St.Paul's and St.Peter's Baroque Styles - Essay Example

? VARIATIONS IN ST.PAUL’S AND ST.PETER’S BAROQUE ARCHITECTURAL STYLES. and VARIATIONS IN ST.PAUL’S AND ST.PETER’S BAROQUE STYLES. The Baroque style varied in appearance and purpose across Europe. Do the Architecture and Interiors of St.Peter’s, Rome and St. Paul’s, London support this? According to Mirle (2008), historical orientation of Baroque Architecture is closely linked with both religious and political institutions. Zirpolo (2008) confirms this when he states that Baroque started as a protest to the adoption of Mannerist Art, and as a way to effect the wishes of Counter-Reformation Church, which wanted to stamp its authority in the western world at a time when the protestants were pausing a threat to the existing religious establishment(Catholic). Zirpolo (2008) concludes that, consequently and inevitably, Rome which was the Papacy homeground became the birthplace of Baroque Art and Architecture. It can, therefore, be stated that Baroque Architecture had a lot of political and religious motivations and subscriptions to it. This further suggests that variations in appearance and purpose could easily come up because Europe itself had an eclectic mix of varying political and religious affiliations. Emil and Kauffman (1966) brings to light the variations in Baroque Architecture across Europe when they give the example of Baroque genesis in Paris,France,and how the Baroque Architects in France had to fine-tune and synchronize the Baroque styles to reflect the national taste of French as a nation. Emil and Kauffman (1966) explain the reasons for the French Baroque variations when they note that the Architects had to maintain the French identity while still endeavoring to stick to the foundational Roman architectural Baroque design theme, thus reflecting the sovereign power of the French. Both St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London are Baroque in style. However, the differences and variations arising from their respective political and religious contexts is what this essay seeks to highlight through comparing and contrasting the architectural elements and features of the two iconic religious edifices. It is worth noting the significance of the two church buildings: St.Peter’s Basilica is the seat of the papacy, while St. Paul’s Cathedral is the Anglican’s biggest cathedral and one of the most recognizable sights in the City of London (Murray, 1970). As such, St.Peter’s Basilica reflects the Roman Catholic aspirations while St. Paul’s Cathedral is a manifestation of the Protestants’ authority. Brigg and Martin (1967) explain that in the 17th Century the Roman Catholic church fought off the encroachment by protestant reformation; The society of Jesus(Jesuits), making it their duty to defend the ways of the church against what they considered to be protestant attacks. In order to fully highlight the variations in Baroque style across Europe and with St. Paul’s and St.Peter’s as the case-studies, it is imperative to identify the design constants and unique features that identified Baroque Art and Architecture. Both Zirpolo (2008) and Summerson (1964) found that Baroque Architecture manifested the following salient features: (1) Use of undulating motifs in interior and exterior spaces - even columns was designed to undulate. (2) Distinctive use of vaults arches and buttresses - Churches were characterized with vaulted ceilings. (3) Flamboyant use of sculptures, statues and paintings in spaces. (4) A facade characterized by a prominent dome, and an interior marked with a grand nave, and (5) Stylish exploitation of the play of light in interior spaces. It is these distinctive features that the author will use as parameters to gauge the regional variations in the architecture of both St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul’s Cathedral. However, both churches have their own unique elements that might not be present in the other. For instance, St.Peter has a unique Baldachin below the dome. A major cause of the variation in Baroque styles across Europe is the individual schools of thought of the particular architects involved and what inspired their design directions. Gardner, Kleiner and Mamiya (2004) and Pile (2009) explain that the Architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Sir. Christopher Wren was inspired by Michelangelo’s dome at St.Peter’s and Mansart’s dome at the Church of the Val-de-Grace, to come up with his majestic, detailed dome. Gardner et al (2004) assert that Baroque Architecture always strived to portray its grandiosity and monumentality. They note that the St. Paul’s Dome demonstrated awe and power, and has towered unchallenged in the skies of London for years. In this regard, St. Paul’s Cathedral design meets the description of Charpentrat (1967), when he opined that Baroque attests to the affluence of worldly power in its structural geometric volumes. In both St. Paul’s and St.Peter’s, architectural elements are ingeniously used to create volumes that inspire awe and power. Gardner et al (2004) explain that Sir. Wren drew inspiration from the Italian Dome then came up with his own design that was reconciled with the English tastes and preferences. Though inspired by Michelangelo and Mansart’s Domes, Sir. Wren’s Dome for St. Paul’s is not exactly similar to Michelangelo’s