Spanish Baroque architecture
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Spanish Baroque is a strand of
History
The development of the style passed through three phases. Between 1680 and 1720, the Churriguera popularized Guarini's blend of Solomonic columns and Composite order, known as the "supreme order". Between 1720 and 1760, the Churrigueresque column, or estipite, in the shape of an inverted cone or obelisk, was established as a central element of ornamental decoration. The years from 1760 to 1780 saw a gradual shift of interest away from twisted movement and excessive ornamentation toward a neoclassical balance and sobriety.
In contrast to the art of Northern Europe, the Spanish art of the period appealed to the emotions rather than seeking to please the intellect. The Churriguera family, which specialized in designing altars and retables, revolted against the sobriety of the Herreresque classicism and promoted an intricate, exaggerated, almost capricious style of surface decoration known as the Churrigueresque. Within half a century, they transformed Salamanca into an exemplary Churrigueresque city.
In Spain
As Italian Baroque influences penetrated across the Pyrenees, they gradually superseded in popularity the restrained classicizing approach of Juan de Herrera, which had been in vogue since the late sixteenth century. As early as 1667, the facades of Granada Cathedral (by Alonso Cano) and Jaén Cathedral (by Eufrasio López de Rojas) suggest the artists' fluency in interpreting traditional motifs of Spanish cathedral architecture in the Baroque aesthetic idiom.
In
Three of the most eye-catching creations of Spanish Baroque are the energetic facades of the
The Royal Palace of Madrid and the interventions of Paseo del Prado (Salón del Prado and Alcalá Doorgate) in the same city, deserve special mention. They were constructed in a sober Baroque international style, often mistaken for neoclassical, by the kings Philip V and Charles III. The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia and the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Aranjuez are good examples of Baroque integration of architecture and gardening, with noticeable French influence (La Granja is known as the "Spanish Versailles"), but with local spatial conceptions which in some ways display the heritage of the Moorish occupation.
In the richest imperial province of 17th-century Spain,
Six decades later, the architect
In Spanish America
In the north, the richest province of 18th-century New Spain – Mexico – produced some fantastically extravagant and visually frenetic architecture known as Mexican Churrigueresque. This ultra-Baroque approach culminates in the works of Lorenzo Rodriguez, whose masterpiece is the Sagrario Metropolitano in Mexico City (1718–69). Other fine examples of the style may be found in the remote silver-mining towns. For instance, the Sanctuary at Ocotlán (begun in 1745) is a top-notch Baroque cathedral surfaced in bright red tiles, which contrast delightfully with a plethora of compressed ornament lavishly applied to the main entrance and the slender flanking towers (exterior, interior). The Santa Prisca at Taxco (1758), and San Martín at San Luis Potosí (1764) are other excellent examples of Churrigueresque in Mexico.
The true capital of Mexican Baroque is
The combination of the Native American and Moorish decorative influences with an extremely expressive interpretation of the Churrigueresque idiom may account for the full-bodied and varied character of the Baroque in the American colonies of Spain. Even more than its Spanish counterpart, American Baroque developed as a style of stucco decoration. Twin-towered facades of many American cathedrals of the seventeenth century had medieval roots and the full-fledged Baroque did not appear until 1664, when the Jesuit shrine on Plaza des Armas in Cusco was built. Even then, the new style hardly affected the structure of churches.
The
Gallery
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The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral (1573–1813)
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Plaza Mayor in Salamanca (1729–1755),Andrés Garcia de Quiñonesdesigned the city Hall.
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Obradoiro façade of theCathedral of Santiago de Compostela
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Palace of San Telmo (1681–1796), by Leonardo de Figueroa
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Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas (1740) in Valencia. Ignacio Vergara, sculptor
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Cathedral of Zacatecas(1752) Mexico
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Church of La Compañía(1605) Quito, Ecuador
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San Xavier del Bac (1692) Tucson, Arizona
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São Miguel das Missões (1735–45) Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
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Church of La Compañia (1571) Cusco, Peru
See also
- Spanish Golden Age
- Spanish Colonial architecture
- New Spanish Baroque
- Spanish Baroque ephemeral architecture
- Andean Baroque
- Earthquake Baroque
References
- Kelemen, Pal (1967). Baroque and Rococo in Latin America (2nd ed., 2 vol ed.). New York: Dover. ISBN 0-486-21699-3.
- Smith, Bradley (1966). Spain: A History in Art. New York: Simon and Schuster.