cities. The luxuriant decoration which one finds alike in the Ca d'Oro and in little remnants of palaces all through its canals and alleys, in the magnificent tombs to departed Doges of the fifteenth century, is no more apparent in the seventeenth century than in that last final flourish of late Renaissance days — the State rooms of the Ducal Palace. Here, again, we feel ourselves to be on the Baroque borderland, but on the whole it seems best to forgo any claim on these gorgeous saloons with their brilliant ceilings sparkling with colour and gold, and to return to the Bridge of Sighs. This Ponte dei Sospiri has gradually acquired an immense hold over people's minds for sentimental reasons, and has been the cause of as many tears among high-strung visitors to the city as that ill-starred letter-box grimly displayed in the Palace of the Doges. Yet in this case the tears are justifiable, for it is authenticated that prisoners did undoubtedly cross the bridge to receive sentence and return to suffer death. Prisons have inspired architects on sundry occasions, and one recalls George Dance's wonderful design for Newgate, where every line of the building seemed to indicate its purpose. Dance had something in common with these Italians, something of that quaint and dreamy fancy which led him out of the ordinary ways of men. Here, however, the dramatic instinct, always more powerful than the religious at this time, has evidently not guided the architect (Antonio Contino) so much as his sense of the artistic ; and he has concerned himself with providing a harmonious link between the widely different styles of the Palace and the prisons. Its dread significance is possibly hinted at by the absence of windows, but the inevitable gaiety of Venice appears in the Baroque scrolls curling between finials above the cornice, and in the beautiful pierced screens which serve in lieu of windows and are a survival of those used on the lagoons a thousand years or so before. It has been said by Dr. Horatio Brown, whose books have already been quoted here, that Venetian art was public art, and that con- noisseurship or private patronage was not so important to its well- being as at Rome or Florence. This is true only in a measure as to the monuments of the Baroque period, when very few really noteworthy public buildings were erected as against the countless fountains, aqueducts, and so on showered on Rome by Popes and 87 VENICE ( Cardinals seeking popularity. It is true that the largest and most important building of all, S. Maria della Salute, was the work of the State, but, apart from this, we find chiefly private palaces and churches of varying merit. The last great churches of the Venetian Renaissance are those two on the outlying islands which are due to the genius of Palladio — S. Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore. Masterly and bold as they are, spacious and grand like many of those which followed, there is a distinct step thence to the Baroque churches of the seven- ie.„^ ■ *? -i^M ■Fig: 30. — S. Maria della Salute, Venice. Plan. teenth century. The beautiful carved choir-stalls and the magnifi- cent bronze group on the high altar at S. Giorgio are perhaps transitional — as much Baroque as Renaissance, The Corinthian capitals betray a slackness of workmanship unfortunately character- istic of the later period, and the fagade by Scamozzi is one of those pedantic designs which we often find overlapping the more lively Baroque movement. It was in the year 163 1 that the Senate decreed the building of the church of S. Maria della Salute as a monument of thanksgiving after the cessation of the terrible plague in which 60,000 people, roughly speaking a third of its total population, are said to have VENICE perished. Standing, as it does, on a fine sweep of the Grand Canal, yet so near the end of that wonderful waterway that it is equally prominent from the lagoon, this remarkable church has become one of the most familiar and frequently portrayed of all the many treasures of Venice. To some folk it appears the last dying splutter of the Renaissance flame ; to others a monument without kindred in any style ; to others, again, a typically good or typically bad Baroque work, according as that sort of art suits their fancy or not. Each of these views has probably some truth concealed in it. Baroque it is, if ever there was such a thing, different from others of the kind because all Venetian buildings do diifer from theif cousins in other parts of Italy, a survival of the Renaissance just as all the best Baroque buildings are, but rather a normal development than a survival. It is typically Baroque in its disregard of con- vention, in its brilliant striving after the magnificent at all costs, in its superb suitability for its surroundings, in the way in which stairways and even the Canal itself seem to lead up to it. It has the weakness common to many churches of this period, that it is pagan rather than Christian, yet perhaps it would be more Christian than most but for the pinnacles at the back. Its Eastern flavour only serves to show how thoroughly its architect, Longhena, had caught the whole spirit of Venetian architecture, the most Oriental in Europe. Finally, its combination of brilliant and daring origin- ality on a monumental scale with legitimate canons of design has ensured so successful a result that many who usually figure as detractors of Baroque are content to admire S. Maria della Salute. (See Frontispiece.) But the voice of Ruskin as usual is heard in condemnation, and the following criticism appears in his descriptive directory of Venetian buildings : — "One of the earliest buildings of the Grotesque Renaissance, rendered impressive by its position, size, and general proportions. These latter are exceedingly good ; the grace of the whole building being chiefly dependent on the inequality of size in its cupolas, and pretty grouping of the two cam- paniles behind them. It is to be generally observed that the proportions of buildings have nothing whatever to do with the style or general merits of their architecture. An architect trained in the worst schools and utterly devoid of all meaning or purpose in his work may yet have such a natural gift of massing and grouping as will render all his structures efifective when seen from a distance ; such a gift is very general with the late Italian builders, so that many of the most contemptible edifices in the country have good stage eflFect so long as we do not approach them." " The Church of the Salute is farther assisted by the beautiful fliglit of steps 89 VENICE in front of it down to the Canal, and its facade was chosen by Turner for the principal object in his well-known view of the Grand Canal," " The principal faults of the building are the meagre windows in the sides of the cupola, and the ridiculous disguise of the buttresses under the form of colossal scrolls ; the buttresses themselves being originally a hypocrisy^ for the cupola is stated by Lazar to be of timber and therefore needs none." ^ It is amusing to find Ruskin here admitting the excellence of late Italian grouping, still more so to find that grouping and architecture are so foreign to each other in his opinion ; but otherwise his remarks are of no particular use to architects, who would probably disagree with him as to the charms of the subsidiary cupolas and minarets, and who would find more fruitful points for discussion in the unconventionalities of the interior, where a gallery balustrade is perched well forward on the main cornice. To Baldassare Long- hena, the architect of this great church, Venice owes a long list of famous buildings, but only one other of them is ecclesiastical. ' S. Maria ai Scalzi, on the Grand Canal, near the railway-station, is unfortunately so inferior to the Salute that one can hardly recognize Longhena;'s hand therein. It is a medley of senseless polychropie decoration, marble and gilt everywhere (none of the marble being white), twisted columns, and indeed everything which one associates with the Baroque style at its lowest point. It has been restored in modern times, whether for better or worse the writer is not aware. The fagade, however, was added by Giuseppe Sardi in 1 649, and is a much more pleasing composition on Venetian lines, shoWing con- siderable originality without going to extremes. Sardi also designed the very remarkable fagade of S. Maria Zobenigo, or S. Maria del Giglio, as others call it. Here we have translated into terms of Baroque the same motif as the elaborate Renaissance facade of S. Zaccaria, at least as regards the pediment. This bold and striking design is enriched with some of that exuberant, joyous, almost sensuous statuary which had taken the place of severer predecessors, and which at this time vaunted on church fronts the figures of goddesses in the free poses of Nature. The six panels on the pedestals of the main order of this facade are sculptured into relief-maps of celebrated towns or of Venetian dependencies. The interior plan of the church is simple enough, having three recesses on either hand between the columns of a large order and a small chancel recess. The colour scheme is subdued and harmonious, with prevailing tones of grey and the rich tints of ' Ruskin's Stones of Venice, vol. iii, pp. 354-5 (1906 Edition). 90 Fig. 31. — Venice. S. Moisi. S. Maria ai Scahi. To face p. 90. VENICE the three great paintings on the ceiling. The date of this church is 1680-3. S. Lazzaro dei Mendicanti is another of Sardi's works of about this time, the church of a hospital for poor men moved here in the seventeenth century, but does not call for more than passing mention. The facade of S. Moise is contemporary with the last two, and is an orgy of decoration, though, for setoe reason, it fails to shock one as it should. For, in spite of the usual athletic limbs of the saints and bishops on its skyline, the execution of all the detail is lighter and less coarse than in much facade carving of the period. Moreover, the detail itself is interesting ; it may be almost said to be unique in its elements and its arrangement. The architect was Alessandro Tremignon, or Tremignan. Within the church there, is much less to attract us, it being covered with indiscriminate decoration of a kind far inferior to that outside. A refreshing contrast to the last is San Vitale, or San Vidal, a plain little church seldom troubled by visitors, lying near the Accademia Bridge. The facade indeed is so without freedom as to be barely definable as Baroque, decorated only with statues of the pious founder (a Doge) and his wife, and the good old cleric who inspired the gift. The grey and white interior has Corinthi3,n columns. Then there is Sant' Eustachio- (or S. Stae) on the Grand Canal, built by Giovanni Grassi in 1678, with a facade by Domenico Rossi, dating from 1709. There is S. Maria Formosa, with its strange campanile, a church remodelled in 1692 by Marco Bergamasco ; and there are many more, but few among them are so important or so large as the great Jesuit temple — S. Maria dei Gesuiti, built in 1715-28, on the side of Venice nearest to Murano. We cannot but feel that here, as in many other parts of Italy, the Jesuits were too ready to make a display, too forgetful that an atmosphere of flaunting wealth may stifle any devotional feeling. Strip half the decoration from this church, and it would be admirable. The plan is excellent, and is monumentally conceived ; the decoration is to a large extent good ; the materials are priceless. Take, for example, the wall-lining, reminiscent of Morris tapestries or wall-papers, in cool green and white. Examine it more closely and you find it is of green and white marble inlaid. There are curtains in gorgeous tints which turn out to be also of marble ; the very carpet on the steps leading 91 Fig. 33. — CampaHiU: S. Maria Formosa, Venice. From a drawing by the Author. 92 VENICE to the altar is in the same precious stone. But if this church had all been finished, say in white and green and gold, with no other colour admitted, not even perhaps the lapis-lazuli of the alt^r, we should have had those same critics, who cite it as an example of how bad Baroque may be, taking a totally opposite view, and probably trying to deny that it was Baroque at all. S. Maria dei Gesuiti may be an architectural curiosity ; it is as much a lost opportunity. On the Zattere is a smaller church of very similar name, S. Maria dei Gesuati, or del Rosario, built in 1726-43 by Massari, and sharing the trend towards a more eclectic style. But before leaving these churches of Venice something should be said of their monuments. The family tomb in Venice had assumed vast proportions even in the sixteenth century — one has only to visit the churches of S. Giovanni e Paolo or the Frari to see that — but in Baroque times it became colossal and lacked all the delicacy which one sometimes associates with smaller works of the kind. Familiar and frequently illustrated examples are those to Doge Falier, in S. Giovanni e Paolo, by Andrea Tirale (1708), and that to Doge Giovanni Pesaro, in the Frari (1659), by Longhcna. Of Venetian Baroque palaces two exist of such outstanding importance that no others need be mentioned. They are both the work of that great genius Baldassare Longhena, and date from the second half of the seventeenth century. As might be expected in an epoch of ostentation, their exteriors are of chief interest, though a certain skill is to be found in their planning, always on a vast scale. The Palazzo Rezzonico (1650), on the Grand Canal, has at present little celebrity outside our profession except as the scene of Browning's death, but as Victorian prejudices gradually melt away we shall find the amateur critics coming round to agree with most architects that no pure Renaissance front on this canal compares with it. The Palazzo Pesaro (1679-1710), also on the Grand Canal, closely resembles the last in general proportions, but is very much more ornate. Its cost is said to have been 500,000 ducats. It was built for one of the great officials of the State, the Procurator of S. Mark's, and its construction occupied thirty-one years. From front to back its depth must be nearly double that of the Rezzonico, but in many ways it is inferior. The diamond rustication of the lower stories produces an effect of over-decoration on the whole fagade, which otherwise would not have beeii felt, for a Venetian palace can carry an abundance of ornament without ill effects. It is curious that, abreast of some of his most Baroque designs, 93 VENICE Longhena was building palaces in which not a trace of that " cor^ ruption " can be found. An example of this is the Palazzo da Lezze (1654), on the Rio della Misericordia, a pedantic though thoroughly Venetian design. ' Little need be said of Cominelli's Palazzo Labia,2 where Tiepolo painted some famous frescoes, but no study of this period in Venice would be complete without some mention of Giuseppe Benoni's Dogana, or Sea Customs (1676-82), almost as familiar in pictures of Venice as St. Mark's Campanile or the Salute. Standing prominently on a point of land at the mouth of the Grand Canal,^ its quaint outline surmounted by a great golden globe and a moving figure of Navigation, this is one of the many picturesque features an ungrateful generation owes to Baroque Art. Although in Venice itself there are no villas proper, the charming Eden garden on the Giudecca being no more than an English importation, the seventeenth-century Venetians were devoted to a country holiday in the summer months, and the surrounding main- land districts are dotted with villas galore. It was said at the time that, under cover of the Simple Life, the citizens came to these quiet retreats to escape the vigilance of the Censor of public morals. From the history of the period it does not appear that his authority was unduly strict, or that manners in Venice were puritanical, and contemporary accounts of junketings on the Brenta present a picture resembling French society before the Revolution. Two names are indissolubly bound up with this villeggiatura habit, those of Goldoni the dramatist and Tiepolo the painter. Goldoni's comedies portray Venetian life with wonderful accuracy, while Tiepolo's grandiose frescoes — such as that of "The Glory of the Pisani" at Stra — depict the beaux of the period in periwigs and satin enthroned with cupids and goddesses among the clouds. The Villa Giacomelli at Maser, near Treviso (1580), designed by Palladio, and his more famous examples in the neighbourhood of Vicenza were the earliest in Venetia, but the real exodus to the banks of the Brenta began when one of the Doge's wives erected the first villa of the series near Fusina to escape from the gorgeous functions of the city. In a short time so many noble families followed suit that her new dwelling was christened Mal- contenta in token of her disappointed hopes, and the sleepy waters ' Another similar comparison may be made between Longhena's admirable staircase at S. Giorgio Maggiore, a refined and scholarly work, and his florid Ospedaletto. He also built a gorgeous villa on the mainland, but this has since perished. = See footnote, p. 85. 94 VENICE of this winding stream were crowded with Baroque houses and gardens. I All the way to Padua runs the line of statues and cypresses marking the homes of frivolous Venetians, and even to-day the district has lost little of its interest, though tallow-works and tenement dwellings occupy some of the gilded saloons of the villas. Their design varies greatly, but all are situated in very similar positions close to the banks of the stream, and in practically every case a forecourt with prominent gate-piers is a feature. The largest is the Villa Pisani at Stra, completed in 1736 for Alvise Pisani from the designs of F. M. Preti and Count Frigimelica, and subsequently inhabited for a short time by Napoleon, who bought it in 1807. For some time it was used as a royal palace, but has now been converted into an agricultural college. This enormous building is planned on a colossal scale, and has the most ambitious stables in Italy, with gardens and entrances of corresponding size. The design of the palace itself is simple enough, a great hall forming the central feature and dividing the whole into two quadrangles. The extensive gardens include a labyrinth, more than one casino and a belvedere, and are surrounded by the usual bosco. Curiously enough there was no water-garden of importance until quite recently, when the authorities decided to form a long pond between the palace and the stables. Eventually this will be treated architecturally. The internal decorations of the principal rooms, which are all en suite, are the work of Tiepolo and of other artists of the same school.^ The smaller villas, though less ostentatious, have the same air of pleasure-houses, and are freely designed with Baroque gables and plentiful sculpture. Venetian gardens have not the interest of those of Rome or Genoa, but in their sunny situations by the side of the Brenta or on the slopes of the Euganean Hills they have a charm quite their own. ' I regret to find on further research that this plausible story has no very satisfactory basis. See footnote below. * I hope to write of the Brenta villas at greater length in The Architectural Review for December, 1913. — M. S. B. 95 VENICE WORKS OF REFERENCE VI.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN VENETIA {See ako p. 133) Brown, Horatio F. Costa, Gianfrancescd FOGOLARI, GiNO MOLMENTI, PoMPEO MoNNiER, Philippe Pauli, Dr. G. Raschdorff, Otto , The Venetian Republic . Le Delizie del Fiume Brenta . G. B. Tiepolo nel Veneto Venezia, in Italia ArAstica Venice ; translated by H. F. Brown : 6 vols. Venice in the Eighteenth Cen- tury (contains a bibliography) Venedig, in Runstst'dtten Mono- grafien .... Palast Architektur : Venedig . London 190Z Venice 1750 Milan 1913 Bergamo 1907 London 1906-8 I9I0 Leipzig Recent Berlin 1903 VII.— NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES IN considering the very numerous Baroque buildings of Italy outside the three cities to which special chapters have been devoted, it is only possible to mention the more noteworthy examples, and it is convenient to group them according to their geographical situation rather than to adopt any chronological system or to discuss an elaborate theory of aesthetic and constructive development. Without denying that such a theory might be evolved, it is certain that local tradition and local influences played a very important part during this period, when Italy was divided into many separate and sharply differentiated States. The present chapter will cover the numerous principalities of Northern Italy forming the modern provinces of Piedmont, Lom- bardy, Venetia, and Tuscany (then still further subdivided), together with the provinces of Emilia, Umbria, Lazio, and the Marches, which approximately correspond to the Papal States of the seven- teenth century. Southern Italy, including the Abruzzi, and Sicily formed the king- dom of Naples in those days, and is dealt with in the next chapter. There is some reason for adopting this division of the country, as may be seen by any one who cares to consult a historical map of Italy illustrating the period. Beginning with Piedmont, the former kingdom of Sardinia, ruled by the House of Savoy, we must first turn to Turin, its capital. Most travelled Englishmen are familiar with the well-ordered streets of Turin, recalling to them the plans of those modern cities across the Atlantic where architects think in " blocks." But Turin is unlike the rest of Italy, and lacks its particular charm of picturesque and unexpected grouping. It is apparently recently laid out, yet we can trace the whole secret of its plan to the small nucleus formed when the Romans founded the " city of the Taurini." Since those distant days it has had its ups and downs ; but until the seventeenth century it was of little importance in any way. Then the House of Savoy, destined later to become the maker of United Italy, began to assert itself among the Powers of Europe and to be a source of constant trouble to France and to the Empire. The fact that its territory strayed over the Alps accounts for much of the French influence that permeates its architecture. The most striking fact about Baroque architecture in Turin is that, except for a few minor remains of mediaeval or of Roman date, its seventeenth-century buildings are its oldest monuments, and that, thanks to the constant progress of its rulers at that time, it has so 97 G NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES fine a series of palaces and churches that they constitute in them- selves all the noteworthy art of the place. Of those most worthy of comment the earliest is the Castello del Valentino (1633), a large palace which was erected by Christine of France, the wife of Victor Amadeus I and daughter of Henri Quatre and Maria de' Medici. This relationship is mentioned as explaining the very Gallic style of this chateau, and also the employ- ment of a French architect, whose name is apparently not recorded, but who seems to have been a pupil of the celebrated Salomon de Brosse. This forms perhaps the first example we have met of foreign influence affecting the Baroque style, which was essentially an Italian movement emanating from Rome. In subsequent chapters, however, the entrance of Spanish ideas will be noticed, for in Spain there already existed an exuberant variety of Renaissance work which bore the title of "Plateresque." Returning to Turin, we find, in spite of a French tendency in these pavilion roofs and arcaded loggie round the forecourt, that most of the detail is Italian in spirit. The Baroque buildings of Turin are almost all the work of two architects who were the favourites of Charles Emmanuel II, who died in 1675, and his successor, Victor Amadeus III (1675-1730), who became King of Sardinia. Guarino Guarini was a Theatine monk, born at Modg na in 162 4 a nd dying i n 1683 orjthereabouts. His Palazzo T!angnano( 16 80) is perhaps^ Eis most important commission, and unfortunately exhibits most of the vagaries and weaker points of the period. The principal facade is curved in sinuous linesj and jts centra l feature Jsja' huge"oval~BlocTc~containing the chief staircase and rising high above the main horizontal cornice. On the inner side, towards the great quadrangle, the same feature appears with no better effect. This palace has played an important part in the history of Savoy, and the famous king Victor Emmanuel II was born here. For the Jesuits Guarini erected the neighbouring Accademia delle Scienze, a much more dignified design with a comparatively plain facade. His extraordinary church at Messina was damaged in the earth- quake of 1908, and his bizarre designs for the Theatine church at Paris so outraged French taste that they were never adopted. But jn Turin two small examples of his ecclesiastical work exist which .pl^e . him with Pozzo and Borromini as eccentric and irresponsible^ architects who ,haye^ hroMght, the Baro que p erio3jnto' 98 Fig' 36. — Turin, Palazzo Madama. Staircase. To face p. 99. NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES disrepute. The chapel of S. Sindone in the cathedral and the church of San Lorenzo are profusely and vulgarly decorated, but their chief interest lies in the extraordinary, complicated, and absurd way in which they are domed. _For sheer lunacy of design tliey_jvould be hard. to, parallel. Guarini_.dsa,dedgned-thfij2iurch of La Consolata (1679). Filippo Juvara (b. 1685, d. 1735), who hailed from Sicily, was a man of more restraint, and, besides his alterations at the Royal Palace, is responsible for two of the greatest works of his period. The Palazzo Madama (1718-20) has a magnificent front which, though free enough in minor matters of detail, is, as a whole, a masterly piece of virile classic design. It was, as its name proclaims, built for the Dowager Queen in the reign of Victor Amadeus II, and in reality forms only a third of a scheme for encasing the older palace of mediasval times. The other two sides have now been completed, but much work was done within the building, of which the illustration gives a good impression. The manner in which a wide landing is obtained by means of brackets over a narrower vault of one bay is worthy of notice. Juvara's masterpiece is undoubtedly the great votive church of the Superga (1717-31), erected on a lofty hill some miles from the city in fulfilment of a vow made by Victor Amadeus II, in 1706, to build a church to the Virgin on this spot when the invading troops left the city. The curious name is said to be Latin in origin, and to signify " on the back of the mountains " (super terga montium). The interior is circular, with six elliptical chapels and an octagonal chancel opposite the entrance. One of the finest examples of Baroque architecture extant, this church should be visited by every architect who finds himself in Turin. In addition to these works Juvara designed part of the large and ornate church of S. Filippo In 17 14 (commenced in 1600 by Antonio Bettini and continued by Guarini), the small oval- domed church of S. Croce, the Palazzo della Valle with a magnificent atrium and staircase, the Palazzo Ormea, which has a flat facade but an excellent plan, and the building known as the Vecchi Quartieri Militari (17 16). In the surrounding districts may be noted the enormous Castello Reale at Stupinigi, which he projected for Charles Emmanuel III as a hunting-box, and which is connected with the city by a fine avenue, the Castello at Rivoli (17 12) and the facade of the Santuario di Oropa (1720), while the Castello at Agile — an admirable treatment of a villa with terraces — may be the work of himself or his pupils. 99 NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES Among less celebrated architects Ascanio Vittozzi of Orvieto designed the finely situated but unimportant Capuchin church, part of S. Tommaso, and the Villa della Regina ; Count Amadeo di Castellamonte the Villa Reale (1658, with magnificent stair- cases and saloons), and a number of original and striking private palaces with rich interiors. Another titled architect was Count Benedetto Alfieri, whose principal works were the Palazzo d'Agliano and the facade of the cathedral at Carignano, an unusual com- position with a boldly recessed front. The examples above mentioned, however, give but little idea of the number of sumptuous palaces erected in Turin during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a series exhibiting the influence of France combining with Italian Baroque ideas to form a style tending towards French Rococo, yet with the masculine boldness emanating from Rome and Genoa. Before leaving Turin, mention must be made of the career of a famous architect whose name has already appeared in these pages, and who is represented in this city by one small example only, the church of SS. Martiri (1577). Pellegrino de' Pellegrini, or Pellegrino Tibaldi as he is more usually known (1527-96) was born at Bologna, but, after some training as a painter in Rome, settled down in Lombardy, where most of his subsequent works are to be found. He is usually regarded as a follower of Vignola, and certainly belongs to the school of architects who accepted the Renaissance tradition and developed it on their own lines rather than to the revolutionary wing, including such men as Borromini and Guarini. Perhaps his work most closely resembles that of Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. He was working on various minor commissions at Ancona in 1560 when the famous Carlo Borromeo visited the city as Papal Legate, and that prelate was so impressed with his talent that in the following year he was installed as one of the two official architects to the State of Milan. In 1564 he commenced the great CoUegio Borromeo at Pavia, and in 1570 the rebuilding of the Palazzo Arcivescovile in Milan. These are two of his most important works and are worthy of comparison. The former is a huge quad- rangular block some 263 feet by 22p feet, crowned with a heavy cornice and five storeys high. The principal front is recessed, and the chief feature of the remaining facades is the original method by which they are treated differently, so that the lines of windows and string-courses are not continuous. The effect, however, is by no means so bad as might be imagined, and alike in the exterior and 100 aat* jJaajjfiKfc^wiii^'**!' »v f^^^iL^rxi:^'iK*H Pig' 37- — Turin. The Superga. (See p. 99.) Fig. 2,^.— Milan, Palazzo Regio Comando, (See p. 102.) To face p, loo. NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES the arcaded cor tile the architecture is simple and refined. The court of the Milan example is bolder, with heavy rustication, but is equally successful. The delicate character of Tibaldi's detail may be seen in the numerous works by his hand in Milan cathedral, to which he was appointed architect in 1567. Of these the most interesting are the graceful west doorways (still standing intact though surrounded by Gothic masonry), the choir-stalls, choir-screen, organ-screen, the Baptistery, and the ceiling of the crypt. In addition he designed the west front of the cathedral, since demolished or encased in the mediaeval style adopted so warmly by Napoleon. Tibaldi's drawing for this front was considerably altered in execution during his absence in Spain, and may reasonably be regarded as his worst work. His churches form a long list, and some are of imposing dimensions. S. Fedele (1569), the Jesuit church of Milan, has an elementary type of plan without aisles, and with a dome over the third of its three bays. The exterior is of little interest. S. Sebastiano (1577) is a small circular building with eight recesses, of which six are chapels, one being occupied by the opening into the choir and the other by the entrance doorway. The Doric order is used both internally and externally, and constructional features are emphasized in the design with a truthfulness that recalls the earlier achievements of the Renaissance in Florence. S. Gaudenzio (1577) at Novara, between Milan and Turin, is a more monumental edifice and is for the most part Tibaldi's work, the campanile being designed by Count Alfieri of Turin, and the oval cupola being also a later addition. The plan is in the form of a Latin cross, with a long nave and choir and deep transepts such as one seldom meets in Renaissance churches early or late. Here again, too, the order (Corinthian) of the interior is repeated round the exterior, an exceptional but admirable treatment. Tibaldi's preference for the column is exemplified here, as at S. Fedele, but at S. Sebastiano he uses the pilasters beloved of the Jesuit architects in Rome. The internal composition and decoration of this church is richer than that of the facades, which are of a scholarly severity. Two more large churches by this master are at Rho (1583) and Caravaggio (1584-5), smaller works being the Palazzo Natta d'Isola at Novara, the Villa Tolomeo Galli near Gravedona on Lake Como, S. Madonna della Pieta at Canobbio, and S. Protaso ad Monachos at Milan. Another architect with a large practice in Milan was Francesco lOI G* NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES Maria Ricchini, who followed Tibaldi and completed some of his unfinished buildings. Ricchini's claim to fame rests chiefly in three large palaces which he erected in the city during the first half of the seventeenth century. Of these neither the Collegio Elvetico nor the Palazzo Annoni (i63i)"is of outstanding importance, but the Palazzo Litta (1648), now occupied as offices by the State Railways, is a characteristic work of the mature Baroque style. The florid ornament of the windows, the great bowed figures supporting the balcony above the principal portal, and the boldness of the whole facade make this a particularly typical example. A very difi^erent building is the Palazzo Brera (1651), with one of the most beautiful arcaded cortili in Italy, where a more restrained aspect of Ricchini's design appears. The details of the Palazzo Regio Comando in this neighbourhood so closely resemble those of the Palazzo Litta that it is difficult to believe that both are not Ricchini's work, but the former appears to be authenticated as the design of Antonio Maria Ruggieri. Ricchini probably derived some inspiration from Alessi, who is responsible for the courtyard of the Palazzo Marino (155 8-60), now the Municipio, but it is curious that in this case Alessi's detail is far more florid and far less scholarly than Ricchini's Palazzo Brera, which is nearly a century later. The facade of this building is a powerful design on strict lines. The entrance portal of the Palazzo del Seminario (1570), one of the earliest and best of Baroque doorways in Milan, is due to Giuseppe Meda, and another fine exaniple is at the Palazzo Trivulzio. Lorenzo Binago's church, S. Alessandro (1602), is a large and portentous structure with nothing to recommend it. In the environs of Milan, and more especially on the lovely shores of the Lakes, wealthy families laid out a number of villas in the seventeenth century, and of these some are worthy of study. The celebrated gardens of Isola Bella, on Lake Maggiore, occupy one of the finest natural sites in the world. They were laid out between 1632 and 1671 by Carlo Fontana arid other architects for Count Carlo Borromeo III, a descendant of the famous San Carlo who was Tibaldi's patron. The circumstances of their position naturally imply a scheme differing from any we have previously considered, and a marked feature is the absence of the bosco. The island itself is approximately oval in shape, with its main axis nearly due north and south. The palace, for the casino is large enough to bear that name, occupies the, northern end of the island, and on the 102 •^3 gen o ii !> P NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES west is the crowded village where the Borromeo retainers dwell. The remainder of the space is occupied by the gardens, which are the most artificial, the most extravagant in all senses, and the most luxuriant in foliage, of any in Italy. The distinctive feature of the lay-out is its axial alignment, and this, in view of the great irregularity of the site, must have Involved many difficulties. Terraces in every part mask the original natural slopes, and consequently staircases and balustrades are profusely employed, as is statuary, while the need for artificial water-gardening is obviously small. The fairy-like unreality of these gardens compensates for the extravagance of their details, and they cannot be criticised by ordinary standards. On Lake Como are several charming villas of the same period, almost equally familiar to English travellers. Of these one of the most austere and dignified is Tibaldi's Villa Tolomeo Galli already mentioned, but for the most part they have, in a less degree, the frivolous and Rococo characteristics of Isola Bella. Chief among them is the Villa d'Este at Cernobbio, which has suffered many vicissitudes and now retains little of its former glory, having been anglicized like the Villa Doria-Pamphili at Rome and the Villa Pallavicini at Pegli on the Riviera. The beautiful cypress alley or avenue, however, still remains. Smaller villas on this lake are the Villas Balbianella and Carlotta, while at Tremezzo and elsewhere are charming Baroque stairways to the water. On the Lombard plain is the villa of Castellazzo, near Varese, laid out by Jean Gianda in the French style introduced by Le Notre and very popular in this part of Italy. Among Baroque buildings elsewhere in Lombardy may be mentioned the fine cathedral at Brescia (1604) by Giovanni Battista Lantana, the arch of the Sacro Monte at Varese (1608) by Giuseppe Bernasconi, and the strange Palazzo Spanga (or Stanga according to some authorities) at Cremona, dating from the seventeenth century and displaying the same extreme originality as a palace which the writer has noticed at Albano, or as many buildings in Southern Italy. Florence and the Tuscan towns are not rich in -examples of the Baroque period, for the strength of earlier tradition was strong, and the Counter-Reformation was not felt here as it was in Rome. Nor was there any great amount of new building done during the seventeenth century. The Pitti Palace approaches the definition of Baroque, but more 103 NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES obvious instances occur, such as the small Palazzo Frescobaldi near the Arno, with a graceful facade, the extraordinarily hideous Chapel of the Princes at S. Lorenzo (1604-10), and the facade of S. Firenze (17 15) by Zanobi del Rosso ; and in addition to these there are numerous doorways and fountains of attractive design, for many of which Bernardo Buontalenti (i 536-1 608) was responsible. In Florence and the neighbouring cities almost all of the best known gardens are Baroque in character, notably the famous Boboli gardens connected with the Pitti Palace and adjoining the city walls. The main axis here is some 3,000 feet in length and the whole of the area is formally laid out, no hosco in the ordinary Sense being provided. Neither the general effect nor the details of this garden compare very favourably with many previously cited, but the added glamour of sea or lake is wanting, and that is no fault of Buontalenti and II Tribolo, who prepared the scheme jointly in 1 549. The best features are the amphitheatre, the Isolotto, and the various admirable fountains. The adjoining portions of the Pitti Palace are by Bartolommeo Ammanati (151 1-92), who should be noticed as a Florentine archi- tect of great merit, inspired with the same principles as Vignola' and his school, and thus assisting in no small degree in the evolution of the Baroque style. The villas of Tuscany have been frequently described and illustrated in recent years, so that it is unnecessary here to do more than indi- cate three remaining examples of special interest, the Villa Gam- beraia at Settignano (1610), Vicobello and the Villa Gori near Siena, all superbly situated on slopes of wooded hills. Siena, Lucca, Pisa, and Perugia each possesses isolated Baroque build- ings in common with most Italian towns, but in no case has the new movement appreciably affected their general appearance. The little doorway from Assisi illustrated in Fig. 51 decorates the simple facade of a small palace which is now used as a hotel. The district round Verona and Vicenza, as well as the northern part of Venetia — including the towns of Udine, Treviso, and Bassano — contains more numerous examples, both ecclesiastical and domestic. The Palazzo Milan-Massari (1686) at Vicenza, by Paolo Guidolin, has a Baroque cortile of unusual design, tending towards Rococo, but attractive in effect. At Verona is a very different type, the magnificent Palazzo del Gran Guardia Vecchia, executed in 1609-14 by Domenico Curtoni. The upper portion of the long facade, with coupled Doric columns and an unbroken cornice, is worthy of the best traditions of Sammicheli and Palladio, 104 NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES but the lower part, in spite of massive rusticated arches, seems to require some crowning horizontal line. Be this as it may, no one will deny that this palace represents one of the highest achievements of late Renaissance art in Italy, and a critic's difficulty lies, not in determining its merit, but in endeavouring to place it in regard to the Baroque movement. Chronologically it comes in the full maturity of the period ; architecturally it^seems no more than a belated survivor of Verona's palmy days half a century earlier. But even the brief survey of examples in previous chapters should be enough to show that its severe character may not alone proclaim its species, and that there is in its crushing strength something of the same ideal which inspired Bernini in his designs for the Louvre. The prevailing aim of the seventeenth century was not so much to overload a building with ornament as to produce a theatrical effect. Baroque architecture was only at times a violent breaking-away from Renaissance tradition ; it was more usually a legitimate develop- ment with novel elements more or less sparingly introduced. A more favourable centre for the study of the period is to be found in Bologna and the Papal States, which naturally felt the effects of clerical enterprise in Rome during the Counter-Reformation. Bologna became an archbishopric in 1583, and a period of building activity ensued throughout the following century. But before passing on to its many churches and palaces something must be said of its famous school of painters. The importance of paint- ing as a decorative adjunct to architecture was never greater than in Baroque days, and the powerful technique of the late Bolognese school influenced all art of the period. Among those who created the style may be noted Pellegrino Tibaldi, who followed on Michelangelo's lines until he was induced to forsake his brush for building schemes, and especially Lodovico Carracci (155 5- 161 9) and his cousins Agostinoand Annibale. Their more celebrated pupils were Domenichino (1581-1641), Guido Reni ( 1 574-1642), and Guercino (i 590-1 666), all of whom are chiefly remembered by their paintings of religious subjects for altarpieces and other parts of churches. The cathedral, dedicated to S. Pietro, at Bologna is the principal Baroque church, the choir (1575) being the work of Domenico Tibaldi, a brother of Pellegrino's. The nave has an arcade with Corinthian pilasters and a barrel-vault, following the usual Jesuit model, and was designed by Giovanni Ambrogio Magenta in 1605. The facade is much later (1743-8), and is by Alfredo Torrigiani, A far more interesting example, however, is the Santuario della 105 NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES Madonna di S. Luca (1723) on the crown of the Monte della Guardia, overlooking the city and the fertile Romagna plain for a great distance. This building is the work of Carlo Francesco Dotti, and is oval on plan, with a deep recess forming the choir. The exterior of the church itself is perfectly bare, devoid of any ornament whatever, and a simple cupola rises from a tiled roof. The interior is of classic severity but of great dignity, and the oval is disguised by the arrangement of piers carrying the cupola. But the interest of this church and its most Baroque characteristic is in the daring grandeur of its connecting link with the town far below. For a distance of nearly two miles a vast arcade of 666 arches, constructed in 1 674-1 739, rises to the crown of the hill, to terminate in pavilions adjoining the church, whence curved and vaulted porticos approach the actual doors of the Sanctuary and encircle the oval walls on one side. The bareness of the building is thus forgotten and the effect is magnificent. At the lower end of the arcades, near the city, is the Arco del Meloncello by Francesco Bibiena, forming part of the same scheme. Arcades are a prominent feature at Bologna, as in various other towns of the Po Valley, and many of them date from the seven- teenth century. Although their purpose is utilitarian to a large extent, they may be regarded as indicating an awakening desire for civic beautification frequently apparent in the Baroque period. A very similar instance to that cited above is at Vicenza, where an arcade with chapels, dating from 1746, rises from near the modern railway station to the Santuario della Madonna di Monte Berico, some 730 yards in length. Besides the Arco del Meloncello at Bologna, there is another large Baroque gateway, the Porta GaUiera (1661) by Provaglia, both of these exhibiting the fondness of Bolognese architects for rusticated columns. In striking contrast to these examples are the principal gateway to the Citadel at Parma, by G. B. Carre de Bissone, the Arco Valaresso (1632) at Padua, by Gian Battista della Scala, and the Porta Pia at Ancona, all of varying styles. Parma contains several Baroque palaces and churches, and this is true of nearly all the towns in the former Papal States and the Marches, while such minor works may be found as the charming Fontana dei Cavalli at Ancona, or that other fountain at Loreto, constructed by Carlo Maderna and Giovanni Fontana between 1604 and 1622. Little less interesting to a student of this period are the many small towns in the neighbourhood of Rome, such as Viterbo with 106 NORTHERN ITALY AND THE PAPAL STATES its fountains and Porta Fiorentina, Civitavecchia with Bernini's harbour works (1665) and numerous Baroque relics, Orbetello and Palestrina with their quaint seventeenth-century gateways. WORKS OF REFERENCE VII.