Romanesque

 Romanesque architecture is the term that describes the architecture of Eu-

rope which emerged from the dark ages of the late tenth century and
evolved into the Gothic style during the twelfth century.
The Romanesque style in England is more traditionally referred to as Norman ar-
chitecture.
Although there was a lot of building of castles during this period, they were great-
ly outnumbered by churches, (the most significant were the great abbey church-
es) many of which are still standing and frequently in use.
The word "Romanesque", means "descended from Roman“ or “in the manner of
the Romans”. It was first applied by the archaeologist Charles de Gerville, in the
early nineteenth century, to describe Western European architecture from the
fifth to the thirteenth century, at a time when the actual dates of many of the
buildings so described had not been ascertained. The term is now used for a
more restricted period from the late tenth to the twelfth century.
The term "Pre-Romanesque art" is sometimes applied to architecture in Germany
of the Carolingian and Ottonian periods. "First Romanesque" is applied to build-
ings in Italy, Spain, and parts of France that have Romanesque features but pre-
date the influence of the monastery of Cluny.

Key Points:
 The Romanesque style was developed during the 10th and 11th centuries.
 The word "Romanesque", means "descended from Roman“ or “in the manner
of the Romans”.
 In England, it is referred to as Norman architecture.
 The word "Romanesque" was first applied by the archaeologist Charles de Ger-
ville, in the early nineteenth century
 "Pre-Romanesque art" is used to describe architecture in Germany of the Caro-
lingian and Ottonian periods.

 "First Romanesque" is applied to buildings in Italy, Spain, and parts of France.
Romanesque

 Despite its name, the inspiration behind Romanesque architecture was not
Rome, but the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The church of St Vitale in Ra-
venna, Italy, dating from the 6th century, was one building that had a major influ-
ence: it inspired the palace complex of the emperor Charlemagne in Aachen,
Germany, built around 800 AD.
 Charlemagne was a key figure of the middle ages, the first ruler to reunite
Western Europe since the Roman Empire, and a shaper of European identity.
Charlemagne's court at Aachen was legendary: it had a major influence on the
culture — including the architecture — of much of western Europe. Romanesque
architecture developed from the buildings constructed during Charlemagne's
reign.
 Romanesque architecture developed at a time of increasing religious fervour
and a rise in the tradition of pilgrimages to the shrines of important saints. To ac-
commodate these pilgrims, churches became larger, and tended to be cross-
like in shape. This shape had the advantage of allowing more people to view sa-
cred relics put on display in the centre of the two arms of the cross.

 Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since
the Roman Empire. Despite the nineteenth-century Art Historian's impression of Rom-
anesque architecture as a continuation of Roman architecture, in fact, Roman building
techniques in brick and stone were largely lost in most parts of Europe. In the more north-
ern countries, the Roman style had never been adopted except for official buildings,
while in Scandinavia Roman style was entirely unknown. There was little continuity, even
in Rome where several of Constantine’s great basilicas continued to stand as an inspira-
tion to later builders. It was not the buildings of ancient Rome, but the sixth century oc-
tagonal Byzantine basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna which was to inspire the greatest
building of the Dark Ages in Western Europe, for example, the Emperor Charlemagne’s
chapel at Aachen, built around the year 800 C.E.
 Dating shortly after Aachen Cathedral is a remarkable ninth-century manuscript which
shows the plan for the building of the monastery at St. Gall in Switzerland. It is a very de-
tailed plan, with all the various monastic buildings and their functions labeled. The largest
building is the church, the plan of which is distinctly Germanic, having an apse at both
ends, an arrangement which is not generally seen elsewhere. Another feature of the
church is its regular proportion, the square plan of the crossing tower providing a module
for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-Romanesque St.
Michael's Church, Hildesheim (, 1001-1030.

 Prior to the later influence of the Abbey of Cluny in the tenth century, architecture of a
Romanesque style was simultaneously developing in northern Italy, parts of France, and
in the Iberian Peninsula. The style, sometimes called "First Romanesque" or "Lombard
Romanesque," is characterized by thick walls, lack of sculpture, and the presence of
rhythmic ornamental arches known as a Lombard band.
Romanesque
Key Historical Events:
 The Roman Empire was halved into East and West
 Those outside the Empire were called “barbarians” - German tribes such as
the Franks, Saxons, Vandals, Goths; Asian tribes such as the Huns
 4th century, Huns invaded Europe forcing the Goths and Vandals to seek
shelter inside the Roman Empire
 Rome agreed to let them stay in exchange for help against the Huns
 In 410 AD, Alaric the Goth seized Rome, settled in Spain
 Ostrogoths held much of Italy, Vandals moved across Europe into Africa
 486 – 507, Clovis, King of the Franks, conquered Gaul, but was overthrown
by the Carolingians in 751 AD
 Franks, Visigoths and Burgundians ruled Gaul
 Angles, Saxons and Jutes occupied Britain

Benedictine Order - (Black Monks) early 6th

century houses commonly sited in towns, part
of the church being devoted to offices for the
laity.

Cluniac Order - founded by Abbot Odo in 910

at Cluny in Burgundy. Reformed Benedictine
order.
Romanesque
Carthusian Order – The Character house, of-
ten remotedly sited provided separate cells for
the monks, generally grouped around a clois-
ter garth and the community served a simply-
planned church.

Cistercian Order – (White Monks) The ascetic

aims of this order produced an architecture
which was at first simple and severe. It was an
aisled hall in contrast to Benedictine and Au-
gustinian order.

Military Orders:
1. The Knights Templar – founded in 1119 to protect
the Holy places in Palestine and to safeguard the pil-
grim routes to Jerusalem.
2. The Hospitallers – organized in 1113, but develop
no characteristic architecture of its own.

The Friars, of which there were several orders - the Dominicans, the Franciscans,
the Carmelites, the Austin Friars, the Friars of the Holy Trinity and the Crutched Fri-
ars, were founded at a later period. There churches were large, plain, and with-
out aisles, being designed for preaching purposes.
Romanesque
The general architectural character is sober and dignified, while picturesqueness
is obtained by the grouping of the towers, and projection of the transepts and choir.

General Appearance:
Dark, Solemn Spaces

 Romanesque churches and cas-

tles were dark, with few openings.
 Wars and invasions were com-
mon place, so windows and doors
were kept to a minimum.
 With stone and masonry build-
ings, buildings were safe from fire
and invaders, but required large
supports for the weight of walls and
vaults.

Naumburg Catherdral, Germany. The crypt under the eastern choir is

the oldest part of the cathedral. It is in the Romanesque style from the
12th century

Simple Exterior

 A combination of masonry, arches and piers are

the basis of the Romanesque style. The main con-
cept for buildings was the addition of pure geomet-
rical form

Tum Collegiate Church

Maria Laach Abbey site.) Germany

Romanesque

Modest Height and Emphasis on Horizontal Lines

 Romanesque architecture projects harmonious

proportions achieved by the principles of equilibri-
um,
 It gives more emphasis on horizontal lines,
similar to those of Greek and Roman public build-
ing
 Romanesque architecure projects harmonious
proportions achieved by the principles of equilibri-
um,

San Vittore alle Chiuse (Links to an external site.),

Multiple Elements

It gives more emphasis on horizontal

lines, similar to those of Greek and
Roman public buildings.

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (Links to an external site.). The Lower

and Upper basilicas and the portico, as seen from the Lower Plaza of Saint
Francis.
Romanesque

Thick and Massive Walls

The walls of Romanesque buildings are often of
massive thickness with few and comparatively small
openings. They are often double shells, filled with
rubble.
Rubble masonry, also known as rubblework, is the use of
undressed, rough stone, generally for the construction
of walls

Arcades

 An arcade is a row of arches, supported

on piers or columns. They occur in the interi-
or of large churches, separating the nave
from the aisles, and in large secular interiors
spaces, such as the great hall of a castle,
supporting the timbers of a roof or upper
floor. Arcades also occur in cloisters and
atriums, enclosing an open space.
 Arcading is the single most significant
decorative feature of Romanesque archi-
tecture. It occurs in a variety of forms; from
the Lombard band, a row of small arches
that appear to support a roofline or course,
to shallow blind arcading, a feature of Eng-
lish architecture and seen in great variety at
Ely Cathedral, to open galleries, such as
those on both Pisa Cathedral and its famous
Leaning Tower. Arcades could be used to
great effect, both externally and internally,
as exemplified by the church of, in Arezzo.

The atrium and arcaded narthex of Sant'Ambrogio Milan,

Italy, is a harmonious composition of similar arches.
Romanesque

Round Arches and Openings

 Arches in Romanesque architecture are semicircular, with the exception of a
very small number of buildings such as Autun Cathedral (Links to an external
site.) in France and Monreale Cathedral (Links to an external site.) in Sicily, both
of which pointed arches have been used extensively. It is believed that in these
cases there is a direct imitation of Islamic architecture.
 While small windows might be surmounted by a solid stone lintel, larger win-
dows are nearly always arched. Doorways are also surmounted by a semi-circular
arch, except where the door is set into a large arched recess and surmounted by
a semi-circular "lunette" with decorative carving.

Blind Arches (Links to an external site.) of Pisa Cathedral (left) and Pisa Baptistery (right).

A blind arch is an arch found in the wall of a building that has been infilled with solid construction and so cannot serve as a
passageway, door or window.[1] The term is most often associated with masonry wall construction, but blind arches are also
found (or simulated) in other types of construction such as light frame construction. Some blind arches were originally built as
open arches and infilled later. Others were originally built with solid infill as intentional stylistic elements.

Vaults and Roofs

 The majority of buildings have wooden roofs, generally of a simple truss, tie beam, or king
post form. In the case of trussed rafter roofs, they are sometimes lined with wooden ceilings
in three sections like those which survive at Ely and Peterborough cathedrals in England. In
churches, typically the aisles are vaulted, but the nave is roofed with timber, as is the case
at both Peterborough and Ely. In Italy, open wooden roofs are common, and tie beams fre-
quently occur in conjunction with vaults, the timbers have often been decorated as at San
Miniato al Monte, Florence.
 Vaults of stone or brick took on several different forms and showed marked develop-
ment during the period, evolving into the pointed ribbed arch which is characteristic of
Gothic architecture.
Romanesque

TYPES OF VAULTS
Barrel Vault
The simplest type of vaulted roof is the barrel vault in which a single arched surface extends from
wall to wall, the length of the space to be vaulted, for example, the nave of a church. An important
example, which retains Medieval paintings, is the vault of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, France, of the
early twelfth century. However, the barrel vault generally required the support of solid walls, or walls
in which the windows were very small.

Groin vault

Groin vaults occur very frequently in earlier Romanesque buildings, and also for the less visible and
smaller vaults in later buildings, particularly in crypts and aisles. A groin vault is almost always square
in plan and is constructed of two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles. Unlike a ribbed vault, the
entire arch is a structural member. Groin vaults are frequently separated by transverse arched ribs of
low profile as at Santiago de Compostela (Links to an external site.). At La Madeleine, Vézelay (Links
to an external site.), the ribs are square in section, strongly projecting and polychrome.

Ribbed vault
 In ribbed vaults, not only are there ribs spanning the vaulted area transversely, but each vaulted
bay have diagonal ribs. In a ribbed vault, the ribs are the structural members, and the spaces
between them can be filled with lighter, none-structural material.
 Because Romanesque arches are nearly always semi-circular, the structural and design problem
inherent in the ribbed vault is that the diagonal span is larger and therefore higher than the
transverse span. The Romanesque builders used a number of solutions to this problem. One was
to have the center point where the diagonal ribs met as the highest point, with the fill of all the
surfaces sloping upwards towards it, in a domical manner. This solution was employed in Italy
at San Michele, (Links to an external site.)Pavia and Sant' Ambrogio (Links to an external site.),
Milan.

 Another solution was to stilt the transverse ribs, or depress the diagonal ribs so that the centerline
of the vault was horizontal, like that of a barrel vault. The latter solution was used on the sexpar-
tite vaults at both the Saint-Etienne, the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, and Abbaye-aux-Dames at
Caen, France, in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.

