Bramante and Michelangelo, Bernini and Boromini, Mies and Eisenman.

As we can notice from the title the artists/architects, are the people who has impact our perception on each period and also their point of view toward art and architecture is quite contradicting.

So we start with Late Renaissance, Bramante who was so famous with his commissioned to build St. peter Basilicas but he passed away before he could completed that magnificent piece of architecture. He also famous on his technique of <Trompe' L' oeil> the trick to deceive the eyes. He used the trick to make the space look deeper, to fulfill the desire of symmetry, the significant point is that he is using purely art <painting> to work with architecture.
However, in this period, Bramante is still follow most of principles that he learned from Brunelleschi who was a genius in Renaissance time. As the pope, raised into power again around 1502, he was commissioned Bramante to built Tempietto of San Pietro, where it was like a piece of sculpture with its harmonious in term of the repetition and show how much Brunelleschi had influenced on his works.

Tempietto, Donato Bramante

                                               
After Bramante passed away and he ables to finished only the vault of St. Peter basilicas, the next person who got the commission from pope Julius was Michelangelo. He was a genius and still is, when i visited Italy and saw lots of architecture that was created by this guy and thought to myslef that he was so overworked. He did architecture, painting, and sculpture but as we can see that most of his work in architecture mixing those painting and sculpture into it. His architecture was so dark and heavy if we compare to Bramante or even his hero Brunelleschi. He was more into expression and how people would percieved his work even if the propotion is not perfect or over reacted but if it's pleased the eyes, he would do it and his famous piece of sculpture , David, would be a good example in this case. In the case of Bramante and Michelangelo, they are both architect and artist, they followed their foot step of their master but Michelangelo pushed it further in his own way/ in his own understanding of aesthetic in art and architecture so he was willing to broke the rules of symmetry if he had to, if that make his work got to the level that he wanted. 

In case of piece of architecture that I think is the most important to another generation to learn from is "Campidogilo, the capitol hill" by Michelangelo. It's interesting in a way that he deal with the site that existing before and couldn't be torn down and how he use the shape of Trapezoid to convey the sense of compression toward the city.

capitol line, Michelangelo

Now we move on to Baroque where the decoration is even more heavier than high renaissance and the expressiveness of sculptures as well as architecture in this period is priceless. This period of time architects was heavily influenced by Michelangelo work or what they called the term of Mannerism where the expression is the essence of the works. And as we know that in this period architect that was overworked would be Bernini and who was took for granted his abilities would be Bernini rival Boromini. They were friend and enemy but much more at the second one. 


Let's start with Bernini we could see in most of his work that he was so into Michelangelo's works and his style of using sculpture to work with architecture.  His architecture was dark but in a way that he also bring light into Baroque but into the piece of art or sculpture that he wanted people to focus on and seeing them as if they are alive and doing things in front viewers. Santa Maria Della vittoria, where his architecture was so expressive throughout the painting become sculpture and it exceed the notion of architecture. we also can't forget another piece of sculpture that he did, David, in Bernini version is becoming real more than Michelangelo in term of the proportion and the act that didn't try to expressed about aesthetic but the real deal of life.

David, in the eye of Bernini

 Ectasy of St. Teresa, Bernini

The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy in the vault.

So now we moved on to Borromini who was friend as well as chief rival with Bernini. As the fact, that he was trained to be an architect. His architecture was even more expressive than Bernini but he use architecture itself to expressed to that level, he used shape and form and the manipulation of the space to deceive or compose the space that is so expressive and that is the point why I feel like people took him for granted. His masterpiece that people and of course especially architect was awe with is "San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane".
In this piece of architecture he was using geometry such as triangle where we can find in most of his work, oval, and circle. So we can it was not about circle and then triangle, he changed it fit his criteria. In this commissioned, the budget was tight because of the size of the church itself and it also show how he use materials that totally humble like brick to expressed or interpreted his architecture without have to use the marble that Bernini to use to built his building.

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Boromini

As i mention before, he used the complexity of architecture itself which is the form of geometry to expressed to his architecture and it different to Bernini's work that he used the technique of layering  of painting and sculpture to expressed his works.


Mies Van de Rohe and Peter Eisenman into this title to convey the notion that people tend to change over time as well as architecture. It start with something so decorative, so valuable where we can't reach to human and then it goes like a circle or a cycle. Then we have another group that brought up their point of view and expressed it in their own understanding to fulfill what is another possibilities are there for us to learn to experiment.

And in of all this architects, they had a really strong statement on their works as well as how they are the only expertise in their works and no one would knew better about their works than themselves. Even if they had to struggle with some of their ideas and being opposed but they still doing it in their own way and they are all successful.

so i will finish this  topic with the quote of Frank Grehry " Be yourself, so you can be the expert in your works and no one would understand your works better than yourself" And we can see that in the most of influential architects nowadays as well as the past that they stand by their ideas and they are realyy good at their own theories.