| Francesco Borromini
(September 25, 1599 – August 3, 1667 in Rome) was a prominent and
influential Baroque architect, and active in Rome and contemporary with the
prolific papal architect and often rival, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Early life and first works
Son of stone mason Giovanni Domenico Castelli, Borromini began his career
as a stone mason himself, and soon moved to Milan to study and practice
this activity. He was also called "Bissone", by the place in which he
was born (near Lugano, in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland).
When in Rome (1619) he changed his name (from Castelli to Borromini) and
started working for Carlo Maderno, his distant relative, at St. Peter's.
When Maderno died in 1629, he joined the group under Gian Lorenzo
Bernini, completing the facade and expansions of Maderno's Palazzo
Barberini.
Independent works
In 1634, his first individual commission was the reconstruction of the
church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (also called San Carlino). The
church is named after San Carlo Borromeo, and may have prompted his name
change. The small church is considered by many an iconic masterpiece of
Roman baroque. Borromini avoided linear classicism and eschews a simple
circular shape in favor of a corrugated oval. The church is small,
complex convex-concave rhythms that disrupt the oval of the nave[1]; he
"designed the walls to weave in and out as if they were formed not of
stone but of pliant substance set in motion by an energetic space,
carrying with them the deep entablatures, the cornices, moldings and
pediments." (Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from
Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p346-7 as quoted in [2]). It is far bolder
in geometric intricacy and less encrusted with figurative decorations
than Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, which lies just down the
street. That latter church has a sculptural drama embedded into the
architecture, as a form of bel composto. In San Carlino, the drama is
geometric. The undulating elements in the façade (completed late in his
life), are also masterful [3].
For Sant'Agnese in Agone, he reverted the original plan of Girolamo
Rainaldi (and his son Carlo Rainaldi), which previously had its main
entrance on Via di Santa Maria dell'Anima. The façade was expanded to
include parts of the bordering Pamphilij palace, gaining space for the
two bell towers (each of which has a clock, as in St. Peter's, one for
Roman time, the other for tempo ultramontano, European time).
Borromini lost this commission before completion due to the death of the
Pope Innocent X in 1655. The new Pope, Alexander VII, and Prince Camillo
Pamphilj recalled Rainaldi, but this one didn't change very much and the
church is mainly considered a notable expression of Borromini's
concepts.
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, courtyard and façade.
From 1640-1650, he worked on the design of the church of Sant'Ivo alla
Sapienza and its courtyard, near University of Rome La Sapienza palace.
The site, like many in cramped Rome, is challenged for external
perspectives. The dome and cochlear steeple are peculiar, and reflect
the idiosyncratic architectural motifs that distinguish Borromini from
contemporaries. Inside, the nave has an unusual centralized plan circled
by alternating concave and convex cornices, leading to a dome decorated
with linear arrays of stars and putti. The fusion of feverish baroque
excesses with a rationalistic geometry is an excellent match for a
church in a papal institution of higher learning. He is purported to be
a strong influence on the Turin architect, Camillo-Guarino Guarini.
Death and epitaph
In the summer of 1667, Borromini, suffering from nervous disorders and
depression, committed suicide after the completion of the Falconieri
chapel (the main chapel) in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, where he was
buried [4]. The primary inscription on Borromini's tomb, in San Giovanni
dei Fiorentini, reads:
FRANCISCVS BORROMINI TICINENSIS
EQVES CHRISTI
QVI
IMPERITVRAE MEMORIAE ARCHITECTVS
DIVINAM ARTIS SVAE VIM
AD ROMAM MAGNIFICIS AEDIFICIIS EXORNANDAM VERTIT
IN QVIBUS
ORATORIVM PHILLIPINVM S. IVO S. AGNES IN AGONE
INSTAVRATA LATERANENSIS ARCHIBASILICA
S. ANDREAS DELLE FRATTE NVNCVPATUM
S. CAROLVS IN QVIRINALI
AEDES DE PROPADANDA FIDE
HOC AVTEM IPSVM TEMPLVM
ARA MAXIMA DECORAVIT
NON LONGE AB HOC LAPIDE
PROPE MORTALES CAROLI MADERNI EXUVVIAS
PROPINQVI MVNICIPIS ET AEMVLI SVI
IN PACE DOMINI QVIESCIT
Francesco Borromini was featured on the 100 Swiss Franc banknote current
in the 1980s.
Main works
Borromini's works include:
Façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.
Palazzo Spada, architectural trompe-l'oeil
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (nave, dome, and convent)
Sant'Agnese in Agone
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano
Cappella Spada, San Girolamo della Carità (uncertain attribution)
Palazzo Spada (trick perspective)
Palazzo Barberini (upper-level windows and oval staircase)
Santi Apostoli in Naples - Filamarino Altar
Sant'Andrea delle Fratte
Oratorio dei Filippini
Collegio de Propaganda Fide [5]
Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori
San Giovanni in Oleo (restoration)
Palazzo Giustiniani (with Carlo Fontana)
Palazzo Falconieri
Santa Lucia in Selci (restoration)
Saint Peter's Basilica (gates to Blessed Sacrament Chapel and possibly
parts of the baldacchino)
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