Pointed arched vault

Late in the Romanesque period another solution came into use for regulating the height of diagonal
and transverse ribs. This was to use arches of the same diameter for both horizontal and transverse
ribs, causing the transverse ribs to meet at a point. This is seen most notably in northern England, at
the Durham Cathedral (Links to an external site.) dating from 1128. Durham is a cathedral of massive
Romanesque proportions and appearance, yet its builders introduced several structural features
that were new to architectural design and were to later to be hallmark features of the Gothic. An-
other Gothic structural feature employed at Durham is the flying buttress. However, these are hid-
den beneath the roofs of the aisles. The earliest pointed vault in France is that of the narthex of La
Madeleine, Vézelay (Links to an external site.), dating from 1130.
Romanesque
Romanesque

Buttresses

 Because of the massive nature of Romanesque walls, buttresses are not a highly sig-
nificant feature, as they are in Gothic architecture. Romanesque buttresses are generally
of flat square profile and do not project a great deal beyond the wall. In the case of aisled
churches, barrel vaults, or half-barrel vaults over the aisles helped to buttress the nave, if
it was vaulted.

 In the cases where half-barrel

vaults were used, they effectively be-
came like flying buttresses. Often
aisles extended through two stories,
rather than the one usual in Gothic
architecture, so as to better support
the weight of a vaulted nave. In the
case of Durham Cathedral, flying but-
tresses have been employed, but are
hidden inside the triforium gallery.

Castle Rising (Links to an external site.), England, shows flat

buttresses and reinforcing at the corners of the building
typical in both castles and churches.

TRIFORIUM

a gallery or arcade above the arches of the nave, choir, and transepts of a church.

A triforium is an interior gallery, opening onto the tall cen-

tral space of a building at an upper level. In a church, it
Romanesque

Piers and Columns

Piers
In Romanesque architecture,
piers were often employed to
support arches. They were built
of masonry and square or rec-
tangular in section, generally
having a horizontal molding rep-
resenting a capital at the spring-
ing of the arch. Sometimes piers
have vertical shafts attached to
them, and may also have hori-
zontal moldings at the level of
base.
Although basically rectangular, piers can often be of highly complex form,
with half-segments of large hollow-core columns on the inner surface support-
ing the arch, or a clustered group of smaller shafts leading into the moldings of
the arch.
Piers that occur at the intersection of two large arches, such as those under
the crossing of the nave and transept, are commonly cruciform in shape,
each arch having its own supporting rectangular pier at right angles to the
other.
Romanesque

Columns
Columns are an important structural feature of Romanesque architecture. Col-
onnettes and attached shafts are also used structurally and for decoration.
Monolithic columns cut from a single piece of stone were frequently used in It-
aly, as they had been in Roman and Early Christian architecture. They were
also used, particularly in Germany, when they alternated between more mas-
sive piers. Arcades of columns cut from single pieces are also common in
structures that do not bear massive weights of masonry, such as cloisters,
where they are sometimes paired. (Fletcher, 1996)
Monolithic columns cut from a single piece of stone were frequently used in It-
aly as they had been in Roman and Early Christian Architecture. Types of col-
umns such as Drum columns (solid cylinders), Hollow core columns (filled with
a rubble core), Salvaged columns, and Pilasters (embedded into the wall)
were used.
In context|architecture|lang=en terms the difference between column and pier is
that column is (architecture) a solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger
structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration
while pier is (architecture) a rectangular pillar, or similar structure, that supports an arch,
wall or roof.
Romanesque

Capitals and Other Ornamentations

Architectural
Elements:
Thick and Massive Walls
Arcades
Round Arches and Openings
Vaults and Roofs
Buttresses
Piers and Columns
Capitals and Other Ornamentations
Romanesque

Capitals and Other Ornamentations

Architectural
Elements:
Thick and Massive Walls
Arcades
Round Arches and Openings
Vaults and Roofs
Buttresses
Piers and Columns
Capitals and Other Ornamentations
GOTHIC
GOTHIC
Gothic architecture, architectural style in Europe that lasted from the mid-12th
century to the 16th century, particularly a style of masonry building characterized
by cavernous spaces with the expanse of walls broken up by overlaid tracery.

Dictionary of Architecture and Construction ( Harris,

2006):
 The architectural style of the High Middle ages in Western Europe, which
emerged from Romanesque and Byzantine forms in France during the 12th cen-
tury. Gothic architecture lasted until the 16th century when it was succeeded by
the classical forms of the Renaissance. In France and Germany,
Note:
Gothic phases are referred to as Early, High, and Late Gothic; the French middle
phase is referred to as Rayonnant, the late phase as Flamboyant. In English archi-
tecture the usual divisions are Early English, Decorated. and Perpendicular.
The term "Gothic" originated as a means of belittling by critics who criticized the
lack of adherence to the standards of classical Greece and Rome. However,
"the men of the thirteenth and fourteenth century referred to the Gothic cathe-
drals as opus modernum (modern work).
Italian variations on Gothic Architecture would stand out from the rest of Eu-
rope by its use of brick and marble rather than the stone of other nations. The
Late Gothic Period (15th Century onwards) would reach its peak in Germany
with its magnificent vaulted hall churches. (McFadden, 2015)

Putting Into Context

 Gothic may be referred to as period, art, architecture, and/or people.
 Merriam-Webster Dictionary (Links to an external site.) defined Gothic as to:
PEOPLE: of, relating to, or resembling the Goths, their civilization, or their language
 ARCHITECTURE: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of archi-
tecture developed in northern France and spreading through western Europe
from the middle of the 12th century to the early 16th century that is characterized
by the converging of weights and strains at isolated points upon slender vertical
piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by pointed arches and vaulting

GOTHIC

Social and Political

The Roman Empire crumbled in 476 C.E. and Germanic tribes called the Goths
absorbed what was left of the former empire. These tribes were not unified
and often quarreled with each other. Fear resulted in halted trade,
Another key feature of Gothic Architecture is the Gothic rib vault. "A rib vault is easily identi-
fied by the presence of crossed, or diagonal, arches under the groins of a vault." These
arches form the framework of the Gothic skeletal structure. Gothic vaults exhibit the point-
ed, or broken arch as the vital part of the skeletal frame of the cathedral. As a result of the
thinly vaulted webs between the arches, all the arches have their crowns at approximately
the same level, a feat the Romanesque architects could not achieve.

Early Gothic (1150-1250)

On June 11, 1144, the cradle of Gothic architecture came into existence. The
royal abbey of St. Denis (Links to an external site.) set a precedent with its crown of
chapels, radiant with stained glass windows, that builders would attempt to im-
itate for half a century. The existence of the Gothic style can be attributed
to Bernard of Clairvaux and Abbot Suger. "Bernard held the belief that faith
was mystical and intuitive rather than rational." Bernard's Cistercian architec-
ture reflected this concept: the building stressed purity of outline, simplicity and
a form and light peculiarly conducive to meditation; however, it was Suger
that initiated the movement, and gave Gothic Architecture its identity.

Key Works
 Abbey church of St. Denis (known as the cradle of Gothic Art)
 Laon Cathedral
 Notre Dame Cathedral
GOTHIC

High Gothic (1250-1375)

 A half-century after the formation of Gothic Architecture, on June 10, 1194,
a great fire destroyed the town of Chartres, and the Chartres Cathedra .
The only part of the cathedral that remained was the crypt, the western
towers, and the Royal Portal. This new cathedral of Chartres is considered
the first of the High Gothic buildings.

 The mark of the High Gothic style is the use of the flying buttresses.

 As a result, any need for the Romanesque walls was eliminated. The organ-
ic, "flowing" quality of the High Gothic interior was enhanced by the de-
compartmentalization of the interior so that the nave is seen as one individ-
ual, continuous volume of space.

 The new High Gothic tripartite nave elevation featured an arcade, triforium,
and large clerestory windows. As a result of these windows, more light
flooded in than in the Early Gothic construction.

 Rayonnant Style
 The Rayonnant Style was one of the most radiant in art history. Stained glass windows encom-
passed most of the cathedral during this movement, and the heavy, rigidity of the supporting el-
ements was eradicated. The stained glass filters light and imbue the interior with an unearthly ra-
diant atmosphere. This style emphasizes extreme slenderness of architectural forms and linearity
of form while relying almost entirely on exquisite color and precise carving of details. The "rush
into the skies," was the sheer obsession of all Gothic architects. Their goal was to go far beyond
the reach of man. Great examples of this style are the Choir of Beauvais Cathe-
dral and the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

Key Works
 Amiens Cathedral (1220-1236)
 Choir of Beavuais Cathedral (1272)
 Central Portal of the west façade of Reims Cathedral

GOTHIC

 Late Gothic (1375-1450)

 The Late Gothic was essentially a reaction to the Early and High Gothic styles, and
hence, the destruction of the unity of Christendom. In fact, the Late Gothic period
would reshape the structure of Western Europe. The key characteristic of the Late Goth-
ic style was the S-curve, or the curving savy of the figure, emphasized by the bladelike
sweeps of drapery that converge, portraying a mannered elegance that is the hallmark
of the Late Gothic style.

Flamboyant Style
 Late Gothic architecture was also known as the "flamboyant" style because
of the flamelike appearance of the pointed tracery. The style had reached
its maturity toward the end of the fifteenth century. However, the war dev-
astated the area around Ile-de-France and sapped its economic and cul-
tural strength. As a result, the Gothic style migrated to non-French territories.

Key Works
 The Virgin of Paris, Notre Dame, fourteenth century
 Chartres Cathedral

What is Gothic Revival?

Gothic revival was a return to Gothic architectural building
styles during the 18th and 19th centuries. Primarily Gothic
revival gained popularity in England and the United States.
It did, however, begin in Europe. One example of Gothic
revival in the United States is St. Patrick's Cathedral (Links
to an external site.), built by James Renwick, who rose as a
Gothic revival architect during the 1840's.
GOTHIC

Grand Height

 A characteristic of Gothic church architecture is its height, both absolute and

in proportion to its width, the verticality suggesting an aspiration to Heaven. A sec-
tion of the main body of a Gothic church usually shows the nave as considerably
taller than it is wide. In England, the proportion is sometimes greater than 2:1,
while the greatest proportional difference achieved is at Cologne Cathedral with
a ratio of 3.6:1. The highest internal vault is at Beauvais Cathedral at 48 metres
(157 ft). The pointed arch, itself a suggestion of height, is appearance is charac-
teristically further enhanced by both the architectural features and the decora-
tion of the building.

 Verticality is emphasized on the exterior in a major way by the towers and
spires, a characteristic of Gothic churches both great and small varying from
church to church, and in a lesser way by strongly projecting vertical buttresses, by
narrow half-columns called attached shafts which often pass through several sto-
reys of the building, by long narrow windows, vertical mouldings around doors
and figurative sculpture which emphasizes the vertical and is often attenuated.
The roofline, gable ends, buttresses and other parts of the building are often ter-
minated by small pinnacles, Milan Cathedral being an extreme example in the
use of this form of decoration. In Italy, the tower, if present, is almost always de-
tached from the building, as at Florence Cathedral, and is often from an earlier
structure. In France and Spain, two towers on the front is the norm. In England,
Germany and Scandinavia this is often the arrangement, but an English cathe-
dral may also be surmounted by an enormous tower at the crossing. Smaller
churches usually have just one tower, but this may also be the case at larger
buildings, such as Salisbury Cathedral or Ulm Minster in Ulm, Germany, completed
in 1890 and possessing the tallest spire in the world, slightly exceeding that of Lin-
coln Cathedral, the tallest spire that was actually completed during the medieval
period, at 160 metres (520 ft).
GOTHIC

Cruciform Plan
 Most large Gothic churches and many smaller parish churches are of the Latin
cross (or “cruciform”) plan, with a long nave making the body of the church, a
transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it, an extension which may be
called the choir, chancel or presbytery. There are several regional variations on
this plan.