one. Sir. Wren’s at St. Paul’s Cathedral rises in two clear stories of masonry, and another unfinished footing. Gardner et al (2004) seem to imply that, in order to differentiate his Dome design from that of Michelangelo, Architect Wren applied a continuous colonnade around the drum of the drum, and not a row of windows which Michelangelo had used in the design of St.Peter’s Dome. It is, therefore, plausible to argue that Architect Wren was seeking to introduce the English taste and identity to his design by adding on, or subtracting from what he saw in Michelangelo’s St.Peter’s Dome. The Dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral also serves to define the interior spaces (Pile, 2009). It creates a huge volume within an iconic church that already depicts a magnificent scale and balance, and whose surroundings is richly adorned with Baroque ornamentation and a sense of materiality. Keith (2007) describes the architectural detail of the Dome by defining its sectional composition, which consists of (1) an innermost Dome that contains an oculus at its apex (2) A brick cone in the middle that supports the lantern/cupola above, and (3) A lead-roofed oak-supported dome that lies in the outermost. The cupola, which is supported by the brick cone, adds to the interior character of the Church since it is visible from the oculus of the innermost dome. These three components work together to create a grandiose Dome, which is 108-metre high to the cross, at its peak. Figure 1 shows the sectional composition of the Wren’s Dome. Figure 1. Wren’s Dome (Source: www.architecture.com) Exploration of the play of Light is evident both in St. Paul’s Cathedral and St.Peter’s Basilica. At St. Paul’s, Wren’s attention to lighting detail can be seen in the windows radiating around the dome. The windows permit natural light into the interior spaces. The incident light combines freely with the interior ornamentation leading to a play of light that brings architectural character in the altar below. Here, Christopher Wren utilizes the opportunities that arise from light playing with materials. As further testimony of Baroque variances across Europe, Zirpolo (2008) notes that Sir. Wren’s design solutions were rejected a number of times in the design stages simply because the jury argued that they looked too Roman. He notes that Wren’s design solution that gained favour with the authority and finally got approval was the one characterized by a smaller dome and two tall bell towers. This suggests that London wanted a design theme that reflected her tastes and preferences, and that was not overly imitating the ways of the Roman. Another striking element of Baroque that ignited regional variations is the nave. Bussel (2008) and Woodham (1997) note that the counter-reformation pioneers lobbied for what they believed is the church’s rightful place in society, and brought back the elongated church design of the medieval era that was characterized by an elongated nave. Bussel (2008) gives the case of St.Peter’s Basilica that exemplifies how the counter-reformation pioneers shaped designs, and thus caused variations of Baroque styles across Europe. The Jesuits wanted the architect to come up with a church design depicting a nave that is not only iconic and majestic, but also economical to construct. The architect then obliged to the Jesuits’ request and lengthened the nave. As a consequence of lengthening the nave, the architect succeeded in injecting grandiosity to the altar, and bringing honour and elegance to the procession towards the altar. Pile (2009) suggests that the extent of imagery-usage in a classical building is also indicative of the regional differences in Baroque Art and Architecture. Imagery is used with restraint in St. Paul’s Cathedral, as compared to St.Peter’s Basilica.Sir.Wren does not overly rely on imagery to hammer in his point; rather, the expressive power of the cathedral is in its architecture as a whole, as is the case with ancient gothic cathedrals (Summerson,1964). This is a remarked difference with the Italian Baroque where imagery is flamboyantly and generously used in the form of majestic sculptures and dramatic paintings. St. Paul’s Cathedral, in its entirety or in its individual parts, does not solely focus on paintings or sculptures.The only place where imagery is explicitly used being in the dome interiors where monochrome paintings depict the life of Apostle Paul. The paintings applying an art technique where the images are so optically illusional as to appear as 3-dimensional when they are actually 2-dimensional (Bussel, 2008). On the flip, St.Peter’s Basilica subscribes to the Roman preference of Baroque; that of buildings erected with a rich and eclectic share of ornamentation, sculptures and paintings. St.Peter’s Basilica expresses the fine arts of architecture through sculptures and paintings. The paintings are an ornamental feature lining the nave, the interior chapels, and the alter (Charpentrat, 1967). Approach to design of facades is another variant. Trachtenberg and Hyman (1986) write that Wren’s facades in St. Paul’s Cathedral is characteristically two tiers of Corinthian columns arranged between towers whose inspiration he got from Borromini’s Roman Church of S.Agnese.The facade is one complete mass, and not sum of parts. This corroborates Baroque concept of