Ernst Gombrich - Power and Glory I (Ch. 21)

8/17/2019 Ernst Gombrich - Power and Glory I (Ch. 21)

1/11

21

POWER

AND GLORY: I

Italy later setJcnteenth and eighteenth centuries

We

ren1ernber

the beginning of the Baroque manner ofbullding in

such

works of1atc sixteenth-century art

as

Della Porta s church

of he

Jesuit Order,

page

]8g figure

250.

Della

Porta

disregarded

the

so-called rules

of

classical

architecture

for

the

sake

ofgreater

variety

and more imposing

effects. It is

in

the

nature of

things

that

once

art has

taken

this

road it

rnust

keep

to

it.

If variety and

striking effects arc

considered in1portant,

each

subsequent

artist has

to produce more complex

decorations

and n1ore

astounding ideas

so

as

to

rcmJin

in1pressive.

During the

first

half of the

seventeenth

century,

this process

of

piling

up

rnore

and n1ore

dazzling

new

ideas for bulldings

and

their

decorations

had

gone

on in

Italy,

and

by the

middle of

the

seventeenth century the

style

we callllaroque

was fully developed.

~ g u r e

8 shows a typical

Baroque church

built

by

the

Elmous

architect

Francesco

Borromini 1599-1667)

and

his assistants. It

is

easy

to

sec

that

even the

fon s

which llorromini

applied arc really Renaissance forms.

Like Della Porta,

he

used

the form of

a

temple

front

to frame

the

central

entrance

and, like hin1, he

doubled

the

pilasters

on the

sides

to

gain a

richer

effect.

But

by con1parison

with

Borrom.ini s Elyade, Della Porta s

looks almost severe

and

restrained.

Borromini

was

no longer

content with

decorating

a

w a l ~ with the

orders

taken

from classical architecture.

He

cmnposcd

his

church through

a

grouping

of

different

forms-

the

vast

cupola,

the

fLmking towers

and the

Elyade.

And

this £tyade is

curved

as if

it had been

n10delled

in

clay.

If we

look

at

the

detail

we

find

even more

surpris ing effects.

The

first storey

of the towers

is square,

but the second

is round

and the

relation

between the two

storeys is brought

about

by a

strangely

broken

entablature which

would

have

horrified evc1y

orthodox

teacher of architecture, but which

docs the job assigned to

it extrnncly

well.

The

frames

of

the doors

flanking

the

nuin porch

arc

even more

astonishing.

The way

in

which the

pediment

over the entrance

is

made

to

fi·ame

an

oval

window

has

no

parallel in

any

earlier building.

The

scrolls

atld curves

of

the

Baroque

style

had

come

to

dominate both the

general

layout

and the

decorative details. It has

been

said

of

such

Baroque

buildings

that they

arc

over-ornate and

theatrical. L3orromini

himself

would hardly

have

understood why

this

should be

a reproach. He

wanted


2/11

436 P

O\VE

it

AND GLOI Y:

I

a c

hu r

ch

to l

ook

festive and to be a building

full

of

sp

l

endour

and

move

ment. lfit is

th

e aim o

fth

·c theatre

to

delig

ht

us with a vis

ion

of a

fai ry world oflight

an

d pageantry why should not the archite

ct

designing

a c

hu r

ch have a rig

ht

to give us an

id

ea

of

even greater

pom

p and glory to

remind us ofHeaven?

When

we e

nter th

ese churches

we

understa

nd

e

ven

better

ho

w the

pomp

and display

of

precious stones

of

gold and stucco were used deliberately

to conj

ur

e up a vision ofheavenly glory

muc

h more concretely than the

medieval cathedrals do. Pigure

83

shows the in terior of

Borromini s

chu rch. To those of us who arc used to the chu rch inte1i ors of north

ern

co

untries this dazzling page

antr

y

ma

y well look

too wo

rldly for

our

taste.

But

th

e Catholic

Chur

ch of the period thought differently.

Th

e more the

Pr

otestan ts preached against

outward

s

how

in the churches the

mo r

e

eager was the

Roman

Church

to

enlist the power of the artist. Thus the

Reformation and

th

e w hole vexed issue

of m

ages and their

wo

rship

z z

m c c ~ c o

orron i i

C arlo Rainaldi

C mrct ofSta

AJIIlrSC

- Piazz Na11o1w

Rom

e

•653

A church

o

hc Rom m

igh aroqu

l


3/11

437

RJ

Francesco

Borromini

Carlo

Hainaldi

flll rior

o

ire

cf rdr

of

Stn

· s e Piazz

m oun

Rome

.