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN NORTHERN ITALY (See also p. 133.) Agnelli, G. . Ferrara e Pomposa, in Italia ArthAca Bergamo 1902 COLASANTI, A. Loreto, in Italia Artistica ?» I9IO GOSCHE, VON . Haupt, Dr. A. Mailand, in Kunststdtten Mono- graphien Palast Architektur : Verona, Vicenza, Mantua, Padua, Udine Leipzig Berlin 1904 1908 HiERSCHE, WaLDEMAR Pellegrino de' Pellegrini als Architekt Parchim i. M. i9>3 NicoLosi, C. A. 11 Litorale Maremmano, in Italia Artistica Bergamo Recent Pesenti, Pietro Bergamo, ditto It » Pettina, Giuseppe . Parma, ditto ?) 1905 Picco, F. . . . Torino, in Italia Monumentale Milan 1911 Raschdorff, J. C. . Palast Architektur : Toscana . Berlin 1888 Re, Marc Antonio del . Maisons de Plaisance de I'Etat de Milan Milan 1743 Schillmann, F. Testi, Landedeo Viterbo und Ojvieto, in Kunst- stdtten "Monographien Vicenza, in Italia Artistica Leipzig Bergamo Recent TOSCA, P. . . . Torino, ditto ' »» 35 Ugole'1'1'1, a. . Brescia, ditto 9J 1909 Valeri, F. M. Milano, in Italia Artistica »> 1906 ViLLARD, UgO M. DE Weber, L. . ZoccHi, Giuseppe . I monumenti del lago di Como, in Italia Monumentale Bologna, in Kunstst'dtten Mono- graphien Vedute delle Ville e d'altri luoghi della Toscana Milan Leipzig Florence I9I2 Receni 1744 „ . . . » • • • „ . . . Piemonte, in Guide regionali illustrate Lazio, ditto Umbria, ditto Rome 19x2 1913 1909 107 VIIL— THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES BETWEEN Northern and Southern Italy there is a subtle and almost indefinable difference of character which is partly due to the events of history and partly to geographical con- ditions. This difference has a very natural effect on the art of the two sections, and especially upon their architecture. The tide of reaction against the pedantry of the Later Renaissance filtered gradually through the country. It moved placidly, steadily, as is the way of such things. Now and then it encountered local tradition, sometimes hostile, at other times favourable. In hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany the seed fell on stony ground and produced a scanty harvest. In the Alban Hills, on the fertile meadows of the Papal States, and, indeed, wherever the great Papal families were supreme, it flourished exceedingly ; but nowhere perhaps more than in the South, where the influence of Spain was particularly strong. South of Rome there are few noteworthy monuments of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the Renaissance age in Italy. Beyond the classic sites of Psestum and Pompeii, of Sicily and Magna Graecia — nearly all buried and unknown in those days — a sixteenth-century architect in the kingdom of Naples had to draw his inspiration from a magnificent series of early Gothic buildings rich in naturalistic ornament and tinged with the romantic spirit of the Crusades. Here among doors and windows, piers and vaulting, which recall the mediaeval churches of Provence, germinated the predisposition to a free and luxuriant fashion in decoration. Then came two converging influences from widely different quarters. The Jesuits and the Theatines, the Papal emissaries and princely families brought from Rome the new Baroque movement already in vogue there, and where the scholarly genius of Bramante had failed to penetrate, the talents of Bernini and his kind were seized upon with admiration. The little towns of Sicily and the Adriatic seaboard, as well as great centres such as Palermo and Naples, bedecked themselves in the new manner, and rejoiced at their added splendour. Meanwhile, political changes had ca,used Southern Italy to be saturated with Spanish ideas and customs, following in the train of those stern governors who held a little court in every provincial town of importance. Spanish architecture already displayed some startling characteristics before other countries in Europe had revolted against the schoolmen, and Spanish influence was for ostentation, elabora^ tion, and outward show. These foreign viceroys ruled Naples from 1503 to 1707, when they 108 ■'si'i^l* Fig. 41. — Naples. Church of the Carmine. Interior. To face p. 108. THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES were succeeded by Austrians, who remained until the Bourbon regime commenced in 1734. In the city of Naples itself art has always assumed a strangely cosmopolitan aspect, and hardly any of the numerous band of architects, painters, and sculptors who plied their craft within her walls during these days of Spanish supremacy were Neapolitan born. It is for this reason especially that there has never been a genuine Neapolitan school in any of the arts, although in painting the various artists from Bologna and Spain worked in sufficient sympathy with each other to produce the illusion of a local spirit. Of these painters the most prominent was Giuseppe Ribera (158 8- 1656), who was born in the Heel of Italy, and, after studying under Caravaggio, visited Spain and became famous as Lo Spagnoletto. Among his pupils were Aniello Falcone (1600-65) and Salvator Rosa (1615-73). From Bologna came Domenichino, while a more prolific but less reputable artist was Luca Giordano, nicknamed Fa Presto from his rapidity of execution. His picture Judith is said to have been painted in two days, and on that account to have won great admiration from his contemporaries. These names are cited because they represent, together with the school of Bologna mentioned in the last chapter, the Baroque style in painting. Others whom one might add to the list are Caravaggio and Pietro da Cortona. Their pictures are distinguished by brilliant technique — especially as regards human anatomy — heavy colouring, and a mastery of shadow which has gained them the name of the Tenebrosi. Almost all the churches of Naples which belong to this time are very florid internally, the exteriors being apparently regarded as of small account. Cases in point are the Gesu, the Madonna del Carmine, S. Severo, S. Severino, and Santa Chiara. Most of the work is of the eighteenth century, loaded with colour and gilding, and may be regarded as Rococo rather than Baroque, but in San Martino, which was practically rebuilt in the earlier half of the seventeenth century, Cosimo Fansaga (i 591-1678) proclaimed himself the most worthy of Neapolitan architects during the Baroque period. The lavish use of marbles and stucco here is governed by a sane judgment, and in the adjoining cloisters and rooms of the Carthusian monastery attached to the church a simpler type of design is found, the large cloisters being particularly effec- tive. The conventual buildings are well adapted for their purpose as a museum of local history, and a French writer has called this the Carnavalet of Naples. In the cathedral the Cappella del Tesoro 109 THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES (1608-37) should be noticed as one of the richest works of the period, with a pair of magnificent bronze gates. A small church of late date and of scholarly merit is S. Marcellino (1750) by Vanvitelli, the architect of the palace at Caserta. Naples boasts of two large royal palaces, the former near the sea by Domenico Fontana (1600), the latter high on the hill at Capodi- monte (1738, etc.), but neither is of great importance. Fansaga's severe Palazzo Maddaloni is the principal private mansion of the time. In various parts of the city there are examples of the smaller forms of civic art in which the Baroque period abounds, and of these the most notable are those Guglie or decorated obelisks to be seen in the Piazza del Gesu (eighteenth century) by Francesco Pepe, in the Largo S. Domenico from a design by Fansaga, and in another piazza to S. Gennaro. This type of monument may exist in other Italian cities, but the only other example known to the writer is at Ostuni in Apulia, dedicated to S. Oronzo, and is inferior to those at Naples. The fine church at Montecassino (1658), between Naples and Rome, is the work of Cosmo Fansaga. The most interesting fountain is to be found in the Villa Nazionale, and, although attributed to Giovanni da Nola, it probably may be dated from 1 606, and regarded as the work of Geronimo d' Auria. The Fontana di Medina, erected for a Spanish viceroy, is ascribed to Domenico Fontana as architect and Naccherini and Pietro Bernini as sculptors. Another small fountain is in the Piazza di Monteoliveto. Some twenty miles north of Naples is the vast royal palace at Caserta, the relation of the two towns recalling Paris and Versailles. This grandiose scheme was commenced by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700-73) in 1752. The palace itself forms a rectangle 800 feet by 600 feet grouped round four quadrangles, but in addition there is a colonnade on the south containing the very extensive stables, and on the north the gardens and a great cascade prolong the axial line for nearly two miles to the summit of the adjoining wooded hills. The gardens are far more Baroque in character than the palace buildings, and the white marble statuary of the cascade is of admir- able sculpture. The numerous figures, however, lose much of their artistic value by their lack of connected architectural treatment, being placed haphazard in natural poses in the formal pools of running water. No greater contrast could be imagined than to turn from this scene no ^ Fig. 44. — In Lecce. From a drawing by the Author. Ill THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES of ordered magnificence to a little city on the other side of the peninsula where Baroque architecture may perhaps be seen at its best. M. Paul Bourget, whose essays are as broad-minded as they are attractive, frankly confesses that he first understood and appre- ciated Baroque when he visited unknown Lecce, " this precious jewel of a town," in the Heel of Italy. A smiling, sunny city near the Adriatic, it has somehow survived much as it was in the remarkable wave of building activity which made it a^ veritable seventeenth-century museum. The buildings of this town may be roughly grouped as ecclesiastical, public, and private, and treated accordingly. i All of them are compressed into small space by the mediaeval walls, and the streets are, to English eyes, ridiculously narrow. Lying on a level plain a few miles from the sea, there are none of those effective stairways so characteristic of the hill-sides of Naples or Genoa, nor are there any of the monumental vistas which one associates with Baroque enter- prises at Rome. It might even be said that everything is against the picturesque, and that without hills, without a harbour, without a river, or even a sleepy canal, Lecce is severely handicapped as a beauty-spot. Yet, admitting that it has an undeniable charm, we must recognize the merit of architecture which is independent of its surroundings, and, moreover, that the Baroque style, so often relying on a theatrical setting for effect, may in itself command admiration. The Lecce churches are in some ways a representative series such as one finds in other towns, yet in a sense unique. Their number alone is extraordinary in proportion to the area of the city, there being some forty within the walls and the immediate suburbs. With a few exceptions, they were all built within a limit of a hundred and fifty years, from about 1575 to 1730. Of these the most Baroque in character date from the seventeenth century, say from 1620 -to 1 7 10. We therefore have here an epitome of the style as applied to ecclesiastical buildings in its three stages ; firstly, a gentle break- ing away from late Renaissance models ; secondly, a period of anarchy and extravagance ; and, lastly, a tendency to return to more classic forms. Of the first stage such churches as the Gesu and S. Irene show us more classic inspiration than the delicate Cinquecento examples which preceded them ; yet the former, though dating so early as 1575, is of fully developed Baroque ' A chapter in my book In the Heel of Italy (1910) gives fuller description of Lecce's Baroque architecture, with numerous illustrations, and an appendix contains further facts and bibliographical matter. — M. S. B. 112 Fig;. 45. — A Lecce Street. From II drawing by the Author. To face p, 112, THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES character, with its broken pediments, its colossal scroll brackets, and its unconventional detail. Alike in its facade and in its plan, with four chapels on either side of the nave, it suggests its great con- temporary in Rome. The ceiling of the nave is flat, with a domed roof over the crossing, and a barrel-vault above the choir. The pilasters are decorated with arabesques, and the interior is ornate in most respects. The most famous of Lecce churches, however, is S. Croce, a remarkable building. A national monument, it is being at present very carefully and, as far as one can judge, sympathetically restored. The facade represents a truly extraordinary orgy of bold and fantastic carving in the golden local stone, defying description, and, for that matter, defying representation in photographs, for atmosphere and surroundings lend it a certain charm which its unreality seems to call for. This is Baroque in a sense which cannot be understood even in Rome, recalling some of those " Plateresque " marvels of Spain. The interior is no less singular, and only a little less ornate; but, save for the transept altars, far more attractive. For here we find an undoubtedly Baroque architect utilizing all those delightful Gothic and Byzantine forms so typical of Adriatic provinces and mingling them with Renaissance swags in his novel decoration. A well-travelled and well-read architect suddenly placed in this church would find it difficult to give a date to work which he had probably never seen before, and which forms so strange a combination of ornamental forms. To the writer's mind it appears certain that architectural circles would be much exercised if a set of measured drawings of this unique edifice were to be pubUshed. S. Croce was followed by a long series of churches of varying merits and fashions ; some comparatively simple and academic, some rusti- cated and carved from plinth to cornice, and for the most part without any apparent logical sequence. Two or three of the most ornate were never completed (and in Lecce an incomplete and lofty facade has none of the charm of that old wistaria-covered palace basement which one recalls on the Grand Canal at Venice). In a few cases, as in most other towns, the ambitions of the Baroque builders are confined to the facade, an old church being left standing behind it. In Lecce, as in Rome, there was at times a certain striving after originality for its own sake, at other times a too flagrant love of display. Good interiors were often spoiled by pretentious altars. The final stage of building, in the eighteenth century, though in a way a return to classical forms, is not marked by any very distinct line of difference, and is, on the whole, a 113 H THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES decline, architectural absurdities being retained without the vigorous spirit of licence which made absurdity less absurd. Of Lecce secular buildings one can write with more enthusiasm, and that partly because of a natural freedom in their design all too rare in a period when artificiality was the prevailing weakness. It is true that in some of the larger and more public institutions, such as the Seminario (or training college) and Vescovado (or Bishop's palace), one finds the same floridity as on the facjade of the Prefettura (formerly the cloister of the Celestini, whose church of S. Croce adjoins it). But all these were the handiwork of the same pompous prelates who built the churches, and who must have been in their day very much the most original folk in Lecce. One, at least, of the large city gateways, too, is due to them, and commemorates the virtues of mythological founders and Christian saints with an excellent breadth of outlook. Comparing the Prefettura and the Seminario with the Palazzo Doria at Rome, one sees the prevailing symptoms of an Italian Baroque palace of the grander kind. In Lecce, however, one may study far better than in Rome the vernacular architecture of the period, for seventeenth-century Rome was full of officials herded together in " colleges " and palaces, whereas Lecce, though abounding in clerics, retained its own domestic life. So, though Spanish grandees may have occupied one or two of its statelier mansions, we may reasonably attribute Lecce's chief architectural attractions — its quaint little street fronts and sunny courtyards — to the prosperity of its merchants and profes- sional men. No doubt Spanish manners helped to produce a love of heraldry at every possible corner, of enormous portals to com- paratively small houses, and so on ; but in this case the influence has added to the interest. The infinite variety of design in so small a place shows the possibilities of Baroque as useful architecture compatible with ordinary life. What we may call " civic art " is absent here more than one would expect in so gay a city. Fountains do not exist, there is only one formal square in the place, and the municipal spirit of the past accounts for little more than two great stone gateways in the walls and a small town hall. In this respect Lecce is not typical of the rest of Italy, where one finds in almost every village a fountain or two, an archway here and there, some small structure or ornamental feature forming part of a lay-out dating from the Baroque period, when a lay-out became a practical proposition with many city fathers. The port of Ancona, the Porto del Molo at Genoa, 114 Fig. 46. — In Lecce. From a drawing by the Author. "5 THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES the Dogana at Venice, Bernini's projects at Civitavecchia — all these were maritime schemes ; others, again, call for canals or rivers, for a flow of water from spring or aqueduct ; but Lecce, in its parched plain, served even now by a primitive supply, has always lacked one of the most frequent causes of picturesque Baroque architecture. In the numerous large towns along the Adriatic the same unconven- tional architecture which makes Lecce so attractive may be seen, but in few cases are these buildings worthy of note. Richly carved doorways and window heads, with graceful balconies and heraldry, are frequently found, and occasionally a Baroque palace facade. Two small examples should be fiientioned. At Foggia is a remarkable range of Calvary chapels (1693) of uniform dimensions, but each varying slightly in points of detail, and at Barletta is a sea-gate, the Porta di Mare, which dates from the early eighteenth century and is of admirable design. Barletta also possesses two interesting Baroque buildings in the Palazzo dei Delia Marra (1660) with a fine loggia overlooking the sea and the Reale Monte di Pieta. It must, however, be remarked that a great deal of the seventeenth-century detail in these Apulian towns is very coarse. The Baroque buildings of the Sicilian cities arc closer akin to those of Lecce than any other part of Italy. They are numerous, varied, and attractive, and are scattered all over the island. Professor Ricci has cited Palermo as a Baroque city, together with Rome, Naples, Genoa, Bologna, and Lecce. Certainly it has a place in any history of the period, for here was developed to a large extent the art of stucco modelling, so remarkable in Sicily and in Naples. Bernini had revived this almost forgotten art, and in Genoa it had had a great vogue under the Lombard architects, but its greatest strides were made in the school of Giacomo Serpotta (165 5- 1732) at Palermo. Serpotta possessed that wonderful talent for modelling flesh in stucco which Bernini displayed in his marble, and in such wonderful examples as the window-decorations of the Oratorio di Santa Cita his style is distinctly Baroque rather than Rococo, whereas the decorations of Neapolitan churches of the period lean towards the latter manner. It would be idle to pretend that Serpotta's work is' suited for architectural decoration. His figures resemble the marble nymphs in the Caserta cascade, or the frolicsome angels of Bernini's ceilings in their wilful disregard of equilibrium. They have the charm of beautiful forms and of original poses, but they have no decorative afiinity with the buildings in which they are placed. 116 Fir;. 47. — Catania. Cathedral. 4ir Fisr. 48. — Catania. Fountain. THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES Sicily attained an unenviable distinction up to recent times in possessing the ugliest church in all the world, San Gregorio a t Mpssi"q, It has been already referred to in these pages las the work of Guarini,jffilje.„did jo^much to'discredTTBarbquesSxIiitecture. IrTtRli^BuilHing he violated aU canons~o?"design.' Every prominent feature of the facade and of the hideous spiral tower is of a type which is only permissible in nuptial confectionery. By a happy judgment the whole building perished in the earthquake of 1908, and it is to be hoped that the good taste of the city will never allow it to be reconstructed. S. Pietro at Modica, in the south of the island, recalls the more extravagant of the Lecce facades, and is approached by a vast flight of steps ornamented with statues. Chief among Baroque churches in Sicily are the cathedrals of Catania (1736) and Syracuse (1728-37), the facade of the latter being designed by Pompeo Picherali. In neither case is the Baroque building more than a remodelling of an older structure, and at Syracuse a magnificent Greek temple of the fifth century b.c. forms the greater part of the cathedral. Among other ecclesiastical buildings may be mentioned the Monte di Pieta at Messina, a seventeenth-century work, and the florid convent of the Benedictines (i 693-1 735), known variously as S. Nicola and S. Benedetto, at Catania.^ The facade recalls the Benedictine convent at Lecce, by which it may well have been inspired, but the great church adjoining has never been finished. This is unfortunate, for its internal dimensions are so colossal and the design of the lower part of the facade so restrained that it might well have become one of the chief monuments of the period. Most of the Sicilian cities abound in Baroque palaces of the varying types to be found in Lecce. Some of the seventeenth-century examples show the strong influence of Spain, such as the Palazzo del Tribunale, formerly Moncada (1635-8), at Caltanissetta and the Casa Xirinda at Trapani. Others of later date are Rococo in character, such as the Palazzo Bonagia at Palermo or the Palazzo Biscari at Catania. Of the more ordinary character of the period in the South are the rich and charming series surrounding the Piazza del Duomo at Syracuse ; in fact this piazza disputes with Lecce the claim to be the most attractive centre of Baroque architecture extant. Suburban and country villas are plentiful, but in few cases are they of the same interest as those at Genoa, at Frascati, or on the Italian ' Sec article by Natale Scalia in Ars et Labor. Milan, 191 2. 117 H* THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES Lakes. Many of the gardens have no doubt been anglicized or destroyed, but nevertheless the scarcity of examples leads one to believe that the craft of garden-making never took hold of the Sicilian mind. At Bagheria, near Palermo, most of the remaining villas may be seen, including the Villa Valguarnera (17 14 et seq.), by P. Tommaso Napoli, and the Villa Palagonia, La Favorita and Castlenuovo being also in the neighbourhood. In the fountains and gateways of the towns, however, much interesting Baroque work is to be found. The Fontana di Orione at Messina (1547), although an early work, suggests the seventeenth century, and the Fontana di Nettuno is the design of Fra Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (d. 1563). In the Fontana dell' Elefante (1736) at Catania, Bernini's very clumsy precedent of an obelisk standing on an elephant's back has been followed. Another Roman model, the Quattro Fontahe, has been imitated in the Quattro Canti (161 1) at Palermo, when the four "canted" angles at the intersection of two streets have been treated with wall-fountains and statues. Of town-gates may be mentioned the Porta Garibaldi at Marsala and the Porta Nuova (1535) at Palermo, erected in honour of Charles V. This short list gives an indication df the amount of interesting material in Sicily for a student of the Baroque period. Malta Although Malta is not politically part of modern Italy, it was at one time part of the Sicilian domain, and may very appropriately be considered in relation to the kingdom of Naples before closing this chapter. It was given by Charles V to the Knights of the Order of St. John in 1530, and thirty-six years later the town of Valletta or Valetta was founded by La Vallette, Grand Master of the Order. This little city, one of the most impregnable of European fortresses, contains a large number of Baroque buildings, and was developed on novel lines. The knights forming the Order were divided according to their nationality into seven langues, — Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Germany, and England, — and later Castile and Portugal were added to form an eighth. The site of the new town was mapped out into eight sections, and each langue was encouraged to surpass the others in the beauty and magnificence of its architecture. Every langue had its auberge or headquarters, where a hundred or a hundred and fifty knights dwelt, with official rooms and the apartments of a chief grandee. It is only natural 118 THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES that these buildings are among the most important on the island. The Auberge de Castile is a large block with flat fagades decorated in the same style as the Prefettura at Lecce and the Benedictine convent at Catania. The Auberge d'ltalie is simpler in general design, but has a magnificent doorway loaded with heraldry. In the treatment of the wall surfaces of the former with plentiful panels and rustication, as well as in the florid carving of the latter, may be seen the strong influence of Spanish Plateresque so noticeable all over the kingdom of Naples. But in Malta especially is this influence evident. The fortifications of Valetta are stupendous, the parapet of the " Inner Lines " rising in places 153 feet above the ditch below, and the gateways in the various lines are therefore of bold character, befitting their purpose. Among them the S. Helena gate in the Cotonera lines (1675), in the style of Sammicheli, and the more grandiose gate of S. Manuel (1726) are remarkable. Almost all the historic buildings of Valetta are Baroque, the sumptuous cathedral being Spanish in character and richly decorated. The most celebrated of Maltese architects was Gerolamo Cassar, who became official architect to the Order in 1570. Owing to the late date of its origin (at the beginning of the Baroque period), the abundance of good stone suitable for carving, and the preva- lence of Spanish ideas, Valetta may be regarded as a peculiarly favourable centre for the study of the style. J19 THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES WORKS OF REFERENCE VIII.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY Briggs, M. S. Caggese . Carabellese, F Flower, A. S, GlACOMO, S. DI GiGLI, G. Maurel, Andre The Architectural London 1909-10 191° Lecce, in Review In the Heel of Italy : a Study of an Unknown City (contains a bibliography) Nel Tallone d'ltalia (Ital. trans- lation of above) Foggia, in Italia Jrtistica . Bari, ditto .... Renaissance Architecture in Malta, in R.I.B.A. Journal Napoli, in Italia Artistica . . Bergamo 1906 II Tallone d'ltalia, in Italia Bergamo 191 1 e/frtistica Lecce 191 2 Bergamo 1910 1909 London 1898 L'Art Baroque k Naples, articles Paris in La Nouvelle Revue 1912 Roberto, F. de . Catania, in Italia Artistica Bergamo 1907 Rolfs, von . Neapel, in KunststStten Mono- graphien Leipzig 1905 Vanvitelli, Luici . . Disegni del Reale Palazzo di Caserta Naples 1756 Wach, H. C. C. . . Drawings of Syracuse, in The Architectural Review London I9I2 Zimmermann, von . . Sizilien, in Kumtst'dtten Mono- Leipzig 1904 graphien . Puglie,in Guide Regionalilllustrate . Abruzzo, ditto .... Rome 5) 1909 I9I2 » . Sicilia, ditto .... 11 I9I2 120 Fig. 49. — Rome. House in Via TomacelH. Doorway. To face p, in. IX.— AN ANALYSIS OF BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY BEFORE attempting any general criticism of the many buildings described or mentioned in the previous chapters, some attention must be devoted to a short detailed analysis of their various characteristic features. There are two ways of treating a period of architecture. The first is to trace its gradual development from beginning to end, pausing to consider such examples as illustrate the process of evolution, and then in con- .clusion to add an exhaustive list of further examples to which a student may turn for proof of the author's statements. This system implies a more or less chronological sequence, and has many obvious advantages. The second — the method adopted, rightly or wrongly, in the present case — is to foUov^ the progress of the movement in vairious local centres, Aoting the individual peculiari- ties of different towns, and mentioning examples in geographical groups. Such a treatment involves a greater number of references to particular buildings in the text, but is well adapted to the circumstances of Italy, which has al ways been a group, of separate States rather than a homogeneous counlryi It hasHbeen said that nowhere~afeTKef e s6"niany~cities"'with an interesting character and history of their own as in Italy, and any man who has had occasion to trace the story of one of its smaller towns will realize the justice of this statement. 3]h£_BaTOgue styk^moreover, had hot a gradual and normal development. It was sporadic liTits manifestations, breaking outiii^he"work of certain men and only just perceptible in the buildings of others. It appealed strongly to such tempera- ments ds Bernini's or Longhena's, far too strongly to the minds of Guarini and Borromini. The defect of the second method of criticism is 'obviously that general principles are apt to be over-, looked in a mass of local examples and history, and a review of larger aspects in the country as a whole becomes an essential complement of the fnore detailed study. The most bitter critic of the Baroque period will hardly deny the very marked advance made in planning from the days of the early ^ sixteenth century. Palladio's church of the Redentore at Venice and Yignola's Gegu at R ome form f^ ^^'' "^"^Hfi for ibr art^hifet-ts pf the / Counter-Refortnation and became the most popular types in the 'f seventeenth century. Alessi's S. Maria in Carignano is another J important church plan, and occupies a site which, except for a small apse, is a .square. In some respects this Greek cross, arrangement produces the most splendid effect of any, and in later years the principle was developed in such magnificent examples as S. Agnese 121 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY at Rome. The Superga at Turin and the Salute at Venice are octagonal types brilliantly conceived. The Annunziata at Genoa is a variant-of-the sarly h3silicaji-~plan and has features in common with S. Lorenzo at Florence, but one of the characteristics of the later plans is the elimination of aisles and columns, ^nd the^ striving for a^ large preaching area and a number of cjbAfiels with,.._altars. The natural result is the almost invariable cen^l dome, and the free use of pilasters on the walls. Subsidiary domes over the sraalle;' chapels also became frequent, and may be seen in various churches in Rome and Genoa. ,But_in^_adfiii£iQn-.tQ_these orthodox patterns there were -ma»y iDthers where planniag-assumed a fanciful aspect which it had never worn before. Oval^ ^churches an^osal domes came into being, and at S. Ivo at Rome the extraordinary shape of the chapel has actually led to the belief that Borromini followed the shape of the Barberini's heraldic bee. In some of Guarini's churches at Turin may be seen ingenious but absurd plans, and at the Madonna di S. Luca at Bologna an oval exterior is transformed into a Greek cross plan within. S. Gaudenzio at Novara is almost the only existing case of a fully developed Latin cross plan with long transepts and choir. Yet-itL.spite of the range of variety_in_th.ese.jiifFer£aLtYpes, they nearly ail are xiQhlxive3~'to' produce a maximum of_ light^nd to display a great richness of syniboTic' decoration. In such examples as S. Maria in.Carignano, wliere the. interior is not -decoca.tsd,in .golpur, the. brilliant power of the Italian sun is too strong, and even thick blinds do not altogether counteract the glare, whereas in the gorgeous church of S. Ambrogio in the same city an abundance .of light is jtjiitigated by the rich tints of gilding and frescoes. The remarks made in Chapter VI, referring to the Jesuit church at Venice, apply to the majority of Baroque interiors all over Italy, and to the writer's mind the most satisfying are those where the decoration is of a high order — as at S. Ambrogio or at S. Pietro dei Banchi at Genoa — or where a dignified simplicity is attained, as at S. Maria in Carignano or at the Madonna di S. Luca near Bologna. In the external design of these buildings tliere. are usually two dominant features, the dome or campanile, and the principal fagade. The remaining sides are frequently left with bare walls, undecorated and unrelieved, and of course in the narrow crowded streets of Rome or Genoa or, as so often happens, where the church is sur- rounded by houses on all sides save the entrance front, this plain- ness is comprehensible if not aesthetically sound. In cases where 122 Fig. SO. — A Fountain at Albano. From a drawing by the Author. 123 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY the church is isolated partially or completely, such as the Superga, the Salute, and S. Maria in Carignano, all its visible portions are architecturally treated, and the principal front is less consciously differentiated. Although architects of the^ seventeenth century lavished their energies on djssigHin^"'an d "decorating the fagadgs o f these ch urches, the ^SglHEnFof posterity does not approve of their efforts as they would have desired. For their very anxiety., to make a brave show to the world in this one respect led them to forget IBSCTh'S~EHd'"wafl of a' church has an organic structuxaLfiinction. They tre ate3 i t as though it were a stone gcregji^^^Iaced-in a juggar^ or street, .ijajadiich they could work after the fashion of a scene-painter, jlacj,ng_hgre a column, there a niche, with total disregard o^naye and „aisles behind. Tiiej^SM^t is that a flank_yi£w_.QfLa„£hurch with a facade far^rtgHer than the ro^f oTThe nave_^behind leaves a disappointing impression in a spectator's mind, and, in, mpre^ flagrant cases, where the rough unfinished backs of these stone screens appear, he is nc^ inclined to forgive the clumsy-eyesore- on. the grounds of its merits if seen from the one point where it was intended he .should^st^nd. It is easy to decry some of Ruskin's wilder flights of imagination, but here all architects would agree with him in demanding the Lamp of Truth. The design of these fa9ades varies from the scholarly attractiveness of S. Andrea della Valle to the wild eccen- tricities of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane or of San Gregorio at Messina. Borromini first introduced the curved facade, with little artistic success save in his very fine church of S. Agnese. It is only necessary to look at an instance where the. outline of nave and aisles is truthfully indicated in the facade, such as S. Suzanna at Rome, to see how reprehensible was the practice of exaggerating the apparent dimensions in other cases. In the design of domes and belfries, but especially the former, the genius of Baroque architects ' is seen at its best. It is true that a certain number of admirable domes were in existence prior to this period — notably S. Maria degli Angeli at Assisi (1569), by Vignola, S. Maria di Loreto at Rome (1597), by Antonio da Sangallo, and the cathedral at Todi — but of thebe the first is almost Baroque in date and character. In fact, with a few similar excep- tions, the art of dome design, initiated in the earlier days°of the RenaissanFe by Brunefl'eschi, attained its highest level in .tlig„ seven- teenth century. From Monte Pincio a whole panorama of domes lies before one, culminating in S. Peter's. Of the smaller examples may be mentioned~S7 "^Ca'rlb al Corso and S. Agnese in Rome, and 124 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY the Superga at Turin, but in some cases the finest interior treat- nients_exist where an external cupola is concealed or non-existent. Isola.ted_£ • Giesecke, A. . Gurlitt, Cornelius Melani, a PiRANESI, G. B. RiCCI, CORRADO schmarsow Simpson, F. M. WoELFFLIN, HeiNRICH Handbuch der Die Baustile. Italian Renaissance Architecture Architetture e prospettive. 5 vols. Baroque Architecture, in The Builder Baroque Architecture, in The R.I.B.A. Journal Barock und Rokoko Architektur Architektur. 5 vols. Die Spatrenaissance Barock und Klassicizmus II Ferro nell' Arte Italiana Lo Stucco, ditto II Legno, ditto Giovanni Battista Piranesi Geschichte des Barockstiles. 