a building, as per the observation of Keith (2007) in which case building is viewed as an architectural sculpture existing as a whole unit, and not in the disjointed traditional way of architecture; every bit of a building important in the larger picture. The facade is characterized by rounded arches, and not pointed arches. A symmetrical projection rises in the form of a dome. This dome brings balance, order and symmetry to the facade in a way that brings to mind the Italian Baroque style. Pile (2009) explains the social developments that define the direction taken by Baroque stylization. In St.Peter’s Basilica for instance, the Bernini’s colonnade is designed to strike an image of the Dome being the head and the massive colonnade being what Bernini called the arms of mother Church (Mirle, 2008). The resultant perspective image of the dome and colonnade can easily capture more church faithfuls into the fold. Bernini also considered the position of the obelisk in the design scheme. He therefore used the obelisk as the point of focus and arranged the colonnades around it with the length of the radius being a factor of the distance from the Basilica facade. Withit, Bernini’s free-standing colonnade became an ingenious design never seen before in the previous architecture. Maderno’s facade also strikes as a uniquely Italian Baroque (Summerson, 1964). The 114.69 metres by 45.55 metres wide facade is built of travertine stone, and has an order of Corinthian columns, and thirteen detailed statues depicting Christ accompanied by eleven apostles; except Peter whose statue is located in the stairs, and John the Baptist. However, Maderno’s facade has invited criticism. According to Pile (2009), it is claimed that the then Pope and his committee never really fully analyzed the facade design because they were in a hurry to see the completion of construction. He notes the shortcomings of the facade as being too horizontally lengthy for its vertical height, and being excessively fed with details. The facade and the elongated nave within the church are designed to tone down the elevation of the massive dome, so much so that the dome has no vertical dominance when viewed from this facade, except from a distance. The glamour and attention to detail of Italian Baroque is not fully captured without mentioning the Maderno’s portico (Narthex) ceiling. The portico consists of a lengthy barrel vault ornamented with gilt stucco, and having small openings in the pendentives.The openings serve to permit entry of natural light into the interiors leading to a dramatic play of light in the interior spaces. The floor below the portico that is finished with marble beautifully gleams as a result of the natural light coming from the piazza via the openings on the portico. On either ends of the Portico is a spatial volume defined by ionic columns, and within each spatial volume is a Charlemagne and Constantine statues. Thus so far, it is clear that St.Peter’s Basilica portrays a much greater dependency on sculptures and statues than does St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The Italian Baroque stylization and its differences with others across Europe can be seen in the Baldacchino and niches that add definition to the interior of St.Peter’s Basilica. The Baldacchino is a 30-metre Baroque sculpted Bronze designed by Bernini. It stands over the altar and directly below the dome, thereby creating a zone of visual interest and dominance since it can be viewed from all the transepts of the Basilica. By positioning the Baldacchino below the dome, Bernini seems to create a visual link between the baldachin and the dome above. The monumentality of Baldacchino stems from the fact that its location marks the spot of the tomb of Saint Peter, after whom the church was named after. Architecturally, the Baldacchino creates a visual point of focus within the basilica, and also reconciles the gigantic scale of the basilica with the human scale of the persons presiding over a ceremony at the papal altar under the Baldachin’s canopy. In terms of interior design and decor, the baldachin is distinctively a first of its kind in Baroque Art in that it combines both sculpture and architecture. The baldachin is supported by four marble plinths whose outer sides are decorated with Barberini Family’s coat-of-arms. References Brigg, M.S. (1967). Baroque Architecture. London: A Capo Press Charpentrat, P. (1967). Living Architecture Baroque. New York: Oldbourne Press. Emil, G. and Kauffman, S. (1966). Architecture in the Age of Reason. New York: U.S.A. Gardner, H., Kleiner, F.S. and Mamiya, J.S. (2004). Art through the Ages. London: Thomsom Wadsworth Press. Miller, K (2007). St.Peter’s (Wonders of the World). London: Harvard University Press. Mirle, R.B. (2012). History of Urban Planning and Design. London: Cognella Academic Publishing. Murray J. (1970). A Pictorial history of English Architecture. London: Scribner. Pile, F.J. (2009). A History of Interior Design, Laurence King. London: Laurence King Publishing. Summerson, J (1964). The Classical Language of Architecture, Taylor & Francis. London: R.R Bowker Company. Trachtenberg, M. and Hyman, I. (1986). Architecture from Prehistory to Post-modernism. New York: Sage Zirpolo, L.H. (2008). Historical Dictionary of Renaissance Baroque Architecture. New York: Emerald Publishers. Read More