Between the Renaissance and the Baroque, a great transition took place. Gothic had introduced something new, for the most part, and those of the Renaissance made a return to ancient rules and thought, and “what set this younger generation of scholars apart from the earlier Scholastics was that the Renaissance scholars were less interested in how the ancients could be interpreted to corroborate scripture and church dogma than what the ancients had to say in their own right.” (Roth 2007), making a transition from religion to rational thought and humanism. As Roth states, “After a millennium, man was once more the measurer of al things. Everything was possible for humankind, believed Pico, for to man ‘it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills’” (Roth 2007).
The rules followed so closely in the Renaissance were broken purposefully in the Baroque. Experimentation was key.
At the heart of the transition lay a datum line of sorts. This datum is the shift from thought to emotion. The Renaissance focused on reason and solidity, while the Baroque rejected reason to some extent and moved toward emotion. This difference is illustrated clearly between Michelangelo’s David and Bernini’s David. Michelangelo shows a pensive David, standing in true classical form. In great contrast, Bernini sculpts David in action, showing great emotion in the facial expression. Through the stone, motion can be seen, and the story is better told in that moment.
In the field of interior architecture, most of what we do has to do with what people see. We translate our vision for a space into what others’ vision will see. For any design, there must be many revisions of a vision, sometimes completely changing the vision altogether. What we initially envision often turns out to be different from the reality after many revisions have taken place.
Baroque was essentially revision. The rules of the Ancient world, re-emerged and written down during the Renaissance, were broken by the architects and artisans of the Baroque. In essence, the rules were revised to become something completely different. While “The Renaissance building exists to be admired in its splendid isolated perfection. The Baroque building can only be grasped through one’s experiencing it in its variety of effects… Baroque unity is achieved—at the expense of the clearly defined elements—through the subordinations of the individual elements to invigorate the whole. Baroque space is independent and alive—it flows and leads to dramatic culminations” –Henry A Millon, Baroque and Rococo Architecture, 1961 (Roth 2007).
The character of something is the essence of it. It tells a great deal of information in something seemingly small. The character of Baroque was the breaking of rules. The decorative arts came together instead of operating separately, art depicted the height of action and emotion, and drama was key. Light and water played key roles once again. One great example of merging art and architecture and the use of light therein is Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, in which The miraculous event is illuminated from a hidden source, a window behind the pediment of the stage, whose flood of light is embodied by the gilded rays that stream down behind the figures. The autonomy of architecture is here eliminated, becoming now an armature for sculpture and painting meant to impress upon the viewer a mystical experience. Architecture as an independent, rational structural frame is transformed into a unity or fusion of the visual arts as propaganda. Architecture has become but one constituent part in what was “a total work of art.” (Roth 2007).
These designs did not always sit well with their audience. When Versailles was built, the audience was not only the king first and foremost, but all of the people under him, so that they could see his power. However, the plan backfired and caused a revolution against the monarchy—the people were angry that such extravagance was breaking their country. Versailles defined opulence, “enlarged by Louis XIV on a scale rivaling that of the Rome of Sixtus V” (Roth 2007).
With any design it is important to take the audience into account. While the scheme of displaying power through architecture and art had worked previously, it was not done in such a lavish manner. There must be a balance found in which the audience is manipulated and pleased. The manipulation ranges from directing the flow of people through a space, or making their eye travel to certain places, to informing about power of government and religion.
Those who built my apartment building did not take the audience into account. You can hear through the walls to outside, and there is tremendous noise sometimes!
Renaissance design rested heavily on thought and reason, while the focus of Baroque was emotion. In face, both are key in design. A successful design is well thought out and reasoned; yet still has emotion in it as well as evokes emotion from the audience. There exists clear datum between thought and emotion, yet in a design they should merge without the division standing out, but instead within a smooth transition back and forth between the two. This can be reached through many revisions of an initial vision—often a more emotional response, revised through rationing.
Roth, Leland, M. (2007). Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
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