Monday, March 1, 1999

Announcements:

• received exams back in class
• for section this week: meet at Palmer Museum of Art

    Baldacchino/Tabernacle, Baldini, St. Peter's, Rome, 1624-33

• ritual canopy/covering
• major piece of church furniture in the crossing
• altar from which the Pope says Mass
• central location in church
• wanted it to remain in proportion with the church--did not want it to be marginalized (in terms of size)
• cast bronze
• St. Peter's tomb presumably under the Baldacchino
• 'rootedness' of the Church
• visual manifestation of authority of the Catholic Church

• in apse
• eastern most point
• illuminated naturally
• symbolic representation of Peter's authority
• multiple media/styles
• stained glass
• stucco
• architecture

    St. Peter's and Facade, Carlo Maderno, St. Peter's, Rome, 1607-15

• constructed under Pope Pius V
• Greek cross plan with extended nave
• combined basilica/centralized plan
• reason for redesign: social/political
• period of conservatism
• moving away from boldness
• FACADE (1606-12)
• relies heavily on ancient architectural vocabulary

• awkward, challenging space with which to work
• sense of embrace
• serves as ceremonial space
• said to encompass about 300,000 at a time
• theoretically one can have good view at any location within
• impetus to build driven by Counterreformation attempts to expand Church
• oval and two trapezoids
• irregular forms are employed
• Baroque adaptation of geometry

• challenging location (congested area)
• small church (relatively)
• daring
• because it didn't need Papal approval, like Bernini's work did
• facade seems to echo movement of human traffic along the busy street
• undulation
• dynamic, not static
• surface with deep niches
• shadows
• light/dark
• plays with changes in natural light
• columns: vertical movement
• seems as though the building is alive
• INTERIOR
• plan is geometrical/mathematical
• dynamic
• oval dome
• Borromini used techniques to make it seem higher than it actually is
• carving and decoration to emphasize dome
• sense of soaring, movement

• "gentleman artist"
• worked for aristocracy throughout Europe (not limited to his area)
• financially successful
• humanist, scholar, diplomat
• trained in Antwerp
• studied/lived in Italy from 1600-08
• strong influence on his work

• chalk drawings on paper inspired by a Roman copy of a 1st Century C.E. Greek sculpture
• Baroque fashion: exaggerates the line
• translates into his own style

• after Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel
• Michelangelo's is more even in illumination
• Rubens darkens/deepens shadows
• exaggerated bodies (Adam and Eve)
• tries to internalize M's decisions

• responds to contemporary art
• more exaggerated burden depicted than Caravaggio's
• Mary Magdalen's arms not extended in dramatic gesture Rubens'
• more unified than Caravaggios
• warmer, more intimate colors

• triptych
• straining bodies
• central panel
• Rubens presents us with a very specific moment
• muscular, yet vulnerable