(ITALIAN RELIGIOUS) Sant' Andrea al Quirinale, 1658-71

• Description


  The Church of Saint Andrew's at the Quirinal is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy, built for the Jesuit Order on the Quirinal Hill. Commissioned by former Cardinal Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili, with the approval of Pope Alexander VII.
• Analysis


  From the bottom, a semi-circular staircase cascades onto the street like water (not only was St Andrew a fisherman, but the steps extend onto the street as though to catch passers by). A convex semi-circular porch, using two Ionic columns, is topped with the Pamphili coat of arms (the family's symbol of the dove). Giant Corinthian pilasters frame the aedicule (like a niche).
• Centrally ribbed, coffered dome


  • Clerestory windows
  • Lantern
• Altar


  • Set inside a portico-like frame
  • Fluted columns
  • Entablature
  • Curved and broken pediment (with tympanum)
• Courtois' painting behind the altar 'miraculously' illuminated by hidden lights in the lantern above the altar
• Whole composition (bel composto)

  • Highly decorated
  • Awe-inspiring
  • Polychrome marble interior
  • Sculptures
  • Magnificence
  • Grandeur
  • Richness
  • Sense of other-worldliness
• Bernini's synthesis


  Combining painting, sculpture and architecture into a synthesis to create a spiritual/sacred theatre (theatrum sacrum)
• Sir Joshua Reynolds: 'Bernini was a 'cheap sorcerer''
• Composition


  The church is centrally planned on a site wider than it is deep. The plan is a transverse oval (elliptical) with the entrance on the short axis so on entry we are close to the altar and immediately confronted with St. Andrew gesticulating towards heaven.3 The entablature in the interior leads the eye around the church and back to the altar.
• below left: Oval church plan; right: the Ionic columns that flank the entrance, the colossal Corinthian pilasters and pediment all lead our eyes heaven bound towards the lantern and finally the cross. There is buttressing on the upper storey with volute-style decoration.

  
• Function


  Commissioned by Cardinal Camillo Pamphili for novices (new/students) of the Jesuit Order. Here the novices would be trained in study and prayer before undertaking their vows. More broadly, the church functions to communicate faith to all (these were the times of the Catholic Counter Reformation - a war to win back the laity)
• Iconography


  The symbolic imagery and representation of religious art and architecture
• Façade


  • Acts as entrance to the spiritual realm
  • Curved portico and steps invite viewers in
  • Acts like a fishing net to catch would-be laymen
• Central planning


  • Associated with the ideal of Heaven as a perfect circle
• Stucco (plaster) sculpture of St Andrew

  • Ascends to heaven and gesticulates towards the dome
• Shallow dome


  • Ribbed and coffered with a central lantern
  • Features the Holy Spirit, symbolised as white dove
  • Dove is also the Pamphili family coat of arms
• Light from the lantern and clerestory windows


  • Appears 'mystical' or 'spiritual'
• Organisation of space and colour


  Relate to material and immaterial realms
• Lowest part of the church

  • Uses dark coloured materials and represents the earthly realm
  • May be filled with sorrow
• St. Andrew in a niche above the altar


  • Transitioning our path to bright light
  • Divinely illuminated and awaiting the bronze angels who fly down to carry him to heaven
• The façade


  acts as entrance to the spiritual realm; curved portico and steps invite viewers in; in fact, it acts like a fishing net to catch would-be laymen. The central planning is associated with the ideal of Heaven as a perfect circle
• Above the altar...


  stucco (plaster) sculpture of St Andrew ascends to heaven and gesticulates towards the dome. The shallow dome is ribbed and coffered with a central lantern which features the Holy Spirit, symbolised as white dove. The dove is also the Pamphili family coat of arms.
• The light from the lantern and clerestory windows between entablature and base of dome appears 'mystical' or 'spiritual'. Some scholars have suggested that the organisation of space and colour relate to material and immaterial realms.
• The lowest part of the church uses dark coloured materials and represents the earthly realm and may be filled with sorrow, then St. Andrew in a niche above the altar is transitioning our path to bright light as he is divinely illuminated and awaiting the bronze angels who fly down to carry him to heaven.
• Bernini's dome drives away the dark and gives us a glimpse of heaven. A ring of white stucco sculptures of fishermen (Saint Andrew's trade and that of his brother, Saint Peter) lounge on the ledge of the moulding.
• The architect has divided the dome with 10 ribs which act like compositional arrows to guide us to heaven, and a window pierces each section to bring in a flood of light. The gilded ribs join in a ring at the base of the lantern where cherubs look down lovingly.
• In the oculus (like an eye - it’s the round window at the top of the dome) of the lantern, the Holy Dove hovers in the golden light. The dove is an apt symbol—it represents the peace awaiting the faithful in heaven where all the pains and suffering of mortal existence will be washed away, just as we see happen to Sant'Andrea.
• Colour


  multi-coloured with polychrome sculpture
• Style


  High Baroque (façade is a large aedicule (an impressive, niche-like frame), with giant Corinthian pilasters, which frames a curving convex portico supported by two free-standing Ionic columns. Semi-circular steps continue the outward circular flow).
• The Catholic Church was a leading arts patron across much of Europe and the Baroque style was to restore Catholicism's predominance, following the Sack of Rome, wherever it flourished.
• The importance of saints and martyrs in the 17th century:

  Scenes of saints and martyrdom were particularly commonplace in seventeenth-century Italy where the Catholic Counter Reformation spirit was relentlessly strong. Their stories helped to convey faith to the laity, especially when Bernini was involved in the theatrical storytelling.
• The bel composto (the beautiful whole) is highly decorated: polychrome marble interior and sculptures provides an overall effect of magnificence, grandeur, richness and sense of other-worldliness. Much gilding and decoration.
• Location


  The main façade of the church faces onto the Via del Quirinale (formerly the Via Pia), as does Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane further down the road.
• Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1658-71)