BAROQUE AND ROCOCO

Baroque architecture covered the period between the late 16th and

mid-18th century. I t evolved out of Renaissance architecture in I taly. The

architectural style which emerged in I taly soon spread to the rest of

Europe and by the 17th century, Spanish Baroque style reached Latin

America. Initially used to express the triumph of the Roman Catholic

Church over Protestant Reformation, the architectural style later also

came to be used as a v isual demonstration of absolutist regime in

the form of magnificent palaces. The two main architects of the

Baroque era were Bernini and Borromini. There are 10 masterpieces

of Baroque architecture, both religious and secular. Firstly San Carlo

alle Quattro Fontane, Rome designed by one of the leading

Baroque architects Francesco Borromini is one of the finest examples of

Baroque architecture. Next is the St. Peter's Square, Vatican. I t is

imposing colonnades with 140 statues of saints are the work of Gian

Lorenzo Bernini. Following by Les Invalides in Paris, Palace of Versailles

in Versailles, Karlskirche in Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, St

Paul's Cathedral in London, Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg,

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Western Façade and

Zacatecas Cathedral in Zacatecas. Moreover, in order to fulfill its

propagandist role, Catholic-inspired Baroque art tended to be

large-scale works of public art, such as monumental wall-paintings

and huge frescoes for the ceilings and vaults of palaces and churches.

Rococo style, style in interior design, the decorative arts, painting,

architecture, and sculpture that originated in Paris in the early 18th

century but was soon adopted throughout France and later in

other countries, principally Germany and Austria. I t is characterized

by lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of curv ing, natural

forms in ornamentation. At the outset the Rococo style

represented a reaction against the ponderous design of Louis XIV’s Palace

of Versailles and the official Baroque art of his reign. Several interior

designers, painters, and engravers, among them Pierre Le Pautre, J.-A.

Meissonier, Jean Berain, and Nicolas Pineau, developed a lighter and more

intimate style of decoration for the new residences of nobles in Paris. In the

Rococo style, walls, ceilings, and moldings were decorated with delicate

interlacings of curves and countercurves based on the fundamental shapes of

the “C” and the “S,” as well as with shell forms and other natural shapes.