Francesco Borromini (September 25, 1599 – August 3, 1667 in Rome) was a prominent and influential Baroque architect, and active in Rome and contemporary with the prolific papal architect and often rival, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. September 25 is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years). ... Events The Jesuit educational plan known as the Ratio Studiorum is issued (January 8). ... August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... // Events January 20 - Poland cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and eastern Ukraine to Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo that put a final end to the Deluge, and Poland lost its status as a Central European power. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Borromini (anonymous youth portrait).

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ...

Early life and first works

Son of stone mason Giovanni Domenico Castelli, Borromini began his career as a stone mason himself, and soon moved to Milan to study and practice this activity. He was also called "Bissone", by the place in which he was born (near Lugano, in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland). When in Rome (1619) he changed his name (from Castelli to Borromini) and started working for Carlo Maderno, his distant relative, at St. Peter's. When Maderno died in 1629, he joined the group under Gian Lorenzo Bernini, completing the facade and expansions of Maderno's Palazzo Barberini. Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese -dialect of Lombard-: Milán) is the main city in northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed region in Italy. ... Bissone is a village located south of Lake Lugano, in the southernmost tip of Switzerland. ... Location within Switzerland Lugano is a city in south-east Switzerland, in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... Events May 13 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason. ... Façade of St. ... The Basilica of Saint Peter from Castel SantAngelo. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... In Palazzo Barberini, which still dominates Piazza Barberini, Rione Trevi, Rome, three great architects worked to create a harmonious whole: Carlo Maderno, who began it in 1627, his nephew and assistant Francesco Borromini, working on his first important commission, and a young sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. ...

Independent works

In 1634, his first individual commission was the reconstruction of the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (also called San Carlino). The church is named after San Carlo Borromeo, and may have prompted his name change. The small church is considered by many an iconic masterpiece of Roman baroque. Borromini avoided linear classicism and eschews a simple circular shape in favor of a corrugated oval. The church is small, complex convex-concave rhythms that disrupt the oval of the nave[1]; he "designed the walls to weave in and out as if they were formed not of stone but of pliant substance set in motion by an energetic space, carrying with them the deep entablatures, the cornices, moldings and pediments." (Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p346-7 as quoted in [2]). It is far bolder in geometric intricacy and less encrusted with figurative decorations than Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, which lies just down the street. That latter church has a sculptural drama embedded into the architecture, as a form of bel composto. In San Carlino, the drama is geometric. The undulating elements in the façade (completed late in his life), are also masterful [3]. Events Moses Amyrauts Traite de la predestination is published Curaçao captured by the Dutch Treaty of Polianovska First meeting of the Académie française The witchcraft affair at Loudun Jean Nicolet lands at Green Bay, Wisconsin Opening of Covent Garden Market in London English establish a settlement... Church in Villach, Austria. ... Facade of San Carlo alle quattro fontane. ... A self portrait: Bernini is said to have used his own features in the David (below, left) Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini) (December 7, 1598 - November 28, 1680), who worked chiefly in Rome, was the pre-eminent baroque artist. ... SantAndrea al Quirinale (St. ...

For Sant'Agnese in Agone, he reverted the original plan of Girolamo Rainaldi (and his son Carlo Rainaldi), which previously had its main entrance on Via di Santa Maria dell'Anima. The façade was expanded to include parts of the bordering Pamphilij palace, gaining space for the two bell towers (each of which has a clock, as in St. Peter's, one for Roman time, the other for tempo ultramontano, European time). The facade of SantAgnese from piazza Navona. ... Girolamo Rainaldi (1570 - 1655, Rome) was an Italian architect in the Mannerist style. ... Carlo Rainaldi (1611, Rome - 1691, Rome) was an Italian architect of the Baroque period. ...

Borromini lost this commission before completion due to the death of the Pope Innocent X in 1655. The new Pope, Alexander VII, and Prince Camillo Pamphilj recalled Rainaldi, but this one didn't change very much and the church is mainly considered a notable expression of Borromini's concepts. Innocent X, born Giovanni Battista Pamphili (May 6, 1574 – January 7, 1655) was Pope from 1644 to 1655. ... Alexander VII, né Fabio Chigi (February 13, 1599 – May 22, 1667) was Pope from April 7, 1655 until his death in 1667. ...

Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, courtyard and façade.

