Architect Drawings : A Selection of Sketches by World Famous Architects Through History

CHAPTER 2
BAROQUE, FRENCH
CLASSICISM AND ROCOCO
(1650–1750)
The baroque period experienced a greater prevalence of drawing than the Renaissance. Sketches
continually proliferated, as architects were less dependent upon rules of proportion and enjoyed the
freedom characteristic of baroque architecture. Growing access to paper products and continually
more complex building programs perpetuated the need for sketching. A desire to express the more
emotional states of architecture, and describe secondary endeavors such as theater set design, encouraged
architects’ visual communication. As reflective of construction practices, patronage, and
baroque style, it is possible to assess traits common to the sketching techniques of late seventeenth
century and early eighteenth century architects.
The name of the baroque style may have originated with the word barocca, describing an ill-shaped
pearl (Trachtenberg and Hyman, 1986; Briggs, 1967). Although this connection is not completely
substantiated, it may yet be an appropriate comparison, especially when seen from the eyes of the
artists and architects of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The ‘pure’ rendition of antiquity in
Renaissance classicism and the mannerists’ formalized expression led to a freedom in translation, and
a more liberal transformation of classical elements.
The high baroque may have seemed an emotional distortion of Renaissance ideals (Millon, 1999).
A definition of its form was manifest quite disparately in various regions of Europe. With Francesco
Borromini and Filippo Juvarra, the baroque was an extension of the Italian Mannerist movement; the
French created a more restrained version often referred to as baroque classical; and the German
baroque, located primarily in Bavaria and displayed in religious architecture, acquired a more fluid
interpretation called the rococo.
As a movement, the baroque began with a rejection of strict rules, and ceased when the participants
felt restraint was again necessary, being weary of relatively uninhibited freedom. Renaissance
space was stationary, with clearly ordered elements forming volume. Baroque, on the other hand,
allowed form to extend from the surface of the walls to make exuberant and dramatic threedimensional
mass (Briggs, 1967; Millon, 1961).
The papacy in Rome adopted the baroque style, both in the funding and commissioning of projects
of great scale, and in their eagerness to exalt the Church by creating a new style distinct from
pagan Roman antiquities. The wealthy papal families were enthusiastic patrons, ready to exert their
status through the building of churches and palaces. Because of the growing population and expanding
boundaries of Rome, such wealth also built numerous villas in the hills around the city. This
period of building held many advantages for art and architecture professionals, as wealth allowed cultural
activities to expand. This architecture was of the same lineage as the Renaissance but was more
expansive, using a complex vocabulary of ovals and ellipses, axial site layout, and interiors of marble,
relief stucco, and lighting effects (Briggs, 1967; Millon, 1999; Hersey, 2000).
The seventeenth century was an age of reason (Ward, 1926; Kaufmann, 1955; Benevolo, 1970).
France had become united under the monarchy after years of religious wars. The monarchy funded
public works and commissioned royal building projects that employed architects, decorators, and
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