 The nave is generally flanked on either side by aisles, usually single, but some-
times double. The nave is generally considerably taller than the aisles, hav-
ing clerestory windows which light the central space. Gothic churches of the Ger-
manic tradition, like St. Stephen of Vienna, often have nave and aisles of similar
height and are called Hallenkirche. In the South of France there is often a single
wide nave and no aisles, as at Sainte-Marie in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.

 In some churches with double aisles, like Notre Dame, Paris, the transept does
not project beyond the aisles. In English cathedrals, transepts tend to project
boldly, and there maybe two of them, as at Salisbury Cathedral, though this is not
the case with lesser churches.

 The eastern arm shows considerable diversity. In England, it is generally long

and may have two distinct sections, both choir and presbytery. It is often square
ended or has a projecting Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In France,
the eastern end is often polygonal and surrounded by a walkway called an am-
bulatory and sometimes a ring of chapels called a “chevet.” While German
churches are of-
ten similar to
those of France,
in Italy, the east-
ern projection
beyond the tran-
sept is usually just
a shallow apsidal
chapel contain-
ing the sanctu-
ary, as at Flor-
ence Cathedral
GOTHIC

 Another very characteristic feature of the Gothic style, domestic and eccle-
siastical alike, is the division of interior space into individual cells according to the
building’s ribbing and vaults, regardless of whether or not the structure actually
has a vaulted ceiling. This system of cells of varying size and shape juxtaposed in
various patterns was again totally unique to antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
and scholars, Frankl included, have emphasized the mathematical and geomet-
ric nature of this design. Frankl in particular thought of this layout as “creation by
division” rather than the Romanesque’s “creation by addition.” Others, namely
Viollet-le-Duc, Wilhelm Pinder, and August Schmarsow, instead proposed the
term “articulated architecture.” The opposite theory as suggested by Henri Focil-
lon and Jean Bony is of “spatial unification”, or of the creation of an interior that is
made for sensory overload via the interaction of many elements and perspec-
tives. Interior and exterior partitions, often extensively studied, have been found to
at times contain features, such as thoroughfares at window height, that make the
illusion of thickness. Additionally, the piers separating the isles eventually stopped
being part of the walls but rather independent objects that jut out from the actu-
al aisle wall itself.
GOTHIC

East End and the Lady Chapel

 Cathedrals and churches were traditionally constructed with the altar at the
east end so that the priest and congregation faced the rising sun during the
morning liturgy. The sun was considered the symbol of Christ and the Second
Coming, a major theme in Cathedral sculpture. The portion of the church east of
altar is the choir, reserved for members of the clergy. There is usually a single or
double ambulatory, or aisle, around the choir and east end, so parishioners and
pilgrims could walk freely easily around the east end.

Chevet
In French Gothic churches, the east end, or chevet , often had an apse, a semi
-circular projection with a vaulted or domed roof. The chevet of large cathe-
drals frequently had a ring of radiating chapels, placed between the buttress-
es to get maximum light. There are three such chapels at Chartres Cathedral,
seven at Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens Cathedral, Prague Cathedral and Co-
logne Cathedral, and nine at Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in Italy. In Eng-
land, the east end is more often rectangular, and gives access to a separate
and large Lady Chapel (Links to an external site.), dedicated to the Virgin
Mary (Links to an external site.). Lady Chapels were also common in Italy.

A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our La-
dy", the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church.
The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, and they were tradi-
tionally the largest side chapel of a cathedral, placed eastward from the high altar and
forming a projection from the main building as in Winchester Cathedral. Most Roman
Catholic and many Anglican cathedrals still have such chapels, while mid-sized church-
es have smaller side-altars dedicated to the Virgin. (Wikipedia (Links to an external site.))
GOTHIC

East End and the Lady Chapel

 Cathedrals and churches were traditionally constructed with the altar at the
east end so that the priest and congregation faced the rising sun during the
morning liturgy. The sun was considered the symbol of Christ and the Second
Coming, a major theme in Cathedral sculpture. The portion of the church east of
altar is the choir, reserved for members of the clergy. There is usually a single or
double ambulatory, or aisle, around the choir and east end, so parishioners and
pilgrims could walk freely easily around the east end.

Chevet
In French Gothic churches, the east end, or chevet , often had an apse, a semi
-circular projection with a vaulted or domed roof. The chevet of large cathe-
drals frequently had a ring of radiating chapels, placed between the buttress-
es to get maximum light. There are three such chapels at Chartres Cathedral,
seven at Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens Cathedral, Prague Cathedral and Co-
logne Cathedral, and nine at Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in Italy. In Eng-
land, the east end is more often rectangular, and gives access to a separate
and large Lady Chapel (Links to an external site.), dedicated to the Virgin
Mary (Links to an external site.). Lady Chapels were also common in Italy.

A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our La-
dy", the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church.
The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, and they were tradi-
tionally the largest side chapel of a cathedral, placed eastward from the high altar and
forming a projection from the main building as in Winchester Cathedral. Most Roman
Catholic and many Anglican cathedrals still have such chapels, while mid-sized church-
es have smaller side-altars dedicated to the Virgin. (Wikipedia (Links to an external site.))
GOTHIC

Majestic Facade
The façade of a large church or cathedral, often referred to as the West Front, is
generally designed to create a powerful impression on the approaching worship-
per, demonstrating both the might of God and the might of the institution that it
represents. One of the best known and most typical of such façades is that of
Notre Dame de Paris.
Gothic cathedrals traditionally faced west, with the altar on the east, and the west front,
or facade, was considered the most important entrance. Gothic facades were adapted
from the model of the Romanesque facades. The facades usually had three portals, or
doorways, leading into the nave. Over each doorway was a tympanum , a work of sculp-
ture crowded with figures.

Tympanum

Gothic Tympanum of the church of St. Denis Cathedral

GOTHIC

 In the early Gothic, the facades were characterized by height, elegance, har-
mony, unity, and a balance of proportions. They followed the doctrine expressed
by Saint Thomas Aquinas that beauty was a "harmony of contrasts." Early Gothic
facades often had a small rose window placed above the central portal. In Eng-
land, the rose window was often replaced by several lancet windows.

In the High Gothic period, the facades grew higher, and had more dramatic
architecture and sculpture. At Amiens Cathedral (Links to an external site.) (c.
1220), the porches were deeper, the niches and pinnacles were more promi-
nent. The portals were crowned with high arched gables, composed of con-
centric arches filled with sculpture. The rose windows became enormous, filling
an entire wall above the central portal, and they were themselves covered
with a large pointed arch. The rose windows were pushed upwards by the
growing profusion of decoration below. The towers were adorned with their
own arches, often crowned with pinnacles. The towers themselves were
crowned with spires, often of open-work sculpture. One of the finest examples
of a Flamboyant (Links to an external site.) facade is Notre-Dame de
l'Épine (Links to an external site.) (1405-1527).

Italian Gothic facades featured the three traditional portals and rose windows, or
sometimes simply a large circular window without tracery plus an abundance of
flamboyant elements, including sculpture, pinnacles, and spires. However, they
added distinctive Italian elements. as seen in the facades of Siena Cathe-
dral (Links to an external site.) ) and of Orvieto Cathedral (Links to an external
site.). The Orvieto facade was largely the work of a master mason, Lorenzo
Maitani (Links to an external site.), who worked on the facade from 1308 until his
death in 1330. He broke away from the French emphasis on height, and eliminat-
ed the column statutes and statuary
in the arched entries, and covered
the facade with colorful mosaics of
biblical scenes (The current mosaics
are of a later date). He also added
sculpture in relief on the supporting
counterforts.

A perfect example of height, elegance,

harmony, unity, and a balance of pro-
portions. Siena Cathedral (Links to an
external site.), Italy
GOTHIC
Illuminated and Airy Interiors

The increase in size between windows of the Romanesque and Gothic periods is
related to the use of the ribbed vault, and in particular, the pointed ribbed vault
which channeled the weight to a supporting shaft with less outward thrust than a
semicircular vault. Walls did not need to be so weighty.

Emphasis on Decoration and Ornamentation

Spires
 These are tapering architectural elements that of-
ten replaced the steeple to lend an impression of lofti-
ness. Gothic cathedrals often feature profuse spiring,
giving the impression of battlements - symbolic of a
religious fortress protecting the faith. Openwork spires
are perhaps the most common; this elaborate spire
consisted of stone tracery held together by metal
clamps. It had the ability to achieve radical heights
while lending a feeling of lightness through its skeletal
structure.

Pinnacles
 Unlike the flying buttress, the pinnacle started out as a structural element
meant to deflect the pressures of the vaulted roof downward. They were imbued
with lead, literally ‘pinning down’ the sideways pressures of the vault, served as
counterweights to extended gargoyles and
overhanging corbels and stabilized flying but-
tresses. As their aesthetic possibilities began to
be known, pinnacles were lightened and the
flying buttress was structurally developed to
handle the vaulted roof. Pinnacles are profuse-
ly used to break the abrupt change in slender-
ness, as the church building gives way to the
mounted spire, lending the building a distinc-
tively Gothic, tapering appearance.

GOTHIC

Gargoyles
The gargoyle (derived from the French word gargouille, meaning gargle) is a
sculptural waterspout, placed to prevent rainwater from running down masonry
walls. These numerous grimacing sculptures divided the flow among them, mini-
mizing potential water damage. Gargoyles were sculpted on the ground and
placed as the building neared completion. St. Romanus is often associated with
the gargoyle; legend speaks of him saving Rouen from a snarling dragon that
struck terror even in the heart of spirits. Known as La Gargouille, the beast was
vanquished and its head mounted on a newly built church, as an example and
warning. While the gargoyle has been around since Egyptian times, prolific use of
the element in Europe is attributed to the Gothic era. Profusely grouped upon
several cathedrals, it heightens a sense of allegory and the fantastic.

Flying Buttresses
 Spider-leg like in appearance, a flying buttress was originally instated as an
aesthetic device. Later, they were converted into ingenious structural devices
that transferred the dead-load of the vaulted roof to the ground. To add a de-
gree of stiffness to the structure, they were stepped back from the main wall and
connected to the roof via arching supports. The buttress now ‘carried’ the vault,
freeing the walls of their load-bearing function. This allowed the walls to become
thinner or almost completely replaced by glass windows, unlike in the Rom-
anesque where walls were massive affairs with very less glazing. The buttresses en-
abled Gothic architecture to become lighter, taller and afford a greater aesthet-
ic experience than before.
GOTHIC

Gargoyles
The gargoyle (derived from the French word gargouille, meaning gargle) is a
sculptural waterspout, placed to prevent rainwater from running down masonry
walls. These numerous grimacing sculptures divided the flow among them, mini-
mizing potential water damage. Gargoyles were sculpted on the ground and
placed as the building neared completion. St. Romanus is often associated with
the gargoyle; legend speaks of him saving Rouen from a snarling dragon that
struck terror even in the heart of spirits. Known as La Gargouille, the beast was
vanquished and its head mounted on a newly built church, as an example and
warning. While the gargoyle has been around since Egyptian times, prolific use of
the element in Europe is attributed to the Gothic era. Profusely grouped upon
several cathedrals, it heightens a sense of allegory and the fantastic.

