Historical Figures Codexery

Francesco Borromini

Italian Baroque architect known for inventive, idiosyncratic designs.

Francesco Borromini

AnonymousUnknown author · via Wikipedia: Francesco Borromini · Public domain

He was a leading figure in Roman Baroque architecture alongside Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona.[1] Francesco Borromini, born Francesco Castelli on 25 September 1599, came from Bissone near Lugano in what is now the Swiss canton of Ticino, a region that at his birth was a bailiwick of the Swiss Confederacy.[1][2] His difficult temperament limited his professional opportunities, and in 1667 he took his own life.[3]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Francesco Castelli
Born
25 September 1599
Birthplace
Bissone, Condominiums of the Twelve Cantons (Italian possessions of the Old Swiss Confederacy)
Died
2 August 1667
Place of death
Rome, Papal States
Significant buildings
  • San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
  • Sant'Agnese in Agone
  • Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
  • Oratorio dei Filippini

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Borromini was born Francesco Castelli on 25 September 1599.[1] In 1634 he received his first major independent commission to design San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane for the Spanish Trinitarians.[4] He also designed the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, where he was appointed architect after a substantial benefaction in January 1637.[5] With the help of his friend Virgilio Spada, Borromini documented his own account of the oratory's building, published in Italian in 1725.[6]

In 1652 he was appointed to design Sant'Agnese in Agone after the Rainaldis were dismissed.[7] The entire building of San Carlino is so tiny that it could be placed inside one of the supporting piers of Saint Peter's dome.[4] The church's intricate floor plan was created by Borromini through intersecting geometric shapes, a method he frequently employed for his architectural layouts.[8] Following the death of Innocent X in 1655, work on the project slowed, and Borromini stepped down from his role in 1657.[9]

What the cited sources add

The Carboneri biography notes that Borromini signed with the surname Borromini only from 1628, and that the name already belonged to the family.[10] Most of Borromini's drawings are held at the Albertina in Vienna.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Borromini, Francesco", Oxford University Press; Peter Stein. "Borromini, Francesco." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 25 Jul. 2013. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber; "Francesco Borromini." Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.; "Symposia Melitensia", University of Malta Junior College, September 2017; Wieland, "The rivalry between Bernini and Borromini from a scientometric perspective", Scientometrics, 28 May 2020, p. 1643–1663 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Later he was also nicknamed "Bissone". (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blunt, Anthony (1979), Borromini, Harvard University Press, Belknap, p. 21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: As Siegfried Giedion pointed out in Space, Time and Architecture (1941 etc.); "Plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane"; "S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: See Connors J., Borromini and the Roman Oratory: Style and Society, New York, London & Cambridge (Massachusetts), 1980, and Kerry Downes, Averlo format perfetta (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: For an English translation of the 1725 edition and discussion of the architecture see Kerry Downes, Borromini's Book, Oblong Creative, 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blunt A. Borromini, Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1979, 157 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Steinberg L. San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. A Study in Multiple Form and Architectural Symbolism. New York 1977, p 117 and Fig. 85. The effect has been noted b; "San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Francesco Borromini" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blunt, 1979,159-160 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Carboneri, "Francesco Borromini", Dizionario biografico degli Italiani. facts only, no text reused. treccani.it

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Francesco Borromini (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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