1653

ITALY

, LAT ER

SEVENThEN

'J H

AND EIGHTEENTH ChNTU RIES

whic

h had influenced the course

of

a

rt

so often

in

the past, also had an

·''

indirect effect on the development ofBaroque. The Catholic world had

discovered that art could serve religion in ways that went beyond the simple

task a

ss

i

gned to it

in the early

Middle

Ages- the task

of

eaching the

Doctt;ne to people who could

not

read, page

95·

t

could help to persuade

and

co

nvert those

who

had, perhaps, read too

much.

Architects, painters

and sculptors we re called upon

to

transform churches

into

grand show-

pieces

whose

splendour and vision nearly swept

yo

u off

your

feet.

It is not

so much the details that matter n these interiors s the general effect of he

whole. We cannot hope to

understand them

or to

judge them correctly,

unless we visualize th

em

s the fram

ework

for the splendid ritual

of

he Roman

Church , unless we have seen them during High Mass, w hen the candles are

light on the altar, when the smell of ncense fills

the

nave, and wh

en

the

sound of he organ and the choir transports us into a different world.

This s

upr

eme art of theatrical deco ration had mainly been developed

by


4/11

43S

1 0

\V

EI

AND


5/11

9 ITA Y LA T RSeVENT EENTH t\N i l IG I TUN T H r.hN I UIUES


6/11

44

POWER AND

GI .

OltY

: I

of

e

moti

on

wh

ich artists had so

fur

shunned. If we compare t he face

of

his

swoon

ing saint with any work done

in

previous centuries, we find that

he achieved an

int

ensity of

a

cial expression

whi

ch un t

il then

was never

attempted

in

art. Looking from figure 286 to the head of Laocoon,

paJ .e

110

figure 6g or

of

Michelangelo s Dy

in

g slave ,

page

J IJ .figure 201

we

realize

the difference . Even Bernini s handling ofdraperies was at the time

completely new. Instead

ofletti

ng them fall in dignified folds

in

t

he

approved classic

al

manner, he made

them

writhe a

nd

whirl to add to the

effect

of

exc

itemen

t and

mo v

eme

nt

.

In

a

ll

these

eff

ec

ts

he was soon

imitated all over Europe.

lfit is true ofsculp tur

es

like Bernini

s

St Teresa that they can only

be judged in the setting for which they were made, the same applies even

mo re to the painted decorations ofBaroque churches.

F

igure 287 sho ws

the decoration of the ceiling of the J

es

uit church in

Rome

by a pain t

er

of

Bernini s following, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (1639 - T709) .

Th

e artist

wants to give us the illusion that the vault of the chu rch has opened, and

that we look straig

ht

into the glories ofHeaven . Correggio before h.im

had

the idea ofpainting the heavens on the ceiling, page

JJ8 figure

217 but

Gaulli s e

ffe

cts are incomparably m

ore

theat1;cal. The theme is the wo rship

of the Holy Name ofj esus, w hi ch is inscribed

in

radiant letters in the

ce

nt r

e

of

His church. l t is s

urr

ounded by infinite multitudes

of

cherubs,

angels, and saints, each gazing in rapture into the light, w hile whole

legions ofdemons or

fa

llen angels arc driven out of he heavenly regions,

1

86

Detailo

igure 85

Giovanni

ila ttista ~ u l l i

Tl•e wonhip

o

he Holy

Name of]esw

l

li70

-

8J

c<

·iling o he csui[

church

o l

Ccsu Rome


7/11

4 P

IT tY l TEi l SEVENTEENTH

ND

EIG HTEENTH


8/11


9/11

:iovanni

U mista Tiepolo

11tr

banquet o

C:h·c>patm r 1750

P;al aao

L ahi

;a

Vnucc

l89

Dcuil o igur

e

2 8S

H3

/

Ti l lY

LATE/I SEV[NTF.F.NTII

l iND

F

IGIITH N I N T U U

expressing their despair.