Flying Buttresses
 Spider-leg like in appearance, a flying buttress was originally instated as an
aesthetic device. Later, they were converted into ingenious structural devices
that transferred the dead-load of the vaulted roof to the ground. To add a de-
gree of stiffness to the structure, they were stepped back from the main wall and
connected to the roof via arching supports. The buttress now ‘carried’ the vault,
freeing the walls of their load-bearing function. This allowed the walls to become
thinner or almost completely replaced by glass windows, unlike in the Rom-
anesque where walls were massive affairs with very less glazing. The buttresses en-
abled Gothic architecture to become lighter, taller and afford a greater aesthet-
ic experience than before.
Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance (as a period/movement), also known as "Rinascimento" (in

Italian), was an influential cultural movement that brought about a period of
the scientific revolution and artistic transformation at the dawn of modern his-
tory in Europe. It marks the transitional period between the end of the Middle
Ages and the start of the Modern Age. The Renaissance is usually considered
to have begun in the fourteenth century in Italy and the sixteenth century in
northern Europe. Much of the foundations of liberal humanism were laid during
the foundation. For some, this usurps God's rightful place as the author of val-
ues and as the director of history. But positively, the contemporary universal
outlook, respect for the dignity of all people on which democracy is based,
thirst for knowledge, and for ways of bettering the human lot, all derive from
the Renaissance and from the Enlightenment that followed.
Renaissance architecture, style of architecture, reflecting the rebirth of Classi-
cal culture, originated in Florence in the early 15th century and spread
throughout Europe, replacing the medieval Gothic style. There was a revival of
ancient Roman forms, including the column and round arch, the tunnel vault,
and the dome. The basic design element was the order. Knowledge
of Classical architecture came from the ruins of ancient buildings and the writ-
ings of Vitruvius (Links to an external site.). As in the Classical peri-
od, proportion was the most important factor of beau-
ty; Renaissance architects found harmony between human proportions and
buildings. This concern for proportion resulted in clear, easily comprehended
space and mass, which distinguishes the Renaissance style from the more
complex Gothic.
Filippo Brunelleschi (Links to an external site.) is consid-
ered the first Renaissance architect. Leon Battista Alber-
ti (Links to an external site.)’s Ten Books on Architecture,
inspired by Vitruvius, became a bible of Renaissance ar-
chitecture. From Florence the early Renaissance style
spread through Italy. Donato Bramante (Links to an exter-
nal site.)’s move to Rome ushered in the High Renais-
sance (c. 1500–20). Mannerism (Links to an external site.),
the style of the Late Renaissance (1520–1600), was char-
acterized by sophistication, complexity, and novelty ra-
ther than the harmony, clarity, and repose of the High Re-
naissance. The Late Renaissance also saw much architec-
tural theorizing, with Sebastiano Serlio (Links to an external
site.) (1475–1554), Giacomo da Vignola (Links to an exter-
nal site.) (1507–73), and Andrea Palladio (Links to an ex-
ternal site.) publishing influential books. (Encyclopaedia
Britannica (Links to an external site.))
Renaissance

The foremost Renaissance building types were the

church (cathedrals, basilicas),
palazzo (urban mansion), and
villa (country mansion).
While various great names are associated with Renaissance church and
palazzo design, the most famous villa architect by far is Andrea Palladio .

Key Points:
 Birth on the 16th Century in Florence, Italy
 Renaissance architecture, style of architecture, reflecting the rebirth of Classi-
cal culture
 Filippo Brunelleschi is considered the first Renaissance architect.
 Leon Battista Alberti’s Ten Books on Architecture, inspired by Vitruvius, became a bi-
ble of Renaissance architecture.
 Mannerism, the style of the Late Renaissance (1520–1600)
 Building Typologies: Church, Palazzo and Villa
Renaissance

Early Rennaisance (ca. 1400-1500)

Highlights:
 The two leading Early Renaissance architects were Brunelleschi and Alberti.

 Filippo Brunelleschi (Links to an external site.), the first great Renaissance ar-
chitect, was primarily a designer of churches. His most famous work is the oc-
tagonal brick dome of Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral, an engi-
neering feat of such difficulty (given the dome's unprecedented size) that he
also had to invent special machines to hoist each section into
place. Brunelleschi's dome (Links to an external site.) was the largest the pre-
industrial world would ever see.
 Brunelleschi's dome (Links to an external site.) is crowned by a lantern: a roof-
top structure with openings for lighting and/or ventilation. (Another common type
of rooftop structure is the belfry, aka bell-tower.)

 This dome is not considered a Renaissance work, however; its style is firm-
ly Gothic. The emergence of Renaissance architecture is rather seen in Brunelles-
chi's designs for complete buildings, of which the Basilica of San Lorenzo (Links to
an external site.) (Florence) may be the most famous. The plain exterior of this
building includes a series of blind arches, while the interior is graced with crisp
grey-and-white planar classicism; only the columns prevent this interior from be-
ing composed entirely of flat surfaces. (In many Renaissance churches, broad
rectangular piers are used instead of columns, thus maximizing the surface space
for planar classicism.)

Leon Battista Alberti (Links to an external site.) became the most influential archi-
tectural theorist of the Early Renaissance with his own Ten Books on Architec-
ture, which instructed on the adaptation of ancient classical forms to modern
buildings. In terms of actual building projects, Alberti was the leading pioneer of
classical facade design. His greatest facades include the Church
of Sant'Andrea (Links to an external site.) and Palazzo Rucellai (Links to an exter-
nal site.).
Renaissance

 The facade of the Church of Sant'Andrea (Links to an external site.)(Mantua)

mimics a triumphal arch, while the facade of the Palazzo Rucellai (Florence) is
neatly divided into rectangular sections (each containing an arched window)
with pilasters and cosmetic entablatures. Circular elements, like those above
each window of the Palazzo, were a Renaissance favorite, with many architects
of the period regarding the circle as the "perfect shape".
Renaissance

High Renaissance (ca. 1500-25)

 The High Renaissance witnessed the pinnacle of classical simplicity and harmo-
ny in Renaissance art and architecture. The central plan layout (found in many
Roman temples, most notably the Pantheon) was popular during this peri-
od. ("central plan" denotes rotational symmetry; if the plan is rotated around its
central point, it looks the same at multiple points of rotation. Common shapes for
central plan buildings are the circle, square, and octagon.)

 The founder and leader of High Renaissance architecture was Donato Bra-
mante. (Bramante is considered a member of the "High Renaissance trio", along
with Michelangelo, the foremost sculptor of the period, and Raphael, the fore-
most painter.) His greatest completed work is the Tempietto, a Doric shrine erect-
ed upon the traditional site of St Peter's martyrdom. Despite its small size, the
Tempietto is often considered the crowning work of High Renaissance architec-
ture.
 Had Bramante's plans been realized, St Peter's would undoubtedly be the fore-
most High Renaissance church. Instead, this position is occupied by the Church of
Santa Maria in the town of Todi (north of Rome). This central plan building strongly
resembles Bramante's architectural style, though it cannot be attributed to him
with certainty.
 The High Renaissance also gave rise to the Palazzo Farnese (Links to an exter-
nal site.), arguably the greatest Renaissance palace. This building, designed prin-
cipally by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (a student of Bramante’s), follows the
typical Renaissance palazzo layout: a three-story rectangular building with a cen-
tral courtyard.28 A spartan majesty is achieved in the balanced height and
breadth of the facade, the absence of vertical dividers, and the unadorned ex-
panse of wall above each row of windows. The sheer simplicity of the facade
emphasizes variations in wall colours, window shapes, and pediment shapes.

Palazzo Farnese, (Links to an external
site.) Roman palace that serves as an important example
of High Renaissance architecture. It was designed by Antonio
da Sangallo the Younger and built between 1517 and 1589
Renaissance
 A popular decorative treatment of the palazzo was rustication (Links to an
external site.), in which a masonry wall is textured rather than smooth. This can
entail leaving grooves in the joints between smooth blocks, using roughly
dressed blocks, or using blocks that have been deliberately textured. The rusti-
cation of a palazzo is often differentiated between stories.

Rustication is a range of masonry techniques used in classical architecture giving visible surfac-
es a finish texture that contrasts in with smooth, squared-block masonry called ashlar. The
visible face of each individual block is cut back around the edges to make its size and placing very
clear. In addition the central part of the face of each block may be given a deliberately rough or
patterned surface.[1]

Late Renaissance (ca. 1525-1600)

The most radical strain of Late Renaissance art was mannerism (Links to an external site.): the delib-
erate pursuit of novelty and complexity, often to the point of bizarreness. In mannerist painting and
sculpture, human anatomy is strangely elongated, and figures are placed in complex, unnatu-
ral postures. In mannerist architecture, classical forms are skewed, exaggerated, and misplaced,
and classical balance and harmony are sometimes distorted. By upsetting conventions and explor-
ing new artistic possibilities, mannerism became an influential force, even for artists who chose to
retain a more purely classical style.

 One such artist was Andrea Palladio (Links to an external site.), who main-
tained a firmly classical aesthetic. Palladio, known primarily for villa design, was
the foremost architect of the Late Renaissance, and arguably the most influen-
tial architect of all time. Countless residential, collegiate, and civic buildings
throughout the world are descendants of Palladio's architectural style, which
experienced a massive revival during the Neoclassical period.

 Palladio's most striking innovation was to graft the classical temple front onto
secular architecture. A true temple front is a portico (covered porch with col-
umns), while a cosmetic temple front can be produced with a simple pediment.
In either case, the entrance can be recessed, which allows for a covered en-
trance even without a portico.

Renaissance

The Villa Pisani, Bagnolo (Links to an external

site.) (1540) is a villa in Veneto, Italy designed by Ital-
ian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio.

The common features of Palladio's villas, three of which are discussed here, are
captured by the term Palladian style (Links to an external site.). Firstly, the overall
plan is a central block flanked with identical wings, which ensures perfect
symmetry; the central block is faced with a temple front. Secondly, the interior
plan is also symmetrical, with a great hall at the center. And thirdly, the build-
ing has a tall major story and a short attic story.

Palladio's villas were constructed mainly in and around the city of Vicenza, near Ven-
ice. Most feature walls of stucco-coated brick (and hip roofs tiled in red clay shin-
gles. Although Villa Rotonda is atypical of Palladio's work (being a central plan design
with a portico on all four sides), it is also his most famous villa.
stucco-coated brick

Villa Capra "La Rotonda" (Links to an external site.). The villa’s correct name is Villa Almerico C
Valmarana. The building is conserved as part of the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and th
Palladian Villas of the Veneto" (Photo from Wikipedia (Links to an external site.))
Renaissance

Apart from villas, Palladio is known for popularizing the Palladian arch (an arch
flanked with rectangles) via his design for the exterior of the Vicenza Town
Hall (Links to an external site.). This motif was practical as well as aesthetic, as it al-
lowed more light to stream into the building than a series of ordinary arches. The
Palladian arch is perhaps most familiar today in the form of Palladian windows.

chateau

A castle or imposing country residence of nobility in old France.

Renaissance

Key Points:
 Renaissance Architecture was developed over time in three different periods: Early
Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Late Renaissance.
 Filippo Brunelleschi is regarded as the Father of Renaissance Architecture. The
Dome of Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) is his greatest feat.
 Leon Battista Alberti became the most influential architectural theorist of the Early Re-
naissance with his own Ten Books on Architecture. Greatest works include the facade
of Sant'Andrea and Palazzo Rucellai.
 Donato Bramante is the founder and leader of High Renaissance architecture. His
plan for St. Peter's Basilica formed the basis of design executed by Michelangelo.
 High Renaissance trio: Bramante, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
 Palazzo Farnese, considered as the greatest High Renaissance palace.
 Mannerism is the most radical strain of Late Renaissance art as practiced
by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
 Palladian Style or Palladianism derived from and inspired by the designs of
the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. Palladio's work was strongly based on the sym-
metry, perspective, and values of the formal classical temple architecture of the Ancient
Greeks and Romans.
 Palladian Window - Window having a broad arched central section with lower flat-
headed side portions.

Quoin
Quoins (/kɔɪn/ or /kwɔɪn/) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall.[1] Some
are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferi-
or stone or rubble,[2] while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner.
[3] These imply strength, permanence, and expense, all reinforcing the on-

looker's sense of a structure's presence.[4]

Renaissance

Trompe-l'œil
'"deceive the eye"') is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illu-
sion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a compara-
ble illusion in architecture.