3 vols. I. Italy. II. Austria and Germany. III. France, the Netherlands, and England Architettura Italiana Vedute di Roma Baroque Architecture and Sculp- ture in Italy Baroqk und Rococo A History of Architectural Development. Vol. iii. Renaissance und Barock, etc. . London 1901 Augustse 1740 London 1912-3 >? 1913 Berlin 1884-91 Stuttgart 1898, etc. Berlin 1886 Leipzig 1910 Milan 1910 99 1910 99 1910 Leipzig 1911 Stuttgart 1887-9 Milan 1910 Rome 1765 London 191Z Leipzig 1897 London 1911 Munich 1888, etc. 133 X.— BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA J" T is so generally recognized that geography may influence architecture that one would naturally expect to find a striking . difFerence between the buildings or Italy and those of the eutonic lands. What is less easily realized perhaps is the over- whelming importance of the Alps in history. This vast and threatening wall all through the past, right up to the days of nine- teenth-century engineering, made intercourse between north and j south so precarious, so slow, and so expensive, that we find between I Italy and Germany — neighbours as they are — a wide and distinct i d ivergence. ^Iq no„way is this more apparent-than in their art ; in^ no branch o f art rnorethaB.Jnlheit' architecture. To the Italian the German wasTiTancient days simply a barbarian. It is perhaps the very fact of his barbarianism which has made his architecture so difficult to nnHersfanH^ fpr Ik; -, has hnt ^fowed first t/ fro m France, the n from Italy, and has seldom created a whole ifF series~6 f normal development £qr himself. Tlbere is, of course, \he glorimis "exception of his earlier days, when the iron-crowned Lombard kings took with them into the fertile plains of Northern Italy those grand brick churches which they had thought out for themselves on the banks of the Rhine. But, save for this distant . age, wemust admit ^at German architecture_has^i?"1y g<" t[rne Ipme ecclesiastical — under the vyeakening rule of that ridiculous historical Tanomalyj^ theuJEiQl^ Roman Empire.._ But even if we agree that it was not Holy nor Roman nor an Empire, we find that it included almost throughout its long existence the German-speaking peoples — including the Dutch, the Swiss of the northern cantons, and the Austrians. Holland will be discussed in a future chapter, but Germany, as i t will be treated Jiere,-wil4~be-held-ta-Ciomprise Austria. Bohemia, the Tyrol, andpaEtjCuLSwitzerland, its jiatural^^geographical limits and its actual extent iix the period with which we are dealing. The centre of gravity in Germany to-day is Berlin ; jn the -s eyen- '34 ^^g- 54- — Nuremberg. Pelkrhatts. (See p. 138.) To face p. 134. GERMANY AND AUSTRIA teerith centiiry_ifwag_ jfVrfhpr south, and, the wealth o f jhe country lay rather-On^lhe, Bavarian cities and along t he Rhine. The hegemony of Prussia — a comparatively recent growth — has made it difficult for us to-day to realize the Germany of old. loreover, every traveller in Italy and student of her art finds on reaching U'ranre^^ r»r Englan d^^or Germany that what is meant by . t he Renaissa nc e in th ese~countnes is~ ^ery diflereuL "from^the ^ Renaissance h"elp,ff at~Rome or Ftoren^^^ In Italy, save for the originalities of the Baroque period, he sees little of unconventional form to distract him from the list of sights prescribed in his conservative guide-book. Yet on arriving at any city of the northern lands he finds himself as bewildered as he would be in a Plateresque palace in Spain. He is surrounded by all the eccentricities of the Elizabethan manor-house or of De I'Orme's chateaux. He is told that this is German Renaissance architecture of the purest style, and can hardly imagine what Baroque architecture must be with such an ancestt-y. It is indeed a radical change to pass from Italy to the barbarian countries. Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that, whereas Italy had no i really important Gothic period of her own, nothing of epoch-making value, the Middle Ages were of paramount jmportance north o f the Alps. Conversely, the Renaissance grew the more rapidly in Italy, not alone because her spirit was receptive, but because her slate was more or less clean. What Gothic ideas she retained were in a sense of alien growth ; the classic tradition was ""<• In Gpxm^f^j, "" the other hand, the churches and town halls of the medis val hliilHprg had hprrtmp yfip y much a part of national life. Ad optei somewhat late from France, German Gothic arc hif grtnre ^iqd a.gng^ vogue just at_theji me when the new spirit was, regenerating Ital That the Renaissance was occasionally introduced into Germany in a pure form cannot be denied. There are, for instance, the Residenz at Landshut, the Belvedere in the Schlossgarten at Prague^ and the Fiirstenhof at Wismar — all erected within some twenty years (1536—55), and all of them in a dainty Cinquecento style. Or one might mention the Zeughaus at Plassenburg (1607), a Palladian building recalling the hand of our own Inigo Jones, But these are, on the whole, exceptions, and the^ freed om of Ger man Renaissance inust_be attributed not to Baroque Influence from KaTy, but, as in other Northerrrcoiintries, To the strength of the Gothic tradition, ** wjiich hampered tEe~growth of the new fashion and prevented it ever becoming as iriu ch of an upheaval as it had done south of the„ 135 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA Alps. There could be no r eal native Baroq uc-StylcitL Germany ^ _For_ ther e was no need for^ a revolt gainst pedantry where no pedantry existed . Tha«- f^p Ttarr.f|np ■jpint^ .w-as ^ n ffoduced is unQuestionable7 ^t that the orip'in. of it was German is qu ite a_ different matter. The German Renaissance in architecture musf firstly be defined so as to show the point at which Baroque influence may be detected, and, later, the point at which that influence became supreme, 'xhree buildings have been mentioned as exceptional, displaying the influence of Italy with little admixture of mediaeval elements. The majority of examples, however, are of a heavier and more whimsical type, and may be placed between the Elizabethan style in England and that of Henry IV in France. Few churches w e re erected, but a great number o f large and importa nt houses, grouped fo r the most part in towns, ofte n round a market-plac e. That these ""marlcet-places were laid out on any scientific principle one rather doubts ; yet they have been copiously illustrated in modern books on town-planning as though such was the case. It seems more probable that intentional and systematic town-planning as we know it dates from no earlier than the seventeenth century, when the craze for vistas and for a lay-out first became fashion- able. A walk through the quaint streets of Rothenburg — one of the most typical and picturesque of all German cities — does not leave in the mind any impression of studied effort of this sort, rather a very delightful haphazard result, for which the various styles of its architecture seem particularly well adapted. The corporate spirit of these towns, on the other hand, was as strong as in any other country at any period of history. Their principal monuments in most cases are the Rathhaus (or town hall), the Zeughaus (or arsenal), and the residences of the merchant princes rather than of great nobles. The castles on the Rhine are mainly mediaeval ; the great country mansions and palaces are in the French Rococo style of the eighteenth century. The ch angfi-j rom Gothic t o Renaissance was a very gentle_ tranh sition^ perceptiMe1jr ^3iHir7afl!gir"t haa. in general pri ncip les. The great roof remHned,l5ithl3ts-xangei _of formers to ak the space ^ithin where the family linen was dried after the famous monthly w^H773o'"etime? tTiendgel-an^rallel witlT the Tine of tTie slreet^ sometimes at right angles to it, in which case a great gable resulted. In Cologne and other cities these gables were stepped, and almost everywhere the exterior was richly decorated. But generalizing is easy, and the reader may still demand a reason for denying that 136 Fig $<,.— Munich. S. MichaePs Church. (See p. 155.] To fficQ p, 136. GERMANY AND AUSTRIA these picturesque Renaissance buildings are to be regarded as of the Baroque class. The answer may be found by a careful study of their detail and. carving, as well as of their construction and leading lines. The Renaissance spirit predominates, but the freedom of its manifesta- tions is due to the slowly dying influence of the Middle Ages rather than to the revolution south of the Alps. Here we have a justifi- cation for contending that Baroque architecture is not simply eccentric or simply florid. In its most florid form it is not more florid than that of the Plateresque period in Spain, the period of Louis XV in France, the Elizabethan age in England, nor is it more eccentric than any of these. It has indeed an entity of its own, and the preceding chapters will have shown how its character may be recognized in Italy, without retracing our steps through lengthy definitions. Suffice it to say that any departure from the purity of conventional Renaissance models which can be attributed to lingering Gothic tradition shows conclusively that a building is of an imperfectly developed rather than of an over-ripe Renaissance type, whereas the Baroque influence followed the Renaissance. The pnsitinn js greatly Cjomplicated in Germ any by the fact that few buildings rem ain w hich show the sa me purity as Palladio's in Italy or W ren's in EQgIaad^ =the....midigeYal tradition affecting~~ ^rh'^^flPV^ ^'^fn "P to t^f timp: whpn the standards nf "re yo'ltwere brought rovpf-thp Alps by_th&_Jesuits. A few examples may be cited from places familiar to most English travellers. The castle at Heidelberg possesses two wings, adjoining one another at right angles, which are typical of their period. The Heinrichsbau (1556-9) is in the Italian Cinquecento manner, but with decoration and rusticated pilasters of less familiar form, more akin, indeed, to English Elizabethan. The Friedrichsbau is fifty | ' years later (160 1-7), and is almost Baroque in many of its details^ yet tinged with mediaevalism, as in the tracery of the ground-floor windows. The ornament is rich and florid, the gables boldly and strongly designed. " The Rathhaus at Cologne possesses a loggia or porch which is frequently cited as a remarkably pure example of Renaissance architecture, but can only be so regarded outside Italy, for it transgresses classic rules in sundry details, and the arches of its upper storey are slightly pointed. Built in 1569-73, it was won in competition by Wilhelm Vernuyken. Other good examples of this *' Elizabethan " period are the 137 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA Gymnasiums at Ansbach (1563) and Coburg (1605), the Town Halls of Gorlitz and Rothenburg-o.-d.-Tauber (1572-90), the Bishop's palace at Bamberg (1563), and many of the houses at Hildesheim ; while further north the Town Hall at Bremen (161 2), the Arsenal at Dantzig (1605), and various houses in Lubeck are characteristic of the style in Prussia, where brick is the usual material. The next class includes those, buildings in which Baroque elemen ts- are found, although they do not preponaerate — a sort of transi- tional period. Some we may merely mention, as, for instance, the palaces at AschafFenburg (1605-13) and Mainz (1627-8), various early seventeenth-century houses in Hameln and Nuremberg, the Baumeister's House at Rothenburg (1596), and the University Church at Wiirzburg (1580). All of these show a normal progress towards Baroque, but it may be noticed that their dates are only slightly later than those in the last category, and an isolated example (the Schloss Hartenfels near Torgau) may be mentioned as being apparently more advanced than most of these, though built as early as 1532 ! Two churches of note — the Marienkirche '^ at Wolfenbiittel (1608-23) and the Franciscan Church at Innsbruck (1553-63) — are worthy of comment at this juncture, because they seem to defy classification, having as much in them of Elizabethan as of Rococo, of Gothic as of Baroque, yet not enough of any one of these varying styles to be easily recognisable as belonging to it. Thus is a student of German architecture handicapped by its vagaries ! good example of this class is to he found in the famous Peller- aus at Nuremberg, the facade of which dates from 1605. The Interior is also interesting and typical of the period, but what one can say of the front applies to most of the rest of the building. From a heavy and severe classic basement storey the eye finds at each successive stage an increasing freedom and lightness, a loosen- ing of restraint and an exuberance of treatment which in the fantastic outlines of the gable — notably picturesque even in these quaint streets — breaks into the flowing scrolls and the jocose sculpture of the Baroque period. And at this point we will abandon further study of the transition, crossing the faintly (m arked border-line to meet the Jesuit church-builders. To understand adequately the extraordinary influence on architec- ture wielded by the Jesuits the reader should recall what has been said of sixteenth-century Christianity in an earlier chapter. But in Germany these missionaries of the Counter-Reformation had a far 138 Fig- 56. — Prague. Jesidt Church. To face )3,' 1^8, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA harder struggle than in Italy or Spain. Germany had, during the Reformation, become largely and genuinely Protestant. That she did not become wholly so was due as much to dissensions within her ranks as to attacks from without. Quarrels among her keen theologians disposed the people at length to consider the plausible teachings of these new apostles, who at first had been greeted with fierce opposition and bitter ostracism. It was in 1550 that a pious Catholic prelate, attending the Diet of Augsburg, first heard of the Jesuit Colleges, and advised the Emperor Ferdinand to found an institution on these lines in Vienna. Thirteen pioneers came in the following year, and their success was remarkable. No pretence was made of their mission. It was, we are told, " to restore the declin- ing tenets of Catholicism by learned and pious Catholic teaching." Some of them were Spaniards, some Italians, few of them really understood the country or its language. Yet by their sincerity and their devotion, their great intellectual knowledge, and their courteous tact, they captured German education, at any rate in the southern provinces. From Vienna they moved to Prague, to Ingolstadt and Moravia, from Cologne to Trier, Mainz, Aschaffenburg, Wiirzburg, and even to Protestant Frankfort. But, as in other countrigp, the arrhiterfnral fruit of th eir labours is to be seen a generation later, when those whom th ^y h"^ p^"''q,tH became o ld ennuf rh to V|qlp them in their work. Then we find a long series of churches being erected after church-building had been at a standstill for a century. Nor was the movement confined to churches alone. Still more significant are the new Universities and seminaries, the real key to their power. It is in these buildings that we firs t see ge nuine Baroque architectur e as we have learned to jcnow it in Italv. The true source of the style being in Rome, it was only natural that the Jesuits who had been trained there should come to Germany imbued with its principles and longing to carry them into execution. All that their movement implied, its conTi-' dence, its militant spirit, its brilliance, its exaggerated appeal to the plain man through his intellect rather than through his heart — all these things, as well as the motives of pride and self-sufficiency — could be expressed in Baroque architecture as in no mediaeval style.^_ Moreover, there was an actual need for building. Education was making rapid strides, and the accommodation for students was inadequate. The active Catholicism which came into collision with Protestantism in the terrible Thirty Years' War required new palaces for its great territorial prelates, new statues of the Virgin for their cities. 139 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA German architecture had already proceeded so far on the way towards the new fashion brought from Rome that her builders eagerly adopted from the rapidly rising churchesand schools ideas _ which transformed their town houses and town halls into Baroq ue buildings. I he greatest change, ho wever, is to be seen in a co nk? Iparativeiy feiall pa rt or the (jerman ana Austrian iimpires of to-day^^ in the parts which are most accessible trom Italy Atid wBich in~the seventeenth century were t he most wealthy and prosperou s. In many places palaces continued to be erected in a more classic manner, something, in fact, very nearly akin to the work of our own Wren in England, but on a smaller scale and in isolated cases. The Zeughaus at Plassenburg (1607) has been cited. To this one might add much later examples — the Schloss at Ansbach (1713), and that at Biebrich, the royal palace at Berlin, the Schlosskapelle at Eisenberg (1680-92), the Landhaus at Innsbruck (1728), and the Rathhaus at Nuremberg (16 13-19). A parallel instance in Italy is the Palazzo del Gran Guardia Vecchia at Verona, dating from 1609, when Baroque architecture had become usual in that country. Biit in Ravaria and in the provi nces of Austria and Bohemia adjoining^ where the people never have been wholly Teuton, the new movement emanating frnm T t-aly fnnnH f}^^ rpgHiVct response and made great strides. Perhaps the two cities in which it may besi be studied are Salzburg and Prague, the former lying almost on the boundary-line between Germany and Austria, the latter being the capital of the ancient kingdom of Bohemia. 140 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA WORKS OF REFERENCE X.— BOOKS DEALING GENERALLY WITH BAROQUE ARCHITEC- TURE IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA Baer, C. H. . Bezold, G. von Braun, J. Dehio, G. 5? Fritsch, K. E. O, Graul, R. gurlitt, c. ?J ■ Handcke, p. . Hartmann, H. Harttmann, Daniel Kautsch, R. . Keller, H. Kick und Pfeiffer KLaEPPEL, O. . Lambert und Stahl LObke-Semrav Meyer . MuCHALL-VlERBRUCK Deutsche Wohn- und Fest- raume aus sechs Jahrhunder- ten Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Deutschland Die Kirchenbauten des deut- schen Jesuiten. 2 vols. Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmaler. 5 vols. Die Kunst. des 17 und 1 8 Jahrh. Denkmaeler Deutscher Renais- sance Das 18 Jahrhundert. Decora- tion und Mobilier Geschichte des Barockstiles. Vol. ii Das Barock- und Rokoko-Orna- ment Deutschlands Andreas Schliiter . Studien zur Gesch. d. sachs. Plastik der Spatrenaissance und Barockzeit J. K. Schlaun Biirgerliche Baukunst Vortrage fiber Deutschen Ba- rock in Freien Balthasar Neumann Barock, Rokoko, und Louis XVI in Schwaben und der Schweiz Fridericianischer Barock . Motive der deutschen Archi- tektur des XVI, XVII, und XVIH Jahrhunderts in his- torischer Anordnung Die Gartenarchitektur Die Kunst der Barockzeit und des Rokoko J. F. Stengel .... Domin. Zimmermann 141 Stuttgart 1912 5J 1898 Freiburg i. Br. 1908-10 Berlin 1905-12 Leipzig Berlin 1900 1882, etc. 55 1905 Stuttgart 1887-9 Berlin 1889 5? Dresden 1891 1903 Munster 1910 1688 Frankfurt a. M. Wurzburg Stuttgart 1896 1897 Leipzig Stuttgart 1909 1891-3 Leipzig Stuttgart 1910 1905 Dusseldorf 1911 Dillingen 1912 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA MUTHER, R. Die Renaissance im Norden und die Barockzeit Berlin 191Z PiNDER, WiLHELM . Deutscher Barock {an excellent little book) Dussel- 19 1 2 dorf und Leipzig Popp, Hermann . Der Architektur der Barock- und Rokokozeit in Deutsch- land und der Schweiz Stuttgart I9'3 SCHERER, ChR. . Studien zur Elfenbeinplastik der Barock Zeit Strass- burg SCHMERBER, H. . Studien fiber das deutsche Schloss und Burgerhaus im 17 und 18 Jahrhunderts . Beitrage zur Geschichte der Dientzenhofer Prag 1902 1900 SCHMOLL UND StaHEHN . Barockbauten in Deutschland . Leipzig 1874 Springer, A. . . Der Rokokostil Bonn 1886 Triggs, H. Inigo . Garden Craft in Europe . London 1913 VoGEL, J. . , . . Moderne Baukunst 1708 Weigmann . Eine Bamberger Baumeister- familie, etc. (Dientzenhofer) Strass- burg 1902 HiJRBIN, J. Meldahl UND Neckelmann Upmark, Dr. G. Switzerland Barock und Jlokoko in der Stans 1900- Schweiz. 2 vols. Denmark Denkmaeler der Renaissance in Berlin 1888 Daenemark Sweden Die Architektur der Renais- Dresden sance in Schweden 1530- 1760 1900 142 ms .■sSS-^i XL— SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES Salzburg SALZBURG is in many ways unique, both in its situation and in its history. It stands at a bend in the Salzach River where the last foothills of the Austrian Alps melt into the great valley of the Danube and its sister streams. It is commanded by two of these hills, one crowned by a convent, the other by that wonderful fortress which has so often saved the town below. In classic days capital of the Roman province of Noricum, ^ in modern times of an Austrian province, Salzburg was in the seventeenth century the head of an independent and important ecclesiastical State, acknowledging only the suzerainty of the Emperor and the Pope, An old chronicler of 1555, however, writes : "The archbishops of Salzburg had been unable to maintain their territories in obedience to the Catholic rule. They did not as yet endure the presence of Lutheran preachers, but the disposition of the people was none the less explicitly declared. Mass was no longer attended in the capital, nor were fasts solemnized or festivals observed ; those whose dwell- ings were too far removed from the preachers of the Austrian localities j^rdering on their country remained at home, reading for their edification from the homilies and critical commentaries of Spangenberg," ' Some thirty years later there appeared on the scene a new arch- bishop, who was responsible not only for a complete change in administrative methods, but for commencing what eventually became a complete rebuilding of the city. Wolf Dietrich von Raittenau was only twenty-nine years of age when he left the German College at Rome for his new archiepiscopal throne in 1587, His uncle had just become Pope, but the pontiff whom he made his model was Sixtus V, the founder of Papal magnificence. Arrived in Salzburg, he proceeded at once to call upon all the citizens to make immediate profession of the Catholic faith, allow- ing them only a few weeks for reflection. No alternative was allowed but exile and a compulsory sale of the recusant's property by the archbishop's agents to approved customers ! A few deserted their faith ; a great number, including many wealthy butchers, preferred to leave their homes. Nor was this all. The young prelate next introduced an elaborate system of taxation on incomes, legacies, and commodities of every sort, quite foreign to German finance, also quite regardless of immunities and privileges already "^ Report of Canon von Trautmannsdorf, quoted in Rankd's History of the Popes, vol. i. p. 420 (1908 Edition). H3 SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES in existence. Having reduced Salzburg to the level of the tame and tribute-paying Papal States in Italy, he then proceeded to devote his vast income to the glorification of his power. Historians differ as to whether he really burned down the eighth- century cathedral or not ; they agree that he took no pains to dissemble his joy on that occasion. He appears to us as a second Nero, but his ambition was frustrated, for he died before it could be rebuilt. Indeed, though this great Jesuit was perhaps more ambitious than any of Salzburg's archbishops, he lived to see few of his schemes completed. The Schloss Mirabell, with its beautiful gardens, is ascribed to him, and it is said that he erected it for Salome Alt, the daughter of a wealthy citizen. Yet this fine palace has been altered many times by his successors, damaged by fire, and largely rebuilt, so that one hesitates to date it so early, especially as its style bears one out in supposing it to be largely due to later prelates. Its rich staircase, with carved figures on the fine pierced balustrade, is particularly worthy of notice. The external details are for the most part restrained, the window-heads being of a light Baroque character. Another important group of buildings is due to this very worldly archbishop's love of horses. The stables (Hofstallgebaude) have actually marble fittings, and, although the exterior generally is very plain, there is an ambitious portal on a curious concave plan, the twin pilasters on either side being diminished downwards and terminating awkwardly in male caryatid figures. Even a casual observer cannot fail to notice that in this work there is more than mere copyism from Italian models, for it /has many fresh features, which can only be due to native talent. Adjoining this building on one side is a magnificent horse-pond, surrounded by a charming pierced parapet of Elizabethan style. Behind it is an arc^ded stone screen, the panels filled with frescoes of equine subjects, and above rises the great precipice of the Monchsberg, in the side of which an excavation is made for this pond. A fine sculptured group of a horse-tamer rises from t^e water. On the other side of the stables lie the summer and winter riding-schools. The latter is no more than its name implies, but the former is unique, the more so as it consists of galleries several tiers high above the arena cut in the solid rock of the MOnchsberg. The completeness of these stable buildings, with all their facilities for displaying fine horse- flesh and fine horsemanship, enable one to realize the better how closely Wolf Dietrich was following in the footsteps of his models, the splendour-loving princes of Rome and the Alban Hills. 144 s t ^ c^ .^ Fig. 6i. — Sahbur^. St. Petei's. Fig. 62. — Salzburg. Schloss Leopoldskron. SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES The new cathedral at Salzburg was actually commenced in 1614, under Archbishop Paris von Lodron (1619-53). The architect was Santino Solari, an Italian, but before his plans were finally adopted several schemes had been submitted, including one by Scamozzi. As built, the church is by no means as large as was first intended, probably owing to lack of funds during the Thirty Years' War. This penury may account for the unfinished state of the flank walls, which look on to important squares and, indeed, form part of a great lay-out, while the west end alone has been faced with the fine stone from the neighbouring Untersberg mountain. This facade is of no great interest, though it is a correct compo- sition, carried out in a refined style, and, with its two flanking towers and triple doorways, admirable in its way. But the interior of the church is planned on monumental lines. The nave is barrel- vaulted in four bays, and entered by a vaulted porch or loggia. On either side lies a range of chapels. The choir and transepts are equal in depth, and terminate ' in apses, the crossing being domed. The detail internally is thoroughly Italian in feeling, and the vaulting is richly modelled and painted. Second only to the cathedral among Salzburg churches is the CoUegienkirche (1696-1707), an enormous building by Fischer von Erlach, the famous Viennese architect, who led Baroque architecture into the direction of Rococo, and whose work will form the subject of further attention in connection with Vienna. This later design differs very much externally from the Italian design of the cathedral, but the interior, though less bizarre, is more masterly and more noteworthy. The scale is colossal, the plan cruciform, filled out to form an oblong shape with four similar oval chapels in the angles. The decoration is florid and all-pervading — the late Jesuit church from floor to ceiling. There are other Baroque churches of varying dimensions and of varying importance — St. Peter's, with a characteristic tower and an interesting interior ; St. Sebastian's and the Trinity Church (1699), the latter a very large but not very florid building. In the Franciscan church, a delicate masterpiece of later Gothic, a range of chapels has been added which are Rococo rather than Baroque, and which do not produce quite so hideous an efi^ect in combination with mediaeval tracery as might be expected, though one can hardly go the length of a poetical guide-book, which says that these " rich, elegant stucco decorations " help to form an " original, charming, aesthetic effect." ' The principal remaining buildings of Salzburg which date from this 145 K SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES period are the Residenz (or archbishop's palace) and the Neuge- baude, formerly administrative buildings, and now "the post-office. Both were commenced by Wolf Dietrich, yet neither is extra- vagantly Baroque externally, rich as is their decoration within. Their importance, however, is enhanced by the fine piece of town- planning of which they form a part, with the cathedral as centre- piece. Its western facade forms the east side of the Dom Platz, a square completely enclosed by fine buildings and arcades, with a statue of the Virgin as centrepiece. Out of this square opens a street under an arch, opposite to the main portal of the cathe;dral. Fig. 63. — Salzburg Cathedral. South of the cathedral lies the Residenz Platz, so called from the palace on its western side, and here a magnificent fountain, the Hof Brunnen (by Antonio Dario, 1664-80), is the principal feature; while north of the cathedral is the Kapitel Platz, and here is situated another fountain, the largest of all, erected in 1732, and said to be a copy of the Trevi fountain in Rome, which it in no way resembles, and which is slightly later in date. It has been already claimed that seventeenth-century architects were pioneers of town-planning ; here surely is strong evidence in support of it. I ' A scheme for improving the market-place and surroundings of this church by Professor Ohmann appears in The Builder, May 31, 19 12. 146 SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES Space forbids detailed reference to the many dwelling-houses in Salzburg of Baroque type, so closely resembling those at Lecce, for Italian architects were employed as often as not ; nor is it necessary to describe the many charms of Leopoldskron (1736), the beautiful Schloss lying just outside the city. But no account of this period would be complete which ignored one of the most amusing and charming of all country houses — Schloss Hellbrun, a short distance from Salzburg. This extraordinary example of villa architecture was the work of Archbishop Marcus Sitticus, who succeeded Wolf Dietrich. Built in 1613, it rivals the Papal pleasure-houses at Frascati or the absurdities at Tivoli and Isola Bella. Its situation is consummately beautiful, and on the Fig. 64. — Salzburg: Collegienkirche. whole the lay-out of the garden justifies the application of the quaint Baroque motto, " Nature adorned by Art." The vistas are adjusted to connect the villa with Alpine peaks. The formal garden immediately adjoining the entrance courtyard gives place in one direction to the equivalent of the Italian bosco, in the other to an avenue leading directly to Salzburg, three miles away. The villa itself is of no importance architecturally, though of some size if the symmetrically grouped outbuildings be included. But in it, and near it, lies a fantastic system of waterworks, arranged to drench the archiepiscopal guest at various points, to set models working, to set birds a-singing, and, lastly (though this was an eighteenth-century addition), to put in motion an elaborate mechanical theatre, containing some hundred figures, while a H7 SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES sweet-toned organ drones through the mellow harmonies of an old German chorale. High on an adjacent hill, within the wooded park, rises the little castle built in one month by Marcus Sitticus per divertimento ; near it is the stone theatre, where he listened to pastoral plays, and all around is the gay and whimsical atmosphere created by the pretty fancy and the inventive genius of the Baroque architect. Prague In the early years of the seventeenth century, only a short time after young Wolf Dietrich had brought his Sixtine building programme from Rome to Salzburg, a still more influential personage was making Prague for the time being the capital of Central Europe. The Emperor Rudolph II is said by a contemporary and somewhat fulsome historian to have found Prague a brick city and left it marble. The compliment is of earlier days than Rudolph's, but he undoubtedly brought together a remarkable galaxy of art talent in a place which had never lacked a certain amount. The powerful kingdom of Bohemia is neither Austrian nor German by nature and glories in its separate nationality, but one cannot distinguish, save in matters of minor detail, between its Baroque architecture and that of, say, Salzburg or Vienna. Perhaps in Prague one finds an especial boldness of design, a more masculine character than in Vienna. What strikes one is the strength of Italian influence. The Imperial Palace (or Hradschin) was largely erected by Scamozzi in 1 6 14, the enormous facade being of that date, but we have here little essentially Baroque except in the matter of sculptured groups in the central feature and in sundry details. Only nine years after this, however, we find another palace almost imperial in scale, and displaying the normal characteristics of the later style. The Wallenstein (or Waldstein) Palace commemorates one of the most famous figures of the Thirty Years' War, just as our Blenheim commemorates Marlborough's great victories, and, like Blenheim, remains still in the occupation of the hero's descendants. On one side of it lies the Waldstein Park, on the other the Wald- stein Platz. The architect was one Marini, a Milanese, and there is much of Italy in all his building. The facade, it is true, is at first glance essentially German, with its steep tiled roof and its range of dormers. The central doorway is less so ; the side doorways are of a type common in Bavaria and Saxony in the later Renaissance. For the rest, however, we have Italian composition and Italian Baroque detail, the latter concentrated as it so often is in round 148 4 o Si (C 3 < 4^ OJ 12 ■M '"i ^ tuO So !3 ? Fig. 66. — Prague. Villa Amerika. From a drawing by tlie Autlior. To face p. lijg. SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES windows and dormers. The basement story resembles contemporary work in Italy and Germany alike in being plain and simple in treat- ment. The loggia towards the park suggests to a casual observer the Italian Renaissance of the purest period, but an architectural critic cannot fail to notice how revolt is writ large in almost every detail except its Doric columns. There is here, too, on this garden- front much of that fanciful grotto-work with which we are familiar in the Papal villas, with fantastic finials and balustrading above, while the details of the beautiful galleries, delicate as they are, are thoroughly in keeping with the general effect. But of Prague's many palaces perhaps that which is most charac- teristic of the period we are studying is the Kinsky Palace in the Alt Stadt, the centre of Prague. It is the work of two architects, Anselmo Lurago and K. J. Dientzenhofer, and, although reminiscent of Italy, it contrives to be a really German design, forming a happy example of combination. The facade is neither so long nor so lofty as the majority of examples, and is divided into five portions by two projecting bays. Again, the lower portion is restrained and classic, broken by the great doorways with coupled columns on either hand, but above the basement cornice the long range of beautifully proportioned windows is enriched with quaint Baroque decoration of the best sort. A very massive and very unorthodox cornice crowns this charming front, and above its line we have a picturesque mansard roof with two dormers, and between the pediments statuary and pierced balustrading. Were one asked to name a typical instance of Baroque architecture in Austria it would be difficult to find a better illustration than this. Very similar in design and of the same period is the little Villa Amerlka, also by K. J. Dientzenhofer, and situated at the corner of the street bearing his name. The Czernin Palace (1682) is now turned into barracks, and is by its appearance well suited for such a destiny. Its vast frontage is actually five storeys high up to the cornice, and is divided by huge columns standing on a heavily rusticated basement into thirty bays. From end to end the enormous length of the main cornice is uninter- rupted, so that, in spite of a certain freedom of detail and the usual effective pitch of the steep roof, this great structure has not the same interest as the Kinsky Palace. It is unnecessary here to discuss the Schwarzenberg Palace, which defies classification, nor to mention many other names, but two at least are important by reason of their position in architectural development. 149 K* SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES The Clam Gallas mansion is later in character than those we have previously considered (i 701-12), and is the work of Fischer von Erlach. The palace of Count Thun must be nearly coeval, for both are decorated with the bold carving of the Tyrolean sculptor, Braun, and have many points in common. Yet they mark the transition from the essentially Italian Baroque period to that more Rococo epoch which is rather French in origin and which may be seen so markedly in all the works of Fischer von Erlach and his contemporary, Hildebrandt, in Vienna. Returning to earlier times, we have in Prague an excellent sequence of seventeenth and eighteenth-century churches, due as in other cities primarily to Jesuit energy and the Counter-Reformation. The great Jesuit stronghold in this city was that remarkable group of buildings known as the Klementinum, which actually includes two churches, two chapels, three gateways, and four towers, besides the other more obvious requirements of the college, such as a seminary, an observatory, and excellent scientific collections. The exterior forms a picturesque group, and indeed displays almost every phase which this varying style assumed in German towns. S. Saviour's Church (1653), which forms part of the block, is perhaps the most Italian section, other wings recalling the more local style of the Kinsky Palace. Architecturally the most important Baroque church in Prague is that of St. Nicholas, across the river in the Kleinseite district. This magnificent and impressive pile was building one way and another from 1673 to 1772, but must be chiefly of the earlier date by its boldness, which lacks the later frivolity of the Rococo exponents. A fine composition with towers and dome, its plan shows much originality in the arrangement of its many chapels, while the western facade is recessed and somewhat wavy in outline. The following is a translation of a French critic's view of this part of Prague : — " The higher part of this district was until recently called the Italian quarter, for here lived the merchants who came from Italy. Some of these houses with their arcades, their watch-towers, and their oriels display a taste as varied as it is picturesque. S. Nicholas's Church, to-day surrounded by houses, has played a great part in Bohemian history. Once the place where John Huss's predecessors used to prophesy, burned down again during the time of religious strife, it rose again from its ruins . • . and after the ^ restoration of Catholicism was entrusted to the Jesuits. The two Dienzenhofers remodelled it in the eighteenth century in that Baroque or, as it is often called, "Jesuit " style of which we have so many examples in Prague — a medley of swags and 150 Fig. 67. — Prague. Loreio. To tdce p, 150. SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES beads, of saintly figures in ecstatic poses with twisted limbs and bowed heads, of altars gay with decoration. If we recognize the style at all, the church is, as a whole, impressive and pleasing enough." ^ Vienna In Vienna it would seem as though Italian influence was less strong than in Salzburg or Prague, and that her own school of architects was sufficiently talented to enable her citizens who contemplated building to dispense with alien advice. For most of her churches and palaces were designed by men who, if not Viennese-born, did at least practise in the city. There are, of course, exceptions. The University church was erected by the Jesuits (1627-31), but its Italian facade has no great merit, and is of the same type as Salzburg Cathedral, with two lofty and slender towers surmounted by the pumpkin-like German roof. Then among architects who have helped to make Vienna must be mentioned Domenico Martinelli, whose principal work was the Lichtenstein Palace (17 12), and whose name proclaims his nationality. But he was of much later date than the Jesuit invasion, and in fact very little building of importance was done in the seventeenth century. This may be explained by the fact of Turkish attacks being frequently threatened. One took place in 1683, while in 1704 it was found necessary to build new walls to ward off the Hungarians. The period of which Vienna boasts the most numerous and important memorials is v/ithout doubt the early eighteenth century, and most of these examples are due to three men. Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach was born at Prague in 1650, and died at Vienna in 1723, his son, Josef Emanuel, being born at Vienna in 1695, and dying there in 1742. This remarkable pair succeeded in producing a style which is almost entirely their own, and in creating a vogue which must compare favourably with the extraordinary success of Wren or, in later days, of Scott in our own country. Little seems to be known as to the earlier years of Johann Bernhard, though he certainly compiled a handbook on historical architecture, and he must have been fifty when work began to pour into his hands. His first great design was for the CoUegienkirche at Salzburg ( 1 696-1 707), which we have already noticed, and which displays the power and originality of his mind in general plan and in detail alike. Within a few years he was building a great palace for « Louis Legcr's Prague, pp. 54-5. Translated by M. S. B. 151 SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES Prince Eugene (1703, now the Finanzministerium) in partnership with Hildebrandt, and the Schwarzenberg Palace (1705-20), both of colossal size. The latter has a facade by no means as Baroque as his Salzburg church, and indeed is classic save in points of detail. The roof is of no style at all, and one might say of no merits at all, with party walls appearing where least suitable, and a thoroughly weak sky-line. The Clam Gallas mansion at Prague was built between 1 701-12, and then came the Ministry of the Interior in 1716. The same year saw the inauguration of his greatest work, the church of St. Charles Borromeus, or Karlskirche. As this work occupied over twenty years, he may well have been assisted in it by his son from the first. Erected to commemorate the cessation of a plague, this design is monumental yet unique. With an altogether uncon- ventional plan, of which an oval forms the central space, and with similar freedom in design of dome and towers, he combines not only a pure Roman portico, but actually a pair of tall Doric columns standing away from the building and recording on spiral bas- reliefs the various doings of the titular saint of the church after the manner of Trajan's famous column. The Baroque idea of overpowering magnificence and ostentation is here elaborated on the same scale as at Sant' Agnese at Rome, the Salute at Venice, or the cathedral at Salzburg, yet the combination of these classic and Baroque elements is not an unmixed success, i Fischer von Erlach and his son may have collaborated in designing the extensive additions at the Imperial Palace or Hofburg, which were being carried on for many years after the former's death, and which comprised the Imperial Chancery, the Emperor's apart- ments, the winter riding-school, and the Court Library. All these additions are in the semi-Rococo style which characterizes most of their work and are as sumptuous as they are huge. The third Viennese architect of note at this time is Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt (b. 1666, d. 1745). His work closely resembles that of the Fischers, and, like them, he was wonderfully successful in his practice. He is known to many as designer of the Kinsky Palace and as co-author of Prince Eugene's, but his chief work is the Schloss Belvedere, which he built, also for Prince Eugene of Savoy, between the years 1693 and 1724. This building lies behind the Schwarzenberg Palace, and a little above it so that its striking outline may be seen from the city. The detail, ' A scheme for improving the surroundings of this church, by Professor Ohmann, appeared in The Builder, May 31, 1912. 152 Fi'^. 68, — Vienna. Karlskirche, To fiice p 153. Fig. iit).—Kloster Melk. From a drawing by the Author. SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES unlike any other with which one is familiar, is true in every way to Baroque characteristics. A three-arched loggia, forming the central feature of the facade, is of a much more advanced type, and, though it baffles description, may be said to resemble Rococo work of a masculine variety. This design is infinitely preferable to Fischer von Erlach's Schwarzenberg Palace. It is impossible to make detailed reference to Vienna's many Baroque palaces and churches, but it should at least be remarked that few large modern cities have felt so much the force of the movement or have so enthusiastically adopted the style in recent development. Modern Baroque buildings in Vienna outnumber the historic examples, numerous as they are, and the last extension of the Hofburg was based upon an old design of that remarkable man, Fischer von Erlach. Other Towns In addition to Salzburg, Prague, and Vienna, there are several other Austrian cities where Baroque architecture abounds, among them Innsbruck (already mentioned in these pages) and Steyr. The latter town possesses some very charming dwelling-houses of the period, and a Rathhaus designed by Gotthard or Gottfried Hay- berger, of unusual proportions, with a lofty and eccentric belfry. The delicate type of the detail may be seen all over the country in isolated examples, such as the Wiener Bank at Brunn — a refined and dignified structure — or the far more florid Stiftskirche at Durnstein. But mention must be made of the splendid Benedictine monastery at Melk, magnificently situated on a promontory overlooking the Danube. This is one of the cases when the Baroque architect has proved his ability to " think imperially," the quality which connected him with his forbears in ancient Rome. Without defending every line of this colossal building, it may fairly be said . that no finer use could have been made of a commanding site, and that the grouping is superb. The plan shows a symmetrical treatment with a main axis passing through the centre of the great church. The architect was Jakob Prandauers, who died in 1726, but an Italian was one of those who helped to complete the work. Many of the churches in Austria — especially in the Tyrol — were elaborately decorated with ceiling frescoes by Italian artists during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. At first the movement was distinctly Italian, and may be traced in those rocky valleys 153 SOME AUSTRIAN CITIES above Lake Garda which are even now Austrian only in name. But as time went on a new influence appears, for pupils of that erratic genius, Andrea Pozzo,' came to work in the Tyrolese mountain towns, and at length a local tradition was established, finding its highest expression in the paintings of Matthaus Giinther in the middle of the eighteenth century. The influence of Tiepolo, then working in Venetia, is also to be seen in some of the later work. The history of several of the families who practised this art has been fully dealt with in a recent book. 2 The Baroque period abounds with similar instances of a local tradition. See p. III. H. Hammer's Barocken DeckenmSlerei in Tirol. WORKS OF REFERENCE XI.— BOOKS DEALING SPECIALLY WITH BAROQUE ARCHI- TECTURE IN AUSTRIA ECKARDT, AnTOI* . Die Baukunst in Salzburg wahrend des XVII Jahrhun- derts Hammer, H. . . Die Entwicklung der Barocken Deckenmalerei in Tirol (Hellbrun) . Hellbrun bei Salzburg : das kaiserliche Lustschloss Ilg, A. . . . . Fischer von Erlach . KORTZ Leger, L. . Wien am Anfang des XX Jahrh. , Prague, in lilies d'art cilebres . Neuwirth, J. . Prag, in Beriihmte Kunststatten Niemann, G. . . Palast Bauten des Barockstils in Wien. 5 vols. Ohmann, Fr. . . Architektur und Kunstge- werbe der Barockzeit, des Rokoko, und Empires Strassburg 1910 j» 191Z Salzburg 1909 Vienna 189s ?» 1906 Paris 1907 Leipzig 1902 Vienna 1881 Recent 154 Fig. 70, — Munich. Theatine Church. Exterior, To face p. 155. XII.— SOME GERMAN CITIES H OW certain it is that Baroque architecture in the Teutonic countries is of Italian origin is conclusively proved by its local distribution and by the fact that the three cities which may be taken as m ost ty pical of this form of art are all ^ situated m the Austrian Empire, the most accessible part of these j;oiintries from Italy. We find it in Trieste and the more or less Italian cities of the Austrian littoral provinces, in Moravia, and in Linz, in the German as in the Italian cantons of Switzerland. In* Germany, as we no w know it, it may almost be said that the farther a town isrirom the Brenner Pass the fewer are its iJaroque buildin p ^s^ They are most numerous in Bavaria, Saxony, and the adjoining States, and least numerous in Northern Prussia. Their charac- teristics are much more variable in Germany proper than in Austria, and there is less of nationality about them. It is impossible to generalize about the churches, for instance, or even to classify them very satisfactorily. One easily recognizes the familiar lineaments of the Jesuit foundations, but even they have their unexpected vagaries. In Bavaria the Italian feeling is strong, Munich especially containing noteworthy examples. St. Michael's Church (1583) is a very early building to show such a tendency, and its facade at first glance suggests a comparatively academic design, yet further scrutiny of the details — of the gable, the finials, and most of all the doorways — shows us that we have here the herald of a gospel which was not accepted even in Munich till fifty years later. It seems almost inrnnrpiv ahlp fhaf this faraHp can be the work of a German-trained architect (see Fig. ^c\ ~|'he I'heatine church ("1661-7C') is more imposing and more fully developed, and isfrom the hand of an Italian, Enrico Zuccali (b. 1629. d. 1724.). I'he fagade to the square is said to be of late date, but harmonizes so well with the rest of the scheme that one can only assume that it formed part of the original design, which has nothing German about it save the extraordinary cupolas of the western towers. Interior and exterior alike of this fine pile are typical of the greater churches of the period, and the former as usual is oiily marred by the extravagance of the altars and their immediate surroundings. In the Pfandhausstrasse is the small Chapel of the Trinity (171 1-18), which on its clumsy facade displays all the weaknesses of the style without any of its dignity. Like the last, it was the work of an Italian, Giovanni Antonio Viscardi, who was at the time Govern- ment architect. Its absurd frontage line is aggravated by the eccentricity of the detail throughout. 155 SOME GERMAN CITIES Wiirzburg possesses two interesting ecclesiastical buildings in the Stifthaug church (1670-91) and the Schonborn chapel (1721-36) at the cathedral. The former is also the work of an Italian, Antonio Petrini, and is much like other churches of the period in Prague or Vienna ; the latter, by Johann Balthasar Neumann, is an admirable example of monumental design and would form a good ^ su bject for a set of measured drawings. St. Martin's Church in Bamberg (i 686-1 720) is another very kindred case; also the Jesuit church at Mannheim (1733-56), designed by an Italian, and the chapel of the Schloss at Eisertberg, the Egidienkirche at Nuremberg (1711-18), the Kreuzkirche at Neisse (171 5), and the Domkirche at Fulda (1704-12) by Dientzenhofer. It will be noticed that all these churches are very nearly contemporary. There are, moreover, a whole host of small churches and chapels of the period all over Germany, less ambitious but often more attractive than those mentioned above. A noteworthy feature of late Baroque architecture in Germany and Switzerland is the enormous size of the conventual establishments, typical examples being at Viblingen, near Ulm, at Ottobeuren, and at Banz. But the most grandiose is Kloster Einsiedeln (1704-26), near Zurich, laid out on a palatial scale with a church as central feature, surrounded by ranges of conventual buildings and approached through a large forecourt with a fountain and terraces. The majority of the later Swiss churches are very richly decorated with stucco and colour in a light Rococo fashion, and this case is no exception. Many of the larger monasteries and convents are magnificently situated, though none rival Kloster Melk on the Danube, mentioned in the last chapter. In striking contrast to this group are the Protestant churches erected during the same period, and it is unfortunate that it has been found impossible to include an illustration of any of them here. For their requirements were rather to provide accommodation for a large congregation to listen to a preacher than to impress the minds of men with the mystery of " dim religious light " or with the wealth and majesty of Rome. Not that the Jesuits neglected preaching, but they made the double appeal, whereas the Protestant relied on the attractions of theology preached in broad daylight and demanded an auditorium rather than fine staging. Theatrical terms are, in fact, suggested by such a building as the Friedenskirche at Schweid- nitz (1658) or the Protestant church at Worms, where several tiers of galleries rise to the ceiling supported on wood posts. A parallel and uncommon instance in England is to be found in the old parish 156 Fig. 71. — Munich. Theatine Church. Interior. To face p. 156, SOME GERMAN CITIES church above the harbour at Whitby, where also we find twisted columns combined with the stolid Doric order. Other gallqried churches, such as that at Zerbst (1696), have a range of columns separating the body of the church from the aisles, and are thus of the same category as many of Wren's in London. A third type is found at Frankfort, where at St. Catherine's (1678-80) the galleries cover the south aisle, west end, and actually the east end, the pul pit, being placed on the north wall ! This building is in a bastard I Gothic style with vaulting and tracery of a sort, and is there- 1 fore very exceptional, though at Cologne the Jesuits had many! years earlier combined Gothic and Baroque elements in a mo^ reckless way. Finally, there are several important churches in different parts of the country which are not exactly of this period under discussion nor yet of the Rococo movement which followed. The Cistercian church at Griissau, the Frauenkirche (1726-40) and the Hofkirche (1738-54) at Dresden are all of this order, and, though verging on the French extremist school of which this latter city was so enamoured, they have not forsaken _the boldness of Baroque design for mere architectural confectionery!! I'heir towers would not look out of place on modern exhibition buildings, and any hint of devotional feeling is successfully eliminated from their exteriors. Within they are fancifully planned and decorated, but the Dresden models are especially interesting by reason of their congregational arrange- ments, each having four sets of staircases. The Frauenkirche is piled with galleries tier on tier. Its construction is truthful enough, the central portion being covered by a dome, the staircases each by small pumpkin cupolas, and all these are entirely in stone. Church-planning in Germany is even more interesting th an in Italy. ^nd is characterized by a p^reat; ferHlity nf invention. There is practicalJv no type of plan unrepi- p^p^tpd d"'''"S ^^^ Rarngnp pprpilT liTsomrtity or other, and^ nm ny of the new experiments are qujtg_ 'unique. 'Some ~bf the spires of the Berlin churches of this date closely resemble the original ideas of Wren, !Hawksmoor, and Gibbs in London, notably those of the Sofienkirche (1732-4) and the Paro- chialkirche (17 13-14). Of the larger scholastic buildings, many now secularized are due to the Counter-Reformation, when education received a great impetus, and when schools or colleges were felt to be a necessity in places where only limited facilities had existed before. The University of Breslau (1728-9), late as is its date, is obviously of this class, for 157 SOME GERMAN CITIES not only is its architecture unmistakable, but it is recorded to have been designed by the Jesuit father, Christopher Tausch. The long front, with its many storeys of delicately decorated windows, reminds one of the Wallenstein Palace in Prague, and the steep hipped roof also heightens the resemblance. This is a building where the ;:;:;::;:Baroque style is seen to great advantage. Tn 'Renaisspnre days t] \e majority of the richer classes dwelt withinl the safe walls of some city or in some impregnable cast l^. But with the dawn of the eignteentft century a mama tor country man- sions began, and the principles ot I'rench cJiateau-desi^n were adopted with great ^zg^w It tollows natur ally that these palatial buildings -were steeped in Rococo and that they"1 rad"liLdt; uC the 10t;ilt "eharm ' of the p-abled hous es o n the market-places. In the matter of magniticence they compare favourably with the chateaux of any period elsewhere, both internally and externally. An interesting example is the enormous Schloss at Pommersfelden, (1711-18) by Johann Dientzenhofer, showing the favourite treat- ment for such buildings with projecting wings ^d an imposing cent ral feature on the recessed portion between."! The roof here isTiipped, and it may be remarked that the German mansard roof 1 is more picturesque than its French contemporary. Many of these 1 great country houses are comparatively severe externally, and the I \ custom of loading a central pavilion with ornament is sometimes VJ the chief defect of the design. T he Residenz at Wiirzburg (1720-44) by Johann Balthasar Neu- mann is another instance of this, French influence being very apparent alike in its paved forecourt and in the garden front. The same architect also built the Schloss at Werneck (1731-47), and o^er important examples are at Schleissheim and Biebrich. ll are surrounded by extensive gardens, usually treated with lakes and fountains, and all originally had a formal lay-out on th e principles of Le Notre rather than of the Italians. Many ave since been anglicized, but in those remaining the general lines of the typical German eighteenth-century garden may be seen. Parterres and topiary work were very popular, also the surprise fountains already noticed at Tivoli and at Hellbrun. As early as 1 61 5, one Salomon de Caus introduced these quaint conceits at Heidelberg and afterwards wrote a whole book on hydraulic curiosities. Some fifty years later (1666) the superb gardens of Herrenhausen were commenced — possibly by Le Notre — and those of the royal palace at Nymphenburg, near Munich, were begun in 1663. In addition to the schloss itself there were a great variety 158 SOME GERMAN CITIES of smaller buildings in all the greater schemes — the fine curved block of the stables at Pommersfelden, and the very French Amalienburg at Nymphenburg by Cuvillies being characteristic — and gazebos, pigeon-towers, summer-houses, etc., abounded at all salient points. The orangery became an important feature, as may be seen in the example at Fulda (1730). CBut it is in the interior of these palaces that the delicate and ifrivolous details of French Rococo — the style of the boudoir l^r excellence — chiefly make their appearance. The nearest Italian parallel to the remarkable staircases of the eighteenth-century German chdteaux is to be found in the palaces of Turin, where the same types are frequently employed with a wealth of statuary^ and stucco decoration. ~J^ rXpart from country houses, there are many large works of the 1 period in towns, among them the royal Schloss at Berlin, built I for the most part between 1689 and 1706 by Andreas Schliiter, (the west doorway (1707-13) being by Von Eosander and the dome aating from the nineteenth century. Externally there are very few Baroque features about this design, the most obvious instance being the doorway above mentioned. The north-west front is also freely treated, but the other facades only display unconven- tionalities to a practised eye in search for such things. The noble staircases again recall the palaces of Turin. The Palais des Mainzer Statthalters (17 13), another important example, represents the whole theory of Baroque architecture translated into German terms, with a remarkable portal flanked and surmounted by vigorously carved human figures. The exuberant yet not vulgar character of the ornament, the joyousness of the design, and the strength of its light and shade, place this building among the small class of those which seem to express the spirit of the movement at first glance. Side by side with this instance may be placed the beautiful little Rathhaus of EUirigen, finished in 1746, a comparatively small edifice in an obscure town. Here may be seen the charm of Baroque design in a modest civic monument hardly known to the world. There is nothing unduly florid about its features, nothing that creates a feeling of superiority in the mind of the beholder, nothing in fact but a refined essence of all those pictur- esque qualities that make historic German towns so interesting to an architect. The writer could wish nothing better for the fortunes of this book than that all who have any animus against the Baroque style could make a short tour of inspection among some 159 SOME GERMAN CITIES of these minor examples before attacking him for writing on such a decadent subject. Another very similar building of little less merit is the Rathhaus at Schwabisch Hall (1730-5), but here the standard of design is not quite so high, and some of the details are open to criticism. The Hotel zu den Drei Mohren at Augsburg (1722) is the work of Francois Cuvillies, and is reminiscent of an old French provincial town. The genius of the German architect for dealing with small town houses is admitted, and every town and village from Bruges to Dantzig is full of admirable gabled facades of the sixteenth /and seventeenth centuries. The traditions of the Renaissance in I these works were so closely followed in the Baroque period that I it is difficult to say where the one ceases and the other begins. ^S. line of these houses in a typical market-place of 1600 or there- abouts forms no aca'demic copy-book of classic detail ; rather is it a survival of medieval elements in Renaissance dress, and the result is not far removed from Baroque characteristics. But in some towns — in Hamburg, for instance — the later move- ment is apparent, most of all perhaps in Bamberg. The Prellsches Haus in the Juden Gasse (1721-31) is a florid example; the house in Kaulberg No. 7 (1750) a much more restrained one, but both are typical of tihe period. As in earlier times, the cases where the roof-ridge runs at right angles to the street afford a better opportunity for striking effect on a lofty gable and narrow facade than where a ridge parallel to the street involves a horizontal cornice with dormers. Bamberg had an architectural school of its own in the eighteenth century, a fact which accounts for the interest of its Baroque buildings. The New Rathhaus (1744-50) is only one of many excellent examples, and shows the high standard of sculpture among the local craftsmen. '^ An unimportant but interesting late seventeenth-century house' in the market-place at Thorn, known as the Wendisch Haus, is covered with rich stucco decoration, chiefly in the form of festoons fand panels. The character of this ornament is masculine and bold, I contrasting sharply with the dainty effeminacy of the eighteenth- J_century Rococo style. At Wiirzburg the Haus zum Falken (1735) exhibits this form of stucco arabesque work in its most extreme phase. Such a case is without a precedent as regards external decoration in the writer's experience, though the wonderful Helblinghaus at Innsbruck is more ornate, as are many examples in Austria. But in Germany proper we find two most important Rococo buildings which may be taken as typical of this later style 160 Fig. 72. — Bamberg. The Rathhaus. From a drawing by the Author. To face p. 160, SOME GERMAN CITIES derived from the Courts of France. One is the graceful palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam (1745-7), erected for Frederick the Great from the designs of W. von KnobelsdorfF. Among all the buildings of Potsdam this is the most attractive and original. Its low dome recalls that of the Hotel Salm at Paris. The bowed figures supporting the cornice have little of Baroque strength about 1 them and are used frankly as applied ornament. V The Zwinger Pavilion at Dresden represents the wildest extrava- gance of all the eighteenth century in Europe. This extraordinary group of buildings cannot be regarded as Baroque for many reasons, but on the other hand it is so far removed from anything ever produced in France that it is not genuine Rococo. Its florid boldness proclaims the masculine influence of Italy ; its light and pliable decoration hails from the chdteaux of Louis XV, but its audacious eccentricity is matched nowhere out of Spain. It might have been modelled in sugar or wax, for it does not suggest in any particle of its design the dignity of solid stone. It is impossible for any sober architect to approve the Zwinger Pavilion as architecture or for him to admit its oddities to the list of examples to be studied. As a temporary structure in an exhibition or circus it might have a useful function, but as an enduring monument it cumbers the ground. One remembers the sad fate of S. Gregorio at Messina,' which some folk might reasonably regard as a judgment, but seismic disturbances are not likely to dep rive Dresden of its chief and most dreadful ornament. Tn matters of detail the Baroque period in" Germany provides little food for useful consideration, though the quality of craftsmanship in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was high. In this respect, as in many others, German art merely reflects the brilliance of Italy or France, with diminished splendour. In the latter half of the eighteenth century the German States, especially Prussia and Saxony, welcomed the Classic Revival with open arms. It is probable that such buildings as the Zwinger Pavilion disgusted serious citizens and made them inclined to favour any new style possessing sanity and refinement. It appeared at Potsdam, at Berlin, at Munich, and at Dresden, and finally swept the Rococo fashions but of the field, after moving abreast of them for many years. \ The result of Baroque architecture in Germany is easily seen in modern times afljiong suburban villas and palatial offices, but perhaps its lineaments are to be traced in those extravagantly " See p. 117, ante. 161 L SOME GERMAN CITIES simple designs which make her architects to-day the most original in Europe. WORKS OF REFERENCE XII.— BOOKS DEALING SPECIALLY WITH BAROQUE ARCHITEC- TURE IN GERMANY Am Ende, E. . aufleger Baumeister, E. borrmann, r. DOHME, R. Gur:litt, C. . Halm, P. M. Hettner Hirsch . Koch, H. , Machmer Paulus, R. a. L. Reau, Louis . Sponsel . )? • ' Ulrich, Anton Woltmann Der Kgl. Grosse Garten bei Dresden Munchener Architektur des 1 8 Jahrh. Klosterkirche in Ottobeuren Rokoko-Kirche Oberbayerns Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmaler von Berlin Kgl. Schlosses in Berlin . Bern und Zurich, in Historische Stadtebilder Breslau, ditto . Danzig, ditto . Erfurt, ditto . Potsdam, ditto Ulm, ditto Wurzburg, ditto Die Kiinstlerfamilie d'Asams Der Zwinger in Dresden . Das Bruchsaler Schloss Sachsischer Gartenkunst . Die Tragheimer Kirche zi Konigsberg Henrico Zuccali, am Kurbayer- ischen Hofe zu Munchen Cologne, in Filles tTart celebres Frauenkirche in Dresden , Der Zwinger „ Die Wallfahrtskirche in gelinde Baugeschichte Berlins Dresden 1887 1891 1 892-+ Strassburg Berlin 1893 Leipzig 1876 Berlin 1901 5) 1901 1901 9» 1901 ?J 1901 5* 1901 91 1901 Munich 1896 Leipzig 1874 Heidelberg 1906 Berlin 1910 Strassburg 1912 I9I2 Paris 1908 Dresden 1893 9» 1893 Heili- Strassburg Berlin 1872 Note. — A very full Bibliography of the enormous amount of literature relating to separate towns and Baroque buildings in Germany may be found in Herr Popp's book mentioned on p. 142. The excellent series of small monographs known as Berilhrnte KunststStten Mono- grafien is also most useful. 162 <* « ,S CO § < •« a XIII.— BAROQUE ARCHITECTUR:E IN FRANCE FOR some not very obvious reason, French Renaissance architecture is seldom thoroughly understood by English students, and hence is not always appreciated at its full worth. An explanation may be found in the minor importance of the subject in modern examination requirements, or, more probably, in the lack (until very recently) of a handy volume on the period. But beyond these there is a further reason for the greater familiarity of Englishmen with the buildings of Florence, Venice, and Rome. For when all is said and done, the Renaissance architecture of Italy is comparatively easy to understand — a matter of cause and effect, and of gentle historical progression. Its greatest monu- ments are not very numerous and are well-known to all travellers. There are not the same bewildering number of foreign influences and of mediaeval traditions which puzzle us in every country on this side of the Alps. France is literally covered with magnificent buildings which differ so much in various provinces that one can hardly believe in the undeniable fact of her having been throughout history the most homogeneous State of Continental Europe. The wealth of her churches, chateaux, and palaces from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century appalls the ordinary architect, and must confuse even a recognised authority. The difficulty of cataloguing and labelling the examples of Baroque architecture in Germany and Austria is no greater than in France, while in the latter case it is necessary to take count of the subtle influences which the Baroque movement certainly exercised in the seventeenth century. The need for a clear understanding of our subject becomes increas- ingly apparent in France, where there are, even in the sixteenth century, many buildings fulfilling the accepted requirements of Baroque architecture to ^superficial observers. A typical example is the church of St. Etienne-du-Mont, one of the most extra- ordinary buildings in Paris, and apparently defying classification. One cannot describe this as a Baroque church, although some of its details are certainly so to be regarded. Erected as early as 15 17-41, from designs reputed to be even earUer, this building forms a remarkable mixture of Gothic and classic elements. It is neither a complete fusion on the one hand nor a complete jumble on the other. It is more classic than St. Eustache yet more bizarre. And, finally, it is no more than a mediaeval church with Renaissance trappings and details, like much other French work of the day. Realising this, it matters nothing that it is elaborate or unconven- 163 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE tional, that it is neither copy-book Gothic nor copy-book classic, that its flamboyant decorations and mouldings are somewhat clumsy. None of these things, in face of the facts that precede them, justify one in calling St. Etienne a Baroque church. But what shall we say of its wonderful rood-loft or of its facade, both dating from the early seventeenth century ? The former, executed by Biard between 1600 and 1605, novel and ingenious as it certainly is, reminds one more of the extravagant staircases of Chambord or of Blois — quaint and fantastic efForts showing the fertility of a Renaissance mind steeped in Gothic construction — than of anything emanating, as Baroque undoubtedly did, from Italy. Examples such as these only help to prove that in Spain and in France, as in a less degree in Germany and England, there was an early Renaissance period at least as extreme as Baroque and in no way akin to it. The facade of St. Etienne, on the other hand, dating from 1620, does herald the arrival of a new influence in design and in certain respects (such as the aisle doors, the curved brackets high above them, and the use of finials) proclaims the coming of Baroque architecture to Paris. Yet even this facade bafiles us by its contradictions — among other anomalies being a broken pediment over a window on a particularly steep Gothic gable; Such perplexities are far from scarce for a student of French Baroque architecture. In the previous chapters, though the connection between history and art has usually been significant and frequently close, there has been nothing to chronicle compared with the seventeenth- century annals of France, at that time the foremost among the nations of Europe. The first fifty years saw her raised to a position of commanding importance, after recovering from a long series of wars and religious tumults. For a time Sully was her most powerful ruler, strengthen- ing her finances, initiating administrative reforms, and in general preparing the way for the brilliant epoch which followed. After Henry IV's death in 16 10 there was a stormy and restless interval while Maria de' Medici, with a throng of Italian favourites, held the reins, and then followed nearly forty years during which France was governed with startling success by those two clever Cardinals, Richelieu and Mazarin. Richelieu, even if he had his own ends to serve, lived for the glory of his country. His policy aimed at the supremacy of the State as an institution and the consequent reduction of aristocratic privileges. Power passed from the hands 164 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE of the old nobility to those of new officials, and in the new centres of official government the influence of the State is seen in matters architectural. Most of all in Paris, where officialdom congregated as never before, do we see a great change in the multiplication of residences for Ministers and other public servants. It was, moreover, the constant object of the Bourbons to impress their subjects with a sense of the majesty of the State by a display of its power in tangible form, and the great palaces and public monu- ments which succeed one another in lavish profusion bear witness to this policy. The State control was gradually extended to matters artistic as well as to other things, and the result is to be seen in an increased sobriety and dignity of style in architecture. Education was encouraged, whether secular or clerical, and necessitated new build- ings throughout the country, Catholicism was strong, and closely allied with the Government. A vigorous church-building period naturally ensued, and the religious orders took a prominent part in the movement. Richelieu intervened in the Thirty Years' War, and France added some wealthy districts to her territory. Mazarin continued his policy of expansion, and, after overcoming the Fronde troubles — when first the democratic party and then the aristocrats rose against the crushing strength of the State — he made an honourable peace with his country's various foes. At his death, in 1661, he left to Louis XIV, a young man, but now of age, a kingdom which that monarch ruled as perhaps a king had never ruled before. Those familiar titles which his generation gave him, that incomparably audacious saying : Uetat c'est moi, are only typical of the most dazzling period of unbroken splendour that any age has seen. Even Napoleon, in his wilder moments, could hardly have competed with the " Roi Soleil " in all his glory at Versailles. France again extended her boundaries in Europe, while in the East and West Indies she laid the foundations of fresh and rich markets for her trade. Her finances under Colbert were reorgan- ized, and the movement commenced which even before Louis' death paved the way for revolution less than a century afterwards. But before he had driven out the Huguenots, before he had roused all Europe and many of his own subjects against him, in fact, before France had become rotten at its core, his regime was the very embodiment of power. Comparing France with the other countries of Europe, one is surprised that this triumphant prosperity — coming at the time it 165 L* BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE did — was not the means of popularizing Baroque as a national style in a much greater degree than was actually the case. We have come to regard Baroque architecture as the expression of pomp and circumstance, for which it is indeed admirably suited. Yet in seventeenth-century France the admittedly Baroque examples are comparatively few, and its influence, though evident and widespread, is not obvious to the man in the street. This fact is the more remarkable when one considers the very close inter- course between France and Italy during the sixteenth and sevens teenth centuries and the number of Italians habitually employed on buildings in the former country from the days of Francis I onwards. It might be said without exaggeration that the French Renaissance is due to Italy alone, and that French work differs from Italian only because of the vigorous traditions of the Middle Ages in France. In the sixteenth century French armies passed over the Alps time and again. They sacked Rome, and for a space they held Naples. They overran the most distant provinces of Italy and came back laden with Italian ideas. Henri II married Catharine de' Medici in 1547, and Henri IV married Maria de' Medici in 1600. Mazarin was an Italian by birth, and both he and Richelieu were constantly in touch with Rome. Connoisseurs were on several occasions sent to scour Italy for casts of antiques or to make drawings of more modern buildings. A number of the most successful French architects had a long training in Rome, and in 1666 an Academy was founded there. More than one well-known Baroque church in Rome was erected by the French nation. In spite of all these circumstances we find the style entering France from Belgium almost as much as from Italy, and adopted in its more familiar forms for little besides churches. It will therefore be most satisfactory to pass in review the principal buildings of the period, and to consider how much of their design we must ascribe to the Baroque movement. Paris, as the capital of France, is more than a microcosm of her architecture, for in the seventeenth century and subsequently official life came to be more and more centralized there. Chief among Paris buildings is that vast palace consisting nowadays of the Louvre and the Tuileries as one connected whole. At the begin- ning of the epoch with which we are dealing most of the Tuileries was finished, but of the present Louvre only that small and charming portion designed by Pierre Lescot. Lemercier, between 1624 and 166 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE 1654, duplicated this section and added a central block in keeping ; while Le Vau carried on his scheme on almost identical lines up to 1664, when Colbert decided to complete the building from com- petitive designs. Bernini, universally regarded as the greatest architect of his time, was summoned from Rome, and came with ridiculous display, as though he were some Eastern potentate. ^ The ignominious history of his unsuccessful design — attributed, we are told, to divine inspiration — and his subsequent departure are well known. All things considered, one may be thankful his drawings were not favoured, for, though fulfilling their purpose in one way, they had not a vestige of French feeling in them, and would have involved the destruction of Lescot's wing. As against the some- what monotonous lines of Perrault's facade, however, he offered a terrific front, so frowning and so lofty, so colossally planned within and without, that in spite of all its falsity of construction it would have proclaimed to the world in terms of Baroque pomp the ever- lasting greatness of the Grand Monarque. Had the Louvre been completed on these lines French architecture might have taken a turn which future generations would rightly regret. There is no tinge of Baroque influence at the Louvre, save in sundry matters of decoration which need not detain us here, and the new Luxem- bourg palace provides us with better food for study. When Maria de' Medici first came to Paris she was entertained on the sunny slopes of the Latin Quarter, and between 1 6 1 1 and 1 6 1 5 she bought various plots of land south of the long Rue de Vaugirard, the site pleasing her more than any in or near Paris. By her husband's death she had become Regent, and amidst the countless monasteries which covered this side of the city she elected to build herself a fitting residence. It was natural that her thoughts should turn to Italy in considering its design, and almost her first step was to dispatch Clement Metezeau, the architect, to make measured drawings of the Pitti Palace at Florence, where she had been brought up. It was, however, Salomon de Brosse, a popular royal architect, who eventually designed the building, and in plan and elevation alike he varies but little from fashionable French archi- tecture of the day. Baroque influence is perhaps apparent in his fine porte-cochere, which, though severe, has something bombastic in its powerful lines, but the only undoubted details of Baroque design are the famous Medici fountain in the gardens and the little chapel, which is easily seen from the street, and really formed part of the Convent of the Daughters of Calvary. The fountain is ' See p. 5 5 ante. 167 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE curiously reminiscent of Italian garden architecture, recalling even in Paris the 'now shabby statues and rockwork of the Boboli. The Palais-Royal, as it is now called, is nearly contemporary with the Luxembourg, and was built by Cardinal Richelieu between 162^ and 1636 for his own use. At his death, in 1642, he bequeathed it to the Crown. It is an excellent example of that sober spirit of dignity and ostentation combined which marks the supremacy of the State in Richelieu's time, a principle to be developed under Louis XIV. Moreover, this building brings us to a point which has been emphasised lately elsewhere, and which well merits further consideration, that, severe and classic as many of these semi-royal buildings are, they owe much of their magnificence to the new Baroque spirit in art. For we have seen in Italy how this move- ment is not to be recognised alone by its elevations and details, but also by its planning. In the Genoese staircases, the Salute church at Venice, the town-planning and church-building at Rome, the gardens at Frascati, we found, the principles of grouping and of vista design developed to an extraordinary extent. The " Grand Manner " in architecture is at least as characteristic of the Baroque spirit as are twisted columns or grotesque rockwork. The French nation had probably drunk its fill of extravagances at the time when these new notions were imported from Italy, and, indeed, Italy could barely compete