Carlo Marchionni
Encyclopedia
Carlo Marchionni was an Italian
architect. He was also a sculptor and a virtuoso draughtsman, who mixed in the artistic and intellectual circles.
.
His early career was fostered by his lifelong friend Cardinal Alessandro Albani, a great collector of antiquities. His mature style exhibits a richly-detailed idiomatic repertory on the cusp of Late Baroque
and Neoclassicism
that may be compared with the similar style by his Italian contemporaries Alessandro Galilei, Ferdinando Fuga
or Vanvitelli
, or indeed with their French contemporary, Ange-Jacques Gabriel
, who designed the (Petit Trianon
)
Marchionni's earliest training was as a sculptor. He studied architecture at Rome's Accademia di San Luca
, as pupil of Filippo Barigioni
, who favored the elaborated style of Borromini
. In 1728 Marchionni had come to Albani's attention after winning first prize in the Academy's Concorso Clementino. Marchionni's Borromini-influenced style is identifiable in Marchionni's early work (1728) for Cardinal Albani's villa at Anzio
and at the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo
.
Marchionni helped restore and rebuild the choir at San Giovanni in Laterano along with Giovanni Battista Piranesi
, who is best known for his etchings of Roman ruins. Piranesi's picturesque approach to Roman antiquity likely influenced Marchionni's style. However, Marchionni's mature work, such as the Villa Albani (1746–63) expresses the courtly decorative classicism of his patron's circle, which included the neoclassicist Winckelmann
, curator of Albani's antiquities. After Nicola Salvi's death in 1751, Marchionni help design the Villa's garden façade (illustration, right) is without central emphasis or end pavilions, a single sequence of bays defined by an order of Corinthian pilasters
standing on rusticated pilasters of an arcade with arch-head openings of "Palladian" form. The whole façade is surmounted by a running balustrade that emphasizes its linearity. The balustrades, herm
s and stone vases of the Gardens must be from designs of Marchionni (Gatta).
Marchionni was appointed papal architect and overseer of works at St Peter's Basilica by Pope Benedict XIV
. In 1766, the pope commissioned Marchionni to rebuild the entrance façade of the Museo Profano, the papal collection of antiquities originally displayed by Bramante
in the Braccia Nuova of the Vatican, along one side of the Cortile del Belvedere
.
Two commissions from Pope Pius VI
constituted Marchionni's last official Roman projects. One was the new sacristy
for St Peter's (1776–84), which had been envisaged by the preceding pontiff, who demolished the mausoleum dedicated to the Madonna of the Fevers that stood on its site. The project was preceded by a public competition. Giovanni Domenico Porta's commemorative canvas from 1776 shows Pope Pius presenting two large sheets depicting a plan and elevation, which are open upon a draped table. However, the plans in the painting are identified from a detailed contemporary description as those submitted by Giuseppe Subleyras, whereas in the engraving by Camillo Tinti
(1780), Marchionni's plans has been substituted, and the half-built sacristy, complete to the first floor, appears in the background view . The imposing Sacristy, an independent building as large as a church, is sited in the angle of the left transept. It consists of the octagonal Sagrestia Comune, the Sacristy of the Canons, and the Sala of the Chapter
. It is connected to the basilica by raised galleries in which Marchionni inserted fragments of Roman bas reliefs .
Marchionni also designed church furnishings, such as the high altar and rich tabernacle of Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli
(1787). Cardinal Albani commissioned from Marchionni the funerary monument (1737–39) located in Santa Maria sopra Minerva
, with sculpture by his frequent collaborator Pietro Bracci
, to honor Pope Benedict XIII
. Marchionni's contribution was limited to a pictorial basrelief on the sarcophagus, and it may be questioned how much of the Roman sculpture attributed to his design was by his hand: statuary (1741) for the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore; Benedict XIV (1743) for Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
; St Ignatius Loyola (1748) for S Apollinare; and patrons' busts (ca. 1745) for the Collegio di Propaganda Fide
. Outside Rome is credited with reliefs depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin
(1747) for the chapel of St John the Baptist, Sao Roch, Lisbon, and for the chapel of the Madonna del Voto (1748) in the Duomo of Siena and the funerary monument (1747) of Cardinal Giacomo Millo in San Crisogono
in Rome.