Fresco (plural frescos or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly
laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge
with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes an integral part of
the wall. The word fresco (Italian: affresco) is derived from the Italian adjec-
tive fresco meaning "fresh", and may thus be contrasted with fresco-secco or secco mural
painting techniques, which are applied to dried plaster, to supplement painting in fresco.
The fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated
with Italian Renaissance painting.[1][2]

A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the

shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.[1] A series of
these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also
called caissons ("boxes"), or lacunaria ("spaces, openings"),[2] so that a cof-
fered ceiling can be called a lacunar ceiling: the strength of the structure is in
the framework of the coffers.
Renaissance

Key Elements:
square lintels
triangular or segmental pediments (Links to an external site.)

semi-circular arch
keystone
Renaissance

Key Elements:
square lintels
triangular or segmental pediments (Links to an external site.)

semi-circular arch
keystone
Renaissance

Cupola

In architecture, a cupola /ˈkjuːpələ/ is a relatively

small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of
a building.[1] Often used to provide a lookout or to
admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or
dome.[2][3]

The word derives, via Italian, from the lower Lat-

in cupula (classical Latin cupella from the Greek
κύπελλον kupellon) "small cup" (Latin cupa) indicat-
ing a vault resembling an upside down cup

Roof lantern
A roof lantern is a daylighting architectural element. Architec-
tural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light
into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an ar-
chitectural skylight structure.

Pendentive
In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional de-
vice permitting the placing of a circular dome over a
square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangu-
lar room.[1] The pendentives, which are triangular seg-
ments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and
spread at the top to establish the continuous circular
or elliptical base needed for a dome.[2] In masonry the
pendentives thus receive the weight of the dome,
concentrating it at the four corners where it can be
received by the piers beneath.

The pendentives are shown in yellow.

Renaissance

Oculus
An oculus (plural oculi, from Latin oculus, 'eye') is a cir-
cular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall.
Originating in antiquity, it is a feature
of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also
known as an œil-de-boeuf from the French, or simply
a "bull's-eye".[1]

A segmental arch is a type of arch with a circular arc of less than 180
degrees.[1] It is sometimes also called a scheme arch.[2]
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectur-
al element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the
case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are typical-
ly circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design.
The barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault: effectively a series
of arches placed side by side (i.e., one after another). It is a form of barrel roof.

Architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (/ˈɑːrkɪtreɪv/; from Italian: architrave "chief
beam", also called an epistyle;[1] from Greek ἐπίστυλον epistylon "door frame") is
the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.

The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, of a frame with
mouldings around a door or window. The word "architrave" is also used to refer more
generally to a style of mouldings (or other elements) framing the top of a door, win-
dow or other rectangular opening, where the horizontal "head" casing extends across
the tops of the vertical side casings where the elements join (forming a butt joint, as
opposed to a miter joint).[2]
Renaissance

PILASTER
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural ele-
ment used to give the appearance of a supporting column and
to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function.
It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usu-
ally treated as though it were a column, with a capital at the
top, plinth (base) at the bottom, and the various other column
elements. In contrast to a pilaster, an engaged col-
umn or buttress can support the structure of a wall and roof
above.

Cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the
Italian cornice meaning "ledge"[1]) is
generally any horizontal decora-
tive molding that crowns a building
or furniture element – the cornice
over a door or window, for instance,
or the cornice around the top edge
of a pedestal or along the top of an
interior wall. A simple cornice may
be formed just with a crown, as
in crown molding atop an interior
wall or above kitchen cabinets or a
bookcase.
Renaissance

Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type

of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2)
or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various
other additives are sometimes used.

Lime wash
is pure slaked lime in water. It produces a unique surface glow due to
the double refraction of calcite crystals. Limewash and whitewash both cure
to become the same material.

Rustication
is a range of masonry techniques used in classical archi-
tecture giving visible surfaces a finish texture that contrasts
in with smooth, squared-block masonry called ashlar. The
visible face of each individual block is cut back around
the edges to make its size and placing very clear. In addi-
tion the central part of the face of each block may be giv-
en a deliberately rough or patterned surface.[1]

Ashlar
(/ˈæʃlər/) is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an indi-
vidual stone that was worked until squared or the structure
built from it. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally
rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus
isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all
faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of
very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the
stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treat-
ments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another
material for decorative effect.[1][2]
Renaissance

Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type

of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2)
or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various
other additives are sometimes used.

Lime wash
is pure slaked lime in water. It produces a unique surface glow due to
the double refraction of calcite crystals. Limewash and whitewash both cure
to become the same material.

Rustication
is a range of masonry techniques used in classical archi-
tecture giving visible surfaces a finish texture that contrasts
in with smooth, squared-block masonry called ashlar. The
visible face of each individual block is cut back around
the edges to make its size and placing very clear. In addi-
tion the central part of the face of each block may be giv-
en a deliberately rough or patterned surface.[1]

Ashlar
(/ˈæʃlər/) is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an indi-
vidual stone that was worked until squared or the structure
built from it. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally
rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus
isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all
faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of
very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the
stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treat-
ments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another
material for decorative effect.[1][2]
Renaissance

Château, in France, during the 13th and 14th centuries, a castle, or structure arranged
for defense rather than for residence. Later the term came to designate any seignorial resi-
dence and so, generally, a country house of any pretensions.

Plateresque, Spanish Plateresco, (“Silversmith-like”), main architectural style

in Spain during the late 15th and the 16th centuries, also used
in Spain’s American colonies. Cristóbal de Villalón first used
the term in 1539 while comparing the richly ornamented fa-
cade of the Cathedral of León to a silversmith’s intricate
work. Later the name came to be generally applied to late
Gothic and early Renaissance Spanish architecture, since it
was characterized by an intricate and minutely detailed re-
lief ornament that is generally applied to the surface of build-
ings for extravagant decorative effect and without regard for
structural articulation. Favourite motifs of this florid ornament
include twisted columns, heraldic escutcheons, and sinuous
scrolls. Clusters of this jewelry-like ornament contrast with
broad expanses of flat wall surface.

The Herrerian style (Spanish: estilo herreriano or arquitectura herreriana)

of architecture was developed in Spain during the last third of the 16th century
under the reign of Philip II (1556–1598),[2] and continued in force in the 17th
century, but transformed by the Baroque style of
the time. It corresponds to the third and final
stage of the Spanish Renaissance architecture,
which evolved into a progressive purification or-
namental, from the initial Plateresque to classi-
cal Purism of the second third of the 16th century
and total nudity decorative that introduced the
Herrerian style.
 Renaissance
Filippo Brunelleschi
- Duomo of Florence Cathedral (1420-36)
- Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence (1420-
69)
- Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence (1424-
45)
- Pazzi Chapel, St Croce, Florence (1429-
61)
Michelozzo di Bartolommeo
- Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence (1445-
1460)
Leon Battista Alberti
- Palazzo Rucellai, Florence (1446-51)
- Tempio Maltestiano, Rimini (1450-68)
- Church of St Maria Novella, Florence
(1458-71)
Friar Giovanni Giocondo
- Palazzo del Consiglio, Verona (c.1470)
Giuliano da Sangallo
- Church of Santa Maria delle Carceri, Prato
(1485-1506)
- Palazzo Gondi, Florence (1490-94)
- Palazzo della Rovere, Savona (1496)
Donato Bramante
- Church of St Maria delle Grazie, Milan
(1492-98)
- Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, Rome
(1502)
Raphael
- Church of St Maria, Chigi Chapel, Rome
(1513)
- Palazzo Pandolfini (facade), Florence
(1517)
- Villa Madama, Rome (begun 1518)
Jacopo Sansovino
- St Mark's Library, Venice (1536-88)
- Loggetta di San Marco, Venice (1537-40)
- Palazzo Cornaro della Ca Grande, Venice (1542-61)
Giulio Romano
- Villa Lante, Rome (1520-4)
- Palazzo del Te, Mantua (1525-34)
- Casa Romano, Mantua (1540)
Michelangelo
- Tomb of Pope Julius, Rome (begun 1505)
- Laurentian Library, Florence (1524-71)
- Dome for Saint Peter's Basilica (1546-64)
- Church of St Maria of the Angels and Martyrs, Rome (1563-66)
Baldessare Peruzzi
- Villa Farnesina, Rome (1508-11)
- Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome (1532-6)
Michele Sanmicheli
- Petrucci Chapel in St Domenico, Orvieto (1516-24)
- Villa Soranza, Padua (1520)
- Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona (1534)
- Palazzo Grimani, Venice (1540-62)
Giacomo Barozzi (Vignola)
- Villa Giulia, Rome (1550-53)
- Church of St Andrew, Via Flaminia, Rome (1552)
- Villa Farnese, Caprarola, Near Rome (c.1560)
- Church of the Gesu (Jesuits) Rome (1568-73)
Andrea Palladio
- Villa Polana, Vicenza (1545-50)
- Villa Cornaro, Treviso (1552-54)
- Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (1562)
- Villa Capra (La Rotunda) Vicenza (1566-91)
- Basilica (Medieval town hall), Vicenza (1617)
Pirro Ligorio
- Casina Pio IV (Villa Pia) Vatican (1559–1562)
- Villa D'Este, Tivoli (1572)
Antonio Contini
- Bridge of Sighs, Venice (1600)
Giacomo della Porta
- Church of the Gesu (Jesuits) Rome (cross-vault, dome, apse)
(1568-84)
- Palazzo Senatorio, Capitol Hill, Rome (1573-1602)
- Fountain of Neptune, Rome (1574)
- St Peter's Basilica, Rome (completion of dome) (1588-90)
Renaissance

Western Islamic art: Moorish

The 11th to 13th centuries were not peaceful in the Maghrib. Amazigh
(Berber) dynasties overthrew each other in Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula. The Chris-
tian Reconquista gradually diminished Muslim holdings in Spain and Portugal, and Tunisia
was ruined during the Hilālī invasion when Bedouin tribes were sent by the Fāṭimids to pre-
vent local independence.

St. Peter's Basilica

 Designed by Alberti, Raphael, Bramante, Michelangelo, and Bernini, St Peter’s
Basilica was perhaps the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture.
 Its artistry, architectural grandeur and sheer mass cemented the status of
Rome as the home of Christianity.
 Its iconic dome, designed by Michelangelo, is the tallest in the world.
 Inside, St Peters holds some of the most beautiful examples of Renaissance
sculpture, including Michelangelo’s Pieta (1500) and the baldachin by Bernini
over the main altar.

Florence Cathedral
 Structurally, Florence Cathedral belongs to the Gothic style. Its dome, how-
ever, was a forerunner of Renaissance architecture.
 The idea and plan for the entire building had been conceived in 1293, be-
fore the Renaissance period, however, the technology to complete the dome
did not yet exist.
 It was not until Fillipo Brunelleschi that the Cathedral was finally given a
dome, more than a century later.
 Brunelleschi came up with a daring approach to vault the dome space
without any scaffolding by using a double shell with a space in between.

 With over 4 million bricks, a diameter 45.52m and height of 90m, it was the
largest dome in the world until 1881.
Renaissance

Western Islamic art: Moorish

The 11th to 13th centuries were not peaceful in the Maghrib. Amazigh
(Berber) dynasties overthrew each other in Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula. The Chris-
tian Reconquista gradually diminished Muslim holdings in Spain and Portugal, and Tunisia
was ruined during the Hilālī invasion when Bedouin tribes were sent by the Fāṭimids to pre-
vent local independence.
Renaissance in Italy

St. Peter's Basilica

 Designed by Alberti, Raphael, Bramante, Michelangelo, and Bernini, St Peter’s
Basilica was perhaps the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture.
 Its artistry, architectural grandeur and sheer mass cemented the status of
Rome as the home of Christianity.
 Its iconic dome, designed by Michelangelo, is the tallest in the world.
 Inside, St Peters holds some of the most beautiful examples of Renaissance
sculpture, including Michelangelo’s Pieta (1500) and the baldachin by Bernini
over the main altar.

Florence Cathedral
 Structurally, Florence Cathedral belongs to the Gothic style. Its dome, how-
ever, was a forerunner of Renaissance architecture.
 The idea and plan for the entire building had been conceived in 1293, be-
fore the Renaissance period, however, the technology to complete the dome
did not yet exist.
 It was not until Fillipo Brunelleschi that the Cathedral was finally given a
dome, more than a century later.
 Brunelleschi came up with a daring approach to vault the dome space
without any scaffolding by using a double shell with a space in between.