with such an architectural marvel as the rood-loft of St. Etienne-du-Mont, or with the extraordinary constructional feats of French builders. But she could supply something which they felt the lack of as their prosperity as a State increased — the Baroque taste in monumental design. Except for certain instances in the domain of church-building, to be noticed later in this chapter, France declined to accept the canons of Borro- mini and the more revolutionary school for secular or domestic work, at all events to any appreciable extent. She gladly retained the classic Orders, which were of but recent introduction, and devoted herelf to perfecting their use on palace facades and colonnades. But she welcomed with open arms the system of planning for effect, where a central axis played the principal part, and where grouping took precedence of detail. This was the art which had so successfully symbolised the dominion of the Popes in Rome or the State in Venice ; this was the art which France needed for expressing in stone the greatest existing Power in Europe ; and this, it may almost be said, is the art which has supplied Paris with those monumental motifs through which she has in modern times developed into the most magnificent city in the world. i68 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE Even in the decorous facade of the Institut de France (1660-8), which was founded by Cardinal Mazarin as a college for gentle- men's sons, the bold sweep of the wings, the excellent placing of the two steep-roofed pavilions (with Baroque finials), and the fine culmination in the central dome all indicate the new methods of planning from Italy. The huge Hotel des Invalides (167 1-4), designed by Liberal Bruand, is an example illustrating the same theory. Rigorously plain in its general lines, an appearance of strength nevertheless is evident in its vast bulk, and withal some subtle suggestion of magnificence. In this case, it is true, there is a copious use of ornament on the central feature and on the wings of the main facade, ornament comparatively orthodox in its elements, but profuse and unconventional in its application. The Pavilion de Louis XIV is one of the best examples in France of Baroque architecture naturalised and attuned to the spirit of that country. The most vast, the most celebrated, and, from our point of view, the most difficult of treatment among all the great buildings of France is the Palace at Versailles, which Mr. Ward ' has aptly described as " the most characteristic and splendid product of the age." It is reputed to have cost in our currency ^^20,000,000, and to be capable of housing 10,000 people, while it has a frontage of more than one- third of a mile. A chateau already existed there when Louis XIV commenced his grandiose schemes in 1668, but this earlier house was gradually enveloped and swamped by the vast wings which followed. The greater part of the palace as we now know it, with its decorations and gardens, was the work of four principal artists, who were the foremost figures in the art world during this busy period. Louis Le Vau (1612-70) and Jules- Hardouin Mansart (1645— 1708) were successively architects to the State, a position which in those days was no sinecure, and which usually resulted in a fortune and a title for the holder. Le Notre (161 3-1 700) is celebrated as the greatest French landscape gardener, and Charles Le Brun (1619-90) as perhaps her most successful decorator, who painted many of his own ceilings himself. These four men practically completed their task between 1668 and 1688, Mansart following Le Vau as architect. Although the general plan, the elevation to some extent, many of the details, and the greater part of the garden architecture and decoration are imbued with the Baroque spirit of their age, there is no need to lingpr very long at Versailles, and it will suffice to mention its chapel later. For the ' W. H. Ward's French Renaissance Anhiiecture, 169 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE most part its details belong to that period at the end of Louis XIV's reign when we lose sight of Baroque elements in the exclusively French and much more dainty style familiar to us under the name of his successor. Mr. Ward, in his book, uses the term " Barocco- Palladian Compromise " to describe the period of Louis XIV, and, though far from elegant, it is accurate enough, for this, the most dazzling period of French history, was characterized by an architectural style where Baroque principles were clothed in Palladian garb. The finest French gardens of the seventeenth century are nearly all in the neighbourhood of Paris, and may well be considered at this stage. The subject has been so admirably dealt with in a recent book I that there is no need to do more than point out how the Baroque movement influenced this branch of art. Garden design in France, although inspired by Italy, made such rapid progress in the prosperous days of Frangois I and Henri IV, that the Italian examples which served as models were soon out- numbered. The characteristic features of the Baroque villa were adopted in France, and in a popular work by Bernard Palissy, published late in the sixteenth century, a " surprise-fountain " is described. The hydraulic curiosities of Tivoli and Hellbrun, how- ever, were little in favour in French eyes. Parterres and labyrinths abounded, and the use of treillage is especially noteworthy, as it hardly occurs elsewhere. In Paris itself the chief gardens were at the Luxembourg and at the Tuileries, both laid out — be it noted — for Italian queens on formal lines. It was in the latter garden that we find in the early seventeenth century an obscure under- gardener named Jean Le Notre, whose son Andre (i 6 13-1700) was to raise the art of garden-craft to a height it has never attained since, and of course had never reached previously. Andre was somehow apprenticed to the celebrated court-painter Vouet, in whose studio he met two other men destined like himself to become famous — Le Sueur and Le Brun. When his term of training was completed, he became an under-gardener like his father, and for some time tended a small part of the Tuileries gardens. Then, thanks to artistic ability, he was ordered to lay out the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte in 1656, which was followed by important works at Chantilly for Conde, and in 1662 he com- menced the greatest garden scheme in the world, at Versailles. This vast project, finally completed about 1688 but very much altered since, shows the nature and extent of his talents. He was ' Garden Craft in Europe, by H. Inigo Triggs, 191 3. 170 Pig- TI- — Paris. Hotel de Chalons et Luxembourg. Doorway. (See p. 171.) From a. drawing by the Author. To face p. 170. Fig. y8. — Fans. Hotel de Lavalette (Ecole Massiiion). Dooi'way. To face p. 171. BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE fortunate, too, in his coadjutors, for the army of sculptors working under Le Brun maintained a surprisingly high standard of excellence, and the bronze figures of nymphs and children are of unparalleled beauty. The architectural work of the orangery was carried out by Mansart, and throughout the whole scheme these three men worked in artistic harmony. In treating the magnificent formal lake known as the Piece des Suisses, Le Notre had to deal with a swampy site. Baroque influence is most apparent in the grandiose character of these large designs, and in such features as the cascade at St. Cloud and the horseshoe staircase at Fontainebleau. Apart from royal and ofllicial residences, Paris abounds in old seventeenth-century houses where the nobility and richer bourgeoisie lived, and these usually date from the Richelieu-Mazarin period, before the rush to Versailles began. The district of the " Marais," the old streets between the Rue de Rivoli and the Quai Henri IV, and the Quartier Latin are all full of charming examples. One of the most famous and well preserved is the Hotel de Sully in the Rue S. Antoine, built in 1624 by Jean Androuet du Cerceau for that famous Due de Sully who helped to make France a Great Power. In the rich and ornate courtyard may be seen many Baroque elements and unconventional features. The plan of these old town houses generally follows one of two types. An internal courtyard is almost invariable, but in some cases is separated from the street by a screen wall only, with a central doorway of some pretensions, while the usual rule is for a wing to be built between the street and the courtyard with shops on the ground-floor, the central doorway still being retained. Sometimes planning reaches a very high level, as in the case of the Hotel de Beauvais (1656) in the' Rue Francois Mifon, illustrated in Mr. Ward's book. Looking at this remarkably skilful design, one's mind turns to Italian examples such as S. Maria della Pace at Rome, where a wonderful effisct of space is obtained on a cramped and awkward site. In a neighbour- ing street, the Rue Geoflroy d'Asnier, is the Hotel de Chalons et Luxembourg, with the finest Baroque doorway in Paris, and on the Quai des Celestines hard by is the old Hotel de ' Lavalette, now known as the Ecole Massillon. This last house is one of the most florid of its period in the city, and suggests influence from Belgium, though one is reminded of some of the stucco-modelled palaces in Genoa. That Flemish influence made itself felt in Paris is pro- bable, and in towns between Paris and the northern frontier numerous buildings exist which closely resemble Belgian work. 171 BAROQUE ARCHITECTUI^E IN FRANCE Narrow, dark, and dirty as many of these old streets are (some of them, alas ! threatened with early destruction), they enable us to imagine what seventeenth-century Paris must have been, and in nearly all of them we can fancy ourselves in Italy. On ancient and for- gotten house-fronts we see the sumptuous heraldry, the graceful ironwork, and the richly panelled doors which are in all countries relics of the Baroque age of display. Of a very different class is the Hotel de Rohan-Soubise (1706), a town house on a palatial scale, whose celebrated court, surrounded by a screen colonnade, has a certain dignity and greatness in conception which is typical of the Louis XIV period, but whose exterior is as severe as its decorations within are dainty. This is another case where Baroque influences cease to be recognisable save in the system of general plan. Of civic monuments of the period Paris retains one of great importance, the Porte St. Denis (1672), now awkwardly isolated in the middle of a wide boulevard. Its colossal scale is emphasised by the minute doors for foot-passengers. To the two converging influences which have already been dealt with — the influence of Italian craftsmen and Italian-trained architects, and the influences from intercourse with neighbouring cities in Belgium, where Baroque architecture, for various reasons, was very popular — a third must now be added : the work of the Jesuits and its effect on French church design. Remembering that the Society of Jesus was actually initiated on Montmartre in 1534, one naturally expects to trace its influence on ecclesiastical architecture. The seventeenth century in France, more especially its earlier half, was the period of Catholic supremacy. Those churches erected in the latter half of the century seem to lack all devotional feeling. The first church in Paris where Roman design, of Vignola's school, was adopted is S. Gervais (16 16-21), where a facade only was added to a Gothic church by Salomon de Brosse. The collegiate church of the Jesuits was S. Paul and S. Louis (1625-41), In the Rue S. Antoine, and here one of their order designed a very large building after the Vignolan model, though, as at S. Gervais, the facade is much more lofty than in the Roman example. Ste Marie (1632-4), by Francois Mansart, is in the same street, and has a central dome as its principal feature. The next group comprises several churches on the basilican plan, with facades which, at first glance, seem to approximate to Vignola's Gesu and other contemporary churches at Rome, but in which 172 Fig. 79. — Paris. S. Paul et S. Louis. Doorway. From a drawing by the Author. To face p. 172. ^^• Si? ^ iT BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE several striking contrasts to the Italian examples are seen. S. Roch (1653) and Notre Dame des Victoires (1656), for instance, have steep roofs and classicized flying buttresses, the latter church also displaying heavy Roman finials which are the direct counterpart of the Gothic pinnacle. Then at S. Sulpice (1655), although there is an elliptical Lady chapel like that of S. Roch, the general plan is curiously Gothic, with aisles and chapels running round the apse. Here, too, as at S. Louis-en-l'Ile (1664) and as at S. Roch, the vaulting springs from an attic above the main order, giving a stilted effect resembling, in a measure, the high vaults of mediaeval days. It should be remembered that the familiar facade and much of the decoration of S. Sulpice are of later date. Two very striking churches follow the last series — the University Church of the Sorbonne (1635-53) and the Abbey Church of Val- de-Grace (begun 1645). The first was the work of Lemercier, the second of Francois Mansart, Lemercier, and Le Muet, as a votive offering by Anne of Austria for the birth of Louis XIV. In each case the church forms a central feature in a much larger system of buildings, and in each case it bears some relation to public spaces outside.' In each case a large dome is found in a Latin cross plan with a Vignolan facade, the effect of the Val-de- Grace being on the whole the more successful with its larger and bolder dome, more Baroque features, and more handsome west front. The final phase of French church-building before the neo-classic revival, after experiments with the radial plan at the Church of the Assumption (1670-6) in the Rue S. Honore and the church of the College Mazarin (1660-8), culminated in the magnificent Dome des Invalides (i 693-1 706), where J. H. Mansart, the leading practitioner of the " Barocco-Palladian Compromise," produced one of the very finest Greek cross plans in all architectural history, his great dome being the most Baroque part of the church and its most admirable external feature. Apart from these classes, and belonging to none of them, are two churches of some interest to us. One was designed for the Theatines of Paris by Guarini (whom we have met in Italy heretofore) about 1662, and introduced so many absurdities of Borromini's school — canted piers, spiral turrets, and the like — that his church failed to satisfy the French ' On a recent visit to Paris I noticed that the line of houses opposite the west front of the Val-de-Grace church was at last being built in crescent form, as originally intended 250 years ago ! This has since been illustrated in The Builder for October 27, 191 1. — M. S. B. BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE taste and does not exist for us to criticize. The other is the chapel at Versailles (1696-1710) by J. H. Mansart, a remarkable development in planning, but Baroque only in . certain external trappings. The fittings and decorations of these churches are, as a rule, more infected with Baroque feeling than the structural features, and in several instances, notably the Val-de-Grace, the high altar is isolated under a baldacchino modelled on that of S. Peter's, Rome. Both Flemings and Italians competed with native talent for such work, and for the vast quantities of sculpture required in France in these days of wealth and art patronage. Of purely French designers one may mention the published work of Jean Le Pautre (1618-82) as being most typical of the movement. There is little to distinguish Baroque ornament in France from that of other countries, its attributes of strength and heaviness marking it off from the light and graceful ornament of the Louis Quinze period. The reason for devoting so large a proportion of this chapter to buildings in Paris has already been briefly indicated. In the seven- teenth century Paris became more and more important as the official centre of France, and her buildings became proportionately mag- nificent. With a few exceptions, the architecture of the smaller towns was what we nowadays call " provincial." There is a great charm in French provincialism, an attraction which no other land has in larger measure, but the Baroque movement seems to have passed over most of the country without making any serious impression, and its memorials are neither numerous nor very important. There are sundry scattered examples which form a problem to the theorist and must be accounted for by an immigration of alien ideas. The beautiful doorway to the Hotel de Ville at Toulon ' is one of these. The caryatides supporting the balcony above are the work of the celebrated sculptor, Pierre Puget. Another baffling question is the Chapelle de la Visitation at Nevers, with a florid Baroque facade, nearest akin to those in Belgium of any other examples. Nevers is not near the Belgian frontier, and hence Flemish influence is not so natural as at Cambrai or St. Amand, where buildings quite foreign to France are found. The Abbey Church at St. Amand shows Spanish-Belgian design and resembles no building in Europe known to the writer. The architecture of Lille is so Flemish in character that it is relegated to Chapter XV, which is devoted to Belgium and Holland. These churches must be ' Illustrated on p. 572, vol. "Sud-ouest," of Brossard's Giographie pittoresque et monumentale de Trance, 1900. 174 .So ■S3 BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE , attributed to Flemish or Italian designers moving from place to place. Their work may also be seen in central France at the Jesuit church at Blois and the Carmelite church at Dijon (1643), also in the facade of Notre Dame at Le Havre and the Chapelle du^ College at Eu. Two interesting buildings at Lyons — the Hotel de Ville (1646- 1701) and the chapel of the Hotel-Dieu (1637-45) — are both French treatmeijts of the Baroque style and are as admirable in • their detail as 'in general design. But the two towns of France where Baroque assumes its most interesting aspects are Nancy in the north-east and La Rochelle in the south-west. The former had a considerable importance during the period as the capital of the independent Dukes of Lorraine, and attained its maximum development under Stanislaus Lesczinski, who abdicated the throne of Poland in 1737 and resided in Nancy till his death in 1766, when the duchy fell to the crown of France. The late date of this building epoch explains the character of the architecture, which is of a type bordering on Rococo. Especially is this apparent in the elaborate metal- work of grilles and gates so abundant in the town. But it is as an example of town-planning that Nancy has become famous. In 1598 the Ville-Neuve was first planned for a population of some twelve or fifteen thousand, yet so ample was the scheme that at the present time the tramcars and traffic of a city numbering a hundred thousand inhabitants can move comfortably through the streets. Little progress had been made with the new town when war again broke out, and it was not until the early years of the eighteenth century that building was resumed to any considerable extent. The cathedral was commenced by J. H. Mansart in the seventeenth century, but was completed by Germain Boffrand between 1708 and 1742.^ The Place Stanislas, Place de la Carriere and Place d'AUiance, the Hemicycle, the Hotel de Ville and the Palace, the numerous , fountains, Lamour's handsome grilles, the chapel of BcJnsecours, the Arc de Triomphe and two of the gateways are all of the Louis Quinze style and date from the brilliant days of Stanislaus. Before his time the Vilk-Neuve had already become the home of a host of monks and many religious establish- ments were founded. Nancy is unique in the disposition of its buildings and is peculiarly adapted for the study of Louis XV architecture on the grand scale, where its kinship with Baroque is most distinctly shown. ' See BofFrand's Livre d* Architecture, Paris, 1745. BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE The interest of La Rochelle, on the other hand, lies in the individual design of its buildings rather than in the general arrangement of the town.i There are numerous churches betray-r ing Baroque influence, which also appears in the very picturesque doorways and details of seventeenth-century houses. The gateways in the fortifications, though later and sterner in character, have the same trait, and, taken as a whole, La Rochelle may be said to rank as a town owing much to the Baroque period. As at Nancy, religious foundations were numerous, and of these many have Italian Jesuit details. The facades of the cathedral (i 577-1603), S. Sauveur (1681), Les Carmes (1676-7), and the Temple Pro- testant (1706) are distinctly Baroque, as are those of several other churches. In addition to these the less admirable parts of the Hotel de Ville (finished in 1607), also the Hotel GargouUeau (1627), and the Hotel de I'lntendance may be cited. But neither Nancy nor La Rochelle is typical of France as a whole, and Baroque architecture was never popular as in Austria, Belgium, or Spain. ' See Georges Mussel's La Bonne Ville de La Rochelle, 191 2, and P. Suzanne's La Rochelle Pittoresque, 1903, both published locally. WORKS OF REFERENCE XIII.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE Barbet, J. Batet, J. Berty, a. Blomfield, R. Blondel, F. and J. Briere, Gaston DiLKE, Lady . FOUQUIER, M. Livre d'architecture d'autels et Paris 1633 de cheminees . . . grav^ par A. BofFe Les Edifices rdligieux des „ 191 XVII', XVIir, et XIX' si^cles La Renaissance Monumentale „ 1858-64. en France A History of French Architec- London 191 z ture, 1494-166 1 Drawings, various books of . Numerous editions Le Chateau de Versailles . Paris ^-^ The French Architects and London 1901 Decorators of the Eighteenth Century De I'Art des Jardins du XV* au Paris 191 1 XX" siScle 176 Fig. 83. — AIoutreiiiI-siir-l\Ier. S. Atistrebcrilw. Fig. 84. — Nancy. Place Stanislas. To lace p. 176, BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE Genevay, a. . Geymuller, H. von gurlitt, c. . Hallays, Andre Kleinclavsz, a. Lebrvn, Charles . Lemonnier, H. Le Nail, R. . Le Pautre, Jean . Pannier, Jacques . Perate, Andr£ Planat et Rumler Riat, Georges RotnrER ET Darcel Vacquier, J. , Ward, W. H. Le style Louis XIV Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Frankreich, in the Hand- buch der Architektur Geschichte des Barockstiles. Vol. iii. Nancy, in Vtlks J^art ciUlres (contains an admirable biblio- graphy) Dijon, ditto .... Drawings, various books of L'art fran^ais au temps de Richelieu et de Mazarin Lyon : Architecture et decora- tion aux XVIP et XVIIP si^cles Les plus belles compositions de : gravies par Decloux et Doury Salomon de Brosse Versailles, in Vilks tlart cilibres Le style Louis XIV Paris, in Vllles d'art dUbres . L'art architectural en France . Les vieux H6tel5 de Paris French Renaissance Architec- ture, 1495-1830 Paris 1886 Stuttgart 1898 Paris 1887-9 1906 1907 Numerous editions Paris 1893 N.D. Recent Lyons 1850 Pans 1911 5> 1909 )> ?> 1900 5» 1859-66 3? 191Z-13 London 1912 177 M XIV.— BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN, POR- TUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA IN the last chapter it was suggested that, to the average English student, French architecture of the Renaissance is more difficult to appreciate than corresponding work in Italy. This complexity, due to a multitude of influences and causes, appears in far greater degree as we cross the Pyrenees into Spain. There is an earnest of something foreign to France alike in the old towns round Bordeaux and in the Mediterranean coast districts. But, once over the stern frontier between these very different nations, we find ourselves in a completely fresh atmosphere — redo- lent of Islam and the East. In Southern Italy one approaches very closely to Spain — more closely indeed than is always realised. Country and town in this little-known land still recall the days of Spanish viceroys and Spanish soldiers. But in Spain itself — whatever period or branch of art is under review — a critic cannot escape from the all-pervading genius of its early Moorish inhabitants. The reader may consider it an obvious platitude on the one hand or a far-fetched theory on the other when we trace the difficulty of our subject to this distant source ; the fact remains none the less true. For Moorish architecture made itself felt in Spain through the Middle Ages in construction and planning, but most of all in the disposition and character of ornamental features. In France (as in England to a less extent) the earlier works of the Renaissance imported from Italy are so intermingled with mediaeval survivals as to be almost unrecognisable ; in Spain this mixture is rendered doubly confusing by Moorish tradition surviving in Gothic forms. If it is easy for a beginner to mistake St. Etienne-du-Mont, at Paris, for a Baroque church, simply because it is apparendy Renais- sance art run wild, so he will find himself sadly at fault among the Plateresque and Grotesque marvels of Spain if he has no more searching test than this. In this book considerable stress has already been laid on the fact that Baroque architecture is a loosening of pedantic chains, whereas in the cases just cited the bonds have never yet been tightened. No time need be spent on elaborate proof of this theory, for any student may grasp the principle of immature or over-mature work, taking the Escurial as the standard of excellence. Various writers have attempted to lay down rules for dividing the first phase into " Plateresque " and " Grotesque," but the former name is a good one and the distinction seems needless. Plateresque and Grotesque have as much in common as 178 Fig. 85. — Santiago de Compostela. Cathedral. (See p. 187.) Fig. 86. — Cordova. Fountain. (See p. 184.) To lace p. 171 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA our own Elizabethan and Jacobean. We may briefly sum up this Style, lasting throughout the sixteenth century abreast even of the most classic and correct buildings in Spain, as characterised by its original and profuse decoration, composed of media2val and Re- naissance elements in combination. Whereas the later Baroque buildings are for the most part noteworthy for the unity and breadth of their treatment, these more dainty examples suggest the hand of a goldsmith working in appliquS fashion rather than a mason joining stones together. The very title " plateresco " comes from the Spanish plata, and is a goldsmith's term, just as the name " Baroque " is credited with a very similar though less suitable origin. The House of the Shells at Salamanca is a particularly good illustration of this appliquS tendency, for as metal ornaments riveted to some flat surface these shells could have their only rational purpose, whereas in stone they are so aggressively absurd and so unsuited to the position as to be positively repellent. However, there is every sort of Plateresque, constructional and unconstructional ; there are walls covered with decoration, and walls with groups of ornament very eflFectively placed ; houses which look half-Moorish and others which are Gothic in all matters save the detail. At times, in later examples towards the close of the century, the resemblance to Baroque work almost defies distinc- tion, and at times pure Italian forms are carried out by delicate Plateresque hands. The principal architect of the day was Diego de Siloe (d. 1563), the principal sculptor, Alonso Berruguete (1480-1561), both of whom seem to have been greatly influenced by Italian ideas. Professor Carl Justi, in his excellent introduction to Spanish art in Baedeker's guide, says, " The Renaissance of this period is re- sponsible for the most Baroque aberrations of taste that the art has to offer," while other writers apply the term Plateresque indiscrim- inately to Baroque and Rococo buildings of the eighteenth century. Clearly there is need for harsher definition. Intercourse with Italy was easy and constant even during the Middle Ages, and became more so after the conquest of Naples and Sicily in 1504. Circumstances generally were favourable to the introduction of a new style of architecture and also to the richness of its character. For modern Spanish history dates from the year 1479, when the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united, and for eighty years (synchronising almost exactly with the Plater- esque period) there is a nearly unbroken series of marvellous conquests which poured into the coffers of the new nation an 179 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA incredible amount of wealth. Columbus discovered America, and one part of that continent after another was annexed. A crowd of bold adventurers crossed the Atlantic in search of glory or booty and returned with both. Brazil, the West Indies, Mexico, Peru, and Chile became Spanish colonies, and in Africa Tunis was captured. Flushed with successes in Italy, Spain then seized Navarre, and a few years later Burgundy and the Netherlands came into her possession by a royal marriage. Finally, under the great Charles V she actually became mistress of the Holy Roman Empire and the greatest Power in Europe. From this date there is a less dazzling tale to tell. The frantic rush to America had taken away many useful citizens ; the Imperial wars in Europe proved a serious tax in men and money on the nation's means, and as in France the most brilliant period is marred by the expulsion of the industrious and patriotic Hugue- nots, so in Spain at her zenith the Moors and the Jews were driven out under a bigoted religious policy. There was some excuse for recapturing Granada from the Moors, there was none for expelling the Moriscoes, who were their descendants, for the most part Spanish in all but the name and the real workers of the country. Philip II, whose name is not unfamiliar to Englishmen, was the recognised champion of Catholicism, and against these excesses in his own country we may put his services to Europe in stemming the victorious advance of the Turks. But in the second half of the sixteenth century Spain had attained the highest point of her history, and before we pass to the Baroque architecture, which was in vogue during her decline, we must consider the work of her greatest Renaissance architect, Juan de Herrera (1530-97), who is so closely connected with the reign of her most powerful king, Philip II (1556-98). Herrera himself is not altogether innocent of some germ of the "barocco corruption." He is immortalized by his most famous building, the Escurial, near Madrid, an enormous votive monastery, erected between 1559 and 1584, and named after the village of Escorial, where it is situated. We do not know exactly to what extent Herrera is responsible for the design. He worked in some subordinate capacity under the architect who carried out the preliminary operations and who died soon after the foundation- stone was laid. But this was no ordinary commission, and the King himself played no ordinary part in the matter. With his own fair hands he "co-operated with the architects in making plans and sketches, he decided technical questions, he selected native and 180 Fii;. 87. — Segovia, Archway. (See p. 187.) ViVXSSuXl' '"""^'•^ 9^^-_ Fig. 88. — La Cranja. The Gardens, (See p. Ib8.) To lace p. i8o. SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA foreign artists to assist in the work, and he kept a sharp eye on every department and every worker." One is reminded of another equally versatile monarch in modern times. "Finally," says Professor Justi, " the way in which the royal builder prescribed the most minute detail ; his restless and omnipotent superintendence ; his often niggling criticism ; his sombre habit of docking the designs submitted to him of all that seemed over-rich or too ostentatious — these and other similar causes could not but paralyse the joy of creative energy. . , . The spirit of stern etiquette which Philip impressed on the Spanish Court, and which proved so pernicious to the mental forces of his successors, looks at us with petrifying effect from his building." With this criticism many people would disagree, for the church of the monastery and the almost perfect Court of the Evangelists with its admirable tempietto are, without doubt, among the finest things in Spanish architecture. They are superior to Bramante's quad- rangle at the Vatican and his tempietto at S. Pietro in Montorio, and they are worthy of Michelangelo at his best. But to us the interesting fact is that the architects of the Escurial were deterred by their employer from doing all they would have liked to do in the way of originality and freedom. It was his hand that restrained Herrera, and not Herrera who restrained himself and his con- temporaries. If Philip had been as other men we might have seen a Baroque Escurial ! For in his other numerous buildings Herrera very frequently departs from the straight and narrow path of classical severity, as in adding colossal and grotesque finials to a copy-book design. An example of this is the Exchange at Seville, and the Arco di Fernan Gonzalez at Burgos (by one of his school, if not by the master himself) shows the same tendency. We may place Herrera in Spain in the same category as Alessi in Genoa, one of those great masters whose works lie in the borderland between the Renaissance proper and the Baroque period. It will be generally admitted that the Baroque period in Spanish architecture synchronises with the period of decline in Spanish history, of decline indeed rather than of the stagnation which followed. This decadence was especially evident in the system of government and in the condition of the people. The Court had become the happy hunting-ground of profligate favourites and unscrupulous ecclesiastics. The three kings whose reigns occupy the seventeenth century lacked all the great qualities of their predecessors, and the last of them, a semi-idiot, died of senile decay at thirty-seven years l8l M* SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA of age. Owing to the effete character of the monarchy this century, in all countries favourable to the aristocratic class, was particularly so in Spain. Ignorance and vanity were universal, but the state of the lower orders was deplorable. The greatest poverty prevailed alike in high places and in low ; agriculture and trade were at a low ebb. Portugal and the Netherlands were lost, there was an insurrection in Catalonia, and England's defeat of the Armada just before this time had crippled the navy. Yet there is another side to the picture, proving that the decline was confined to certain aspects of life. For Spanish literature and Spanish painting the seventeenth century was the golden age. Among writers were Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderon ; among painters, Murillo, Velasquez, and " Lo Spagnoletto." And more important to architects is the state of religion in Spain, for a large proportion of Spanish Baroque buildings, as in so many other countries, is due to Jesuit activity after flie Cdunter- Reformation. The founder of the Society of Jesus was himself a Spaniard, and in his native land the Order achieved successes even more striking than elsewhere. It was partly due to the temperament and conditions of the people that when Protestantism was threatening the Papacy throughout Northern Europe the King of Spain, after considerable persecution on the part of the Holy Inquisition, was of all monarchs the most absolutely reliable as a defender of the faith. Intercourse with Italy was maintained during the seventeenth century, architect?, painters, and other craftsmen being frequently imported from Rome or Florence, but most of all from Genoa, whose influence in Spain was great. It was also usual for Spanish architects to study for some time in Italy, and for connoisseurs to be sent to collect casts and antiques, as was the case in contemporary France. Herrera, on the other hand, was trained at Brussels, and many Flemings were employed — especially as sculptors — in the peninsula. The Baroque movement in Spain found a ready response in popular taste (which was always for the gorgeous and the ostentatious), willing patrons in the great religious Orders, and considerable support from a vain and powerful aristocracy. In France the epoch was one of infinitely greater wealth and prosperity, but this cir- cumstance was neutralised from our point of view by the widespread acceptance of the severer Renaissance forms, which had so little vogue in Spain. Thus the later forms of the Plateresque architects and the wilder works of Herrera had already approximated so nearly to what have 182 "111 ^'''^ Wf- mjk¥^mL mm ~^^:i^ Fit;, icj.