Outside Rome, Cardinal Albani commissioned a façade for the collegiate church at Nettuno
(1734). He received papal commissions for the churches of San Domenico in Ancona
(from 1763) and Santa Maddalena de Cassinessi in Messina (from 1765). As an engineer, he was responsible for work in the port of Ancona
overseen by Luigi Vanvitelli
.
Throughout his career his scenographic talents were called upon for the temporary decorations required for public events, which are documented in preparatory drawings or presentation drawings, some of which, such as a canonization in Santa Maria sopra Minerva
in 1746, have only been recognized as Marchionni's in recent years Similar drawings by Marchionni are at the Cooper-Hewitt, New York.
Not all of Marchionni's drawings are architectural designs. Two albums of his drawings were acquired by the Louvre
The developing Neoclassicism
soon dismissed Marchionni's conservative classicised Baroque
style. While Winckelmann had declared the Villa Albani "the most beautiful building of our time", in a famous letter from Francesco Milizia to the Venetian connoisseur
Zulian Milizia dismissed "Marchionnisti", "Michelangiolisti
", "Berniniani" and "Borrominiani" as reactionary obscurantists who execrated the young Antonio Canova
's fully classical monument to Pope Clement XIV
of 1787. Marchioni became principe or director of the Accademia di San Luca starting from 1775.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
architect. He was also a sculptor and a virtuoso draughtsman, who mixed in the artistic and intellectual circles.
Biography
Marchionni was born in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
His early career was fostered by his lifelong friend Cardinal Alessandro Albani, a great collector of antiquities. His mature style exhibits a richly-detailed idiomatic repertory on the cusp of Late Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
and Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
that may be compared with the similar style by his Italian contemporaries Alessandro Galilei, Ferdinando Fuga
Ferdinando Fuga
Ferdinando Fuga was an Italian architect, whose main works were realized in Rome and Naples in the Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Florence, he began to work in that city as a pupil of Giovanni Battista Foggini. In 1717 he moved to Rome, to continue his apprentice studies...
or Vanvitelli
Luigi Vanvitelli
Luigi Vanvitelli was an Italian engineer and architect. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practiced a sober classicizing academic Late Baroque style that made an easy transition to Neoclassicism.-Biography:Vanvitelli was born at Naples, the son of a Dutch painter of land and...
, or indeed with their French contemporary, Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Ange-Jacques Gabriel was the most prominent French architect of his generation.Born to a Parisian family of architects and initially trained by the royal architect Robert de Cotte and his father , whom he assisted in the creation of the Place Royale at Bordeaux , the younger Gabriel...
, who designed the (Petit Trianon
Petit Trianon
The Petit Trianon is a small château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France.-Design and construction:...
)
Marchionni's earliest training was as a sculptor. He studied architecture at Rome's Accademia di San Luca
Accademia di San Luca
The Accademia di San Luca, was founded in 1577 as an association of artists in Rome, under the directorship of Federico Zuccari, with the purpose of elevating the work of "artists", which included painters, sculptors and architects, above that of mere craftsmen. Other founders included Girolamo...
, as pupil of Filippo Barigioni
Filippo Barigioni
Filippo Barigioni was an Italian sculptor and architect working in the Late Baroque tradition.Bariogioni was born in Rome. His career was spent largely on papal commissions, including aqueducts and fountains, in and around Rome...
, who favored the elaborated style of Borromini
Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini, byname of Francesco Castelli was an architect from Ticino who, with his contemporaries, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, was a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.A keen student of the architecture of Michelangelo and the ruins of...
