Difference Between Italian And French Baroque Architecture

Difference Between Italian And French Baroque Architecture

Baroque is the name given to the art of

the 17th century. But the baroque style, like all other styles in

the history of art, began gradually. It started in the latter

part of the 16th century and continued to be used well into the 18th century.

Baroque can be defied as the florid, ornate style characterizing fine arts

in Europe from the middle 16th to middle 18th centuries. The main

characteristic of the baroque architecture is movement. Architects

wanted their buildings to be exciting and to give the impression of activity.

They did this by making dramatic contrasts of light and shadow and by using

curved shapes.

The Renaissance enthusiasm for antiquity

led the architects to adhere to the rules of classic architecture as far

as they were understood. The baroque style flouted these laws.

By mid-century the carefully controlled and subtly refined Classical Baroque

trend was clearly established. In France, its pre-eminent position

was never seriously challenged. French Baroque architecture was more

restrained in its expression than its Italian counterpart. The most

common and remembered details that made the two styles different were its

culture, economy, religion, government, and economics. These can

make one style very different from the other, but there were also other

reasons why.

Italians were the first to come

up with Baroque architecture, they became very interested in the surroundings

of their buildings. They placed elaborate gardens around places.

They set off important buildings in the cities by open squares decorated

with fountains or colonnades. Roads leading from the squares giving

a dramatic view of stairways, sculpture, or other buildings far in the

distance. These were some of the things the Italians thought up when

they first started up this new style, so when the french took in the Italians

ideas, they surly changed them into what they were looking for. The

French architects were full cognizant of the principals discovered in Italy,

but they were also influenced by traditional French values and chose to

limit their architectural vocabulary in accordance with them. Within

these self-imposed limits they produced works of great order wherein variety

was achieved principally through subtle adjustments in rhythm and proportions

of mass...

... middle of paper ...

...ined all odds and caught the

eye of art people in Europe, single handedly changing the way we look at

architecture and art in a whole.

Artists and Their Works

ITALIAN ARTISTS

Artist Name of Work

year

*Illustration*

Pietri da Cortona -SS. Martina e

Luca 1635-1650

Bernardo Vittone -S. Chiara 1742

Gian Lorenzo Bernini -Chigi-Odescalchi

-S. Andrea al Quirnale 1664

1658-1670

Francesco Borromini -S. Carlo alle

Quattro Fontane

-Ivo 1638-41

1642-1650

Guarino Guarinin -S. Lorenzo

-Palazzo Carignano

-Church of the Immaculate Conception

1666-1679

1679-1692

1672-97

Alessandro Specchi -Porta di Ripetta

1703

Filippo Raguzzini -Piazza S. Ignazio

-S. Maria della Quercia 1727-1728

1727

Filippo Juvarra -Church of the Carmine

1732-1735

FRENCH ARTISTS

Artist Name of Work

Year

*Illustration*

Jules Hardouin Mansart -Church of

Les Invalides 1680-1691

Jacques Lemercier -Church of the

Sorbonne 1635

Francois Mansart -Ste. Marie de

la Visitation

-Chateau of Blois

-Chateau of Maisons 1632-1634

1635-1638

1642-1646

Louis Levau -College des Quatre

Nations

-Chateaq and Gardens of

Vaux-le-Vicomte 1662

1657-1661