— Madrid. S. Josd. (See p. i86.) Fig. go. — Madrid. Puente de Toledo. (See p. i88.) To face p. 1S3. SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA been laid down as the characteristics of Baroque architecture that (as in Germany and the Netherlands) only careful study of each particular building on the border-line can determine its classification. It is interesting to notice the lack of variety in the different groups of monuments of the period. A painstaking student with a sufficiency of time and funds might, with advantage, scour Spain for some of those charming details in minor street architecture which make a visit to certain small cities of Italy such a pleasure, and in many respects these modest examples are the most attractive of all. But of some fifty typical illustrations lying before me as I write, I find that by far the greater proportion are of churches (especially collegiate churches) or of the seminaries, convents, and universities which were the fruits of the Counter-Reformation. Classified according to locality, they offer little suggestion, being spread over most of the country, but most numerous in the centre and south. The rich province of Andalusia, dotted with famous cities, is full of Baroque buildings. Granada itself does not seem to have been particularly susceptible, though it possesses two churches which date from the Rococo period in the eighteenth century. The west front of the cathedral (1667), by Alonso Cano and Jose Granados, is certainly uncon- ventional enough ; boldly recessed, and with a broken skyline, but so severe in the matter of ornament that one hesitates to accept it in the category to which it undoubtedly belongs. The celebrated Cartuja (Carthusian church and convent) lying outside the city was finished in the seventeenth century according to the guide-books, and is decorated with all the luxury and rich- ness of which the style is capable. The lighting being effected by means of windows above the spring of the vaulting, a large area of wall surface is left for treatment, and a system of statues in niches is used, alternating with richly-framed pictures. It has already been pointed out how characteristic of the period is this architectonic treatment of decorative painting. Seville, famous for its beautiful Plateresque town hall, has only a limited number of Baroque buildings, though there are many showing tendencies to Baroque as early as the sixteenth century. Thus the upper part of the Giralda tower, built in 1568 by one Hernan Ruiz, is original and well designed, and is on the lines which so many campanili in Southern Europe followed in later years. It is worthy of comparison with our own St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside, having a circular belfry storey above a square tower, 183 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA but, unlike the English example, is surmounted by a cast figure of Faith, which acts as a vane, and thus gives it its name, the word giraldillo signifying " a vane " in the Spanish tongue. The hospital church of La Caridad in Seville (1661) is of our period and style, and is chiefly noted on account of the large blue faience designs by Murillo on the facade. Founded by a reformed rake, it proclaims to posterity on a tablet that here lie " the ashes of the worst man in the world." The depreciatory epitaph is quite a new fashion in seventeenth-century religious building, and strangely at variance with the pompous self-praise of contemporary Roman Popes, Other Baroque buildings in the city worthy of mention are the Archbishop's Gate, the Sagrario (1618-62), near the cathedral, the Archbishop's Palace (1697), and the altarpiece in the Capilla de la Concepcion Grande in the cathedral. In Cordova are many minor examples, such as the churches of San Lorenzo and the ornate Puerta de San Pablo, with its twisted columns and curved pediment, but more familiar is the group of fountains and decorative piers in the Patio de los Naranjos. Here one appreciates to the full the suitability of the style for these Mediterranean and almost Eastern lands, where the play of strong sunlight and shadow lends a charm to this fantastic and playful architecture which is lacking in the prosaic and workaday atmosphere of less favoured countries. Another notable instance in Cordova is the cathedral tower, com- menced as early as 1593 by Her nan Ruiz, who also designed the Giralda belfry at Granada just mentioned. Again we find that remarkable type which inspired one church after another, that at Lecce in Italy, built seventy years or so later, being a case in point. Described by some writers as " telescopic," an architect prefers to talk of " diminishing stages," and realizes that such a tower is usually difficult to design. Neither here nor at Lecce is the result a great success, the enormous finials which are placed on the balustrade crowning each stage being disproportionate and ugly, while the telescopic idea is unfortunately only too apparent and is not assisted by the top stages being made polygonal on plan or in having their axis placed diamondwise, as in some examples. This tower at Cordova is 300 feet high, and of very large dimen- sions at its base, and is surmounted by a figure of St. Raphael with a vane. Of its kind it is the best known to the writer, who confesses to a preference for the towers of our Strand churches. Two of the most important ecclesiastical works of the age in Spain 184 Fig. 91. — Mutcia. Cathedral. (See p. 185/ To face p. 184, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA are to be found at Jerez (or Xeres) de la Frontera. The collegiate church, finished in 1695 by Torcuato Cayon, is a monumentally planned ]^aroque building, thoroughly Spanish and yet thoroughly imbued with the Roman sense of greatness rather than of over- ornamentation. An elaborate series of balustrated steps leads up to the west door, something after the fashion of those at the well- known church at Messina. There is a handsome dome and a tall campanile. The masonry, both within and without, has wide and conspicuous joints, producing a better effect than in so many contemporary designs, where overwrought interior plaster and featureless stucco-like external masonry do not indicate the actual construction. The Cartuja is a Gothic church, with a bizarre and startling facade added in 1667. No one who has not crossed the Channel can realise the extraordinary elaboration of some of these ultra-Baroque buildings, their bold and sensuous sculpture, their deep shadows and their striking silhouettes. Still less cah he appreciate the strange fascination which they do certainly exercise at times in their own natural surroundings. They are exotics here, and they violate our accepted canons, but in ancient Xeres or in ancient Lecce, with the dazzling atmosphere of the South, among oranges or palms and against a deep blue sky, these impossibilities in golden stone have a charm of their own no less apparent than that of the Bank of England or the Admiralty screen in London. So in this grotesque facade, with its endless carving, its fluted and banded columns, its whirl of finials and ornament, the design is good and the lively sculpture is as admirable as it is irreligious. All that has been said about this design applies equally well to the west front of the cathedral at Murcia, a little later in point of time, but of very similar character, and the work of Jaime Bort. A little less defensible than the Xeres example, it should be studied from a short distance away, where the vigour of its outline may compensate for the shocking realism of its mundane statueS. Three other large cathedrals in the province might be taken for Baroque buildings, but that at Malaga is a mixture of all styles from Diego de Siloe's time onwards ; that of Cadiz has no char- acteristic but ugliness and size, and that at Jaen (i 532-1660), In spite of its commanding western towers and its numerous finials, is no more Baroque than most of Herrera's work. Valencia has many buildir^s of the seventeenth and eignteenth centuries, and among them must be mentioned the extraordinary Puerta del Palau, a florid gateway, with a concave facade and a 185 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA curved pediment such as one associates with the wildest moments of Borromini in Rome or with the indiscretions of Guarini the Theatine. Sculpture is freely employed, and the result is less dis- tressing than might be expected. Valencia also possesses an admirable little stone doorway, erected in 1610, as the entrance to the church of San Andres, an obscure and unfamiliar example, yet displaying all the charm which does sometimes attach itself to this bitterly reviled style. Another excellent design is the octagonal church tower of Santa Catarina (1688-1705), richly ornamented and well-proportioned, with a graceful belfry-stage, its base rising from the flat roof of the church. It has^ no diminishing stages and nothing to suggest the telescope about its outline. Less noteworthy, but interesting, too, in its way, is another church, Santos Juanes del Mercado, finished in 1700, with a florid centre- piece or turret rising from a plain facade. Madrid has little to offer in this period, except the church of San Jose, with an interesting facade, and a curious tower over the crossing (see Fig. 89), but at the neighbouring city of Salamanca , one may see Baroque work on a very large scale. The Seminario Conciliar or Colegio de la Compania was commenced by the Jesuits in 1 6 17 from the designs of Juan Gomez de Mora, and is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world, covering an area of five acres. The central feature is an enormous church of restrained and dignified character, as indeed is all this vast pile, with a handsome dome and two lofty western towers of good design. A century or so later this city (formerly of great importance as the seat of a famous University), laid out a square which, as even hostile critics have affirmed, has few rivals in Europe. The Plaza Mayor is surrounded by a colonnade of arches, twenty-two on each side, with large central arches giving access to small streets and three storeys above the arcades. The decoration is by no means extravagant, and includes a series of portrait medallions of Spanish worthies. One side of the square is occupied by the Town Hall or Casa de Ayuntamiento, a large building by Churriguera (whose name, in the form " Churrigueresque," is often used to denote Spanish Baroque architecture). In this case, at any rate, his work harmonises well with the general effect of the square, which was laid out by another architect. Often in the past this place has witnessed great bullfights, or from the long range of its windows bloodthirsty spectators have gazed upon some sordid execution, 186 ,_ s: SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA but to-day it is laid out, as it should be, with trees and flowers, forming the fashionable promenade of the town. Churriguera also completed the University buildings at Valladolid, which Herrera had begun many years before, and these are in his most florid manner. It would be a lengthy task even to mention the principal examples among the many chapels, church-fittings, fountains, and other smaller works which are to be found in Saragossa, Segovia, Toledo, Carmona, and many other old towns besides those already given ; but no visitor to Spain can have failed to notice the quaint city gates so frequently depicted by artists in search of the picturesque. Of these the Arco de la Foncisia, at Segovia, and the Puerta de Alcantara, at Toledo, are perhaps the most familiar. In the north-west corner of Spain, in the province of Galicia, is a remarkable centre of the Baroque cult. There are a convent at Celenovo, near Ronse, and a couple of Jesuit churches at Ponte- vedra, but none of these compare for interest with the unique archi- tecture of the period in the great pilgrimage cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. This celebrated building, though of far earlier origin, is for the most part late Gothic, and is said to be modelled on St. Sernin at Toulouse, but is so covered externally and internally with seventeenth and eighteenth-century additions as to appear a Baroque church. These additions are by no means all of one date, and the north front, an eighteenth-century design, is below the general standard of the rest. " El Obradoiro," as Spaniards call the west facade (1738), is one of those remarkable cases where a florid style, something between Baroque and Rococo, has been employed to produce an effect very near that of late Gothic. The soaring upward lines, the delicate ornament, the steep gable — all these are more in sympathy with mediaeval architecture than would appear possible, and remind one of parallel cases in Austria. The unusual number of three towers and a fine dome combine to produce perhaps the best Baroque church in Spain. S. Martin Pinario and the Seminario in this town are of the same period, and farther east — near the Pyrenees^ — are Lograno, with its parish church, and Fuenterrabia, with many interesting works of a minor character. Lastly, at Loyola, near Vittoria, is the enormous church, convent, and college erected for the Jesuits in 1682 by Philip IV's widow to celebrate the birthplace of the famous founder of the Society of Jesus, that Society which has played so prominent a part in our period. Before closing this chapter a word must be said about those not 187 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA very numerous buildings which are Rococo rather than Baroque, and which date for the most part from the middle of the eighteenth century, before the classical revival whose first great achievement was the royal palace at Madrid. The Toledo Bridge and the hospital facade in the same city, the Cartuja sacristy and S. Juan de Dios at Granada, the palace of San Telmo and the tobacco factory at Seville are typical examples, and closely resemble the contemporary architecture of other con- tinental States. This is not surprising when we consider that in 1 70 1 the Bourbon family became the rulers of Spain and introduced French culture, which remained in vogue during that century and smothered the last vestiges of national architecture. But an exception to this statement is to be found in one great scheme which revived the Baroque tradition, the palace and gardens of La Granja, laid out between 1727 and 1743 by Elizabeth Farnese (wife of King Philip V), from Bontelet's designs. French the designer may have been, and Versailles his model ; French and Rococo some of the features certainly are, but in the main we have here, surrounding this genuinely Spanish palace with its inevitable collegiate church, the Italian sense o^unity and magnificence which proclaims the last and dying effort of the Baroque period in Spain. With this exception Spanish gardens are of little importance here. The architecture of Portugal during the same epoch is so similar to that of Spain that it will suffice for the purposes of this book to call attention to a few examples in the principal towns. Lisbon has several Baroque churches, the chief being Sao Vicente (1590), by Filippo Terzi, the Court architect, who came from Italy to work for the Jesuits in Portugal. The west front has the twin towers so favoured in the seventeenth century, and an interior on the usual lines with a dome and many chapels. Comparing it with two slightly earlier churches in Lisbon by Terzi — Santo Antao and Santa Maria do Desterro — one detects in all three a considerable advance towards Baroque characteristics from some of the remarkably pure buildings of the first Italians in Portugal. An example of the transition from the earlier style to the later appears in the Claustro dos Filippes at Thomar (1557-62). At Coimbra the great Jesuit church known as the Se Nova (1580, etc.) is of the same type, but its florid south front must be later, and is ugly, The facade of the CoUegio Novo at Oporto has similar defects, but the circular cloister of Nossa Senhora da Serra do Pilar in the same city is more attractive. The best Baroque church facade in Portugal is that of the Carthusian church at Evora (1594), in black and white marble. SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA Besides churches of the period there are the usual fountains and minor works, also a large palace and an interesting villa. The former, at Mafra, near Lisbon, is a curious combination of palace and monastery, and was commenced by King Joao V in 1717 from the designs of Frederick Ludwig, a German, in fulfilment of a vow. It was the King*s desire to emulate the Escurial in Spain, and the buildings occupy a site of 600 feet square, with a fine church centrally placed and angle pavilions on the principal front. Except for the two western towers of the church the exterior of the palace is plain, foreshadowing the classical reaction already appearing. Very different is the villa — the Quinta do Freixo, near Oporto — for although also a late example, it is of the florid style of Churriguera, and is unique of its kind. Square on plan, surrounded by fine terraces and gardens, it has a tower at each corner, with intervening facades of great richness. This is undoubtedly the most interesting of Baroque buildings in Portugal. Spanish America One is apt to forget that Spanish architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is found in greater abundance in the cities of the New World than in Spain itself. From San Francisco to Santiago in Chile there still stand a long series of convents, churches, and palaces founded by early colonists, and in the Philippines, the Azores, and the West Indian Islands these buildings also remain. Those of California have little architectural merit, and the few which are worthy of mention — such as the Carmel Mission (1771) and Santa Barbara (1786) — although Spanish in every line, are late in date and simple in character. The former is one of many established by the famous Padre Junipero Serra in the eighteenth century. But the Baroque buildings of Mexico are of great importance. Their number is enormous, for the tranquillity and prosperity of the New World in the three centuries of Spanish dominion were remarkable. The first architecture introduced after the discovery and conquest of the country (1517-^19) was of a very early Renais- sance type, and may be seen in the buildings of the Franciscan missionaries. An example is the church at Cuernavaca (1529). Other churches are Plateresque in character, and some show Moorish influence very distinctly. The next group chronologically is slightly later than Herrera's day, and includes the great cathedral of Mexico City (i 573-1667), erected from the designs of Juan 189 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA Gomez de Mora, Philip Ill's Court architect. The towers are of later date (1791), but with this exception the church displays the characteristics of early Baroque architecture. The plan is a rectangle some 400 feet in length, with aisles, transepts, and sixteen chapels. Over the crossing is a graceful dome with a tall and slender lantern. The construction generally is very massive, the thick walls being of basalt and grey sandstone. Much of the carved detail is heavy and eccentric, but as a whole the building is a monumental example of Spanish Baroque art in the New World. Another work of the same period is the cathedral at Puebla (1562-1649), designed by Juan de Herrera, the architect of the Escurial. The dome is a feature of nearly all Mexican churches, large and small, and fine domes appear in profusion in every city. They are invariably constructed of the admirable local stone and treated in a variety of ways, the earlier examples usually being low. The twin towers on the western or principal facade are also frequently found, as at the cathedral in Mexico City. Other instances are at Guada- lupe (where brick is used), Taxco, Chihuahua, and Morelia. At the Santisima Trinidad at Mexico City only one tower is used. Of these towers the Taxco design shows the greatest originality and elaboration. The facades of Mexican churches display a richness in composition comparable with such extravagant cases as S. Croce at Lecce or the cathedral at Murcia. For the most part due to the influence of Churriguera, whose style was greatly favoured in Spanish America, they have nevertheless much in common with earlier works of the Plateresque period. Thus, the facades of the Santisima Trinidad (1755-83) or of the Sagrario Metropolitano (1749) in Mexico City, of the churches at Taxco (1757) and at Chihuahua (1717-89) are all of late date, yet reproduce ijie spirit of Plateresque as much as that of Rococo. The two churches at Guadalupe, on a hill some three miles away from Mexico City, have been compared to Mecca, for here once a year come devout Catholics as pilgrims from all over Mexico.' This remarkable centre of religious fervour is focussed in the great collegiate church, completed in 1709. Here is preserved the miraculous picture of the Virgin which forms the object of the pilgrimage. Though the building is of comparatively ordinary dimensions, a lofty tower is placed at each of the four corners and " For an account of the festival see Mrs. Alec Tweedie's Mexico as I Saw It (Nelson, 1914). 190 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA a dome forms the central feature. Brick is freely used, even on the principal front. Adjoining this church is the small Chapel of the Well, another object of veneration to the Indian pilgrims. But, important as these buildings are to Catholic devotees, they represent no new architectural principle, and lack the charm of many less famous structures of the Plateresque and Churrigueresque schools. In the latter example the use of coloured tiles on the domes reminds us that tiling is not only a favourite method of decoration in Spain and Spanish America, but that it originated in the East, and was one of the many details due to the Moorish occupation. In many cases the gorgeous interiors of the Mexican churches have been barbarously restored, and now represent only a shadow of their former richness. Other buildings erected during the period of Spanish dominion are numerous enough. Among them may be mentioned the Bishop's palace at Monterey, the municipal palace at Aguacalientes, with a very florid Baroque facade, and the superb Baroque cortile of the Governor's palace at Queretaro. These brief paragraphs will serve as an indication of the great wealth of Spanish Baroque architecture to be found in Mexico. For Mexico possesses a greater number and variety of buildings in the style than any country in Europe. The same remark hardly applies to other ancient Spanish Colonies — Peru, Chile, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines — but there, too, the influence of Spain is very apparent even to-day, and many interesting monuments of the period, remain. WORKS OF REFERENCE XIV.— BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL Calvert, A. F. . . Spain ..... London 1910 „ ... In The Spanish Series, see „ Various volumes on Cordova, Gran- ada, Madrid, Salamanca, Saragossa, Seville, Toledo, Valladolid Capper, S. H. . Masterpieces of Spanish Archi- tecture J? 1909 Collins, W. W. . Fulton, J. B. , Cathedral Cities of Spain . Drawings in the Architect 191 1909 Jan. 7,1910 SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND SPANISH AMERICA Die Baukunst Spaniens, 3 vols. Dresden 1889-98 London 1912 GURLITT, C, AND JUNG' HAENDEL Hartley, C. G. Haupt, Albrecht Herrera, Juan de RusiNOL, S. . . Uhde, C. Watson, W. Crum . Baxter, Sylvester . The Story of Santiago de Compostela Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Portugal Sumario y Breve Declaracion de los Disenos y Estampas de la Fabrica de San Lorencio el Real del Escurial Jardins de I'Espagne Baudenkmaler in Spanien und Portugal Portuguese Architecture In series KunststUtten Mono- grdpkien, see volumes on Cor- dova and Granada, Seville and Toledo Monumentos Arquitectonicos de Espafia In Spanish America Spanish Colonial Architecture in Mexico Frankfurt 1890-5 A.M. Madrid 1589 Barcelona 1903 Berlin 1892 London 1908 Leipzig Various Madrid 190$, etc. Boston Clinch, B. J. . . California and its Missions San Fran- cisco 1904. Elliott, G. F. S. . . Chile, in The South Amtrlcan Series London 1907 Emerson, W. R, . . Architecture and Furniture of the Spanish Colonies during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Boston 1901 Enock, C. R. . . Mexico, in The South American Series . Peru, ditto .... London 9» 1907 1908 LOWERY, W, . MacGroarty . . The Spanish Settlements in the present U.S., 1 5 1 5-74 . California, its History and Romance New York Los Angeles 1911 1911 Revilla, M. G. . El Arte en Mexico en la Epoca Antigua y Durante El Gobi- erno Virreinal Mexico 1900 Terry, T. P. . Mexico. (The Mexican Bae- London 1909 deker. Contains good bibli- ography) 192 XV.— BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN BELGIUM AND HOLLAND WE have found in the later chapters of this book — ^in fact, ever since we left Italy — ^that our subject becomes increasingly complex amid the conflicting influences of the " Barbarian " lands. The sound knowledge of what Baroque architecture really comprises is severely tested when we reach a country so harried by alien invasions that it has been described as the cockpit of Europe. In fact, the wonder is that anything national has survived at all during the centuries of strife that have constantly disturbed the progress of Belgium and Holland. Yet the many buildings which must be claimed as of our style, far inferior as they are no doubt to the wonderful paintings which they contain, do most conclusively prove that these small but prosperous States have contrived to produce a manner of design which is distinctively their own. There may be many points of resemblance between the churches and town halls of Northern Germany and those of Holland ; there may be little difference between contemporary work in Picardy and Flanders ; but, nevertheless, we shall have no difficulty in tracing out the main characteristics of Baroque in the Netherlands. In the first place, it is desirable to recall the position which Belgium and Holland occupied in Europe during the seventeenth century, for in those days they were by no means the small buffer States we are inclined to think them nowadays. There was, indeed, a certain Dutch admiral, whose name is not unfamiliar in history, and who vanquished our own rising navy on numerous occasions. Yet one is too apt to remember such facts and to think of Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent as cities whose dazzling wealth at this time would account for any number of remarkable building efforts. In reality, we must picture the story of these three great towns and many others, in Belgium, at any rate, as a steady or a rapid decline. Returning to the middle of the sixteenth century we find both Holland and Belgium groaning under the iron heel of Spain, which, under Charles V, had been the greatest Power in the world, and it was left for his son Philip to see these small but brave States throw off his yoke during one of the most brilliant and admirable revolts in history. The story of the rise of the Dutch Republic has become a classic, and it is unnecessary in this brief survey to dwell on it further. What concerns us who study architecture is the effect which this great war had upon the Netherlands in art matters, for here comes the sharp distinction that must not be on any account disregarded. 193 N BELGIUM AND HOLLAND Belgium, which had formerly been the predominant partner, at any rate as far as wealth was concerned, and which had seen the first standard of revolt unfurled in Brussels, was unable to rid herself of the Spanish rule, while Holland was strikingly and permanently successful in securing her independence. It was the Dutch navy whicli scored so frequently at our expense, and it was the Dutch Eastern trade which sprang into prominence when the fame of Bruges and Antwerp was diminishing. Hence we can draw the same distinction between democratic Protestant Holland and Catholic Belgium that we did between Protestant North Germany and Catholic South Germany. And Catholicism, directly or indi- rectly, was always favourable to the spread of Baroque architecture. It is just because Belgian trade and population were declining so rapidly that we do not find in her towns the abundance of examples of this period that one would expect in a country where religion and government were alike inclined in its direction. Take, for instance, the case of Antwerp, which is, of course, a comparatively modern redevelopment, but which had as many as 125,000 inhabitants in 1568, A wave of iconoclasm was punished by the banishing of many thousands of the best and most industrious citizens to England, and a few years later the Spanish soldiers sacked the city, burned down a large part of it, and slew 7,000 of its people. A siege followed in 1585, and at its conclusion the population had sunk to 85,000, and only four years later to 55,000. During the seventeenth century the decline continued, and what is true for Antwerp applies to nearly every important city in Belgium. Considering these circumstances, it is marvellous how little they affected some branches of art, especially in Antwerp itself, where the genius of Rubens was only less noteworthy than his tremendous output. How closely this great painter's mind was in sympathy with the spirit of Baroque art and how much he did to foster its popularity will be explained later ; at the moment it is sufficient to point out that in Antwerp a very vigorous and versatile school had risen from the ashes of Flemish greatness in the preceding age. Brussels, on the other hand, never became more than an important official centre during the century, while the story of Bruges' fortunes is one long tale of trade losses, commerce having left her high and dry to the mercies of religion. Ghent had little better to relate, but at Louvain the famous University boasted its four thousand scholars and its forty-three colleges about the year 1600. 194 Fig. q/^.—Morelia, Mexico. Cathedral. From a drawing by the Author. To face p, 194, BELGIUM AND HOLLAND Almost the only exception to this dreary list is Malines, or Mechlin, which is probably the most Baroque city in the Nether- lands, and owes that pre-eminence to its religious importance. The Archbishop of Mechlin was the primate of the Netherlands, and has been since the days of Cardinal Granvella, who died in 1586. Except, then, for Mechlin, we find that seventeenth-century Belgium was infinitely less wealthy and prosperous than she had been a hundred years before, and that her general state was unfavourable in all ways to the spread of a new art movement. But spread it certainly did, and we must seek another cause from her annals. The writer has already commented on the fact that Mechlin's freedom from the record of decline is due to her religious importance ; due, as we have so often found before in these pages, to the Counter-Reformation and the Jesuits ; due, then, after all, to Rome and the Baroque architecture in that city. It was probably his visits to Rome as well as his own temperament which turned Rubens along the same path, and other artists — sculptors especially — felt the force of the new spirit. Lastly, the years which followed the great war and the destruction of so much in Belgium were, happily for her people, a time of peace and immunity from serious conflict. A new Italian Governor, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, is chiefly memorable for the improvement in social conditions which he efiiscted, but his nation- ality must have left some traces on Flemish art and so prepared the way for what followed. Intercourse between Italy and the great cities of the Spanish Netherlands was constant and profitable, Antwerp serving as a market or clearing-house where Italian brocades and velvets changed hands. Then in the earlier years of the seventeenth century, under the next Governor, Albert of Austria, the country began to recover in some small measure from the terrible wounds she had received during her struggle for liberty. The new Prince and his wife entered with alacrity and enthusiasm into every sort of movement which tended to better the condition of their land, ane., iiot least, into numerous schemes for the advancement of art. Their achievements chiefly lay in the direction of church-building on strongly anti-Reformation lines, and they commenced that series of ornate churches which are among the principal Baroque monu- ments of this period. Education was also encouraged, and, as in Germany and Spain, was chiefly organised by the Jesuits and other Catholic bodies, whose activities in this sphere and also in philan- thropic institutions forwarded the cult of Baroque building. 195 BELGIUM AND HOLLAND Lastly, they persuaded Rubens, who, after his various visits to Italy, had decided to settle there, to return to Belgium in 1609, and, as their official Court painter, to take up his headquarters in Antwerp. The wonderful success of his school there and its incal- culable influence on local art calls for no insistence here and is generally recognized. What is most important to note is the manner in which the way was cleared for a fresh effort in building after a period of disaster, and, as wars again broke out in the latter part of the century, it was in these earlier years that the seeds of the new movement were sown. What has been said in previous chapters of the Renaissance in Germany, France, and Spain applies with equal force to both Belgium and Holland. Whereas in Italy the seventeenth century saw a breaking away from academic tradition, these other countries had little academic tradition to throw overboard. The most eccentric creations of the Jesuits in the Netherlands were no more absurd than works which had preceded them, and a critic who attempts to make over-ornamentation his sole criterion of Baroque in a Flemish town is as much at sea as he would be in Seville or in Bavaria. Professor Corrado Ricci tells us in a recent book i that the aim of the Baroque architect was to instil a feeling of wonder into the mind of the beholder. In Belgium the citizen of almost any wealthy city would, one imagines, be far too blasi to be startled by any novelty that the Italian mind could import. There are, of course, in Belgium, as in Germany or Spain, buildings of a charming simplicity and of undeniable correctness. Such a one is the large house on the banks of the Meuse near Liege, formerly the home of one Cort, or Curtices, a rich merchant. Were this mansion erected in Hampstead or Streatham it would be set down without hesitation by our critics as the work of one of our more famous designers of thirty years ago, when the so-called Queen Anne revival was in vogue. It is not English in feeling, yet shows how the more sober type of Flemish house may attract an English taste. A fine cornice with an enormous stretch of steep-hipped roof above, a carefully thought out scheme of brickwork and stone bands, square mullions, and beautifully proportioned windows — all these features go to form one of the most pleasing compositions in the Netherlands. Then there are buildings as Italian as Cardinal Granvella's palace at • Ricci's Baroque Architecture and Sculpture in 'Italy, p. i. 156 ^'g- 9l~Naimir. S. Lot^p. (See p. 197.) Fig. 96. — Malines. Notre-Dame-d' Hanswyck. Confessional. (See p. 198.) To face p, 197 BELGIUM AND HOLLAND Brussels, now forming part of the University, with a courtyard very suggestive of Genoa. But as a rule the principal Renaissance buildings of Belgium arc more closely akin to the Elizabethan work in our own country or to contemporary architecture in Germany. Italian detail is very freely used, but generally on a mediaeval background. The orders are of little importance save as decorative adjuncts. The lofty gables, with corbie-steps, only become a little richer and a little more outrageous than their Gothic prototypes. Time after time one comes upon facades or interiors so rich, so whimsical, so striking, that the normal restraint of the Renaissance seems to have been discarded altogether. And from these usually ornate designs one has to select those which can logically be regarded as Baroque ! A chronological selection is utterly futile. The Palais de Justice at Mechlin, though so early as 1 5 1 7, has features as closely akin to Baroque as has the ornate Meat Market at Haarlem (1602-3), in Holland. The most obviously Baroque buildings in Belgium are without doubt the seventeenth-century churches, which form in many respects a remarkable group. In the early years of the century were erected, among less familiar examples, S. Augustine, Antwerp (16 15); the Jesuit church, Antwerp (16 14-21), by a member of that Order, one Francois Aiguillon ; S. Anna, Bruges (1607-12); the Jesuit church, Bruges (1619-41) ; the Carmelite church (1607-13), and the Augustinian church (1620-42) at Brussels, the latter by Wenceslaus Coebergher or Koeberger, who united the functions of painter and architect ; S. Peter, Ghent (1629), by Peter Huyssens ; the Beguinage church of S. Alexis at Mechlin (1629-47), by Jacques Francquart ; and the Jesuit church of S. Loup at Namur (1621-53). Fergusson, in his History of Modern Architecture, makes St. Anna at Bruges a peg on which to hang a few reflections on Renaissance architecture in Belgium, referring more particularly, though probably unconsciously, to its Baroque phase. "Although the Belgians . . . have no buildings erected during the Renaissance period which can rank with those of more artistic countries, still, it is impossible to wander through the land without appreciating the strong feeling for the beauties of Art on the part of the people, who, under more favourable circumstances, might and would have done things of which they might justly have been proud. . . . " In the Church of St. Anne at Bruges," although the entablature of the nave 197 N* BELGIUM AND HOLLAND " is heavy beyond all precedent," and completely at variance writh the usual rules, yet " the effect of the w^hole is most satisfactory. The spectator feels not only that the support is sufficient, but that the architect knew it would be so, and secured the safety of his superstructure by the immense solidity of the parts he employed. " Though in a less degree, the same remark applies to the nave of the church of the Carmelites at Ghent, and to most of the churches of the Renaissance age in Belgium. They may not Tie models of taste^ hut they are not the tame apings of classicality which are so offensive in other countries" ' It must be said, nevertheless, that these churches are neither so interesting nor so original as those built later in the century. The Jesuit church at Antwerp has a flat but elaborate facade, with nothing to recommend it as a composition, though the detail is satisfactory. The present building is, however, only a copy of the original, which was destroyed by lightning a century after its erection, and was decorated by Rubens with no less than thirty-six ceiling paintings. This church has an excellent tower. The Augustinian church at Brussels has a far more successful facade, bolder than the last, yet restrained and Italian in character. S. Peter's at Ghent has a plain and well-grouped exterior. The interiors of these buildings, though elaborately decorated and finished, are, as a rule, simply planned on basilican lines. In the second half of the seventeenth century we find five remarkable churches, designed by one man who has, moreover, other things in his life to make his name interesting. Luc Faid'herbe was born in Mechlin in 1617, and died there eighty years later after a long and busy career. He combined sculpture and architecture in his versatile achievements, and he actually studied under Rubens, with whom he was associated in the decoration of some of his earlier work. In the Rue S. Catherine at Mechlin may be seen a house designed, tradition says, for his parents, but more probably of later date. The architect himself died there, and its narrow and lofty but charming little facade serves to perpetuate his name. In Mechlin itself he built the churches of Notre Dame d'Hanswyck (1663-78), SS. Peter and Paul (1670-77), and the I Priory of Val-des-Lis (1662). The first is interesting as containing two large reliefs by him in the dome, and is remarkable for the rich black and white marble decoration of the interior. Marble in Belgium lies ready to hand, and in this church, as well as at the Priory of Val-des-Lis and many others, is the most interesting feature to a visitor's eye. The grouping of the central ' Fergusson's History of Modem JrcUtecttfre, vol. ii. pp. 232-3 (1891 Edition). The italics are the present writer's. 198 F^S- 97' — Louvain. S. Michael. (See p. 199) Fig. 98. — Brussels. Old Guildhouses in the Grand' Place. (See p. 200.) BELGIUM AND HOLLAND dome and the arms of the church is admirable externally, whereas at SS. Peter and Paul a bold and striking west front has been ruined by a weak and hideous superstructure of 1709. His two most noteworthy buildings are, however, the church of the Beguinage at Brussels (1657-76) and the Jesuit church of S. Michael at LouvMn (1650-6). The former has perhaps the best Baroque facade among Belgian ecclesiastical buildings, and a plan much nearer the mediaeval type than the familiar seventeenth-century form borrowed from the Gesu at Rome, with chapels galore. The latter appears to suggest that Faid'herbe borrowed his great brackets from the then recently completed Jesuit church at Antwerp, for the resemblance must be more than a coincidence. The propor- tions of this facade make it distinctly preferable to the Antwerp example. The detail of the interior in its frank adapting of classical forms to its own purposes is very characteristic of its period. A student of these churches cannot fail to note the marvellous richness of their fittings and decoration, making it hard, indeed, to believe that they date from an age of declining splendour. Especially on the marble altars and the oak choir-stalls was expended a pro- fusion of carving and workmanship which is almost incredible and says much for the devotion of the faithful. As instances of admirably executed woodwork under this heading one might mention the con- fessionals at Notre Dame d'Hanswyck, Mechlin, and the choir-stalls at Vilvorde and Gronendael, both near Brussels. The ornate and over-elaborate pulpits familiar in the cathedrals and larger churches of Belgium can hardly be accepted as Baroque without reservation. Dating in nearly all cases from the eighteenth century, they are Rococo and un-architectural in character. In preceding chapters a distinction has been drawn between Rococo and Baroque. Mention of decoration brings us back inevitably to Rubens and his share in the movement under consideration. Born in Germany in 1577, he was educated in a Jesuit school at Antwerp, and, as Professor Anton Springer has said : — " In the sensuous splendour of his religious pictures, in the accessories of his classical representations, which, however brilliant, are often superficial, it is easy to discern the eflFects of his training in the then flourishing schools of the all-powerful Jesuits." ' Between the years 1600 and 1608 the young artist travelled, as was the excellent custom of those days, through the most famous cities » Professor A. Springer's " Historical Sketch of Art in the Netherlands " in Baedeker's Guide to 'Belpum and Holland, p. liii (1905 Edition). 199 BELGIUM AND HOLLAND of the South. Sometimes he worked for a patron, as at Mantua, sometimes he merely studied for his profession. In Venice, Rome, Genoa, and Spain he came into contact with all the most vigorous centres of Baroque inspiration, and when lured back to Antwerp by the security of an official position, he amused himself by erecting in his garden a triumphal arch and a summer-house based on the bombastic scale then so much in vogue in Italy. In a well-known picture by Rubens in the gallery at Munich he has depicted himself and his wife reclining in a corner of this garden at Antwerp, whose heavy rusticated columns and boldly unconventional gables betray the leanings of his taste.' And all through his career he worked with architects and sculptors in that admirable union which was so decided a merit of the age, when painting had its definite part to play in decorative Architecture and sculpture completed the trio. From the great wall-paintings and ceiling-paintings so beloved of Jesuit builders we of modern times may learn the true relations of the Fine Arts. Something has been said of churches and of decoration ; there still remains the field of domestic architecture, in which the Baroque period also left its mark. Probably the most noteworthy of the secular buildings erected during the seventeenth century are those florid but attractive Guild Houses which transform the market-places of Brussels and Antwerp from modern into bygone days. Each had its distinctive name and its distinctive sign, indicating the halls of the Mercers', the Skippers', the Archers', the Carpenters', the Coopers', or the Brewers' Guilds. Covered with gilding and with stucco decoration, they usually date from the Baroque period even up to the Rococo transition, many of those at Brussels being of the last decade of the seventeenth century. In utter contradiction of this tendency to narrow and lofty fa5ades is the long, low outline of the Prevote or Maison du Gouverneur at Bruges (1662, by Fr. van HiUewerve), which only an architect could claim as Baroque, from the character of its detail. Yet the principal door and the bay above it admit of no other classification. At Lille, too, over the French border, is a Bourse (1651, by Julian Deatree) of very different character, hardly Belgian and hardly French, with a great number of windows, dormers, and pilasters, and a steep-hipped tiled roof. Although the walls are of brickwork externally, this material can hardly be seen for decoration, yet the ' Rubens and his Wife in hit Garden at Antwerp, in the Pinakothek at Munich. Illustrated in Masterpieces of Ruiens, in Gewan's Art Series, 1905. 