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THE ROMAN ROAD TO THE BAROQUEE XHIBITIONSThe Triumph of the Baroque: Architecturein Europe 1600-1750Exhibition at the National Gallery of Art,Washington, D.C. May 21 - October 9,2000; at Musee des Beaux-Arts, Marseille,France, November 17, 2000 - March 4, 2001.Catalog edited by Henry A. Millon, publishedby Bompiani, 624 pages, with morethan 800 color and black-and-white images.Reviewed by Catesby LeighIt is no secret that art history suffers froma fragmented outlook. It tends to focuson the particularities of a given periodrather than the great continuities arisingfrom secular reliance on a canon of formsand conventions. The current architecturalexhibition at the National Gallery of Art inWashington, The Triumph of the Baroque: Architecturein Europe, 1600-1750, suffers fromthis academic tendency. The commentaryaccompanying the exhibition does not setthe baroque in its broader context.But the exhibition is wonderful nevertheless.Its main feature consists of 27 architecturalmodels. The models would beinadequate in and of themselves, for manyof them represent only parts of an overallscheme, or designs worked out in their architecturalaspects only, with the decorationmerely suggested or left out entirely.But the exhibition also includes paintings,prints, and photographs, as well as architecturalplans and elevations. These largelyfill in the gaps. Though wider in geographicscope, The Triumph of the Baroque isa welcome complement to a similar exhibitionof Italian Renaissance architecture thegallery mounted in 1994. It remains onview through October 9.The first and, for the purposes of thisjournal, most significant portion of the currentexhibition concerns Rome and papalpatronage of sacred architecture and civicamenities alike.The model for the Trevi Fountain (1733),commissioned by Clement XII and designedby Nicola Salvi, provides a vivid illustrationof the continuity of Romanforms. The Trevi model consists of thefountain’s monumental backdrop, a façadedominated by a great Corinthian order anda central niche. Closely akin to an ancientRoman fountain-building or nymphaeum,the façade is not baroque but classical in itstreatment. Its ample decoration is only partiallyindicated by the model, which doesnot include the sculpture in the roundadorning its flanking niches and attic. Evenso, the excellence of the design is obvious.The fountain-building occupies the formalpole in a scheme involving a fantasticallynaturalistic rock outcropping enriched bywaterfalls and statues of Ocean, whostands on a huge conch shell in front of thecentral niche, and a pair of Tritons andseahorses. A painting by Panini whichforms part of the exhibition shows thefountain in its entirety.A similarly scenographic conceptionanimates Bernini’s Cornaro Chapel in thechurch of Santa Maria della Vittoria inRome. The chapel is best known for thesculptor-architect’s Saint Teresa in Ecstasy, aterracotta model (c.1644) for which is onview. But the general scheme is revealed byan unknown painter’s meticulous depictionof the chapel from around 1650.Above, a celestial ensemble including theHoly Spirit and the angels encroaches upona window in the vault, leaving one to wonderwhether the window is real. In the altarbelow we have the statues of Saint Teresaof Avila and the angel, with the glory radiatingupon them. The altar is crowned by acanopy configured as a sort of half-brokenpediment, curvilinear in plan and supportedby columns. Three entablatures, oneof which is carried on by the pedimentcanopy,lie beneath the vault and the archsituated in front in it. The rich decorationincludes angels, putti, and swags carved inbold relief, and a harmonious variety ofcolor in the marbles employed. In the galleriesflanking the altar, sculpted membersof the Cornaro family discuss the divinespectacle among themselves. The world, indeference to the saint, has come rather as-Model of Smol’ny Convent, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1748Photo courtesy The National Gallery of ArtSacredArchitecture Fall 2000 29