 With over 4 million bricks, a diameter 45.52m and height of 90m, it was the
largest dome in the world until 1881.
Baroque Period (c.
1600-1750)
Baroque

Baroque
Baroque and late Baroque, or Rococo , are loosely defined terms, generally-
applied by common consent to European art of the period from the early
17th century to the mid-18th century.

Baroque was at first an undisguised term of abuse, probably derived from the
Italian word barocco, which was a term used by philosophers during the Mid-
dle Ages to describe an obstacle in schematic logic. Subsequently, this be-
came a description for any contorted idea or involuted process of thought.
Another possible source is the Portuguese word barroco, with its Spanish
form barrueco, used to describe an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl; this
usage still survives in the jeweler’s term “baroque pearl.” (Encyclopedia Britan-
nica (Links to an external site.))

In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colon-

nades, domes, light-and-shade(chiaroscuro),' painterly' color effects, and the
bold play of volume and void. In interiors, Baroque movement around and
through a void informed monumental staircases that had no parallel in previ-
ous architecture. The other Baroque innovation in worldly interiors was the
state apartment, a processional sequence of increasingly rich interiors that cul-
minated in a presence chamber or throne room or a state bedroom. The se-
quence of monumental stairs followed by a state apartment was copied in a
smaller scale everywhere in aristocratic dwellings of any pretensions. (New
World Encyclopedia (Links to an external site.))
Baroque

The term "Baroque"

 The word "Baroque," like most period or stylistic designations, was invented
by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries. It is a French translation of the Portuguese phrase "pérola
barroca," which means "irregular pearl," or false jewel—notably, an ancient
similar word, "Barlocco" or "Brillocco," is used in Roman dialect for the same
meaning—and natural pearls that deviate from the usual, regular forms so
they do not have an axis of rotation are known as "baroque pearls." The word
may have been influenced by the mnemonic term "Baroco" denoting, in logi-
cal Scholastica, a supposedly labored form of syllogism.
 The term "Baroque" was initially used with a derogatory meaning, to un-
derline the excesses of its emphasis, of its eccentric redundancy, its noisy
abundance of details, as opposed to the clearer and sober rationality of
the Renaissance. It was first rehabilitated by the Swiss-born art historian,
Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) in his Renaissance und Barock (1888); Wölfflin
identified the Baroque as "movement imported into mass," an art antithetic
to Renaissance art. He did not make the distinctions be-
tween Mannerism (Links to an external site.) and Baroque that modern writ-
ers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted
into the eighteenth century. Writers in French and English did not begin to
treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflin's influence had made
German scholarship pre-eminent.
 In modern usage, the term "Baroque" may still be used, usually pejoratively,
to describe works of art, craft, or design that are thought to have excessive or-
namentation or complexity of line, or, as a synonym for "Byzantine," to describe
literature, computer programs, contracts, or laws that are thought to be ex-
cessively complex, indirect, or obscure in language, to the extent of conceal-
ing or confusing their meaning.
 In contemporary culture the term "baroque" is also commonly used to de-
scribe any artistic style that could be extremely elaborate, ornamented or
adorned. In reality, the modern usage of baroque has nothing or very little to
do with classic baroque, even though many people are unaware of the dis-
tinction.
Baroque

The term "Baroque"

 The word "Baroque," like most period or stylistic designations, was invented
by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries. It is a French translation of the Portuguese phrase "pérola
barroca," which means "irregular pearl," or false jewel—notably, an ancient
similar word, "Barlocco" or "Brillocco," is used in Roman dialect for the same
meaning—and natural pearls that deviate from the usual, regular forms so
they do not have an axis of rotation are known as "baroque pearls." The word
may have been influenced by the mnemonic term "Baroco" denoting, in logi-
cal Scholastica, a supposedly labored form of syllogism.
 The term "Baroque" was initially used with a derogatory meaning, to un-
derline the excesses of its emphasis, of its eccentric redundancy, its noisy
abundance of details, as opposed to the clearer and sober rationality of
the Renaissance. It was first rehabilitated by the Swiss-born art historian,
Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) in his Renaissance und Barock (1888); Wölfflin
identified the Baroque as "movement imported into mass," an art antithetic
to Renaissance art. He did not make the distinctions be-
tween Mannerism (Links to an external site.) and Baroque that modern writ-
ers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted
into the eighteenth century. Writers in French and English did not begin to
treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflin's influence had made
German scholarship pre-eminent.
 In modern usage, the term "Baroque" may still be used, usually pejoratively,
to describe works of art, craft, or design that are thought to have excessive or-
namentation or complexity of line, or, as a synonym for "Byzantine," to describe
literature, computer programs, contracts, or laws that are thought to be ex-
cessively complex, indirect, or obscure in language, to the extent of conceal-
ing or confusing their meaning.
 In contemporary culture the term "baroque" is also commonly used to de-
scribe any artistic style that could be extremely elaborate, ornamented or
adorned. In reality, the modern usage of baroque has nothing or very little to
do with classic baroque, even though many people are unaware of the dis-
tinction.
Baroque as an "Art"
In the arts, Baroque is a period as well as the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily
interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, litera-
ture, dance, and music. The style started around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.
In music, the Baroque applies to the final period of dominance of imitative counterpoint, where differ-
ent voices and instruments echo each other but at different pitches, sometimes inverting the echo,
and even reversing thematic material.
Baroque

The architecture, sculpture and fountains

of Bernini (Links to an external site.) (1598–1680) give
highly charged characteristics of Baroque style. Bernini
was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the
Baroque period. He approached Michelangelo in his
omnicompetence: Bernini sculpted, worked as an ar-
chitect, painted, wrote plays, and staged spectacles.
In the late twentieth century Bernini was most valued
for his sculpture, both for his virtuosity in carv-
ing marble (Links to an external site.) and his ability to
create figures that combine the physical and the spir-
itual. He was also a fine sculptor of bust portraits in high
demand among the powerful.
“David,” marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1623–24

Influences of the Baroque Age

 The popularity and success of the "Baroque" was encouraged by
the Roman Catholic Church which had decided at the time of the Council
of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and
emotional involvement. However, German art historian Erwin Panofsky un-
flatteringly summed up the Baroque movement as a "lordly racket," proba-
bly commenting on the disadvantages to the intricate style of the time.
The aristocracy saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a
means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant power and control. Ba-
roque palaces are built around an entrance sequence of courts, anterooms,
grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing magnifi-
cence. In similar profusions of detail, art, music, architecture, and literature in-
spired each other in the "Baroque" cultural movement as artists explored what
they could create from repeated and varied patterns.

Key Points:
 Baroque is derived from the ancient Portuguese noun "barroco" which is a
pearl that is not round but of unpredictable and elaborate shape.
 Baroque, just like its predecessor, is not solely an architectural style but ra-
ther a period that has influence in arts - sculpture, painting, literature,
dance, and music.
Bernini was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the Baroque period
giving high charged in the characteristics of Baroque style.
Baroque
During the Baroque period (Links to an external site.) (c. 1600–
1750), architecture, painting, and sculpture were integrated into decorative
ensembles. Architecture and sculpture became pictorial, and painting be-
came illusionistic.
 Ceilings of Baroque churches, dissolved in painted scenes, presented vivid
views of the infinite to the worshiper and directed him through his senses to-
ward heavenly concerns. Seventeenth-century Baroque architects made ar-
chitecture a means of propagating faith in the church and in the state.

 Baroque palaces expanded to command the infinite and to display the

power and order of the state.

 Baroque space, with directionality, movement, and positive molding, con-

trasted markedly with the static, stable, and defined space of the High Renais-
sance and with the frustrating conflict of unbalanced spaces of the preceding
Mannerist period. Baroque space invited participation and provided multiple
changing views.

A Baroque building expanded in its effect to include the square facing it, and
often the ensemble included all the buildings on the square as well as the ap-
proaching streets and the surrounding landscape. Baroque buildings dominat-
ed their environment; Renaissance buildings separated themselves from it.

The basic premises of the early Baroque, as reaffirmed by

Maderno in the facade and nave of St. Peter’s, Rome (1607),
were:
(1) subordination of the parts to the whole to achieve unity and directionality;

(2) progressive alteration of pilaster rhythm and wall relief to emphasize mas-
siveness, movement, axiality, and activity; and

(3) directional emphasis in interiors through diagonal views and culminating

light and spatial sequences.
Baroque

General Features
 The fundamental characteristic of Baroque art is dynamism (a sense of mo-
tion). Strong curves, rich decoration, and general complexity are all typical
features of Baroque art (see Western Aesthetics). While the full-blown Ba-
roque aesthetic (full Baroque) was embraced in southern Western Europe,
northern Western Europe struck a classical-Baroque compromise (restrained
Baroque).
The full Baroque aesthetic emerged during the Early Baroque (ca. 1600-25),
then culminated during the High Baroque (ca. 1625-75); both periods were
led by Italy. The restrained Baroque aesthetic culminated during the Late
Baroque (ca. 1675-1725). The Baroque age concluded with the French-born
Rococo style (ca. 1725-1800), in which the violence and drama of Baroque
was quieted to a gentle, playful dynamism. The Late Baroque and Rococo
periods were led by France (see Diffusion of Baroque (Links to an external
site.)).
 Baroque architecture is distinguished primarily by richly sculpted surfaces.
Whereas Renaissance architects preferred planar classicism (flat surfaces ve-
neered in classical elements), Baroque architects freely moulded surfaces to
achieve three-dimensional sculpted classicism. And while the surface of a Re-
naissance building is typically neatly divided into sections (in accordance with
classical clarity and order), a Baroque surface is treated as
a continuous whole.

 Indeed, a Renaissance facade often consists of many similar sections, such

that one's eye is not drawn to any particular part of the building. A Baroque fa-
cade, on the other hand, often features an attention-
grabbing concentration of rich elements (e.g. curved walls, columns, blind
arches, statues, relief sculpture) around a central entrance.F303

 Churches are the most splendid form of Baroque architecture in Italy,

while chateaux (country mansions) are the outstanding Baroque works of
France.

England should also be noted in a discussion of Baroque architecture, for two

reasons. Firstly, this period featured Christopher Wren, often considered the
greatest of all English architects. Wren designed many of London's buildings af-
ter the Great Fire, including his masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral. Secondly, the
Baroque age witnessed the rise of Palladian style architecture in England,
which became massively popular during the subsequent Neoclassical period.
Baroque

Baroque Phases:
 The full Baroque aesthetic developed during the Early Baroque period (ca.
1600-25), then culminated during the High Baroque (ca. 1625-75). Both peri-
ods were led by Italy. The restrained Baroque aesthetic culminated during
the Late Baroque (ca. 1675-1725). The Baroque age concluded with the
French-born Rococo style (ca. 1725-1800), in which the violence and drama
of Baroque was quieted to a gentle, playful dynamism. The Late Baroque
and Rococo periods were led by France.
Note that while the Baroque era dawned in Italy ca. 1600, it took decades for
the movement to diffuse across Europe. (Baroque art also flourished, to a lim-
ited extent, in Eastern Europe.) It is thus only natural that the full Baroque aes-
thetic should have culminated first, followed by restrained Baroque.
Baroque

Early Baroque
 The foremost pioneer of Baroque architecture was Carlo Maderno, whose
masterpiece is the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. (Constructed
under various architects throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Saint Pe-
ter's features a mixture of Renaissance and Baroque components, the facade being one
of the latter.)
 Prior to Maderno, Saint Peter's had featured a central plan design, upon
which various architects had worked (especially Michelangelo). Maderno
converted the building into a Latin cross basilica by extending the nave,
thus pushing the main entrance of the church forward. Saint Peter's can,
therefore, be roughly divided into two parts: the core (designed largely by
Michelangelo) and the front extension (designed by Maderno). The
great dome of Saint Peter's is also chiefly Michelangelo's work, though
Maderno did adjust its proportions (by stretching it vertically).
 The facade of Saint Peter's contains a number of typical Baroque elements,
including double columns (close-set pairs of columns), layered col-
umns, colossal columns (columns that span multiple stories), and broken
pediments (in which the bottom and/or top of a pediment features a gap,
often with ornamentation that "bursts through" the pediment). All of these
elements were pioneered during the Late Renaissance,
in mannerist architecture.
St Peter's also makes extensive use of coffered ceilings, a common feature of
monumental Western architecture. (A "coffer" is a sunken ceiling panel, typi-
cally square, rectangular, or octagonal in shape.)