200 ^3 BELGIUM AND HOLLAND whole design is thoroughly charming, and is akin to our English Georgian in its comfortable proportions. In the same city a striking architectural contrast is formed by the Porte de Paris, which is French in character and extraordinarily modern in effect. Dating from 1685-95, *^ forms part of the old line of fortifications erected by the celebrated Marshal Vauban, and when these were demolished in 1858 it was preserved, hence its isolated appearance. It is interesting to compare this design, reflecting the spirit of the '* Roi Soleil," with the essentially Flemish Bourse. The comparison is suggested also by other Lille buildings. Thus the Grand' Garde (17 17) in the principal square and the Porte de Tournai (of Louis XIV's reign) are essentially French, while the Porte Royale (1670) at the Citadel is Flemish. Several churches in the town follow the Jesuit tradition, and, as has been previously noted, Flemish influence is visible at S. Amand and Cambrai, among other cities over the French border (see p. 174). The many minor Baroque buildings of Belgium frequently repre- sent the style in its most picturesque form. Among fountains may be mentioned that popular, if vulgar, little figure known as " The Mannikin" at Brussels (16 19), which seems to typify in its small form and in its carefully studied setting all the conscious broad humour of the age. In the neighbouring country of Holland architecture became very different from that of Belgium. Holland in the seventeenth century was infinitely more wealthy than Belgium, and one would expect two eoples separated by no more than a continental boundary to have assimilated the same principles of art abreast. Yet the fact remains that in Holland the Baroque style was never popular and never progressed far. It would appear that this country, still smarting from the struggle with Spain, still glorying in a victory which was religious as much as political, carefully avoided in its buildings any of those features which so savoured of the Jesuits and of Rome, and which were, moreover, beloved of their late Spanish tyrants. At all events, one has to search carefully for even a stray doorway or gable which is definitely Baroque in character among the barn- like churches and solid-looking mansions of the Dutch towns. There are many buildings of a very florid Renaissance type, such as the Town Halls of Leyden (1565), the Hague (1579), and Bolsward (1613-16) ; the meat market at Haarlem (1602-3), the 201 BELGIUM AND HOLLAND town gate at Dordrecht (1618), and, the " Goldwaag " at Groningen (1635). All of these, however, fall short of Baroque requirements, and come under the same class as most of our Elizabethan or Early Jacobean work and, say, the Friedrichsbau at Heidelberg. It might be permissible to describe the very original tower of St. Anne's at Haarlem (1645-9) as Baroque, for it certainly appears to be so ; and only a consciousness of the frequent oddity of Dutch towers prevents the writer from dogmatising on this example. The same remark applies in less degree to the towers of the Westerkerk (1620-31) and the Zuiderkerk (1634) at Amsterdam. Perhaps we might make the Haarlem instance the first of our Baroque list in Holland, and add to it the Weinhaus at Zutphen, the doorway of the Bruntenhof at Utrecht (1621), and parts of the old hospital at Middelburg, more especially an excellent doorway. Middelburg has a notable individuality of its own and clusters round its great Abbey, the most important church in Holland. Being a Catholic centre, it boasts a late Baroque steeple, known as " Lang Jan," whose chimes are familiar to visitors, and which is illustrated here, together with a small doorway from the fine octagonal Oostkerk in the same city. It is a meagre list, but goes to prove how much this style of archi- tecture seems to have been bound up with the temperaments and habits of men, and how its religious associations seem to have turned against it the more Puritan sympathies of the emancipated Dutch. Eminently suited as it was for glorifying the position of a wealthy merchant or a successful general, it was left severely alone, and a preference was shown for the plain and classical designs which appealed more forcibly to the hardy if prosperous descendants of " William the Silent." Only in his garden did the Dutchman allow himself a little licence. For in this respect alone he excelled his Belgian neighbour as regards outward display. It is true that hardly a garden remains in Flanders or Brabant after all the centuries of constant warfare that have desolated the country. Yet in Northern Holland a num- ber of most interesting gardens remain, in spite of much " land- scape " vandalism, and it was in prosperous Holland that the Dutch garden as we now know it was entirely evolved. Gardening in one sense — the cultivation of flowers and vegetables for profit — is a diflferent thing from the formal architectural garden of the rich merchant's villa ; and it is the latter aspect which concerns us here, though nowadays bulb-farms seem the chief attraction to visitors. The cult seems to have begun late in the sixteenth century, and 202 Fig. \oi. —Middelburg. The Abbey Steeple. (" Lang Ian.") From a drawing by the Author. To Face p, ao2. BELGIUM AND HOLLAND for some time ret^ned its national characteristics. The inevitable flatness of the land precluded any of the terraces and staircases which are so characteristic a feature in Italy. In Holland the only method of obtaining a vista beyond the garden itself was to terminate a long central alley with a clairvoyie — that is, an opening between brick piers filled only with an iron grille. Another feature was a " green arbour " or alley, formed of leaves trained in tunnel fashion over a walk, as may be seen at Hampton Court. Formality attains its greatest extent in the parterres and topiary work of the Dutch garden, but in the matter of fountains, screens, and other architectural trifles the influence of the Baroque movement is apparent. A canal is often one of the boundaries of the site, and ^ords a variety of interest which is pleasant in a country where there are no extensive views. Little gazebos or garden-houses are frequently, arranged to command the canal, and are placed at the angles of the garden. Among early Dutch designers the most familiar name is that of Vredeman de Vries(b. 1527), but by the beginning of the eighteenth century the influence of Le Notre appears, and among those who followed his methods in Holland were Simon Schynvoet (1652- 1727), Jacques Roman, and Daniel Marot. The latter is said to have played a part in the laying out of the great gardens at Hampton Court, where so much of the design reminds one of King William's close connection with the Netherlands. 203 BELGIUM AND HOLLANt) WORKS OF REFERENCE XV.— BOOKS DEALING WITH BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE IN BELGIUM AND HOLLAND Bezold, G. von De Cantillom De Clobt, J. J. Du ViVlER Ewerbeck, F. Galland, G. . godenne, l. . GuRLrrr, C. . Hymams, Hehri » Post, Pierre . RoussEAV, Henry Sandrbmius, Dr. A. Theodore, Emile Triggs, H. Inigo Van Oosten, H. ysendycc, j. j. yan Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Deutschland Delices de Brabant et de ses Campagnes Chateaux et monuments des Pays-Bas Le Jardin de Hollande Die Renaissance in Belgien und Holland Geschichte der Hollandischen Baukunst Malines, jadis et aujourd'hui . Geschichte des Barockstiles. Vol. iii. Bruges et Ypres, in Fi/ks d'art calibres Gand et Tournai, ditto . Les ouvrages d' Architecture La Sculpture Beige auz XVII* et XVIII" siScles Flandria Illustrata . Les Vieux Monuments de Lille Garden Craft in Europe . The Dutch Gardener Documents classes des monu- ments des Pays-Bas Stuttgart 1898 Amsterdam 17S7 Brussels 1826 Amsterdam Leipzig 1710 1889 Frankfurt A.M. Malines Stuttgart 1890 1908 1887-9 Paris 1907 Leyden Brussels 1906 171S Recent Lille London London Antwerp 1641 1912 191S 1710 1880- 1905 204 Fig. 102. — Middelburg. Oosikerke. Doorway. From a drawing by the Author. To face p. 204. XVI.— BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND THE chief difference in the treatment of Baroque architec- ture in England and in continental countries l ies in ter- minology , for, although the movement had a considerable effect onTingllsh design, its name has never been accepted by critics. There is also a difference of degree, in that the number of examples in this country is relatively negligible and that we must look for evidence in the less obvious aspects of art. It is hardly enough to regard the terms "Baroque" and "Free Classic " as synonymous in England. The latter description has never been approved by competent authorities, and, although fre- quently employed, is almost meaningless. It may be applied logi- cally to nine-tenths of Renaissance buildings without hesitation, for only in a few examples is the design as academic as in those master- pieces of Greek culture which constitute classic architecture properly speaking. The Renaissance came to England from Italy and France, but chiefly from Italy., Yet tradition on the one hand and external influences on the other frequently overshadowed this primary source, so that evolution was interrupted and variable. John Shute, who published his work. The Chief Groundes of Architecture^ in 1563, was sent to Italy by a wealthy patron in 1550 for purposes of study, and many craftsmen followed the same course. The architect, as we know him to-day, had hardly made his appearance at the time, and the profession is barely defined until the days of Inigo Jones. The seventeenth century in this country may be said to comprise, broadly speaking, the reigns of the Stuart kings, and to correspond to the Baroque period abroad. This span of a hundred years may be considered to be in many respects the most eventful and the most interesting in the history of our nation. It opens in the spacious days of Queen Elizabeth, and its close precedes by only a few years the dazzling victories of Marlborough. It was the age of Shakespeare and Milton, of Cromwell and William of Orange, an age during which the whole character of English life changed completely. Its very brilliance tends to confuse a student of cause and effect in any field, and not least in that of architecture. Seventeenth-century psunting and sculpture in England are prac- tically negligible, alien talent — such as that of Rubens and Van Dyck — ^usurping all the patronage. But the Mistress Art rose to a level which it had never surpassed before. It is a far cry from the quaint and beautiful manor-houses of Eliza- bethan times to the colossal absurdities of Vanbrugh, but between 105 BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND those points lie all the traces of the Baroque characteristics to which our search is now directed. It has been laid down on various occasions in these chapters that Baroque architecture is not recognizable solely by its absurdity or its elaboration, and in England, as in other countries, this maxim is confirmed. The first Italian artists to be imported — Torrigiano and his assistants — did not change the whole manner of our design by their efforts. Their terra-cotta roundels and their magnificent tombs had no very serious influence on building, but remained exotic elements. English architecture, indeed, never approximated in any serious degree to Italian until the wonderful career of Inigo Jones. There is, moreover, another important contrast between this country and others during the period. England .mnained on the whole dis- tinctly Protestant, and the Jesuits never carried their building activities acrosstHe Channel. Even the most casual reader of these articles cannot fail to grasp the significance of this fact, for to the Counter- Reformation has been ascribed the greates t share i n the propagation of Rarpqueldeas. Yet in the later years of Elizabeth's reign, and all through her successor's, there is a large mass of design which is neither decadent Gothic nor a compromise between the old style and the new, but has in it many kindred elements to Baroque architecture. To a large extent we may trace this to those numerous German s and Flemings who were fesponsiBre for a great part of the,_crafts- manshfp ofthe age, and who, as Mr. Blomfield * and others have pointed out, invariably worked to their own designs. Their work differs from that of the Italians in its untrammelled freedom and from the Gothic-Renaissance mixture in its conscious and intentional originality. It sometimes charms by its picturesque qualities, but more frequently sinks to mere coarse and vulgar eccentricity. The same difficulties which beset us in Germany confront us in studying the English Renaissance, the more so because the culminating period of the Renaissance in England came more than a century later than in Italy ; whereas in Germany there was never any really great period. The Elizabethan and Jacobean builders were most successful where least imaginative, and the traditional vernacular work of country districts is frequently superior to grandiose efforts such as Burghley H6use. Naturally enough, it is to the latter that we look for the introduction of bizarre alien elements, for it was one ' Blomiield's A Short History ofEngRth Renaissance Architecture, p. 20, etc. 206 Fig. 103. — Kensington. Holland House. Gazebo, From a drawing by the Author. To lace p. 207. BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND of the desires of a great man in those days to adorn his mansion with the quaint and curious products of other lands. The famous gates at Holdenby House (1583), in Northamptonshire, are like nothing else under the sun, but need not for that reason alone be classed as Baroque. Similar cases of studied oddity occur in late Gothic work, and are very frequent among the constructive experiments in French sixteenth-century chateaux. In this par- ticular case, however, the artificial note is so pronounced and the constructive element so markedly absept that one can only ascribe its inspiration to the new movement from abroad, probably from Flanders rather than from Italy. There is a heavy ugliness in the design, more cha,racteristic of Flemish work than Italian, and this defect destroys any charm of originality. What does constitute a close parallel to Baroque work in this period is the gradual and increasing introduction of entirely new details, not in any way influenced by Gothic tradition, evolved whether by native or foreign workmen as a novelty for novelty's sake. The strange finials on stone manor-houses in Yorkshire and the Cotswolds are striking examples, for it is obvious that theSe houses were, for the most part, built by local craftsmen, who now for the first time felt a desire to produce an artificial change in ornament. This straining for effect may have been fostered by the similar trend in literature, where the Euphuists with their stilted phrasing were destined to fade in the dawn of Shakespeare's genius, as the conceits of the Jacobean builders gave way before the great mind of Inigo Jones. Baroque architecture, as has been already said, is seldom spontaneous in spirit. Whether expressing the conscious pride of the Counter- Reformation or the crushing power of some great nobleman, the expression of pride is deliberate and artificial. There is no humility and no genuine piety in its composition. The plan of the greater mansions in England began to show some- thing of this same ideal — an ordered magnificence which was a great step forward from the semi-fortified arrangement of Tudor days. There was, it is true, no vast suite of connected saloons such as distinguish the Papal villas and palaces of the same era, but a desire for a vista and for eff^ects of alignment became more general. The formal garden, with its topiary work and its summer-houses, came into being, and at Holland House, Kensington (see Fig, 103) the gazebo or garden-house is a prominent and remarkable feature of the design. In the same garden the terraces are on a large scale, recalling the ambitious efforts of Roman Baroque designers, 207 BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND Another great house, Montacute, shows a difFerent treatment of summer-houses and terraces on different lines. To the same foreign source may be ascribed the increasing importance of the gate-house, and at Plymouth the gateway of the Citadel (c. 1670) might have been imported direct from Flanders. This is a noteworthy instance of Baroque design throughout an architectural work, and another may be cited in the Riding School of Bolsover Castle, dating from about the third quarter of the seventeenth century. In smaller features the tendency is still more apparent, the elaborate heraldry over many Jacooean doorways being a case in point. The Riding School at Bolsover has stone dormers and elaborate porches of Italian type. Even in obscure villages one finds unexpected exotics such as the window illustrated, from Tilley Manor, near West Harptree, in Somerset. As in Germany, the gables and chimney-pieces of the greater houses became ,very eccentric in outline, and much church furniture — pulpits, screens, font-covers and especially tombs — cannot possibly be excluded from the same category. The fountain at Trinity College, Cambridge (1602), is unique and original, but one hesitates in adding it to the list. Lastly, the Baroque spirit appears in the extensive use of symbolism in architecture. In an earlier chapter mention was made of that church in Rome of which the plan is said to be based on the shape of a bee, the Barberini device. In England we find at the same period hunting-lodges and even large houses with an equally cryptic arrangement. Thus the Trinity is typified in the plan as well as in the details of the Triangular Lodge at Rushton, Northamptonshire, built at the end of the sixteenth century. John Thorpe's design for Longford Castle, Wilts, is also a triangular plan, with a circular tower at each angle, but this may have no symbolical value. The New Building, as it is called, at Lyveden represents the Passion in its ornaments and in its cruciform plan. In various houses, notably at Templenewsam near Leeds, an inscription — a Latin text or motto — is contrived as a balustrade round a wing or some part of the house, and monograms or other devices are freely used. It is in similar ways that one may determine the effect of early Baroque influences in England, always intangible rather than concrete. The vagaries of expiring Gothic must be disregarded as outside the subject, and the work of the foreigners during these complex years may Usually be explained by a comparison with contemporary ' German or Flemish buildings, themselves an example of the Battle of the Styles. Oxford colleges provide many examples of this 208 BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND transition period, and almost form a tradition of their own. And it ttiust always be remembered that Torrigiano and his men never vitally affected the course of English architecture. i: T=zzzr'-^^ Fig. 104. — Tilley Manor, Somerset. From a drawing by the Author. Mr, Blomfield sums up this difficult period as follows : — "The architecture of the hundred years from 1520 to 1620 was, in fact, tentative. The builders were losing their old tradition, and had not yet replaced it by a new one, and, on the other hand, a 209 o BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND certain sense of expansion and intellectual enfranchisement in the air tempted them to bold experiments for which they were ill- equipped." I Criticism becomes infinitely more simple with the advent of Inigo Jones, who was the first genuine English architect, and who studied architecture seriously and systematically in Italy. That he spent a large part of his life as a theatrical designer and a small part of it as a King's Messenger does not affect the case. His buildings and his drawings are extant and accessible. With very few exceptions he drew his inspiration direct from Palladio, but he never copied. At Coleshill he created the first of that magnificent series of great country houses which marked the Later Renaissance in England, and which evince as complete a negation of the Jacobean style as of copyism from Italy. Here there is not a trace, not a remote suspicion, of Baroque influence. It is absolutely his own, yet, in a sense, it is classic, as pure as the work, of Phidias. So also is his Banqueting Hall in Whitehall and his superb staircase at Ashburnham House. In three respects only can he be said to have owed any obligation to the seventeenth-century architects whom he met on his second visit to Rome (i 6 13- 14). He probably owed to them, rather than to any of their predecessors, his ability to plan a vast scheme on a colossal scale ; he may have learned from them something of staircase design for spectacular effect ; and in some of his drawings, such as his design for the west front of St. Paul's in the Burlington- Devonshire Collection,^ he displays some of the less admirable qualities of the style. One example of his genius, however, is thoroughly Baroque in spirit — the York Stairs on the Embankment. This masterpiece may be compared with the Medici Fountain at the Luxembourg and with the Porta del Molo at Genoa to show the qualities which the style possesses for so monumental a purpose. Whether or not he designed the famous porch of St. Mary's, Oxford, may never be known ; but this is, more than his authenticated buildings, a deliberate adaptation of the spirit of Italian Baroque. In the works of Wren are to be found more numerous and more obvious examples of a Baroque tendency. He attained some ' Blomfield's Siort History of Renaissance Architecture in England, p. 70 (1900 Edition). ' Illustrated in article by J. A. Gotch, The Burlington-Devonshire Collection of Drapings in The R.I.B.A. Journal, 191 1. 210 to a =? Fig. io6. — Plymouth. Gateway to Citadel. (See p. 208.) Fig. 107. — Old Temple Bar, now at Theobalds Park. (See p. 211.) BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND eminence as a daring and inventive scientist before family influence placed architectural commissions in his hands, and he had no special training for such a career. His lapses from accepted rules are of a piece with the heresies of theologians who have never passed through the portals of a theological college. With a less clever man such experiments might have degenerated into the wild efforts of a Borromini ; but Wren had a steadier brain, and was constantly being brought into touch with that sober Dutch influence which permeated the Court. It may be a new view to some people to class the western towers of St. Paul's as Baroque, but no other category embraces them, while in the remarkable spires of Bow Church and 'St. Bride's there is still less room for doubt. These two latter examples, together with York Stairs, form a worthy and notable nucleus of an English Baroque style, though perhaps they have never been so regarded in this country. Nor is Wren's smaller work devoid of these charac- teristics, and in many an altarpiece or organ-case. In marble fonts and stone carving, may be seen those same elements which we should unhesitatingly acclaim as Baroque in Rome. No more typical example could be cited than the wooden reredos of St. Mary Abchurch in the City.' Of very diff^erent character is his remarkable triumphal arch, Temple Bar, one of the most precious monuments which London has had to sacrifice to her modern prosperity. This beautiful composition must be added to the short list given above, for in its spirit and in its lines its origin is evident enough. What has already been said of Inigo Jones, that he may well have been influenced in his greater projects by the bold schemes of the Baroque architects in Rome, applies in a less degree to Wren, whose chief experience abroad was in Paris, and who was himself by nature an inventor, whether in the fields of science or art. Wren's pupils and successors followed in his footsteps in this respect, as in so many others, and the fashion which he had set of designing novel spires for his City churches was adopted by Hawksmoor, at Christ Church, Spitalfields, and at St. George's, Bloomsbury ; by Gibbs at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch ; and by others of less note. His example inspired Gibbs at St. Mary-le-Strand, and the magni- ficent lines of the RadclifFe Library at Oxford form a dignified English counterpart of Baroque architecture abroad. The work of Henry Bell of King's Lynn — an unknown character who forms an architectural problem — exhibits the same tendency and may ' See The Builder, February 28, 1913. 211 BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND possibly be explained by his training as an engraver. The influence of some of the great Italian and French draughtsmen cannot but have affected architects in this country. Last and perhaps most important of the names in this brief summary is that of Sir John Vanbrugh, who, like many of his contemporaries and immediate predecessors, came to architecture comparatively late in life without receiving any technical or artistic grounding in his profession. A proselyte from scene-painting and from poetry, his imaginative qualities had no doubt developed to the detriment of other virtues, and he borrowed from Baroque architecture without discrimination. His better-known works are distinguished by their colossal and overpowering scale, mere bigness being glorified for its own sake. Most of all is this megalomania apparent in the gigantic piles of Castle Howard and of Blenheim Palace. No doubt his instructions, in the latter case at any rate, required him to provide a building which should dazzle posterity. " When Europe, freed, confess'd the saving power Of Marlborough's hand, Britain, who sent him forth, Chief of confederate hosts to fight the cause Of Liberty and Justice, grateful raised This Palace, sacred to the Leader's fame, A trophy of success." So says an old poet, and success blazed from every pompous stone. Parliainent voted the stupendous sum of half a million to erect a fitting mansion, and the whole scheme was carried out with in- credible ambition. Its whole lay-out, its curved colonnade and its recessed fronts, its vast saloons, its gardens and bridge, its Kensington gates — all are English Baroque if anything is, new to English eyes in Queen Anne's days, and exotics ever since. The bridge (with rooms in it for summer residence), is perhaps the most attractive feature of a conception which is too artificially stupendous to be really attractive, but which had a stout defender in Sir Joshua Reynolds, who wrote warmly of its picturesque qualities. Castle Howard boasts of a smaller frontage (660 feet, Blenheim being 856 feet), but is more pleasing by reason of its central dome. Yet there is hardly a single fine room in either of these huge palaces, and the interior of the dome at Castle Howard is a mere funnel. Everything was sacrificed to an appearance of external grandeur, and thus the two buildings most permeated with Bardque influience 212 Fig. \c&. —Carshalton. Monument in Church. BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND in all England, magnificently designed and successfully completed, lose half their value. Another minor aspect of this style is to be found in the frequently fulsome and ostentatious monuments which are scattered all through the older churches of the country. They have a certain fitness when surrounded by sympathetic architecture, but among Gothic pillars and tracery they too often offend by their pagan sense of self-sufficiency, much more so than the amusing and oddly pathetic effigies of kneeling Jacobean families which preceded them. The example in Carshalton Church is typical of its class. England is not rich in fountains or triumphal arches of the period, but here and there are small Baroque buildings, such as that in the market-place at Beverley, which is neither a market-hall nor a market-cross nor a clock tower, but a quaint little structure like a gazebo in the middle of the town. Of ambitious schemes of civic adornment we have none, but the Duke of Chandos projected a colossal avenue from Cavendish Square in London to Canon's Park at Edgware, a distance of ten miles, and the two " lodges " forming the southern approach are still prominent on the north side of the square. I Nottingham Castle is a building showing Baroque influence very strongly and is attributed to Marsh, who probably designed the Bolsover Riding School and may have been a pupil of Inigo Jones.2 Such was the effect which the great Baroque movement had upon architecture in England between the reigns of Elizabeth and Anne. Sometimes subtle and elusive in its symptoms, sometimes direct and obvious enough, it has played its part in the formation of our later national styles, and its work is not yet done. The Rococo influence of the eighteenth century hardly touched this country as far as actual building was concerned, though in some of Chippendale's furniture designs it may be seen in all its riotous exuberance and lightness.3 The Baroque style, on the other hand, provided men of the calibre of Inigo Jones, Wren, Gibbs, and Vanbrugh, with some of the bold precedents which were necessary to enable them to conceive their greater schemes and to introduce novelty into their more difficult problems. The Late Renaissance in England could not have achieved its magnificent triumphs — more striking perhaps than those of any other land — had it not been for Italy, and Italy would ' See Besant's Hampstead in Tie Fascination of London series. " S6e The Builder, November 17, 191 1. 3 See Fig. 96 in J. H. Pollen's English Furniture and Woodwork. 213 o* BAROQUE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND not have supplied that stimulus to such an extent had it not been for the talents of Bernini and the other architects who followed Michelangelo and Falladio. WORKS OF REFERENCE XVI. Belcher akd Macartney Later Renaissance Architecture in England (2 vols.) London 1898-9 Birch, G. H. London Churches of the Seven- teenth and Eighteenth Cen- turies )* 1896 Blomfield, R. History of Renaissance Archi- tecture in England (2 vols.) ?i 1897 „ AND Thomas The Formal Garden in England )» 1902 Godfrey, W, H. . A History of Architecture in London )j I9II GOTCH, J. A. Renaissance Architecture in England (2 vols.) 5J 1894 „ - . . Early ditto .... )) igoi '909 „ . . . The Grovyth of the English House LOFTIE, W. J. Sir Christopher Wren 1893 LOVEGROVE, G. H. The Life and Work of Sir John Vanbrugh 1902 MiLMAN, Lena Sir Christopher Wren 1908 Pollen, J. H. Furniture and Woodwrork. 1908 Vol. i. _ Stratton, a. The Life, Work, and Influence of Sir Christopher Wren 1897 Tanner, H. . English Interior Woodwork of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries 1902 Tatlor, a. T. . Towers and Steeples designed by Sir C. Wren 1881 Tipping, H. A. . Gardens Old and New (3 vols.) Recent „ . . . In English Homes (3 vols.) 1904-9 Triggs, H. Inigo . Formal Gardens in England and Scotland 1902 „ . . . Garden Craft in Europe . 1913 „ AND Tanner Some Architectural Works of IQOI Inigo Jones 214 =Q XVII.— CONCLUSION IN this book, for the first time in English, an attempt has been made to give a sufficiently complete survey of the Baroque period to enable a student to form an opinion as to its place in architec- tural development and its value to architects of to-day. The examples cited in each country are representative, even though the list is far from exhaustive, and in selecting illustrations typical buildings have sometimes been preferred to those of exceptional merit. Special stress has been l^d on the historical and religious conditions which had so much to do with the creation of so remarkable a movement. In the first chapter a few leading definitions and characteristics were given, and In Chapter IX the principal features of the period in Italy were examined in some detail. It still remains, however, to consider briefly and concisely the value of the movement as a whole, and to indicate any advantages to be derived from the study of so discredited a subject. In a sentence from one of his essays, Walter Pater gives us an initial reason for our quest : — " Theories which bring into connection with each other modes of thought and feeling, periods of taste, forms of art and poetry, which the narrowness of men's minds constantly tends to oppose to each other, have a great stimulus for the intellect, and are almost always worth understanding." ^ Here lies the secret of some of the constant abuse poured upon the Baroque period. Many writers have refused to recognize that there was a perfectly logical development from Michelangelo and Palladio to Bernini and Longhena, just as there is a chain of sequence from Peruzzi to Palladio. It is thus that later critics have ceased to study Baroque architecture at all, and have lost any benefits to be derived thereby. The period has been put under the ban. Is it possible to evolve from this survey a reasonable and unbiassed theory as to the spirit controlling and guiding its disciples ? We all know at the outset that Baroque architecture was never inspired with the glorious self-sacrifice of the Middle Ages, when in the darkness of a bewildered time the Church held aloft the whole ideals of the Northern nations. We have no lofty texts to compare with those which led Ruskin to write some of the most perfect prose in our language, and no buildings which inspire devotion by their own reverent atmosphere. The charm of Gothic is in its dreamy and intangible inysticism ; the defect of Baroque lies in ' Pater's The Renaissance, p. 3 (1912 Edition). 215 CONCLUSION its blatant materialism. But possibly the twentieth century is more appreciative of the latter quality than was the nineteenth. The Greeks in the Golden Age of Pericles were actuated almost entirely by the cult of beauty for its own sake — beauty of form or beauty of thought — and the Renaissance in Europe stood for precisely the same ideal with just a touch of revolt from ecclesiasti- cism to spur it on. " We see that spirit," says Pater, " with ... its intimacy, its languid sweetness, its rebellion, its subtle skill in dividing the elements of human passion, its care for physical beauty, its worship of the body, which pene- trated the early literature of Italy and finds an echo even in Dante." ^ The virtues in early Renaissance days did not all belong to the secluded and narrow officials of a decaying mediaevalism, but " The true child of light, the humanist, with reason and heart and senses quick, while theirs were almost dead." 2 And, just as the glories of the Middle Ages gave way before the fresh and necessary stimulus of the new movement, so in turn the worship of antiquity ceased to charm, and the end of the sixteenth century found Italy ready for a change. There was a rattle among the dry bones of her pedants as the first Baroque architects put the new scheme of things into being, and perhaps the violence of the change accounted for some of its follies. The Renaissance, with its revival of speculation and philosophy, had nearly killed the Church, which was becoming moribund at the time, and in the victorious strife of the Counter-Reformation Baroque archi- tecture was born in Rome. It represents a complete and almost anarchical reaction. The austere and groping devotion of the mediaeval builders, the aesthetic humanism of their successors in Italy, gave place to a hard, strong, almost rough dominion of the wealthy and the powerful. The artists who had gathered as equals in the Courts of the Renaissance became hireling sycophants, the Jesuits became the supremely efficient servants of their Church. Originating in Rome, the stream spread over Europe, and, sluggishly as it flowed in distant Protestant countries, it retained its characteristics every- where. Of these one of the most notable is its artificiality. Time after time we find a Baroque building expressing an idea — strength, ' Pater's The Renaissance, pp. 5-6. = Ibid. p. 7. 216 CONCLUSION pride, a playful conceit, a broad jest. In every case this idea is plainly indicated with the utmost self-consciousness. Some Baroque palaces have wealth written on their stones as clearly as if in actual characters, and some churches not less so. What- ever may have been the real beliefs of some of these princes — secular or ecclesiastical — they never grovelled in humility or devotion. But this ostentatious artificiality has a good side. It replaced a series of abject and expressionless copyings of antique models which demanded no higher quality than that of drudging patience. Better far the colossal mistakes of the pioneers than the petty rectitude of the pedants. And in some of the cities where an aroma of Baroque pervades the air — in Lecce, for example — the tricks of a designer striving for novelty may be appreciated as possessing actual charm. There is delicacy as well as originality in much of the detail, just as there is strength as well as boldness in the more monumental designs. There are some critics who seem to regard all originality as criminal, and there are others who would cast tradition to the wolves. The truth surely lies on a middle path, where artistic invention is limited by the experience of predecessors. It cannot be denied that all the extremists of the Baroque period wandered far from this path, but it may reasonably be admitted that the more sober architects observed a certain restraint, and it is to their works that modern students must look for inspiration. Jt is not, and never will be, the object of the writer to prove that such buildings as adorned the streets of Sicily or Spain in the seventeenth century are suited for reproduction in the con- ditions of modern life. The great fault of architectural study abroad is to bring back sketch-books full of foreign archaisms for indiscriminate use in a climate and surroundings altogether opposed to their character. The nature of Baroque design is essentially Latin and Catholic, whereas this country is Teuton and Protestant. The comparative failure of the movement to pehetrate Holland and England in its own day is a proof that we should not attempt a Baroque revival. The aim of a writer on any subject which is at once historic and aesthetic must be independent of such considerations. He must not simply provide a copy-book for commercial purposes, but rather indicate the tendency of his period and style. And in such a review one must always bear in mind contemporary life and conditions. The Baroque period in Italy and Spain was 217 CONCLUSION undoubtedly decadent socially. Austria and Belgium were so much influenced by the former countries that they may be similarly regarded. And it was in these countries that the most Baroque architecture was produced. Meanwhile France, England, and Holland rose to the front rank of European States, and their magnificent late Renaissance buildings only show the Influence of the style indirectly. In Italy and Spain Baroque architecture reflects the existence of an efl^ete aristocracy and a powerful Church. The age was splendid in spite of the insidious decay, and it is in matters of outward display that all the successes of the period are found. The palaces of Papal Rome housed a gorgeously clad people surrounded by pomp and luxury. Their sumptuous saloons glittered with candelabra and mirrors, their libraries were full of costly bindings. The choicest specimens of ancient sculpture alternated with the rich paintings of the Tenebrosi in picture-galleries and halls. In the theatres, with lavish architectural decoration, the wealthy witnessed the stilted dramas of the day, while outside gilded coaches threaded their way through streets crowded with gay loungers. The prince-bishops of Germany and Austria, the haughty nobles of Spain, the Spanish viceroys in Brussels and Naples,, introduced similar habits to their little courts. Along the banks of the Brenta the decadent Venetians who are perpetuated in Tiepolo's pictures lived in an artificial atmosphere of powdei- and paint, spending the whole night in dancing or at the card- table. Stables were designed on an unprecedented scale, with the attributes of a princely mansion. In short, the whole existence of the great men and women of those countries where Baroque art abounds was devoted to pleasure and display. The typical seventeenth-century garden shows in miniature the spirit of the age, with its vulgar hydraulic toys and its shameless stucco divinities, its majestic terraces and its ingenious vistas. The enthusiasm which erected the great churches of the Counter- Reformation all through Catholic Europe was, in a sense, a religious instinct. It was a milder form of that spiritual exaltation which moved the Crusader to flay the infidel. The extravagant altars expressed a joy in the defeat of her«sy as well as a delight in the brilliant hues of marble. But the phase which followed cannot in any way be connected with religion. It is not necessary to read Bernini's life to obtain an insight into his taste for things worldly ; a study of his pagan Madonnas is sufficient. The langels and cupids scattered about his churches are a direct negation 'of 218 CONCLUSION monastic ideals in every line of their plump and supple forms. The fashion set by Bernini permeated Europe, and Baroque churches are, as a whole, the least devotional in the world. But the new nations who appeared in such prominence after the Reformation — England and HoUand — would have none of these things, or rather they accepted them in a very moderate measure. France, too, in spite of her strong Catholic sympathies, borrowed but sparingly from her less healthy neighbours across the Alps and the Pyrenees. She retained her masculine tastes until the days when the boudoir governed the council-chamber, and even then she created a feminine style which is very charming arid decidedly her own. The intense artificiality of the Baroque style is not, however, its only characteristic. The seventeenth century witnessed a real advance in many aspects of architecture — an advance in planning and design. It is with this side of the subject that we can most usefully concern ourselves in assessing its influence on the evolution and development of the art of building. Suppose we recall the exact point that architecture had reached, in Italy more especially, at the middle of the sixteenth century. This is the culmination of the Renaissance proper, and the death- knell of all art had already rung according to many critics. Yet much remained to be discovered. Architects had only just attained to the easy use of those classic elements which the Renais- sance had adopted and adapted. Previously they had been to a large extent feeling their way — experimenting doubtfully with domes and orders. By Palladio's time these vacillations had come to an end, and in his handiwork uncertainty