Borromini, Francesco

Borromini, Francesco (fränchā`skō bōr-rōmē`nē), 1599–1677, major Italian baroque architect. His first independent commission (begun 1634) was San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome, one of the masterpieces of the Roman baroque. The church is noted for its undulating rhythm of architectural elements within a basically geometric plan. In 1642 he began the designs for Sant' Ivo della Sapienza, Rome, a dynamic hexagonal structure. He was also entrusted with the reconstruction of St. John the Lateran, as well as the completion of Sant' Agnese in the Piazza Navona and Sant' Andrea della Fratte. Borromini's innovations in palace as well as church design had a tremendous influence in Italy and northern Europe.

Bibliography

See studies by A. Blunt (1979) and Connors (1980).

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Borromini, Francesco

 orig. Francesco Castelli

Interior of the dome of the church of S. Ivo della Sapienza, Rome, by Francesco Borromini, …

(credit: GEKS)

(born Sept. 25, 1599, Bissone, Duchy of Lombardy—died Aug. 2, 1667, Rome) Italian Baroque architect. Though he worked with Gian Lorenzo Bernini on the design of the famous baldachin in St. Peter's Basilica, the two later became bitter rivals. Borromini's first independent commission was the Roman church and monastery of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (1638–41), the dome of which appears to float because its spring points (see arch) and light sources are concealed below. His works, composed of flowing concave and convex forms, contain spaces that are irregular ovals and polygons, as at Sant'Ivo della Sapienza (1642–60). His fortunes declined in later years, and in 1667 he committed suicide. His influence was felt in northern Italy and central Europe in the next century.

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Borromini, Francesco 

(or F. Borromino, pseudonym of F. Castelli). Born Sept. 25, 1599, in Bissone, Switzerland; died Aug. 3, 1667, in Rome. Italian architect.

Borromini went to school in Milan. His architecture was an expressive realization and original resolution of the principles of the Baroque period (above all, a concept of the dominance of irrational forces, typical of the Baroque Weltanschauung). Borromini’s works are distinguished by spatial mobility and the restless dynamics of elastic forms, which at times deprive the buildings of plastic wholeness. Borromini made free use of the classic order; typical of his constructions are curvilinear outlining of volumes, curved walls, varied combinations of convex and concave forms, and sharpened silhouettes of the crowning parts. With unrestrained imagination, Borromini created new decorative details and complicated construction plans. He designed the churches of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (1634–67), San Ivo alla Sapienza (1642–60), and Sant’Andrea delle Fratte (1656; facade, 1816); the facade of the Church of Santa Ag-nese in the Piazza Navona (1653–55); the Oratorio dei Filippine (1637–62); the Falconieri Palace (1639–41) and the Barberini Palace (1625–63; jointly with C. Maderna and L. Bernini); and other buildings in Rome. He enlarged Villa Falconieri in Frascati.

REFERENCE

Portoghesi, P. Borromini nella cultura europea. Rome, 1964.