The facade of Saint Peter's contains a number of typical Baroque elements,

including double columns, layered columns, colossal columns, and broken
pediments. All of these elements were pioneered during the Late Renais-
sance, in mannerist architecture.
Baroque

Baroque architecture was taken up with enthusiasm in central Germany (see e.g. Ludwigs-
burg Palace and Zwinger Dresden), Austria and Russia (see e.g. Peterhof and Catherine Pal-
ace). In England the culmination of Baroque architecture was embodied in work by
Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, from ca. 1660 to ca.
1725. Many examples of Baroque architecture and town planning are found in other Euro-
pean towns, and in Latin America. Town planning of this period featured radiating avenues
intersecting in squares, which took cues from Baroque garden plans.In Sicily, Baroque devel-
oped new shapes and themes as in Noto and Acireale "Basilica di San Sebastiano".

Diffusion of Baroque
The birthplace and heart of Baroque art and architecture was Rome, from
which the style spread across Europe. The movement was driven partly by
the Roman Catholic Church, which sought to stem the losses of the Refor-
mation via the compelling spirituality of overtly dramatic artistic
works. Generally speaking, Baroque thrived in its fullest form in southern West-
ern Europe, while a restrained classical-Baroque compromise was reached in
the north. The former aesthetic may be referred to as full Baroque, the lat-
ter restrained Baroque.
Baroque

Italian Baroque
In ecclesiastic architecture, Baroque additions to Renaissance interiors often
included an ornate baldachin (baldacchino), originally called a ciborium,
over the high altar in a church. The baldacchino designed by Gianlorenzo Ber-
nini (1598-1680) for the Renaissance-era St. Peter's Basilica is an icon of Ba-
roque building. Rising eight stories high on Solomonic columns, the c. 1630
bronze piece is both sculpture and architecture at the same time. This is Ba-
roque. The same exuberance was expressed in non-religious buildings like the
popular Trevi Fountain in Rome.
For two centuries, the 1400s and 1500s, a Renaissance of Classical forms, sym-
metry, and proportion, dominated art and architecture throughout Europe. To-
ward the end of this period, artists and architects such as Giacomo da Vigno-
la began to break the "rules" of Classical design, in a movement that became
known as Mannerism. Some say Vignola's design for the facade of Il Gesù, the
Church of the Gesu in Rome, began a new period by combining scrolls and
statuary with the Classical lines of pediments and pilasters. Others say that a
new way of thinking began with Michelangelo's remake of the Capitoline Hill in
Rome when he incorporated radical ideas about space and dramatic presen-
tation that went beyond the Renaissance. By the 1600s, all rules had been bro-
ken in what we now call the Baroque period.

The Baldacchino designed by Gianlorenzo

Bernini (1598-1680) for the Renaissance-
era St. Peter's Basilica is an icon of Ba-
roque building.
Baroque

French Baroque
 Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) lived his life entirely within the Baroque time period, so it
seems natural that when he remodeled his father's hunting lodge In Versailles (and
moved the government there 1682), the fanciful style of the day would be a priori-
ty. Absolutism and the "divine right of kings" are said to have reached its highest point
with the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King.
The Baroque style became more restrained in France, but grand in scale. While lavish de-
tails were used, French buildings were often symmetrical and orderly. The Palace of Ver-
sailles (Links to an external site.) shown above is a landmark example. The Palace's
grand Hall of Mirrors is more unrestrained in its extravagant design.
 The Baroque period was more than art and architecture, however. It was a mindset of
show and drama as architectural historian Talbot Hamlin describes:

 "The drama of the court, of court ceremonials, of flashing costume and stilted, codified gesture;
the drama of military guards in brilliant uniforms lining a straight avenue, while prancing horses
drag a gilded coach up the wide esplanade to the castle—these are essentially Baroque con-
ceptions, part and parcel of the whole Baroque feeling for life."

The Palace of Versailles

English Baroque
Shown here is Castle Howard (Links to an external site.) in northern England. The asymmetry
within a symmetry is the mark of a more restrained Baroque. This stately home design took
shape over the entire 18th century.
Baroque architecture emerged in England after the Great Fire of London in 1666. English ar-
chitect Sir Christopher Wren (Links to an external site.) (1632-1723) had met the older Italian
Baroque master architect Gianlorenzo Bernini and was prepared to rebuild the city. Wren
used restrained Baroque styling when he redesigned London, the best example being the
iconic St. Paul's Cathedral. (Links to an external site.)

 In addition to St. Paul's Cathedral and Castle Howard, The

Guardian newspaper suggests these fine examples of English Ba-
roque architecture, Winston Churchill's family home at Blenheim
in Oxfordshire, the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, and
Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

Castle Howard (1701–1811) is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England. It is a private residence and
has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years
Baroque

Spanish Baroque
Builders in Spain, Mexico, and South America combined Baroque ideas with
exuberant sculptures, Moorish details, and extreme contrasts between light
and dark. Called Churrigueresque after a Spanish family of sculptors and ar-
chitects, Spanish Baroque architecture was used through the mid-1700s, and
continued to be imitated much later

Churrigueresque , in a lesser extent it was also called "Ultra Baroque", re-

fers to a Spanish Baroque style of elaborate sculptural architectural orna-
ment which emerged as a manner of stucco decoration in Spain in the late
17th century and was used up to about 1750, marked by extreme, expres-
sive and florid decorative detailing, normally found above the entrance on
the main facade of a building.

German Baroque
Like the Palace of Versailles in France, Moritzburg Castle (Links to an external
site.) in Germany started off as a hunting lodge and has a complicated and
turbulent history. In 1723, Augustus the Strong of Saxony and Poland ex-
panded and remodeled the property to what today is called Saxon Ba-
roque.
In Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and Russia, Baroque ideas were often ap-
plied with a lighter touch. Pale colors and curving shell shapes gave buildings
the delicate appearance of a frosted cake. The term Rococo was used to de-
scribe these softer versions of the Baroque style.

Moritzburg Palace (Links to an external site.)

is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, Germa-
ny. The castle has four round towers and lies
on a symmetrical artificial island.
Baroque

Philippine Baroque
 The Baroque Churches of the Philippines are a collection of four Spanish Co-
lonial-era baroque churches in the Philippines, which were included
in UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1993.
 The combination of ideas from the missionaries and locals effectively fused
native Spanish designs with a uniquely Oriental style. The church's aesthetic
was also shaped by limited access to certain materials, and the need to re-
build and adapt to natural disasters including fires and earthquakes, creat-
ing a style sometimes referred to as Earthquake Baroque.
 In the Philippines, destruction of earlier churches from frequent earthquakes
have made the church proportion lower and wider; side walls were made
thicker and heavily buttressed for stability during shaking. The upper struc-
tures were made with lighter materials.
 Bell towers are usually lower and stouter compared to towers in less seismi-
cally active regions of the world. Towers are thicker in the lower levels, pro-
gressively narrowing to the topmost level. In some churches of the Philip-
pines, aside from functioning as watchtowers against pirates, some bell tow-
ers are detached from the main church building to avoid damage in case
of a falling bell tower due to an earthquake.

Key Points:
 Mannerism - a movement towards the end of the baroque period, art-
ists and architects such as Giacomo da Vignola began to break the "rules"
of Classical design.
 Baldacchino = baldachin = ciborium
 Churrigueresque also called "Ultra Baroque", refers to
a Spanish Baroque style
Earthquake Baroque is a style of Baroque architecture found in the Phil-
ippines, which suffered destructive earthquakes during the 17th century and
18th century.
Rococo

ROCOCO
Rococo Period (c. 1725-1800)
Rococo

Introduction
Baroque (Links to an external site.) and late Baroque, or Rococo (Links to an
external site.), are loosely defined terms, generally applied by common
consent to European art of the period from the early 17th century to the
mid-18th century.

The derivation of the word Rococo is equally uncertain, though its source is
most probably to be found in the French word rocaille, used to describe shell
and pebble decorations in the 16th century. In the 18th century, however, the
scope of the word was increased when it came to be used to describe the
mainstream of French art of the first half of the century; Neoclassical artists
used it as a derogatory term. Fundamentally a style of decoration, Rococo is
much more a facet of late Baroque art than an autonomous style, and the re-
lationship between the two presents interesting parallels to that between High
Renaissance and Mannerist art. (Encyclopedia Britannica (Links to an external
site.))

Rococo artists embraced the curves and elaborate ornament of Baroque, but
reigned in its weighty drama. The result was a gentle, playful style typified by
pastel colours and delicate, asymmetrical decoration. Though most Rococo
art was centred in France (the birthplace of the style), Rococo architecture
culminated in Austria and southern Germany, especially in the form
of churches.

Beginning
During the period of the Enlightenment (about 1700 to 1780), various currents
of post-Baroque art and architecture evolved. A principal current, generally
known as Rococo, refined the robust architecture of the 17th century to suit el-
egant 18th-century tastes. Vivid colours were replaced by pastel shades; dif-
fuse light flooded the building volume; and violent surface relief was replaced
by smooth flowing masses with emphasis only at isolated points. Churches and
palaces still exhibited an integration of the three arts, but the building structure
was lightened to render interiors graceful and ethereal. Interior and exterior
space retained none of the bravado and dominance of the Baroque but en-
tertained and captured the imagination by intricacy and subtlet
Rococo

Introduction
Baroque (Links to an external site.) and late Baroque, or Rococo (Links to an
external site.), are loosely defined terms, generally applied by common
consent to European art of the period from the early 17th century to the
mid-18th century.

The derivation of the word Rococo is equally uncertain, though its source is
most probably to be found in the French word rocaille, used to describe shell
and pebble decorations in the 16th century. In the 18th century, however, the
scope of the word was increased when it came to be used to describe the
mainstream of French art of the first half of the century; Neoclassical artists
used it as a derogatory term. Fundamentally a style of decoration, Rococo is
much more a facet of late Baroque art than an autonomous style, and the re-
lationship between the two presents interesting parallels to that between High
Renaissance and Mannerist art. (Encyclopedia Britannica (Links to an external
site.))

Rococo artists embraced the curves and elaborate ornament of Baroque, but
reigned in its weighty drama. The result was a gentle, playful style typified by
pastel colours and delicate, asymmetrical decoration. Though most Rococo
art was centred in France (the birthplace of the style), Rococo architecture
culminated in Austria and southern Germany, especially in the form
of churches.

Beginning
During the period of the Enlightenment (about 1700 to 1780), various currents
of post-Baroque art and architecture evolved. A principal current, generally
known as Rococo, refined the robust architecture of the 17th century to suit el-
egant 18th-century tastes. Vivid colours were replaced by pastel shades; dif-
fuse light flooded the building volume; and violent surface relief was replaced
by smooth flowing masses with emphasis only at isolated points. Churches and
palaces still exhibited an integration of the three arts, but the building structure
was lightened to render interiors graceful and ethereal. Interior and exterior
space retained none of the bravado and dominance of the Baroque but en-
tertained and captured the imagination by intricacy and subtlet
Rococo

Amalienburg, hunting lodge of Nymphenburg, near Munich; designed by François de Cuvilliés the Elder.