gives place at last to confident freedom. Both he and Vignola had mastered those con- structional problems which so troubled the earlier masters, and which lend much of its charm to the history of the Renaissance in Italian architecture. This fact in itself robs the Baroque period of a great deal of interest, for its pioneers found ample rules to guide them at the outset. Their aims lay perforce in the direction of development rather than invention, and, consequently, where invention was attempted it seldom had a constructive basis. But in the prevailing desire for increased display and magnificence was a wide field for architectural talent to expand. Constructional difiiculties were so few that the dome — to take one feature — was varied in almost every instance, and was sometimes elliptical instead of circular. The domes of Rome alone provide a whole panorama of fertile devices, and in other countries — especially in Austria — belfries were 219 CONCLUSION produced with equal freedom. The staircase, as has so often been remarked in previous chapters, became the central feature of every great house and assumed an importance unknown before. The principal rooms grew larger, the galleries and libraries more ambitious. The planning of Baroque buildings is seldom weak, and is usually remarkably fine. Nor does this apply to palaces and cathedrals alone. In some small churches or in the houses of obscure merchants a wonderful sense of artistic effect is obtained by a genius for making the most of a site. So far as the writer is aware, the excellence of planning in this period has never received adequate recognition in this country. If we could forget Borromini's lapses for a while, we could learn a great deal from such masterpieces as S. Agnese at Rome or the Salute at Venice. The extraordinarily brilliant arrangement of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, by Sir Christopher Wren is only a parallel to the ingenuity of Baroque designers abroad. The lighting of all Baroque churches is ample — sometimes unduly ample; — and internal construction Is truthful and sound. The secular buildings have little of evolutionary value except in regard to their placing and general disposition. There is a majestic grandeur in the greater palace schemes of the seventeenth century, far surpassing the isolated efforts of the Renaissance. Churches, too, were erected with a view to the maximum spectacular effect, and, although such a method may at first sight be regarded as theatrical, it is just that quality which has made possible such splendid conceptions as the palace at Versailles. All the most successful architectural designs on a large scale in England and elsewhere since Elizabethan days have owed a great deal more than is admitted to the Baroque movement. For, admirable as are the principles of Bramante and Brunelleschi so far as the construction of an isolated building is concerned, they are of little use in regard to the devising of a monumental group of buildings or in the beautifying of a city. The seventeenth-century architect had a vivid sense of the picturesque in such matters, and was the pioneer of modern town-planning. From these broader aspects of his ai-chitecture, which apply to all countries where the Baroque style made any appreciable mark, one naturally passes to his treatment of decorative features and his use of applied ornament. In this branch of design a great divergence appears between the works of different districts, of different men. So much has already been said previously as to local usage in these matters that it is unnecessary to recapitulate the points here, but it 220 CONCLUSION is generally true that the design of Baroque facades is seldom pro- ductive of useful lessons to a student. They served their purpose in their day, they proclaimed the glories of a prelate or a noble to an admiring populace, but they have no mission to us as sermons in stone. A walk through the quaint streets of some little Baroque town has, however, a charm of its own which is none the less apparent because it defies cold analysis. This would be a dull world indeed if one never found the unexpected or the uncon- ventional after travelling it all over — a world where many of us would feel out of place. Moreover, those extravagant buildings where the hand of Guarini or the influence of Spain appears are not the only works of the period. There are many others where Renaissance rules are simply developed or elaborated without any abrupt change in the tradition. They are Baroque because of the advance, and even in facade com- position they have something to teach us. The details of windows and doors are frequently worthy of attention and abound in a freshness of thought. There is a tendency to overload a central doorway with ornament, but, where this is not excessive, the emphasis is perfectly justifiable. Lastly comes an inevitable consideration of the value of Baroque ornament to posterity. Is there any defence for the prodigal use of decoration or for its sensuous and materialist character ? There is an intentional division in the last sentence between quantity and quality, a division which is not arbitrary but logical. It is a matter for doubt whether seventeenth-century architects were as much to blame for the florid appearance of their buildings as were their patrons. In general, one may assert that the taste of the age demanded display in certain circumstances. The interior of a church was generally required to be lined with marbles, and these marbles were polychrome more frequently than black and white. Often the altars were in coloured marbles and the rest of the church in subdued tones. Altars became more and more numerous with the Counter-Reformation and at the same time more ornate. Walls, vaults, and ceilings were used for a purpose which we in Protestant England hardly realise in these days of Sunday schools and universal education — for the illustration of the incidents of Bible history and of the Calendar of Saints. Few could read among the congregations who filled Jesuit churches, and religious teaching was largely dependent on this simple method of demonstration. The object of church decoration was to impress the popular mind not only with the greatness of the Catholic Church, but also with 221 CONCLUSION the events in her history which had brought about that great- ness, and therefore every available inch of space was utilised for pictures. Passing to the question of the quality of this work a critic cannot complain that it is faultily executed in the majority of cases. On the contrary, Baroque painters and sculptors were remarkably facile in their various spheres, and it is only to be expected that the demand for such unlimited acres of paint and stucco should involve a good deal of mediocre craftsmanship. The fault of Baroque church-decoration lies neither in its quantity nor quality but in its unsuitability. Bernini's angels were marvellous creations, regarded simply as sculpture. As religious symbols they are, with a few exceptions, absurd. And Bernini was a greater man than his followers. Similarly the use of marble is defensible, and there is no reason why a whole church should not be marble-lined. But polychromy may be carried too far, and there is no need for textile fabrics to be imitated in this medium. A porphyry sarcophagus is perfectly comprehensible, but porphyry curtains are manifestly false. The uncertainty of our life here on earth has always been a favourite theme in the church, but does not justify the use of leering skeletons perched on the tombs of the departed. As regards the employment of gilding in decoration the writer feels less decided. These seems no particularly strong argument against it, and in the best periods of all architecture — Greek, Mediaeval, and Renaissance — it is used freely without ill effects. The best Baroque churches for a study of this point are in Genoa, and so far as the effect is concerned there is no ground for wholesale condemnation. In addition to the abundance of ornament, its rich colours, its pagan spirit, and its exaggerations, one must not forget its purely architec- tural and aesthetic character, for here, if anywhere, the Baroque architects were prone to sin. Men like Borromini, Guarini, and Pozzo, with all those others twEoni the y rirSu enced ~T^ough"out ' , 'CatTioIic Europe, d^d^ujilunitS^harrn _t^ their craft. THeir^ofk "ts~ie^~^tensible than jhe^dgsigns of Churrigueral, Fischer "^n ""Ettach, aiid Faid'herbe, becafise it is "so utterly false to every canon of truthful des^^a twisti^^sHa?ts~an3"3isregardin thejT M-ought" the~Syte"THf6 iflverting columns "ai^^^onsbles, the limits of masonry construction, disrepute frpni„whichrit~Tias never ;;;ecovered. ~'But let it be remembered that these were tKe exSemists of the period, that they had none of those constructional difficulties to face which checked the ambitions of earlier builders, and that 222 CONCLUSION their scattered excesses represent the very worst that can be said of Baroque architecture. In taking leave of this intricate and misunderstood subject there are certain facts which no honest critic is justified in ignoring. The first is that the style has been criticized without understanding and with extraordinary bitterness.' Its worst examples are those most familiar to the average man, and its masterpieces have been relegated to a ridiculous category of "Free Classic" buildings. In the second place the unconscious debt which we and our predecessors owe to the influence of this movement has never been fairly admitted. It is not the function of a historical work, whatever its merits or demerits, to launch into topical discussion, but, without doing so, attention may legitimately be called to the state of English architec- ture in this year of grace 19 13. The most biassed opponent of the Baroque style could not hold that the fine public buildings erected during the past few years are in no way imbued with Baroque feeling, that their design is simply an academic treatment of the principles of Peruzzi. Would Peruzzi recognize his theories if he could s^e the great group of monumental architecture at CardiiF — perhaps the finest scheme on the grand scale in the British Isles ? It is undesirable to pursue this topic here, but it may be remarked that in addition to many modern buildings of great im- portance on obviously Baroque lines — inspired from Rome or Vienna — there are countless others where the main principles of Baroque architecture have been adopted as they were by Vanbrugh and Wren, and that what applies to England is equally true abroad. For modern architects must realise willy-nilly that artificiality, falseness, pride, and eccentricity are not the only characteristics of the period. Whether it is that a spirit of charity is in the air, whether perhaps that Victorian conventions have lost some of their glamour, there is an increased tendency to view the subject in a more favourable light. We have had already too many revivals, senseless crazes for reproducing the works of other days, and this book is not a plea for another. Its object is to remind men that the Baroque movement played a part in architectural history, that it taught us many things about the broader aspects of architecture in an age when life was easy and spacious — how to plan and design on a monumental scale, how to make our surroundings less austere, how to glorify the gifts of Nature in garden and fountain, how to appreciate the grace of the human form, and lastly, how to beautify our cities. 223 INDEX Abruzzi, 97 Adriatic, The, 85, 108, iiz, 113 Africa, 180 Aglie, Castello, 99 Aguacaiientes, Municipal Palace at, 191 Aiguillon, Fran9ois, 197 Albani family. The, 37 Albano, 103 Albaro, Hill of, 81 Albert of Austria, 195 Aldobrandini family. The, 37 Alessi, Galeazzo, 31, 72-82, 102, 121, 132, 181 Alexander VII, Pope, 44, 50, 56, 60 Alfieri, Benedetto, 100, loi Algardi, Alessandro, 41, 68, 80 Alps, The, 134, 13s, 137, 166, 219 Altieri, Cardinal, 63 America, Discovery of, 180 Ammanati, Bartolommeo, 61, 66, 104 Amsterdam — Westerkerk, 202 Zuiderkerk, 202 Ancona, 106, 114 Fontana dei Cavalli, 106 Porta Pia, 106 Andalusia, 183 Anderson, quoted, 25 Anne of Austria, 173 Ansbach — Gymnasium, 138 Schloss, 140 . Antwerp, 193, 194,-195, 196, 199, 200 St. Augustine, 197 Guild Houses, 200 Jesuit Church, 197, 198, 199 Aragon, 179 Ariccia, Church at, 50, 52 Armada, The Spanish, 182 Arno, River, 104 Aschaffenburg, 139 Palace at, 138 Assisi, 104 S. Maria degli Angeli, 1 24 Augsburg, 139 Potel zu den Drei Mohren, 160 Auria,' Geronimo d', no Auvergne, 118 Azores, ^89 Bagheria, Villas at, 118 Bagnaia, Villa Lante, 68 Balbi family, 78 Bamberg — Bishop's Palace, 138 Houses at, 160 St. Martin's, 156 New Rathhaus, 160 Banz, i;6 Barberini family, The, 37, 49, 122, 208 Cardinal, 49, 62 Barletta — Monte di Piet^, 116 Palazzo dei della Marra, 116 Porta di Mare, 116 " Baroque," Derivation of, 2 1 Bassano, 104 Bavaria, 140, 148, 155, 196 Bell, Henry, 211 Benoni, Giuseppe, 94 Bergamasco, Marco, 91 Bergamo, 77 Berlin, 134, 161 Parochialkirche, 157 Royal Palace, 140, 159 Sofienkirche, 157 Bernasconi, Giuseppe, 103 Bernini, Lorenzo — Chapter III, also pp. 26, 37, 39, 41, 60, 63, 70, 105, 108, 116, n8, 121, 131, 132, 167, 214, 215, 218, 219, 222 Pietro, no Berrettini, Pietro, /^^ " Cortona, Pietro da" Berruguete, Alonso, 179 Bettini, Antonio, 99 Beverley Market Cross, 213 Bianco, Bartolommeo, 78, 80, 127, 129 Biard, 164 Bibiena, Antonio, 126 Francesco, 106 Giuseppe, 132 Biebrich, Schloss, 140, 158 Binago, Lorenzo, 102 Bissone, G. B. C. de, 106 Blenheim Palace, 148, 212 Blois, 164 Jesuit Church, 175 Blomfield, Reginald, quoted, 206, 209- 210 Boffirand, Germain,. 175 Bjmemia, 134, 140, 148 Bologna, 100, 105, 116 225 INDEX Bologna — Arcades, 1 06, 132 Arco del Meloncello, 106 Madonna di S. Luca, 106, 122, 131 S. Pietro, 105 Porta Galliera, 106 Theatre at, 126 Bolognese painters, 105, 109, 130 Bolsover Castle, 208, 2 1 3 Bolsward, Town Hall, 201 Bontelet, 188 Bordeaux, 178 Borghese family. The, 36, 37, 38 Cardinal, 48, 56, 62 Borromeo, S. Carlo, 100 Count Carlo III, 102 Borromini, Francesco, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 50, 52, S3. 61, 63, 64, 69, 73, r- 74. 98, 121, 122, 129, 132, 168, 173, 186, 211, 220, 222 ■~fiort, Jaimd, 185 Bourbon family, 109, 165, 188 Bourget, Paul, quoted, 1 1 z Brabant, 20 z Bramante, Donato, 23, 38, 55, 59, 61, 63, 74, 108, 181, 220 Braun, 150 Brazil, 180 ^ Bremen, Town Hall, 138 Brenner Pass, 85, 155 Brenta, Villas on the, 94, 218 Brescia, Cathedral, 103 Breslau, University of, 157 Brinton, Selwyn, quoted, 55 Brosse, Salomon de, 98, 167, 172 Brown, Dr. Horatio, quoted, 87 Browning, Robert, 84, 93 Bruand, Libdral, 169 Bruges, 160, 193, 194 St. Anna, 197 Jesuit Church, 197 Maison du Gouverneur, 200 Brunelleschi, Filippo, 28, 124, 220 Brunn, Wiener Bank, 153 Brussels, 182, 194, 218 Augustinian Church, 197, 198 Beguinage Church, 199 Cardinal Granvella's Palace, 196 Carmelite Church, 197 Guild Houses, 200 " Mannikin " fountain, 201 Buonarelli, Costanza, 49, 56 Buontalenti, Bernardo, 104 Burghley House, 206 Burgos, Arch at, 181 Burgundy, 180 Byzantine architecture, 113 Cadiz, Cathedral at, 185 Calderon, 182 California — S. Barbara Mission, 189 Carmel Mission, 189 Caltanissetta, Palazzo del Tribunale, Cambiaso, Luca, 77 Cambrai, 174, 201 Cambray, League of, 85 Cambridge, Trinity College, 208**" Campagna, The Roman, 36, 68, 69 Canobbio, Church at, 1 01 Canons Park, 213 Cantone, Pier Francesco, 79 " Capability " Brown, 67, 1 26 Cape Route, The, 85 Caporali, G. B., 73 Caprarola, Castle of, 31, 63, 68, 69 Capuchins, The, 27 Caracci family, 105 Caravaggio — Church at, loi The painter, 109 Cardi, Lodovico, see " Cigoli " Cardiff, 223 Carignano, Cathedral, 100 Carlone family, 79, 80, 81 Carmona, 187 Carshalton Church, 213 Casella, Daniele, 80 Caserta, no, 116 Cassar, Gerolamo, 119 Castel Gandolfo, Church at, 50, 51, 52 Castellamonte, Count, 100 Castelli, Domenico, 44 Castello, G. B., 77 Castile, 118, 179 Castle Howard, 212 Catalonia, 182 Catania — S. Benedetto, 117, 119 Palazzo Biscari, 1 1 7 Cathedral, 117 Fountains at, 118 Cayon, Torcuato, 185 226 INDEX Celenovo, 187 ^ Cellini, Benvenuto, 21 Cerceau, J. A. du, 171 Cernobbio, 103 Cervantes, 182 Chambord, 164 Chandos, Duke of, 213 Chantilly, 170 Charles V, 118, 180, 193 Emanuel II, 98 Chigi family, T7he, 37, 50 Chihuahua, 190 Chile, 180, 189, 191 Chippendale, T., 213 Churriguera, 186, 187, 189, 190, Cigoli, Lodovico, 63 Cimabue, 26 Civitavecchia, 107, 116 Coburg, Gymnasium, 138 Coebergher, Wenceslaus, 197 Coimbra, Jesuit Church, 188 Colbert, 165, 167 Coleshill, 210 Cologne — Jesuit Church, 157 Rathhaus, 137 Columbus, 180 Cominelli, 94 Como, Lake — Villa Balbianella, 103 Villa Carlotta, 103 Villa d'Este, 66, 102, 126 Conde, 170 Constantinople, 85 Contino, Antonio, 87 Cordova — Cathedral tower, 184 S. Lorenzo, 184 Puertade S. Pablo, 184 Patio de los Naranjos, 184 Cortona, Pietro da, 44, 64, 109 Cotswold cottages, 207 Counter- Reformation, The, 28, 35, 105, 121, 130, 138, 150, 182, 183, 195, 206, 207, 218 Cremona, Palazzo Stanga, 103 Cromvirell, Oliver, 205 Cuba, 191 Cuernavaca, 189 Curtoni, Domenico, 104 Cuvilli^s, Fran9ois, 159, 160 222 103, 157, 216, Dance, George, 87 Danube, 143, 153 Dantzig, 160 Arsenal, 138 Dario, Antonio, 146 Delabole slates, 129 Delia Robbia, 56 De rOrme, Philibert, 1 3 5 Destr^e, Julian, 200 Dezza, Cardinal, 61 Diego de Siloe, 179, 185 Dientzenhofer, K. J., 149, 156, 158 Dijon, Carmelite Church, 175 Domenichino, 105, 109 Donatello, 56 Dordrecht, Town Gate, 202 Dotti, Carlo Francesco, 106 Douglas quoted, 85 Dresden — Frauenkirche, 157 Hofkirche, 157 Zwinger Pavilion, 161 Edgware, 213 Einsiedeln, Kloster, 156 Eisenberg — Schloss, 156 Schlosskapelle, 140 Elizabeth, Queen, 34, 55, 205, 206 Elizabethan architecture, 135, 136, 137, 179, 202, 205, 220 Ellingen, Rathhaus at, 1 59 Etnilia, 97 English landscape gardeners, 67, 82, 103, 126 Eosander, Von, 159 Escurial Palace, 178, 1 80-1, 189 Eu, Chapelle du College, 175 Euganean Hills, 95 Eugene of Savoy, Prince, 1 5 2 Eugenius IV, Pope, 33 Euphuists, The, 28, 207 Evelyn quoted, 67 Faid'herbe, Luc, 198, 222 Falcone, Aniello, 109 G.A., 79 Falda, Giovanni, 68 Falier, Doge, 93 Fansaga, Cosimo, 109, no Farnese, Alexander, 195 Cardinal, 33 227 INDEX Farnese, Elisabeth, i88 Ferdinand, Emperor, 139 Fergusson quoted, 24, 28, 197-8 Fischers von Eriach, The Two, 145, 150, 151, 152, 153, 222 Flanders, 193, 202, 207, 208 Flemish artists in various countries, 171, 172, 174, 175, 182, 206, 207 Fletcher, Banister, quoted, 24, 29, 30 Florence, 21, 33, 87, 103, 128, 129, 130, 135, 165 Boboli Gardens, 104 Chapel of the Princes, 104 Palazzo Frescobaldi, 104 Palazzo Pitti, 103, 104, 167 Pazzi Chapel, 26 S. Firenze, 104 S. Lorenzo, 122 Foggia, Calvary Chapels, 116 Fontainebleau, 171 Fontana family, 132 Carlo, 39, 45, 63, 64, 71, 102 Carlo Stefano, 39 Domenico, 38, 39, 60, 61, 70, 100, no Francesco, 39 Giovanni, 39, 61, 69, 106 Girolamo, 39 Franciscans in Mexico, 1 89 Fran9ois I, 166, 170 Francquart, J., 197 Frankfort, 139 St. Catherine's, 157 Frascati, 65, 66, 117, 126, 147, 168 Villa Aldobrandini, 66, 68, 69 Villa Borghese, 68, 69 Villa Falconieri, 68, 69 Villa Lancellotti, 69 Villa Mondragone, 68, 69 Villa Muti, 68, 69 Villa Torlonia, 66, 69 Frederick the Great, 161 Fronde rising, 165 Fuenterrabia, 187 Fuga, Ferdinando, 40, 45, 64, 70 Fulda— Domkirche, 1 56 Orangery, 159 Fusina, 94 Galicia, 187 Galilei, Alessandro, 39 Garda, Lake, 1 54 Genoa — Chapter V, also pp. 33, 83, 85, 112, 116, 117, 122, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 168, 171, 181, 182, 197, 200, 222 Albergo dei Poveri, 79 S. Ambrogio, 75, 79, 122, 130 SS. Annunziata, 79, 122, 130 Borsa, 80 S. Carlo, 80 "II Gigante," 81 S. Giorgio, 79 1 S. Maria in Carignano, 74, 121, 122, 144, 130, 131 S. Maria di Castello, 79 Municipio, see " Palazzo Doria-Tursi " Palazzo Adorno, 76 Palazzo Balbi-Senarega, 78 Palazzo Bianco, 77 Palazzo Brignole-Sale, see " Rosso " Palazzo Carega-Caj;aldi, 77 Palazzo Cesare Cambiaso, 75 Palazzo Doria, 66, 78, 80 Palazzo Doria-Tursi, 77, 78 Palazzo Durazzo-Pallavicini, 78 Palazzo Giorgio-Doria, 76 Palazzo Imperiali, 77 Palazzo Lercari-Parodi, 75, 76 Palazzo Pallavicini, 77 Palazzo Raggio-Podesta, 77 Palazzo Reale, 79 Palazzo Rosso, 76 Palazzo Serra, 76 Palazzo Spinola, 76 Piazza Fontane Marose, 7S) 7^ S. Pietro dei Banchi, 80, 122, 125 Porta del Molo, 74, 114, 210 Porta Pila, 80 Salita S. Caterina, 77 S. Salvatore, 79 S. Siro, 79 S. Torpete, 79 University, 78 Via Balbi, 78, 79, 80 Via Nuova, 75, 76, 77, 80 Via Nuovissima, 78 Villa Peschiere, 82 Georgian Architecture, 23, 200 Germany, Chapters X and XII Ghent, 193, 194 St. Peter, 197, 198 228 INDEX Gherardi, Antonio, 45 Gianda, jean, 103 Gibbs, James, 157, 211, 213 Gioitiano, Luca, 109 Giotto, 26, 28 Goldoni, Carlo, 94 Gorlitz, Town Hall, 138 Granada, 180 Cartuja, 183, 188 Cathedral, 183 S. Juan de Dios, 188 Granados, Jose, 183 Granvella, Cardinal, 195 Grassi, 41, 91 Gravedona, Villa Galli, 10 1 Greca, Vincenzo della, 45 Gregorini, 45 Grimaldi, Niccolo, 77 Gronendael, 199 Groningen, " Goldwaag," 202 . Grussau, Cistercian JChurch, 157 ^Guarini, Guarino^42, 53, 98, 99, 121, 122, 129, 132, 173, 221, 222 Guadalupe, 190-1 Guercino, 105 Guido Reni, 105 Guidolin, Paolo, 104 Giinther, Matthaus, 154 Gurlitt, quoted, 7, 38 Haarlem — St. Anne, 202 Meat Market, 197, 201 Hague, The Town Hall, 201 Hamburg, 160 Hameln, Houses at, 138 Hampstead, 196 Havre, Notre Dame, 175 Hawksmoor, 157, 211 Hayberger, G., 153 Heidelberg — Friedrichsbau, 137, 202 Gardens, 158 Heinrichsbau, 137 Henri II, 166 IV, 98, 136, 164, 1 66, 170 Herrenhausen, 158 Herrera, Juan de, 180-1, 182, 185, 190 Hildebrandt, J. L. von, 150, 152 Hildesheim, houses at, 138 ii7> 186, 189, Hillewerve, Fr. van, 200 Hiorns, F, R., quoted, 31 (footnote) Holdenby House, Gateway, 207 Huguenots, The, 165, 180 Huss, John, 150 Huyssens, Peter, 197 Imperiali family, 8 1 Ingolstadt, 139 Innocent X, Pope, 56, 63 Inquisition, The Holy, 182 Innsbruck, 153 Franciscan Church, 138 Helblinghaus, 160 Landhaus, 140 Isola Bella, 67, 102-3, H? Jacobean Architecture, 23, 179, 202, 206-7, 210 Jaen, Cathedral, 185 Jerez de la Frontera, Cartuja, 185 Collegiate Church, 185 Jesuits, The, 27, 28, 40, 50, 52, 78, 79, 91,98, loi, 108, 137, 138, 139, 144, 145, 150, I SI, 155, 156,, >S7. 158, 172, 176, 182, 186, 187, 188, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 206, 216, 221 Jews, expulsion from Spain, 180 Joao V, King, 1 89 Jones, Inigo, 49, 74, 135, 205, 206, 210, 211,213 Juan Gomez de Mora, 186, 190 Julius IT, Pope, 49 Justi, Prof. Karl, quoted, 179, 180- 1 Juvara, Filippo, 99, 132 Knights of St. John, 118 Knobelsdorff, W. von, 161 Labacco, Antonio, 62 Labia, Cardinal, 85 La Granja, 188 Lamour, 175 Landshut, Residenz, 135 Lantana, G. B., 103 La Rochelle, 175, 176 Les Carmes, 176 H6tel GargouUeau, 176 H6tel de I'lntendance, 176 H6tel de Ville, 176 S. Sauveur, 176 229 p# INDEX La Rochelle, Temple Protestant, 176 La Vallette, 1 1 8 Lazio, 97 Le Brun, 169, 170, 171 Lecce, 64, 111-116, 117, 126, 147, 185, 217 Cathedral, 125, 184 S. Croce, 113, 190 Gesti, 112 S. Irene, 1 1 2 Prefettura, 114, 119 Seminario, 114 Vescovado, 1 14 Leeds, St. John's Church, 23 Leger, Louis, quoted, 150 Lemercier, 166, 173 Le Muet, 173 Le N6tre, Andre, 103, 158, 169, 170, 171, 203 Leo X, Pope, 35 Le Pautre, Jean, 174 Lescot, Pierre, 166, 167 Le Sueur, 170 Le Vau, Louis, 167, 169 Leyden, Town Hall, 201 Li^ge, House of Cort, 1 96 Ligorio, Pirro, 68 Lille, 174, 200-1 Bourse, 200 Grand' Garde, 201 Porte de Paris, 201 Porte Royal e, 201 Porte de Tournai, 201 Linz, 155 Lisbon — S. Aiitao, 188 S. Maria do Desterro, 188 Sao Vicente, 188 Lodron, Archbishop von, 145 Lografio, 187 Lombard artists, 39, 77, 116, 132 Lombardy, 97, 100, 103 London — Admiralty Screen, 185 Albert Memorial, 54 Ashburnham House, 210 Bank of England, 185 Banqueting Hall, Whitehall, 210 S. Bride's, Fleet Street^ 211 Cavendish Square, 213 Christ Church, Spitalfields, 211 S. George's, Bloomsbury, 211 London {continued) — Hampton Court Palace, 203 Holland House, Kensington, 207 S. Leonard's, Shoreditch, 211 S. Mary Abchurch, 2 1 1 S. Mary-le-Bowr, 183, 211 S. Mary-le-Strand, 211 Newgate Prison, 87 S. Paul's, 44, 210 S. Stephen's, Walbrook, 42, 220 Temple Bar, 212 York Stairs, 74, 210, 211 Longford Castle, Wilts, 208 Longhena, Baldassare, 89, 90, 93, 121, 215 Lope di Vega, 182 Loreto, fountain, 106 Lorraine, Dukes of, 175 Louis XIII, 48 XIV, 55, 165, 168, 169, 170, 173, 201 XV, 137, 161, 174, 17s Louvain, 194 S. Michael, 199 Loyola, 187 Lubeck, houses, 138 Lucca, 104 Ludovisi family. The, 37 Ludwig, Frederick, 189 Lunghi, Martino, The Elder, 39, 40, 61, 69 Martino, The Younger, 39, 44 Onorio, 39 Lurago, Anselmo, 149 Rocco, 77, 80 Lyons, H6tel-Dieu, 175 H6tel-de-Ville, 175 Lyveden New Building, 208 Maderna, Carlo, 25, 38, 40, 41, 55, 60, 62, 63, 70, 106 Madrid Hospital, 188 San Jos^, 186 Royal Palace, 188 Toledo Bridge, 188 Mafra, Palace, 189 Magenta, Giovanni Ambrogio, 105 Maggiore, Lake, 102, 126 Magna Graecia, 108 Mainz, Palaces at, 138, 159 Malaga, Cathedral, 185 Malines, 195, 198 230 INDEX Malines, St. Alexis, 197 N. D. d'Hanswyck, 198, 199 Priory of Val-des-Lis, 198 Palais de Justice, 197 SS. Peter and Paul, 198 Rue St. Catherine, 198 Malta, 118 Mannheim, Jesuit Church, 1 56 Mansart, Fran9ois, 172, 173 J. H., 169, 171, 173, 174, 175 Mantua, 200 Palazzo del T^, 66 Marches, The, 97, 106 Marcus Sitticus, Archbishop, 147, 148 Marengo, Plain of, 83 Marini, 148 Marlborough, 148, 20;, 2iz Marot, Daniel, 203 Marsala, Porta Garibaldi, 118 Marsh, 213 Martinelli, Domenico, 151 Marucelli, Paolo, 63 Maser, Villa at, 94 Massari, 93 Matilda, The Countess, 56 Mattei, Asdrubale, 62 Mazarin, Cardinal, 44, 48, 164, 165, 166, 169, 171 Mecca, 190 Mechlin, see " Malines " Meda, Giuseppe, 102 Medici family, 35, 125 Catherine de', 166 Maria de', 98, 164, 166, 167 Mediterranean, The, 178 Melk, Kloster, 153, 156 Messina, Fountains at, 118 S. Gregorio, 98, 117, 124, 161 Monte di Piet^, 1 1 7 Metezeau, Clement, 167 Meuse, River, 196 Mexico, 180, 189-91 Cathedral, 189 Sagrario, 190 SS. Trinidad, 190 Michelangelo, 23, 28 et seq., 33, 35, 39, 49. 5i» 55. 61, 75, 76, 105, 181, 214, 215 Middelburg — Hospital, 202 Lang Jan, 202 Oostkerk, 202 Milanj 73, 100, 126, 129, 132 S. Alessandro, 102 Cathedral, loi, 132 Collegio Elvetico, 102 S. Fedele, loi Palazzo Annoni, 102 Palazzo Arcivescovile, 100 Palazzo Brera, 102, 125 Palazzo Litta, 102 Palazzo Marino, 102, 125 Palazzo Regio Comando, 102 Palazzo del Seminario, 102 Palazzo Trivulzio, 102 S. Protaso ad Monachos, loi S. Sebastiano, 1 01 Milton, John, 205 Modena, 98 Modica, S. Pietro, 117 Montacute House, 208 Montaigne, quoted, 34, 62, 67 Montecassino, no Monterey, Bishop's Palace, 191 Montorsoli, Fra, 81, 118 Moors, The, 180 Moorish influence in Spain, 178, 179, 189, 191 Moravia, 139, 155 Morelia, 190 Moriscoes, The, 180 Morris tapestries, 91 Mummius, Villa of, 65 Munich, 155, 158, 161 S. Michael's, 155 Theadne Church, 155 Trinity, Chapel of the, 155 Murano, 91 Murcia, Cathedral, 185, 190 Murillo, 182 Murray, Dr., quoted, 21 Murray's Handbooks, quoted, 56, 82 Naccherini, no Namur, St. Loup, 197 Nancy — Arc de Triomphe, 175 Chapelle de Bonsecours, 175 H^micycle, 175 H6tel-de-Ville, 175 Palace, 175 Place de Alliance, 175 Place de la CarriSre, 175 Place Stanislas, 175 231 INDEX Nancy, Ville-Neuve, 175 Naples, 25, 48, 109, no, 112, 116, 218 Kingdom of. Chapter VIII, also pp. 97, 166, 179 Carmine, 109 Cathedral, 109, 131 S. Chiara, 109 Fountains, 1 10 Gesti, 109 "Guglie," no Palazzo Maddaloni, no S. Marcellino, no S. Martino, 109 Royal Palaces, no S. Severino, 109 S. Severo, 109 Napoleon, 95, loi, 165 Napoli, P. Tommaso, 118 Navarre, 180 Neisse, Kreuzkirche, 156 Nero, 144 Neumann, Johann Balthasar, 156, 158 Nevers, Chapelle de la Visitation, 174 Nicholas V, Pope, 59 Nola, Giovanni da, no Noricum, 143 Nottingham Castle, 213 Novara — S. Gaudenzio, 1 01, 122 Palazzo Natta d'Isola, loi Nuremberg — Egidienkirche, 156 Pellerhaus, 138 Rathhaus, 140 Nymphenburg, Palace, 158, 159 Odescalchi family. The, 37 Ohmann, Professor, 146, 152 Oliva, Padre, 50 Olivieri, Orazio, 69 Pietro Paolo, 40 Oporto — Collegio Novo, 188' N. S. daSerrado Pilar, 188 Quinto do Freixo, 1 89 Orbetello, 107 Orders, The Religious, 27, 182 Order of Knights of St. John, 118, 119 Orders of Architecture, 29, 30, 32, 127 Oropa, Santuario, 99 Orvieto, 100 Ostuni, no Ottobeuren, 156 Oxford Colleges, 208 S. Mary's 210 Radcliffe Library, 2 1 1 Padua, 94, 126 Arco Valaresso, 106 Paestum, 108 Palermo, 108, 116 S. Cita, 116 Palazzo Bonagia, 1 1 7 Porta Nuova, 1 1 8 Quattro Canti, 1 1 8 Palestrina, 107 Palissy, Bernard, 170 Palladio, Andrea, 23, 28 ei seq., 88, 94, 104, 121, 127, 137, 170, 210, 214, 215, 219 Pallavicini, Tobia, 82 Pamphili family, 44, 50 Olimpia, 50 Papacy, Wealth of the, 36 e/ seq. Papal States, 36, 97, 105, 106, 108, 144 Paris — Chapter XIII, also pp. 55, 57, 62, n o, 2 1 1 Assumption, Church of the, 173 College Mazarin, Church of the, 173 S. 6tienne-du-Mont, 163, 164, 168, 178 S. Eustache, 163 S. Gervais, 172 Hotel de Beauvais, 171 Hotel de Chalons et Luxembourg, 171 Hotel de Laval ette, 171 Hotel de Rohan-Soubise, 172 Hotel Salm, 161 Hotel de Sully, 171 Institut de France, 169 Invalides, 169, 173 Latin Quarter, 167 Louvre, 55, 166-7 Luxembourg, 167 " Marais " district, 171 Ste. Marie, 172 Medici fountain, 167, 210 Montmartre, 172 N. D. des Victoires, 173 OpSra, 57 Palais-Royal, 168 232 INDEX Paris {eentittued) — S. Paul et S. Louis, 172 Pont Alexandre, 57 Porte S. Denis, 172 Quai Henri IV, 171 S, Roch, 173 Rue de Rivoli, 171 Rue de Vaugirard, 167 Sorbonne, 173 S. Sulpice, 173 Theatine Church, 98, 173 Tuileries, 166, 170 Val-de-GrSce, 173 Parma — Gateway of Citadel, 1 06 Duke of, 195 Parthenon, The, 53 Pater, Walter, quoted, 215, 216 Paul V, Pope, 37, 39, 40 Pavia, Collegio Borromeo, 100 Pegli— Villa Pallavicini, 82, 103 Villa Rostan, 8 1 Pellegrino Pellegrini, see " Tibaldi " Pepe, Francesco, no Pericles, Age of, zi6 Perrault, 167 Peru, 191 Perugia, 73, 104 Peruzzi, Baldassare, 23, z8, 30, 33, 61, 129, 215, 223 Pesaro, Doge, 93 Petrini, Antonio, 156 Phidias, 56, 210 Philip II, 180, 181 III, 190 IV, 187 V, 188 Philippines, 189, 191 Ficardy, 193 Picherali, Pompeo, 117 Piedmont, 97 Piranesi, G. B., 132 Pisa, 72, 104 Pius IV, Pope, 35 Plassenburg, Zeughaus at, 135, 140 " Plateresque," derivation of, 178-9 Pliny, Villa of, 65 Plymouth, Gateway of the Citadel, 208 Poland, King of, 175 Pommersfelden, Schloss, 158, 159 Pompeii, 108 Ponzio, Flaminio, 39, 60, 61, 62 Pontevedra, 187 Porta, Giacomo della, 38, 40, 42, 69, 70, 79, 100 Portofino, 81 Porto Rico, 191 Portugal, 118, 182, 188 Potsdam, Sans Souci, 161 Pozzo, Andrea, 42, 53, 98, 129, 132, 154, 222 Prague, 139, 140, 148-151, 156 Belvedere, 135 Clam Gallas Palace, 150, 152 Czernin Palace, 149 Imperial Palace, 148 Kinsky Palace, 149 Klementinum, 150 St. Nicholas, 150 St. Saviour, 150 Schwarzenberg Palace, 149 Thun Palace, I JO Villa Amerika, 149 Waldstein Palace, 148, 158 Prandauers, Jakob, 1 5 3 Pricieux in France, The, 28 Preti, F. M., 95 Protestant Churches, 1 56 Provaglia, 106 Provence, 108, 118 Prussia, 134, 135, 155, 161 Puebla, Cathedral, 190 Puget, Pierre, 75, 174 Pyrenees, The, 178, 187, 219 Queen Anne revival, 196 Queretaro, Governor's Palace, 191 Rainaldi, Carlo, 39, 40, 42, 44, 63 Girolamo, 63 Raittenau, Archbishop Von, 143, 146, 147, 148 Ranke, L. von, quoted, 33, 34, 36, 143 Raphael, 53, 66 Ravenna, S. Vitale, 130 Reformation, The, 27, 139, 219 Repton, 67 Reymond, quoted, 57 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 2 1 2 Rhine, The, 134, 135, 136 Rh6, Church at, loi 233 INDEX Ribera, Giuseppe, 109, 130, 182 Ricca, Antonio, 79 Ricchini, Francesco Maria, 102 Ricci, quoted, 125, 196 Richelieu, Cardinal, 164, 165, 168, 171 Rivoli, Castello, 99 " Rococo," derivation of, 2 1 Rococo Architecture — in Austria, 14;, 150, 152, 153 in Belgium, 199, 200 in England, 213 in France, 159, 175 in Germany, 136, 138, 157, 158, i 160, 161 in Italy, 22, 25, 45, 51, 53, 64, i 116, 117, 125 in Spain, 179, 187, 188, 190 in Switzerland, 156 Roman, Jacques, 203 Rome — Chapters II-IV, also pp. 26, 73, 85, 87, loi, 105, 113, 116, I 126, 132, 135, 139, 140, I 161, 166, 168, 172, 182, I 200, 208, 210, 216, 219, 2 223 Acqua Paolina, 37, 70 Ac qua Acitosa, 70 Baths of Constantine, 38 Baths of Diocletian, 35 Borgo Vecchio, 7 1 Capitol, 36 Churches — S. Agnese, 25, 42, 44, 74, 124, 125, 152, 220 S. Andrea delle Fratte, 42 S. Andrea del Quirinale, 50 S. Andrea della Valle, 40, 5 1, 1 S. Antonio de' Portoghesi, 44 SS. Apostoli, 45 S. Carlo ai Catinari, 45 S. Carlo al Corso, 44, 1 24 S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, S. Cecilia, 45 S. Croce in Geriisalemme, 45 SS. Domenico e Sisto, 45 S. Filippo Neri, 42 Gesii, 31, 34, 37, 40-1, 51, 79, I 172 S. Giovanni in Laterano, 38, 39, 166, 59. 09. 83. 22, 43, 95, 20, 121, 24 42, 21, 45 Rome {continued) — Churches {continuea) — S. Girolamo della Caritsl, 44 S. Ignazio, 41 S. Ivo alia Sapienza, 42, 122 S. Luca e Martina, 44 S. Luigi dei Francesi, 40, J I S. Maria in Campitelli, 44 S. Maria di Loreto, 40, 1 24 S. Maria Maddalena, 45 S. Maria Maggiore, 38, 40, 45 S. Maria dei Miracoli, 44 S. Maria di Montesanto, 44, 52 S. Maria della Pace, 42, 44, 171 S. Maria della Vallicella, 40 S. Maria della Vittoria, 25, 41 S. Peter's, 28, 33, 38-9, 68, 74, 83, 124, 132, 174 S. Peter's, Baldacchino, 54, 57 S. Peter's, Belfries, 53 S. Peter's, Bernini at, 50, 52, 53 S. Peter's, Reredos, 54, S7 S. Pietro in Montorio, 56, 181 S. Suzanna, 41, 124 SS. Trinita de* Monti, 71, 132 SS. Vincenzio ed Anastasio, 44 CoUegio Romano, 59 Collegio Urbano, see " Propaganda " Fountain in Palazzo S. Croce, 70 Fountain in Y'\«eza di Spagna, 70 Fountains, 38, 70 Fontana di Trevi, 38, 70, 146 Fontana del Tritone, 70 Fontana Paola, 70 Fontana delle Tartarughe, 70 Monte Pincio, 124 Palazzo Altieri, 63 Palazzo Altemps, 61 Palazzo Barberini, 55, 62, 12; Palazzo Bolognetti, 64 Palazzo Borghese, 61 Palazzo Cancellaria, 26 Palazzo Chigi, 55 Palazzo Colonna, 61, 67, 68, 81 Palazzo della Consulta, 60 Palazzo Corsini, 64 Palazzo Doria, 64, 114, 125 Palazzo Farnese, 31, 61, 126 Palazzo Giustiniani, 61 Palazzo del Grillo, 64 Palazzo Lancellotti, 6 1 Palazzo Laterano, 37, 59, 60, 127 234 INDEX Rome {continued) — Palazzo Ludovisi, see " Monteci- torio " Palazzo Madama, 63 Palazzo Mattel, 62 Palazzo Montecitorio, 55, 63 Palazzo Odescalchi, see " Chigi " Palazzo Pamphili, 63 Palazzo dei Pupazzi, see " Toni " Palazzo Quirinale,-37, 59, 60, 67 Palazzo Rospigliosi, 62 Palazzo Ruspoli, 61 Palazzo di S. Calisto, 63 Palazzo Sciarra, 6z Palazzo Spada, 63 Palazzo Toni, 61, 64, 126 Palazzo Vaticano, 37, 59, 125, 181 Palazzo Vaticano, Garden and Villa Pia, 59, 66, 67, 68 Palazzo Vaticano, ScalaRegia, 50, 54, - 125 Palazzo di Venezia, 61 Palazzo Zuccari, 61, 63 Pantheon, 52, 68 Piazza Barberini, 70 Piazza di S. Ignazio, 7 1 Piazza di S. Maria della Pace, 7 1 Piazza Navona, 42, 44, 50, 63 Piazza di S. Pietro, 34, 37, 53, 71 Piazza del Popolo, 37, 45, 71 Piazza di Spagna, 37 Ponte S. Angelo, 57 Propaganda, 59 Septizonium of Severus, 3$ Tomb of Cecilia Metella, 36, 38 Universita della Sapienza, 42, 59 Villa Albani, 68 Villa Borghese, 59, 66, 68 Villa Corsini, 67 Villa Madama, 66 Villa Medici, 59, 68 Villa Pamphili, 59, 66, 103 Villa di Papa Giulio, 59, 66 Villa Sciarra, 67 Ronse, 187 Rosa, Salvator, 109 Rossi, Domenico, 91 G. A. dei, 63 Rosso, Zanobi del, 104 Rothenburg, 136 Baumeister's House, 138 Town Hall, 138 Rubens, Peter Paul, 194, 195, 196, 198, 199-200, 205 Rudolph n, Emperor, 148 Ruggieri, Antonio Maria, 102 Ruiz, Hernan, 183, 184 Rushton, Triangular Lodge, 208 Ruskin, John, quoted, 24, 83, 84, 8$, 89-90, 124, 215 Sahara, The, 127 St. Amand, 174, 201 St. Cloud, 171 St. Philip Neri, 40, 44 Saint-Simon, quoted, 2 1 Salamanca — House of the Shells, 1 79 Plaza Mayor, 186 Seminario, 186 Town Hall, 186 Salomon de Caus, 158 Salzach river, 143 Salzburg, 140, 143-8, 151 Cathedral, 145, 152 Collepenkirche, 145, 151, 152 Franciscan Church, 145 Hofbrunnen, 146 Hofstallgebaude, 144 Neugebaude, 146 S. Peter's, 145 Residenz, 146^ Schloss Hellbrun, 147-8, 158, 170 Schloss Leopoldskron, 147 Schloss Mirabell, 144 S. Sebastian's, 145 Town-planning at, 146 Trinity Church, 145 Sammicheli, 74, 104, 119 Sampierdarena, Villa Scassi, 81 San Francesco d'Albaro — Villa Cambiaso, 82 Villa Imperiali, 82 Villa Paradiso, 82 Sangallo, Antonio da, 28, 33, 40, 61, 124 Sansovino, 30, 86 Santa Margherita, Church at, 80 Santa Severina, Cardinal, 36 Santiago (Chile), 189 Santiago de Compostela — Cathedral, 187 S. Martin Pinario, 187 Seminario, 187 Santoni, Bishop, 48 23s INDEX Saragossa, 187 Saidi, Giuseppe, 90 Sardinia, 97, 98 Sauli family, 73, 74 Savona, 56 Savoy, 72, 97 Saxony, 148, 155, 161 Scala, G. B. della, 106 Scamozzi, V., 88, 127, 145, 148 Schleissheim, Schloss, 158 Schliiter, Andreas, 159 Schwabisch Hall, Rathhaus, 160 Schweidnitz, Friedenskirche, 156 Schynvoet, Simon, 203 Scott, Sir Gilbert, 54, 151 Segovia, Archway, 187 Serlio, 127 Serpotta, Giacomo, 116, 131 Serra, Padre Junipero, 189 Sestri Ponente — Church at, 80 Villa Spinola, 81 Settignano, Villa Gamberaia, 104 Seville, 183-4, '9^ Archbishop's Gate, 184 Archbishop's Palace, 184 La Caridad, 1 84 Cathedral, 184 Exchange, 181 Giralda tower, 183, 184 Palace of S. Telmo, 188 Sagrario, 184 Tobacco Factory, 188 Town Hall, 183 Shakespeare, 205, 207 Shute, John, 205 Sicily, 97, 99, 108, 116, 126, 179, Siena — Vicobello, 104 Villa Gori, 104 Sixtus V, Pope, 34, 36, 39, 40, 59, Solari, Santino, f45 Spain, Chapter XIV, also pp. 23, 28, 62, 72, 73, 108, 109, 114, 119, 135, 137, 139, 196, 200, 217, 218, 221 Spagmktto, Lo, see "Ribera" Spalato, Diocletian's Palace at, 30 Spangenberg, 143 Springer, Professor, quoted, 199 Stael, Madame de, quoted, 73 Stanislaus Lesczinski, 175 217 143 27. "3. 193, Steyr, Rathhaus, 153 Strk, Villa Pisani at, 94, 95, 131 Streatham, 196 Stuart kings, the, 205 Stupinigi, Castello, 99 Sully, Due de,i64, 171 :^- Switzerland, 134, 155, 156 Syracuse, 26, 64 Cathedral, 117 Palaces at, 117 Tausch, Christopher, 158 Taxco, 190 Templenewsam, Leeds, 208 Tenebrosi, The, 109, 218 Terzi, Filippo, 188 Theatines, The, 27, 108, 173 Thirty Years' War, 134, 139, 145, 148, 16s Thomar, 188 Thorn, Wendisch Haus, 160 Thorpe, John, 208 Tibaldi, Pellegrino, 31, 79, 100, loi, 102, 105, 129, 132 Domenico, 105 Tiepolo, G. B., 94, 95, 131, 154, 218 Tilley Manor, Somerset, 208 Tirale, Andrea, 93 Tivoli— Villa Adriana, 65 Villa d'Este, 68, 147, 158, 170 Todi, Cathedral, 124 Toledo, Puerta de Alcantara, 187 Torgau, Schloss Hartenfels, 138 Torrigiani, Alfredo, 105 Torrigiano, 206, 209 Toulon, Hotel de Ville, 174 Toulouse, S, Sernin, 187 Trapani, Casa Xirinda, 117 Tremezzo, 103 Tremignan, Alessandro, 91 Treviso, 94, 104 Tribolo, II, 104 Trier, 139 Trieste, 26, 155 Tunis, 180 Turin, 97-100, 159 Accademia delle Scienze, 98 Capuchin Church, 106 Castello del Valentino, 98 Cathedral, 99 Consolata, La, 99 236 INDEX Turin, S. Croce, 99 S. Filippo, 99 S. Lorenzo, 99 SS. Martin, 100 Palazzo d'Agliano, 100 -^fCPalazzo Carignano, 98-' Palazzo Madama, 99 Palazzo Ormea, 99 Palazzo Reale, 99 Palazzo della Valle, 99 Superga, 99, 122, 124, 125, 131^ S. Tommaso, 100 Vecchi Quartieri, 99 Villa Rede, loo Villa della .Regiiia, 100 Turks, The, 85, 151, 180 Tuscany, 97, 103, 108, 126 Tusculum, 65 Tyrol, 134 Ceiling painters in the, 153 Udine, 104 Ulm, 156 Umbria, 97, 108 Urban VIII, Pope, 48, ji, 56 Utrecht, Bruntenhof, 202 Vaga, Pierin del, 81 Valencia — S. Andres, 186 S. Catarina, 186 S. Juanes, 186 Porta del Palau, 185 Valeriani, 79 Valetta — Auberge de Castile, 119 Auberge d'ltalie, 119 S. Helena Gate, 119 S. Manuel Gate, 11I9 Valladolid, University, 187 Valvasori, 64 Vanbrugh, Sir John, 205, 212-13, 2*3 Van Dyck, Anthony, 205 Vanvitellj, Luigi, 110 Varese — Castellazzo, 103 Sacro Monte, 103 Vasanzio, Giovanni, 68 Vasari, Giorgio, 31, 74 Vauban, Marshal, 201 Vaux-le-Vicomte, 170 Velasquez, 182 Venetia, 94, 97, 104, 131, 154 Venice — Chapter VI, also pp. 26, 33, 72, 73, 113, 126, 128, 163, 200, 218 Accadetnia Bridge, 91 Ca d'Olo, 87 Dogana, 94, 116 Ducal Palace, 87 Eden garden, 94 S. Eustachio, 91 Frari, 93 S. Giovanni e Paolo, 93 S. Giorgio Maggiore, 88 Giudecca, 94 S. Lazzaro dei Mendicanti, 91 S. Maria Formosa, 91, 125 S. Maria dei Gesuati, or del Rosario, 93 S. Maria dei Gesuiti, 91, 122, 129, 130 S. Maria del Giglio, or Zobenigo, 90 S. Maria della Salute, 86, 88-90, 94, 122, 123, 130, 131, 152, 168, 220 S. Maria ai Scalzi, 90 S. Mark's, 86, 94 S. Mois£, 91 Palazzo Labia, 85, 94 Palazzo da Lezze, 94 Palazzo Pesaro, 84, 93 Palazzo Rezzonico, 84, 93 Piazza di S. Marco, 83, 86 Ponte di Rialto, 86 Ponte dei Sospiri, 87 Redentore, 86, 121 S. Vitale, 91 S. Zaccaria, 90 Zattere, 93 Verona, 74, 104 Gran Guardia Vecchia, 104, 140 Versailles, no, 165, 169-170, 171, 174, 188 Vernuyken, Wilhelm, 135 Viblingen, 156 Vicenza, 94, 104 Monte Berico, 106 Palazzo Milan-Massari, 104 Victor Amadeus, I, 98 11.99 Victor Emmanuel II, 98 Vienna, 139, 145, 148, 151-3, 156,223 Finanzministerium, 152 237 INDEX Vienna, Hofburg, 152 Karlskirche, 152 Kinsky Palace, 152 Lichtenstein Palace, i$i Ministry of the Interior, 1 5 z Schloss Belvedere, 152 Schwarzenberg Palace, 152 University Church, 151 Vignola, G. B. da, 31, 32, 38, 40, 41, 61, 62, 66, 100, 121, 124, 127, 172, 173, 219 Vilvorde, 199 Viscardi, G. A., 155 Viterbo, 31, 68, 106 Vittoria, 187 Vittozzi, Ascanio, 100 Vouet, 170 Volterra, 61 Vredeman de Vries, 203 Ward, W. H., quoted, .169, 170, 171 Werneck, Schloss, 158 West Indies, 180, 189 Whitby, Old Church, 157 William the Silent, 202 William III, King, 203, 205 Winckelmann, 68 Wismar, Furstenhof, 135 Wolfenbiittel, Marienkirche, 138 Worms, Protestant Church, 156 Wren, Sir Christopher, 42, 44, 49, 137, 151, 157, 210, 211, 213, 220, 223 Wurzburg, 139 Haus zum Falken, 160 Residenz, 158 Schonborn Chapel, 156 Stifthaug Church, 156 University Church, 138 Xeres, see " Jerez " Yorkshire cottages, 207 Zampieri, 41 Zerbst, 157 Zuccali, Enrico, 155 Zuccari, Federico, 61 Zurich, 156 Zutphen, Weinhaus, 202 238 "Wbe Oreebam I)tees DNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED WOKING AMD LONDON