. In 1728 Marchionni had come to Albani's attention after winning first prize in the Academy's Concorso Clementino. Marchionni's Borromini-influenced style is identifiable in Marchionni's early work (1728) for Cardinal Albani's villa at Anzio
Anzio
Anzio is a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene...
and at the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope. It is an Italian town with the population of 8834...
.
Marchionni helped restore and rebuild the choir at San Giovanni in Laterano along with Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista Piranesi was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric "prisons" .-His Life:...
, who is best known for his etchings of Roman ruins. Piranesi's picturesque approach to Roman antiquity likely influenced Marchionni's style. However, Marchionni's mature work, such as the Villa Albani (1746–63) expresses the courtly decorative classicism of his patron's circle, which included the neoclassicist Winckelmann
Johann Joachim Winckelmann
Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the difference between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art...
, curator of Albani's antiquities. After Nicola Salvi's death in 1751, Marchionni help design the Villa's garden façade (illustration, right) is without central emphasis or end pavilions, a single sequence of bays defined by an order of Corinthian pilasters
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
standing on rusticated pilasters of an arcade with arch-head openings of "Palladian" form. The whole façade is surmounted by a running balustrade that emphasizes its linearity. The balustrades, herm
Herm
Herm is the smallest of the Channel Islands that is open to the public and is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Cars are banned from the small island just like its Channel Island neighbour, Sark. Unlike Sark, bicycles are also banned...
s and stone vases of the Gardens must be from designs of Marchionni (Gatta).
Marchionni was appointed papal architect and overseer of works at St Peter's Basilica by Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758.-Life:...
. In 1766, the pope commissioned Marchionni to rebuild the entrance façade of the Museo Profano, the papal collection of antiquities originally displayed by Bramante
Donato Bramante
Donato Bramante was an Italian architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St...
in the Braccia Nuova of the Vatican, along one side of the Cortile del Belvedere
Cortile del Belvedere
The Cortile del Belvedere, the Belvedere courtyard, designed by Donato Bramante from 1506 onwards, was a major architectural work of the High Renaissance at the Vatican Palace in Rome; its concept and details reverberating in courtyard design, formalized piazzas and garden plans throughout Western...
.
Two commissions from Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
constituted Marchionni's last official Roman projects. One was the new sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
for St Peter's (1776–84), which had been envisaged by the preceding pontiff, who demolished the mausoleum dedicated to the Madonna of the Fevers that stood on its site. The project was preceded by a public competition. Giovanni Domenico Porta's commemorative canvas from 1776 shows Pope Pius presenting two large sheets depicting a plan and elevation, which are open upon a draped table. However, the plans in the painting are identified from a detailed contemporary description as those submitted by Giuseppe Subleyras, whereas in the engraving by Camillo Tinti
Camillo Tinti
Camillo Tinti was an Italian painter. He was born in Rome, was employed by Gavin Hamilton to engrave some of the plates for his Schola Itálica; among these were the following: The Marriage of St. Catherine after Parmigianino; Meleager and Atalanta after Polidoro da Caravaggio; and Christ on the...
(1780), Marchionni's plans has been substituted, and the half-built sacristy, complete to the first floor, appears in the background view . The imposing Sacristy, an independent building as large as a church, is sited in the angle of the left transept. It consists of the octagonal Sagrestia Comune, the Sacristy of the Canons, and the Sala of the Chapter
Chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monasteries....
. It is connected to the basilica by raised galleries in which Marchionni inserted fragments of Roman bas reliefs .
Marchionni also designed church furnishings, such as the high altar and rich tabernacle of Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli
Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli
Santa Caterina a Magnanapoli is a 16th century church in Rome. It is devoted to St. Catherine of Siena, and is located on the Quirinal Hill, in piazza Magnanapoli.-History:...
(1787). Cardinal Albani commissioned from Marchionni the funerary monument (1737–39) located in Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Santa Maria sopra Minerva
The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva is a titular minor basilica and one of the most important churches of the Roman Catholic Dominican order in Rome, Italy. The church, located in the Piazza della Minerva in the Campus Martius region, is considered the only Gothic church in Rome. It houses...
