Masterpieces of the Baroque

Bernini designed a public space in front of St. Peter’s Basilica large enough to contain the huge crowds of people who visit every day.

Bernini described the huge sets of columns as the welcoming arms of the church reaching out to “embrace Catholics” and to “reunite heretics with the church.” Bernini was referring to Protestants who had broken away from the Catholic Church in the previous century.

The oval space is framed by 4 rows of colossal columns. The ends of each arm looks like an ancient Greek temple—with the columns topped by a triangular pediment; an example of how Baroque architecture was inspired ancient Greece and Rome.

The 83-foot tall stone obelisk is from ancient Egypt (an obelisk is a freestanding pillar). It was brought to Rome long before Bernini designed the square. There are more than a dozen ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome, all brought here by Rome’s emperors.

The church takes its name (San Carlo at the Four Fountains) from the four sculptures that sit on the corners of the intersection where we find this church.

The four tall columns swell inward and outward like a wave. A Renaissance church would appear staid and balanced next to the curving forms of Borromini’s church. The interior is beautiful and complex, but surprisingly small.

If you circle around, you’ll see four sculptures on each corner of this busy intersection. These date from the late 1500s. The reclining figure on Borromini’s church, is a personification of the Tiber, the river that flows through Rome.

The palace has 700 rooms and at its height some 5,000 nobles, along with 14,000 servants and military, lived at Versailles. Look behind you to see formal gardens and ponds decorated with fountains and sculpture that stretch for nearly 7 miles.

We’ve left the dynamism Bernini and Borromini in Italy—French Baroque focused on symmetry and balance. The emphasis is on order and clarity and gives little sense of the ornate and luxurious interior.

The gardens at Versailles are vast and took four decades to complete. We are looking out toward the grand canal past the 17th and 18th century groves, fountains, and sculptures that the king considered as important as the palace itself.

At the other end of the Hall of Mirrors is the Salon de la Paix (Room of Peace). Here, we see mirrors in the corners of the room, colored marble, ceiling paintings, and gilded sculptures (representing armor, weapons and bound captives, among other things).

King Louis XIV is triumphant. The defeated enemy flees or has fallen powerless. Above, winged figures representing victory blow trumpets, while one holds a victory wreath for the King. This depiction of is inspired by depictions of ancient Roman Emperors on horseback.