From 1640-1650, he worked on the design of the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza and its courtyard, near University of Rome La Sapienza palace. The site, like many in cramped Rome, is challenged for external perspectives. The dome and cochlear steeple are peculiar, and reflect the idiosyncratic architectural motifs that distinguish Borromini from contemporaries. Inside, the nave has an unusual centralized plan circled by alternating concave and convex cornices, leading to a dome decorated with linear arrays of stars and putti. The fusion of feverish baroque excesses with a rationalistic geometry is an excellent match for a church in a papal institution of higher learning. He is purported to be a strong influence on the Turin architect, Camillo-Guarino Guarini. Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 505 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 505 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... SantIvo, embraced by the wings of the Palazzo alla Sapienza. ... University of Rome La Sapienza (Università della Sapienza) is the most ancient university of Rome, Italy. ... Camillo-Guarino Guarini (1624 - 1683) was a Theatine priest, mathematician, writer and architect. ...

Death and epitaph

In the summer of 1667, Borromini, suffering from nervous disorders and depression, committed suicide after the completion of the Falconieri chapel (the main chapel) in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, where he was buried [4]. The primary inscription on Borromini's tomb, in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, reads: // Events January 20 - Poland cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and eastern Ukraine to Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo that put a final end to the Deluge, and Poland lost its status as a Central European power. ...

FRANCISCVS BORROMINI TICINENSIS
EQVES CHRISTI
QVI
IMPERITVRAE MEMORIAE ARCHITECTVS
DIVINAM ARTIS SVAE VIM
AD ROMAM MAGNIFICIS AEDIFICIIS EXORNANDAM VERTIT
IN QVIBUS
ORATORIVM PHILLIPINVM S. IVO S. AGNES IN AGONE
INSTAVRATA LATERANENSIS ARCHIBASILICA
S. ANDREAS DELLE FRATTE NVNCVPATUM
S. CAROLVS IN QVIRINALI
AEDES DE PROPADANDA FIDE
HOC AVTEM IPSVM TEMPLVM
ARA MAXIMA DECORAVIT
NON LONGE AB HOC LAPIDE
PROPE MORTALES CAROLI MADERNI EXUVVIAS
PROPINQVI MVNICIPIS ET AEMVLI SVI
IN PACE DOMINI QVIESCIT

Francesco Borromini was featured on the 100 Swiss Franc banknote current in the 1980s.

Main works

Borromini's works include:

Façade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.

Palazzo Spada, architectural trompe-l'oeil

• San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (nave, dome, and convent)
• Sant'Agnese in Agone
• Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
• Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano
• Cappella Spada, San Girolamo della Carità (uncertain attribution)
• Palazzo Spada (trick perspective)
• Palazzo Barberini (upper-level windows and oval staircase)
• Santi Apostoli in Naples - Filamarino Altar
• Sant'Andrea delle Fratte
• Oratorio dei Filippini
• Collegio de Propaganda Fide [5]
• Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori
• San Giovanni in Oleo (restoration)
• Palazzo Giustiniani (with Carlo Fontana)
• Palazzo Falconieri
• Santa Lucia in Selci (restoration)
• Saint Peter's Basilica (gates to Blessed Sacrament Chapel and possibly parts of the baldacchino)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Francesco Borromini

Image File history File links Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, by Borromini, in Rome, Italy. ... Image File history File links Church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, by Borromini, in Rome, Italy. ... Facade of San Carlo alle quattro fontane. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Spada. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Spada. ... Bernardino Cardinal Spada (April 21, 1594 – November 10, 1661) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts, whose collection may be seen at Palazzo Spada, Rome. ... Trompe-lœil mural on building in Narbonne, France. ... Facade of San Carlo alle quattro fontane. ... The facade of SantAgnese from piazza Navona. ... SantIvo, embraced by the wings of the Palazzo alla Sapienza. ... The late Baroque façade of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano was completed by Alessandro Galilei in 1735 after winning a competition for the design. ... Bernardino Cardinal Spada (April 21, 1594 – November 10, 1661) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts, whose collection may be seen at Palazzo Spada, Rome. ... In Palazzo Barberini, which still dominates Piazza Barberini, Rione Trevi, Rome, three great architects worked to create a harmonious whole: Carlo Maderno, who began it in 1627, his nephew and assistant Francesco Borromini, working on his first important commission, and a young sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... The headquarters of the Propaganda fide in Rome, housed by architects Borromini and Bernini: etching by Giuseppe Vasi, 1761 The Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith) is an organ of the Roman Catholic Church responsible for missionary work and related activities. ... Carlo Fontana (Bruciato, Canton Ticino, 1634 or 1638 - Roma 1714) was an Italian architect, sculptor, engineer and author of important writings on the St. ... Interior view, with the nave of the Cattedra in the back St. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

External links

• Columbia University: Joseph Connors, Francesco Borromini: Opus Architectonicum, Milan, 1998: Introduction to Borromini's own description of the Casa dei Filippini
• Borromini's own (!) account of his suicide