, with sculpture by his frequent collaborator Pietro Bracci
Pietro Bracci
Pietro Bracci was an Italian sculptor working in the Late Baroque manner.-Biography:He was born in Rome and became a student of Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari and Camillo Rusconi...
, to honor Pope Benedict XIII
Pope Benedict XIII
-Footnotes:...
. Marchionni's contribution was limited to a pictorial basrelief on the sarcophagus, and it may be questioned how much of the Roman sculpture attributed to his design was by his hand: statuary (1741) for the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore; Benedict XIV (1743) for Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic parish church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome....
; St Ignatius Loyola (1748) for S Apollinare; and patrons' busts (ca. 1745) for the Collegio di Propaganda Fide
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities...
. Outside Rome is credited with reliefs depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin
Life of the Virgin
The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the number of scenes shown varies greatly with the space...
(1747) for the chapel of St John the Baptist, Sao Roch, Lisbon, and for the chapel of the Madonna del Voto (1748) in the Duomo of Siena and the funerary monument (1747) of Cardinal Giacomo Millo in San Crisogono
San Crisogono
San Crisogono is a church in Rome dedicated to the martyr Saint Chrysogonus.-History:The church was one of the tituli, the first parish churches of Rome...
in Rome.
Outside Rome, Cardinal Albani commissioned a façade for the collegiate church at Nettuno
Nettuno
Nettuno is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, 60 kilometers south of Rome. It is named in honour of the Roman god Neptune...
(1734). He received papal commissions for the churches of San Domenico in Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
(from 1763) and Santa Maddalena de Cassinessi in Messina (from 1765). As an engineer, he was responsible for work in the port of Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
overseen by Luigi Vanvitelli
Luigi Vanvitelli
Luigi Vanvitelli was an Italian engineer and architect. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practiced a sober classicizing academic Late Baroque style that made an easy transition to Neoclassicism.-Biography:Vanvitelli was born at Naples, the son of a Dutch painter of land and...
.
Throughout his career his scenographic talents were called upon for the temporary decorations required for public events, which are documented in preparatory drawings or presentation drawings, some of which, such as a canonization in Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Santa Maria sopra Minerva
The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva is a titular minor basilica and one of the most important churches of the Roman Catholic Dominican order in Rome, Italy. The church, located in the Piazza della Minerva in the Campus Martius region, is considered the only Gothic church in Rome. It houses...
in 1746, have only been recognized as Marchionni's in recent years Similar drawings by Marchionni are at the Cooper-Hewitt, New York.
Not all of Marchionni's drawings are architectural designs. Two albums of his drawings were acquired by the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
The developing Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
soon dismissed Marchionni's conservative classicised Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style. While Winckelmann had declared the Villa Albani "the most beautiful building of our time", in a famous letter from Francesco Milizia to the Venetian connoisseur
Zulian Milizia dismissed "Marchionnisti", "Michelangiolisti
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
", "Berniniani" and "Borrominiani" as reactionary obscurantists who execrated the young Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...
's fully classical monument to Pope Clement XIV
Pope Clement XIV
Pope Clement XIV , born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was Pope from 1769 to 1774. At the time of his election, he was the only Franciscan friar in the College of Cardinals.-Early life:...
of 1787. Marchioni became principe or director of the Accademia di San Luca starting from 1775.
External links
- Francesco Gatta, Architettura Neoclassica a Roma, "Aspirazioni classicisti nel Lazio" The milieu of Carlo Marchionni (in Italian)
- Roberto Piperno, "Baroque architecture in Rome"
- (Holze) Istituto Nazionale per la Graphica, Rome: Drawing for a temporary façade for Palazzo della Valle, Rome, 1747 Detailed catalogue entry (in Italian)
- Chris Nybord, "S. Caterina a Magnanapoli"
- Palazzo Braschi: Giovanni Domenico Porta's portrait of Pius (1776), with plans for the new sacristy
- Grove Dictionary of Art