Baroque Architecture and Sculpture in Spain and France

Baroque Architecture in Spain

Baroque architecture in Spain — 1. The 17th century was marked by economic crisis, political and social change, and a golden age of literature. Clients included the Church, the capital, and artists in Madrid.

Characteristic architecture and general features include modest materials: brick, wood beams and vaults, stone and granite in Galicia, wooden board roofs, square towers, lantern-topped domes, metal and wood panels, and false vaults. The style contrasts sobriety on the exterior with the richness of the interior.

Stages of Spanish Baroque

Stage 1: First half of the 17th century, with Herrerian influence and the work of Juan de Herrera.

• Juan Gómez de Mora: works include the Church of the Incarnation and the Convent of the Incarnation in Madrid, the Palace of the Cruz, and the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.

Stage 2: Second half of the 17th century, with the enrichment of decoration. Work by the Churriguera brothers in Castile, with the initial Churrigueresque style that spread to Spanish America. Retablos and the Salamanca façades and the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca.

• Work by Pedro de Ribera, the Hospicio in old Madrid.

Stage 3: Eighteenth-century Baroque

In the eighteenth century, regional Baroque styles emerged, such as Andalusian Baroque with Malaga and Cadiz, and Granada with its blue tiles at the cathedral of Jaén. Polychromy and decoration in panels, metal and wood characterize this period.

An exception in Spanish Baroque is the use of expensive granite in the Obradoiro façade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, a granite façade designed in the 18th century by Fernando Casas Novoa, with a monumental triumphal arch form, elm and curved decoration.

Madrid Baroque was influenced by French and Italian styles. Palace of Aranjuez, Palace of San Ildefonso, Madrid Royal Palace: Sachetti, following Juvara's plans, built a reinforced square with four corner pavilions and a three-story façade. The central façade has a podium to emphasize the colossal order, while the rest is composed of pilasters. This is a classicist Baroque with French influence.

General Characteristics of Baroque Sculpture

The general characteristics of Baroque sculpture serve decorative architecture and sculpture. The sculptor's obsession is to capture the exact moment of action. The sculpture has a moment of instability, free and open composition. Treatments give the faces expression, garments are strong and dynamic, with strong chiaroscuro. Italian influence from Hellenism, angels and Greek art, with a focus on Bernini.

Spanish Baroque Sculpture

Spanish sculpture, mainly polychrome wood, was 100% religious: the Castilian school (funerary), the Andalusian school (Alegre) and the Levantine school (Gay). Materials included bronze, marble and polychrome wood in Spain, with religious themes, mythology and portraits.

Bernini

Bernini is the most important sculptor of the Italian Baroque. In Rome he worked on naturalism for the Vatican. His sculptures focus on the gestures and movement of the figures. Key works include The Rape of Proserpina, Apollo and Daphne, David and The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.

French Baroque Sculpture

French Baroque sculpture had the objective of exalting the absolute monarchy, focusing on courtly and official art (portraits of the monarch and family). It is the prototype of academic art, and its production was not primarily religious.

Nymphs treated as Apollo by Girardon: the work is based on Greek mythology. The scene recreates the body through the technique of wet drapery, with open composition. The sculpture shows the monarch at court.