The crowded

scene seems to burst the

fi·

ame of

the ceiling, which brims over

with

clo

ud

s carrying saints and sinners right

down

into

the church. In letting the picture thus break the fi·ame, the artist

wants to confuse and

overwhelm

us, so

that we no

l

onger know

w hat

is

real and

what

illusion. A painting like this has

no meaning

outside the

place for

which

it was made.

Per

haps

it

is

no coincide

nc

e, t

her

efore,

that, after the development

of

the full Baroque style, in which all artists

co

llaborated in the achievement

ofone

effect, painting and sculpture

as

indepe

nd ent

arts declined in Italy and throughout Catholic Europe.

In the eighteenth century Italian artists we re mainly superb internal

decorators, famo us throughout Europe for their skill in stucco

work

and

for their great fi·escoes, which

could

transfonn any hall

of

a castle or

monastery into

a setting for pageantry.

One of

the most famous

of

these

masters was the Venetian Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 r770), who

worked

n

ot

only

in Italy

but

also

in Germany

and

Spain.

F ~ ~ u r e

288

sh

ows part of

his

decor

at

ion of

a Venetian palace, painted

about

1750.

It

represents a subject which gave

Tiepo

lo every

oppo

rtunity to display gay

colours and sumptuous costumes: the

banquet of

Cleopatra.

The

st01y

goes that

Mark

Antony gave a feast in hon

our

of the Egyptian queen

which

was to be the

ne

p us u

ltra ofluxury

.

The most

costly dishes

fo

llo

wed

each

other

in en dle

ss

succession. The

queen

was

not

impressed. She

wagered

her proud

host that

she would

pr

oduce

a dish

much more

costly

than anything he had offered yet -

took

a famous pearl fi·om

her

ear-ring,

dissolved it in vinegar

and

drank the brew. ln

Tiep o

lo s fresco

we

sec

her

showing Mark Antony the pearl while a black servant offers her a glass.


10/11

444 1 0\VEII AND GLORY:

Frescoes like these must have been fun to paint and they arc a pleasure

to

look at. And yet some

may

feel that these fireworks arc ofless

permanent val

ue

than the

more

sober creations ofearlier periods. The

great age

ofitalian

art was ending.

Only in

one speci l ized branch did Italian art create new ideas in the

early

eighteenth cent

ury.

That

was, char cteristically

enough,

the painting

and engraving ofviews. The travellers who came to Italy ·om all over

Europe to admire the glories ofher past greatness often wanted to take

souvenirs with them. In Venice,

in

particular,

whose

scenery is so

fascinat

in

g to the artist, there developed a school ofpainters who catered

for this demand. Figure

290

shows a

view ofVenice

by one of these

painters, Francesco Guardi

1712-93).

Like Tiepolo s fresco, it shows

that Venetian art had

not

lost its sense ofpageantry, oflight and ofcolour.

I t

is interesting

to compare

Guardi s v

ie

ws

of he

Venetian lagoon

with

the sober

and faithful seascapes ofSimon de Vlieger, page 418,jigure 27 1

painted

a century ea rl er. We realize that the spirit

ofBaroque,

the taste

for movement and bold effects, can express itselfeven in a simple view of

>9

Francesco Guardi

Vie•v o

S. Ci01gio

Maggiore Veuice

c. 77s-

So

Oil on c:mvas 5 x

93·5

c:m,

x in;

W a l l ~ c e

Collection

ondon


11/11

Com10isseurs and

lllliqu ri

es

ass

e

mbl

e

Rom

e 1725

llmving by P. L Gheni;

Jtn and b

ck

ink on b u ~

f

Jpcr 27

x

39 5

em,

ro

x }i in Albertiru

rcnna

145

ITALY LATER S V N T ~ N T

ANIJ EIG

H T

EENTH

CENTUR I ES

a ci ty Guardi has completely mastered the effects that had been stuclied by

seve

nt

eenth-century

paint

e

rs He

has learned that o

nce

we are given the

ge

ne

ral

impression ofa scene

we

are

quit

e ready to supply and supplement

the details ourselves. If

we look

closely at

his

go

nd

oliers

we

discover to

our

surprise that they arc

mad

e

up

simply ofa few deftly placed col

oured

patches - yet

ifwe

step back the illusion becomes completely effective.

Th

e tradition ofDaroque discoveries which lives in these late fi·uits of

Italian art was to gain new

importan

ce

in

subsequent periods.

- -

Ernst Gombrich - Power and Glory I (Ch. 21)

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