Carlo Maderno

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Carlo Maderno (1556 - January 30 1629) was an Italian architect remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the Italian Baroque. He his often referred to as the brother of sculptor Stefano Maderno, but this is not universally agreed upon.

Biogaphy

Born at Capolago, Ticino (currently part of Switzerland), Maderno began his career in the marble quarries of the far north before assisting his uncle Domenico Fontana in Rome from 1588, at first as a marble cutter. His sculptural background informs his architecture. His first solo project, in 1596, was an utterly confident and mature façade for the ancient church of Santa Susanna (1597–1603); it was among the first Baroque façades to break with the Mannerist conventions that are exemplified in the Gesù. The dynamic rhythm of columns and pilasters, central massing, and the protrusion and condensed central decoration add complexity to the structure. There is an incipient playfulness with the rules of classic design, still maintaining rigor.

This façade won the attention of Pope Paul V, who appointed him chief architect of St Peter's on the completion of Santa Susanna (1603). Michelangelo's plans for the Basilica were to be modified with an extended nave and a new palatial façade, both carried out to Maderno's designs. The façade (completed 1612) is constructed to allow for Papal blessings from the emphatically enriched balcony above the central door. Criticism has been made that the extension of the basilica (grown from a Greek cross to a Latin cross) impedes the scenic dome from being seen when approaching the church within the Piazza, often ignores the fact that the approaching avenue is modern. Maderno would not have had liberties to design this building as much as in other structures.

Most of Maderno's work continued to be the remodelling of existing structures. The only building designed by Maderno and completed under his supervision was the little Santa Maria della Vittoria (1608— 20), where Maderno's masterwork is often ignored in favor of Bernini's Cornaro Chapel and its Ecstasy of St Theresa and where the churches' public façade is not by Maderno.

Even Maderno's masterpiece, the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, is not wholly his. There he designed the façade and executed the dome, the second largest in the Roman skyline. The church itself had been designed for the Theatines by Giuseppe Francesco Grimaldi and Giacomo della Porta in 1540: it follows a familiar Jesuit plan, cruciform, its wide nave without aisles, with chapels beyond arched openings. The crossing contains the high altar, lit under Maderno's dome (frescoed by Giovanni Lanfranco 1621—25) on its high windowed drum. The earliest design is of 1608; construction took from 1621 to 1625. At Maderno's death, the façade remained half built; it was completed to Maderno's original conception by Carlo Fontana. In this façade, the standard formula established at Il Gesù is given more movement and depth—in the varying planes of the frieze and cornice—and increased chiaroscuro —as in the whole columns embedded in snug dark recesses that outline their profiles with shadow—, and in similar elements that are re-grouped for a tighter, more sprung rhythm.

His other works include the Roman churches of Gesù e Maria, San Giacomo degli Incurabili and San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (where he is buried). In addition, he worked on the Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Mattei, and Quirinal Palace, all in Rome, and the Papal palace in Castel Gandolfo, for the Barberini Pope Urban VIII (1624; much remodeled since). In the Palazzo Barberini at Quattro Fontane, Maderno's work was largely eclipsed by the labors of Bernini and Borromini.

Maderno was called upon to design chapels within existing churches, the Chapel of St Lawrence in San Paolo fuori le Mura and the Cappella Caetani in Santa Pudenziana.

He designed the base supporting the Marian column in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, which later served as a model for numerous Marian columns in many Catholic countries.

References

Howard Hibbard, 1972. Carlo Maderno and Roman Architecture, 1580–1630
[Chris Nyborg, "Churches of Rome: Carlo Maderno"]
[Vitruvio site:] Carlo Maderno

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