 Rococo is a period rather than a specific style. Often this 18th-century era is
called "the Rococo," a time period roughly beginning with the 1715 death
of France's Sun King, Louis XIV, until the French Revolution in 1789. It
was France's Pre-Revolutionary time of growing secularism and continued
growth of what became known as the bourgeoisie or middle class.
Patrons of the arts were not exclusively royalty and aristocrats, so artists and
craftsmen were able to market to a wider audience of middle-class con-
sumers. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) composed not only for Aus-
trian royalty but also for the public.
The Rococo period in France was transitional. The citizenry was not beholden
to the new King Louis XV, who was only five-years-old. The period between
1715 and when Louis XV came of age in 1723 is also known as
the Régence, a time when the French government was run by a "regent,"
who moved the center of government back to Paris from the opulent Ver-
sailles. Ideals of democracy fueled this Age of Reason (also known as the En-
lightenment (Links to an external site.)) when society was becoming liberated
from its absolute monarchy. Scale was downsized—paintings were sized for sa-
lons and art dealers instead of palace galleries—and elegance was measured
in small, practical objects like chandeliers and soup tureens.
Rococo

Definition
Rococo, style in interior design, the decorative arts, painting, architecture,
and sculpture that originated in Paris in the early 18th century but was soon
adopted throughout France and later in other countries, principal-
ly Germany and Austria. It is characterized by lightness, elegance, and exu-
berant use of curving natural forms in ornamentation. The word Rococo is de-
rived from the French word rocaille, which denoted the shell-covered rock
work that was used to decorate artificial grottoes.
The Church of São Francisco de As-
sis (Links to an external site.) is
a Rococo Catholic church in Ouro
Preto, Brazil. Architect Antonio
Francisco Lisboa

As an a Art
The term Rococo is sometimes used to denote the light, elegant, and highly or-
namental music composed at the end of the Baroque period—i.e., from the
1740s until the 1770s. The earlier music of Joseph Haydn and of the
young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Links to an external site.) can thus be
termed Rococo, although the work of these composers more properly be-
longs to the emerging Classical style.
 The Rococo style was also manifested in the decorative arts. Its asymmet-
rical forms and rocaille ornament were quickly adapted to silver
and porcelain, and French furniture of the period also displayed curving
forms, naturalistic shell and floral ornament, and a more elaborate, playful
use of gilt-bronze and porcelain ornamentation.
Rococo

French Rococo chairs by Louis Delanois (1731–92); in the Biblio-

thèque de l'Arsenal, Paris.

Rococo painting in France began with the


graceful, gently melancholic paintings
of Antoine Watteau, culminated in the playful
and sensuous nudes of François Boucher, and
ended with the freely painted genre scenes
of Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Rococo portraiture had its finest practitioners
in Jean-Marc Nattier and Jean-Baptiste Perroneau. French Rococo painting
in general was characterized by easygoing, lighthearted treatments of
mythological and courtship themes, rich and delicate brushwork, a relative-
ly light tonal key, and sensuous colouring. Rococo sculpture was notable for
its intimate scale, its naturalism, and its varied surface effects.

Cupid a Captive, oil on canvas bt Francois Boucher, 1754

Key Points:
 The word Rococo is derived from the French word rocaille, which denot-
ed the shell-covered rock work that was used to decorate artifi-
cial grottoes.
 France is the birthplace of the Rococo style.
 Rococo is attributed as part of the Late Baroque Style.
Rococo is characterized by lightness, elegance, and exuberant use of curv-
ing natural forms in ornamentation.
Rococo

Rococo defined as...

"A style of architecture and decoration, primarily French in origin, which repre-
sents the final phase of the Baroque around the middle of the 18th cent. char-
acterized by profuse, often semiabstract ornamentation and lightness of color
and weight."

 In Rococo architecture, decorative sculpture and painting are inseparable

from the structure. Simple dramatic spatial sequences or the complex inter-
weaving of spaces of 17th-century churches gave way to a new spatial
concept. By progressively modifying the Renaissance-Baroque horizontal
separation into discrete parts, Rococo architects obtained unified spaces,
emphasized structural elements, created continuous decorative schemes,
and reduced column sizes to a minimum.
In churches, the ceilings of side aisles were raised to the height of the nave
ceiling to unify the space from wall to wall (e.g., church of the Carmine, Turin,
Italy, 1732, by Filippo Juvarra; Pilgrimage Church, Steinhausen, near Biberach,
Germany, 1728, by Dominikus Zimmermann; Saint-Jacques, Lunéville, France,
1730, by Germain Boffrand). To obtain a vertical unification of structure and
space, the vertical line of a supporting column might be carried up from the
floor to the dome (e.g., church of San Luis, Sevilla, Spain, begun 1699, by Leo-
nardo de Figueroa). The entire building was often lighted by numerous win-
dows placed to give dramatic effect (e.g., Schloss Brühl, near Cologne,
by Balthasar Neumann, 1740) or to flood the space with a cool diffuse light
(e.g., Pilgrimage Church, Wies, Germany, by Zimmermann, 1745).

Characteristics of Rococo include:

 the use of elaborate curves and scrolls
 ornaments shaped like shells and plants
 entire rooms being oval in shape
 patterns were intricate and details delicate
 colors were often light and pastel, but not without a bold splash of bright-
ness and light
 the application of gold was purposeful

Rococo

Rococo defined as...

"A style of architecture and decoration, primarily French in origin, which repre-
sents the final phase of the Baroque around the middle of the 18th cent. char-
acterized by profuse, often semiabstract ornamentation and lightness of color
and weight."

 In Rococo architecture, decorative sculpture and painting are inseparable

from the structure. Simple dramatic spatial sequences or the complex inter-
weaving of spaces of 17th-century churches gave way to a new spatial
concept. By progressively modifying the Renaissance-Baroque horizontal
separation into discrete parts, Rococo architects obtained unified spaces,
emphasized structural elements, created continuous decorative schemes,
and reduced column sizes to a minimum.
In churches, the ceilings of side aisles were raised to the height of the nave
ceiling to unify the space from wall to wall (e.g., church of the Carmine, Turin,
Italy, 1732, by Filippo Juvarra; Pilgrimage Church, Steinhausen, near Biberach,
Germany, 1728, by Dominikus Zimmermann; Saint-Jacques, Lunéville, France,
1730, by Germain Boffrand). To obtain a vertical unification of structure and
space, the vertical line of a supporting column might be carried up from the
floor to the dome (e.g., church of San Luis, Sevilla, Spain, begun 1699, by Leo-
nardo de Figueroa). The entire building was often lighted by numerous win-
dows placed to give dramatic effect (e.g., Schloss Brühl, near Cologne,
by Balthasar Neumann, 1740) or to flood the space with a cool diffuse light
(e.g., Pilgrimage Church, Wies, Germany, by Zimmermann, 1745).

Characteristics of Rococo include:

 the use of elaborate curves and scrolls
 ornaments shaped like shells and plants
 entire rooms being oval in shape
 patterns were intricate and details delicate
 colors were often light and pastel, but not without a bold splash of bright-
ness and light
 the application of gold was purposeful

Rococo
 Where the baroque was ponderous, massive, and overwhelming," writes fine arts profes-
sor William Fleming, "the Rococo is delicate, light, and charming." Not everyone was
charmed by Rococo, but these architects and artists did take risks that others previously
had not.

Catherine Palace (Links to an external

site.) Near St. Petersburg, Russia.

While elaborate Baroque architecture is found in France, Italy, England, Spain,

and South America, the softer Rococo styles found a home throughout Ger-
many, Austria, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Although Rococo was largely con-
fined to interior decor and decorative arts in Western Europe, Eastern Europe
was infatuated by Rococo stylings both inside and outside. Compared with
the Baroque, Rococo architecture tends to be softer and more graceful. Col-
ors are pale and curving shapes dominate.

Rocaille (US: /roʊˈkaɪ, rɒˈkaɪ/ ro(h)-KY,[1][2][3]

[4] French: [ʁɔkɑj]) was a French style of exuberant decoration,

with an abundance of curves, counter-curves, undulations

and elements modeled on nature, that appeared in furni-
ture and interior decoration during the early reign of Louis
XV of France. It was a reaction against the heaviness and
formality of the Style Louis XIV. It began in about 1710,
reached its peak in the 1730s, and came to an end in the
late 1750s, replaced by Neoclassicism.[5][6] It was the begin-
ning of the French Baroque movement in furniture and de-
sign, and also marked the beginning of
the Rococo movement, which spread to Italy, Bavaria and
Austria by the mid-18th century.
Rococo

France
The Rocaille (Links to an external site.) style, or French Rococo, appeared in
Paris during the reign of Louis XV, and flourished between about 1723 and
1759.
 The style was used particularly in salons, a new style of room designed to im-
press and entertain guests.

The most prominent example was the salon of the Princess in Hôtel de Sou-
bise (Links to an external site.) in Paris, designed by Germain
Boffrand and Charles-Joseph Natoire (1735–40).

 The characteristics of French Rococo included exceptional artistry, espe-

cially in the complex frames made for mirrors and paintings, which were
sculpted in plaster and often gilded; and the use of vegetal forms (vines,
leaves, flowers) intertwined in complex designs.

 The furniture also featured sinuous curves and vegetal designs. The leading
furniture designers and craftsmen in the style included Juste-Aurele
Meissonier, Charles Cressent, and Nicolas Pineau.

Salon of the Hotel de Soubise in Paris

(1735-40) by Germain Boffrand.
Rococo

Russia
The Catherine Palace is named after Catherine
I, the wife of Peter the Great, who ruled Russia
for two years after her husband's death. Original-
ly a modest two-storey building commissioned
by Peter for Catherine in 1717, the Catherine Pal-
ace owes its awesome grandeur to their daugh-
ter, Empress Elizabeth, who chose Tsarskoe Selo
as her chief summer residence. Starting in 1743,
the building was reconstructed by four different
architects, before Bartholomeo Rastrelli, Chief
Architect of the Imperial Court, was instructed to completely redesign the
building on a scale to rival Versailles.

Austria
 Belvedere Palace in Vienna, Austria was designed by architect Johann Lu-
kas von Hildebrandt (1668-1745). The Lower Belvedere was built between
1714 and 1716 and the Upper Belvedere was built between 1721 and
1723—two massive Baroque summer palaces with Rococo era decorations.
Marble Hall is in the upper palace. The Italian Rococo artist Carlo Carlone
was commissioned for the ceiling frescoes.

Marble Hall in Upper Belvedere Pal-

ace (Links to an external site.), Vienna,
Austria.
Rococo

Spain
 In Spain and her colonies the elaborate stucco work became
known as churrigueresque after the Spanish architect José Benito
de Churriguera (1665-1725). The influence of French Rococo can
be seen here in the sculpted alabaster by Ignacio Vergara Gime-
no after a design by architect Hipolito Rovira. In Spain, elaborate
details were added throughout the years to both ecclesiastical ar-
chitecture like Santiago de Compostela and secular residences,
like this Gothic home of the Marquis de Dos Aguas. The 1740 reno-
vation happened during the rise of Rococo in Western architec-
ture, which is a treat for the visitor to what is now the National Ce-
ramics Museum.
Rococo Style Architecture on the National Ceramics
Museum (Links to an external site.) in Valencia,

Key Points:
 In Spain, Rococo or late baroque can be associated
to Churrigueresque after the Spanish architect José Benito d
Churriguera (1665-1725).

Decline and End

The beginning of the end for Rococo came in the early 1760s as figures
like Voltaire (Links to an external site.) and Jacques-François Blondel (Links to
an external site.) began to voice their criticism of the superficiality and de-
generacy of the art. Blondel decried the "ridiculous jumble of shells, drag-
ons, reeds, palm-trees and plants" in contemporary interiors.

By 1785, Rococo had passed out of fashion in France, replaced by the order
and seriousness of Neoclassical artists like Jacques-Louis David (Links to an ex-
ternal site.). In Germany, late 18th-century Rococo was ridiculed as Zopf und
Perücke ("pigtail and periwig"), and this phase is sometimes referred to
as Zopfstil. Rococo remained popular in certain German provincial states
and in Italy, until the second phase of neoclassicism, "Empire style", arrived with
Napoleonic governments and swept Rococo away.