Historical context: Tremendous expansion of commercial and industrial
activity in Holland and England, and of their colonization and world
trade, with England taking the lead toward the end of the century
despite internal conflicts between king and parliament. Industrial
prosperity of Flanders. Decline of Germany and Spain.
Classicizing Baroque in France: Greater reticence, and increased
emphasis on classical clarity and correctness, corresponding to the
rational and monumental absolutist scheme of values. Baroque spatial
expansion.
Johann Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753) in Germany: Neumann was later
than the French and English Baroque architects, and he was influenced
by the decorative vocabulary of French Rococo. But overall his
architecture was a Late Baroque German development of Borromini's
style. Intersecting ovoid spaces and interpenetrating vaults create a
sense of weightlessness and of lively movement. White walls, the
extensive glass surfaces of large windows, and the illusionistic
decoration of walls and ceiling produce an impression of openness and
lightness. The delicate web of thin mouldings and crisp, curvilinear
patterns, the stucco figures perched casually on architectural members
or floating above them, and the rhythmic designs of the paintings give
decorative liveliness to the curving surfaces. (The interior design at
Vierzehnheiligen was mainly by Johann Jakob Michael Kuchel, after
Neumann's death.) Neumann's inventive variations on classical
vocabulary are a fitting culmination of the tradition begun in Italy
by Borromini.
England in the Seventeenth Century: Architecture tended to be purely
classicizing (Inigo Jones), building in the tradition and spirit of
the High Renaissance and of Palladio; or more eclectic (Wren), showing
French and Dutch influences as well as those of various Italian
Baroque and High Renaissance architects.
Key works:
1. Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, and Claude Perrault, East facade of
the Louvre, ca. 1667; fig. 588.
2. Versailles: Palace, garden facade, 1669-85 begun by Louis le Vau
(1612-70) [
117 garden facade]; completed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart
(1646-1708); park, 1661-68 by Andre le Notre [
121 pre-Mansart core of
Versailles, with new gardens]; Hall of Mirrors, c. 1680 by Hardouin-
Mansart and le Brun [
118]; whole complex 1660s--18th c. [
122 plan,
123
aerial view of chateau and gardens]; figs. 583--586.
3. Johann Baltasar Neumann: Residenz at Wurzburg, designed 1722;
center block 1735; Kaisersaal and grand staircase painted by Giovanni
Battista Tiepolo 1750-53 [
288 plan;
287 staircase;
286 Kaisersaal];
figs. 599--600.
4. Neumann, Vierzehnheiligen (country pilgrimage church) Germany,
designed 1738; redesigned by Neumann 1744, completed 1772 [
283
reconstructed cutaway model, showing longitudinal section;
284
interior view]; figs. 597, 598.
5. Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723): St. Paul's Cathedral, London,
1675-1710. Greek cross plan, 1672; "Great Model" design 1673; Warrant
design 1675; redesigned 1675 as is [
283 the "Great Model";
282 final
plan as built;
281 aerial view]; figs. 611--613.
Works in context:
