RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN GERMANY, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL

<< RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS

THE CLASSIC REVIVALS IN EUROPE:THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY >>

CHAPTER XXIV.

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN GERMANY, SPAIN, AND

PORTUGAL.

BOOKS RECOMMENDED: As before, Fergusson, Palustre Also, von Bezold, Die Baukunst

der Renaissance in Deutschland, Holland, Belgien und Dänemark (in Hdbuch. d.

Arch.). Caveda (tr. Kugler), Geschichte der Baukunst in Spanien. Fritsch, Denkmäler

der deutschen Renaissance (plates). Junghändel, Die Baukunst Spaniens. Lambert und

Stahl, Motive der deutschen Architektur. Lübke, Geschichte der Renaissance in

Deutschland. Prentice, Renaissance Architecture and Ornament in Spain. Uhde,

Baudenkmäler in Spanien. Verdier et Cattois, Architecture civile et domestique. Villa

Amil, Hispania Artistica y Monumental.

AUSTRIA; BOHEMIA. The earliest appearance of the Renaissance in the architecture

of the German states was in the eastern provinces. Before the close of the fifteenth

century Florentine and Milanese architects were employed in Austria, Bohemia, and

the Tyrol, where there are a number of palaces and chapels in an unmixed Italian

style. The portal of the castle of Mahrisch-Trübau dates from 1492; while to the

early years of the 16th century belong a cruciform chapel at Gran, the remodelling of

the castle at Cracow, and the chapel of the Jagellons in the same city--the earliest

domical structure of the German Renaissance, though of Italian design. The Schloss

Porzia (1510), at Spital in Carinthia, is a fine quadrangular palace, surrounding a

court with arcades on three sides, in which the open stairs form a picturesque

interruption with their rampant arches. But for the massiveness of the details it

might be a Florentine palace. In addition to this, the famous Arsenal at Wiener-

Neustadt (1524), the portal of the Imperial Palace (1552), and the Castle

Schalaburg on the Danube (15301601), are attributed to Italian architects, to

whom must also be ascribed a number of important works at Prague. Chief among

these the Belvedere (1536, by Paolo della Stella), a rectangular building surrounded

by a graceful open arcade, above which it rises with a second story crowned by a

curved roof; the Waldstein Palace (162129), by Giov. Marini, with its imposing

loggia; Schloss Stern, built on the plan of a six-pointed star (14591565) and

embellished by Italian artists with stucco ornaments and frescoes; and parts of the

palace on the Hradschin, by Scamozzi, attest the supremacy of Italian art in Bohemia.

The same is true of Styria, Carinthia, and the Tyrol; e.g. Schloss Ambras at

Innsbrück (1570).

GERMANY: PERIODS. The earliest manifestation of the Renaissance in what is now

the German Empire, appeared in the works of painters like Dürer and Burkmair, and

in occasional buildings previous to 1525. The real transformation of German

architecture, however, hardly began until after the Peace of Augsburg, in 1555. From

that time on its progress was rapid, its achievements being almost wholly in the

domain of secular architecture--princely and ducal castles, town halls or Rathhäuser,

and houses of wealthy burghers or corporations. It is somewhat singular that the

German emperors should not have undertaken the construction of a new imperial

residence on a worthy scale, the palaces of Munich and Berlin being aggregations of

buildings of various dates about a nucleus of mediæval origin, and with no single

portion to compare with the stately châteaux of the French kings. Church

architecture was neglected, owing to the Reformation, which turned to its own uses

the existing churches, while the Roman Catholics were too impoverished to replace

the edifices they had lost.

The periods of the German Renaissance are less well marked than those of the

French; but its successive developments follow the same general progression, divided

into three stages:

I. THE EARLY RENAISSANCE, 15251600, in which the orders were infrequently used,

mainly for porches and for gable decoration. The conceptions and spirit of most

monuments were still strongly tinged with Gothic feeling.

II. THE LATE RENAISSANCE, 16001675, characterized by a dry, heavy treatment, in

which too often neither the fanciful gayety of the previous period nor the simple and

monumental dignity of classic design appears. Broken curves, large scrolls, obelisks,

and a style of flat relief carving resembling the Elizabethan are common. Occasional

monuments exhibit a more correct and classic treatment after Italian models.

III. THE DECLINE OR BAROQUE PERIOD, 16751800, employing the orders in a style of

composition oscillating between the extremes of bareness and of Rococo over-

decoration. The ornament partakes of the character of the Louis XV. and Italian

Jesuit styles, being most successful in interior decoration, but externally running to

the extreme of unrestrained fancy.

CHARACTERISTICS. In none of these periods do we meet with the sober,

monumental treatment of the Florentine or Roman schools. A love of picturesque

variety in masses and sky-lines, inherited from mediæval times, appears in the high

roofs, stepped gables and lofty dormers which are universal. The roofs often

comprise several stories, and are lighted by lofty gables at either end, and by

dormers carried up from the side walls through two or three stories. Gables and

dormers alike are built in diminishing stages, each step adorned with a console or

scroll, and the whole treated with pilasters or colonnettes and entablatures breaking

over each support (Fig. 191). These roofs, dormers, and gables contribute the most

noticeable element to the general effect of most German Renaissance buildings, and

are commonly the best-designed features in them. The orders are scantily used and

usually treated with utter disregard of classic canons, being generally far too massive

and overloaded with ornament. Oriels, bay-windows, and turrets, starting from

corbels or colonnettes, or rarely from the ground, diversify the façade, and spires of

curious bulbous patterns give added piquancy to the picturesque sky-line. The plans

seldom had the monumental symmetry and largeness of Italian and French models;

courtyards were often irregular in shape and diversified with balconies and spiral

staircase-turrets. The national leaning was always toward the quaint and fantastic, as

well in the decoration as in the composition. Grotesques, caryatids, gaînes (half-

figures terminating below in sheath-like supports), fanciful rustication, and many

other details give a touch of the Baroque even to works of early date. The same

principles were applied with better success to interior decoration, especially in the

large halls of the castles and town-halls, and many of their ceilings were sumptuous

and well-considered designs, deeply panelled, painted and gilded in wood or plaster.

FIG. 191.--SCHLOSS HÄMELSCHENBURG.

CASTLES. The Schloss or Burg of the German prince or duke retained throughout the

Renaissance many mediæval characteristics in plan and aspect. A large proportion of

these noble residences were built upon foundations of demolished feudal castles,

reproducing in a new dress the ancient round towers and vaulted guard-rooms and

halls, as in the Hartenfels at Torgau, the Heldburg (both in Saxony), and the castle of

Trausnitz, in Bavaria, among many others. The Castle at Torgau (1540) is one of the

most imposing of its class, with massive round and square towers showing externally,

and court façades full of picturesque irregularities. In the great Castle at Dresden the

plan is more symmetrical, and the Renaissance appears more distinctly in the details

of the Georgenflügel (153050), though at that early date the classic orders were

almost ignored. The portal of the Heldburg, however, built in 1562, is a composition

quite in the contemporary French vein, with superposed orders and a crowning

pediment over a massive basement.

Another important series of castles or palaces are of more regular design, in which

the feudal traditions tend to disappear. The majority belong to the end of the 16th

and beginning of the 17th centuries. They are built around large rectangular courts

with arcades in two or three stories on one or more sides, but rarely surrounding it

entirely. In these the segmental arch is more common than the semicircular, and

springs usually from short and stumpy Ionic or Corinthian columns. The rooms and

halls are arranged en suite, without corridors, and a large and lofty banquet hall

forms the dominant feature of the series. The earliest of these regularly planned

palaces are of Italian design. Chief among them is the Residenz at Landshut (1536

43), with a thoroughly Roman plan, by pupils of Giulio Romano, and exterior and

court façades of great dignity treated with the orders. More German in its details,

but equally interesting, is the Fürstenhof at Wismar, in brick and terra-cotta, by

Valentino di Lira and Van Aken (1553); while in the Piastenschloss at Brieg (1547

72), by Italian architects, the treatment in parts suggests the richest works of the

style of Francis I. In other castles the segmental arch and stumpy columns or piers

show the German taste, as in the Plassenburg, by Kaspar Vischer (155464), the

castle at Plagnitz, and the Old Castle at Stuttgart, all dating from about 155055.

Heidelberg Castle, in spite of its mediæval aspect from the river and its irregular

plan, ranks as the highest achievement of the German Renaissance in palace design.

The most interesting parts among its various wings built at different dates--the

earlier portions still Gothic in design--are the Otto Heinrichsbau (1554) and the

Friedrichsbau (1601). The first of these appears somewhat simpler in its lines than

the second, by reason of having lost its original dormer-gables. The orders, freely

treated, are superposed in three stories, and twin windows, niches, statues, gaînes,

medallions and profuse carving produce an effect of great gayety and richness. The

Friedrichsbau (Fig. 192), less quiet in its lines, and with high scroll-gabled and

stepped dormers, is on the other hand more soberly decorated and more

characteristically German. The Schloss Hämelschenburg (Fig. 191) is designed in

somewhat the same spirit, but with even greater simplicity of detail.

TOWN HALLS. These constitute the most interesting class of Renaissance buildings

in Germany, presenting a considerable variety of types, but nearly all built in solid

blocks without courts, and adorned with towers or spires. A high roof crowns the

building, broken by one or more high gables or many-storied dormers. The majority

of these town halls present façades much diversified by projecting wings, as at Lemgo

and Paderborn, or by oriels and turrets, as at Altenburg (156264); and the towers

which dominate the whole terminate usually in bell-shaped cupolas, or in more

capricious forms with successive swellings and contractions, as at Dantzic (1587).

A few, however, are designed with monumental simplicity of mass; of these that at

Bremen (1612) is perhaps the finest, with its beautiful exterior arcade on strong

Doric columns. The town hall of Nuremberg is one of the few with a court, and

presents a façade of almost Roman simplicity (161319); that at Augsburg (1615) is

equally classic and more pleasing; while at Schweinfurt, Rothenburg (1572),

Mülhausen, etc., are others worthy of mention.

FIG. 192.--THE FRIEDRICHSBAU, HEIDELBERG.

CHURCHES. St. Michael's, at Munich, is almost the only important church of the

first period in Germany (1582), but it is worthy to rank with many of the most

notable contemporary Italian churches. A wide nave covered by a majestic barrel

vault, is flanked by side chapels, separated from each other by massive piers and

forming a series of gallery bays above. There are short transepts and a choir, all in

excellent proportion and treated with details which, if somewhat heavy, are

appropriate and reasonably correct. The Marienkirche at Wolfenbüttel (1608) is a

fair sample of the parish churches of the second period. In the exterior of this church

pointed arches and semi-Gothic tracery are curiously associated with heavy rococo

carving. The simple rectangular mass, square tower, and portal with massive orders

and carving are characteristic features. Many of the church-towers are well

proportioned and graceful structures in spite of the fantastic outlines of their spires.

One of the best and purest in style is that of the University Church at Würzburg

(15871600).

HOUSES. Many of the German houses of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

would merit extended notice in a larger work, as among the most interesting lesser

monuments of the Renaissance. Nuremberg and Hildesheim are particularly rich in

such houses, built either for private citizens or for guilds and corporations. Not a few

of the half-timbered houses of the time are genuine works of art, though interest

chiefly centres in the more monumental dwellings of stone. In this domestic

architecture the picturesque quality of German design appears to better advantage

than in more monumental edifices, and their broadly stepped gables, corbelled oriels,

florid portals and want of formal symmetry imparting a peculiar and undeniable

charm. The Kaiserhaus and Wedekindsches Haus at Hildesheim; Fürstenhaus at

Leipzig; Peller, Hirschvogel, and Funk houses at Nuremberg; the Salt House at

Frankfurt, and Ritter House at Heidelberg, are a few of the most noted among these

examples of domestic architecture.

FIG. 193.--ZWINGER PALACE, DRESDEN.

LATER MONUMENTS. The Zwinger Palace at Dresden (Fig. 193), is the most

elaborate and wayward example of the German palace architecture of the third

period. Its details are of the most exaggerated rococo type, like confectioner's work

done in stone; and yet the building has an air of princely splendor which partly

atones for its details. Besides this palace, Dresden possesses in the domical

Marienkirche (Fig. 194) a very meritorious example of late design. The proportions

are good, and the detail, if not interesting, is at least inoffensive, while the whole is

a dignified and rational piece of work. At Vienna are a number of palaces of the third

period, more interesting for their beautiful grounds and parks than for intrinsic

architectural merit. As in Italy, this was the period of stucco, and although in Vienna

this cheap and perishable material was cleverly handled, and the ornament produced

was often quaint and effective, the results lack the permanence and dignity of true

building in stone or brick, and may be dismissed without further mention.

FIG. 194.--CHURCH OF ST. MARY (MARIENKIRCHE), DRESDEN.

In minor works the Germans were far less prolific than the Italians or Spaniards. Few

of their tombs were of the first importance, though one, the Sebald Shrine, in

Nuremberg, by Peter Vischer (150619), is a splendid work in bronze, in the

transitional style; a richly decorated canopy on slender metal colonnettes covering

and enclosing the sarcophagus of the saint. There are a large number of fountains in

the squares of German and Swiss cities which display a high order of design, and are

among the most characteristic minor products of German art.

SPAIN. The flamboyant Gothic style sufficed for a while to meet the requirements of

the arrogant and luxurious period which in Spain followed the overthrow of the

Moors and the discovery of America. But it was inevitable that the Renaissance

should in time make its influence felt in the arts of the Iberian peninsula, largely

through the employment of Flemish artists. In jewelry and silverwork, arts which

received a great impulse from the importation of the precious metals from the New

World, the forms of the Renaissance found special acceptance, so that the new style

received the name of the Plateresque (from platero, silversmith). This was a not inept

name for the minutely detailed and sumptuous decoration of the early Renaissance,

which lasted from 1500 to the accession of Philip II. in 1556. It was characterized

by surface-decoration spreading over broad areas, especially around doors and

windows, florid escutcheons and Gothic details mingling with delicately chiselled

arabesques. Decorative pilasters with broken entablatures and carved baluster-shafts

were employed with little reference to constructive lines, but with great refinement of

detail, in spite of the exuberant profusion of the ornament.

To this style, after the artistic inaction of Philip II.'s reign, succeeded the coldly

classic style practised by Berruguete and Herrera, and called the Griego-Romano. In

spite of the attempt to produce works of classical purity, the buildings of this period

are for the most part singularly devoid of originality and interest. This style lasted

until the middle of the seventeenth century, and in the case of certain works and

artists, until its close. It was followed, at least in ecclesiastical architecture, by the

so-called Churrigueresque, a name derived from an otherwise insignificant architect,

Churriguera, who like Maderna and Borromini in Italy, discarded all the proprieties

of architecture, and rejoiced in the wildest extravagances of an untrained fancy and

debased taste.

FIG. 195.--DOOR OF THE UNIVERSITY, SALAMANCA.

EARLY MONUMENTS. The earliest ecclesiastical works of the Renaissance period,

like the cathedrals of Salamanca, Toledo, and Segovia, were almost purely Gothic in

style. Not until 1525 did the new forms begin to dominate in cathedral design. The

cathedral at Jaen, by Valdelvira (1525), an imposing structure with three aisles and

side chapels, was treated internally with the Corinthian order throughout. The

Cathedral of Granada (1529, by Diego de Siloe) is especially interesting for its great

domical sanctuary 70 feet in diameter, and for the largeness and dignity of its

conception and details. The cathedral of Malaga, the church of San Domingo at

Salamanca, and the monastery of San Girolamo in the same city are either wholly or

in part Plateresque, and provided with portals of especial richness of decoration.

Indeed, the portal of S. Domingo practically forms the whole façade.

FIG. 196.--CASA DE ZAPORTA: COURTYARD.

In secular architecture the Hospital of Santa Cruz at Toledo, by Enrique de Egaz

(150416), is one of the earliest examples of the style. Here, as also in the

University at Salamanca (Fig. 195), the portal is the most notable feature,

suggesting both Italian and French models in its details. The great College at Alcala

de Heñares is another important early monument of the Renaissance (150017, by

Pedro Gumiel). In most designs the preference was for long façades of moderate

height, with a basement showing few openings, and a bel étage lighted by large

windows widely spaced. Ornament was chiefly concentrated about the doors and

windows, except for the roof balustrades, which were often exceedingly elaborate.

Occasionally a decorative motive is spread over the whole façade, as in the Casa de

las Conchas at Salamanca, adorned with cockle-shells carved at intervals all over the

front--a bold and effective device; or the Infantada palace with its spangling of

carved diamonds. The courtyard or patio was an indispensable feature of these

buildings, as in all hot countries, and was surrounded by arcades frequently of the

most fanciful design overloaded with minute ornament, as in the Infantado at

Guadalajara, the Casa de Zaporta, formerly at Saragossa (now removed to Paris; Fig.

196), and the Lupiana monastery. The patios in the Archbishop's Palace at Alcala de

Heñares and the Collegio de los Irlandeses at Salamanca are of simpler design; that

of the Casa de Pilatos at Seville is almost purely Moorish. Salamanca abounds in

buildings of this period.

THE GRIEGO-ROMANO. The more classic treatment of architectural designs by the

use of the orders was introduced by Alonzo Berruguete (14801560?), who studied

in Italy after 1503. The Archbishop's Palace and the Doric Gate of San Martino,

both at Toledo, were his work, as well as the first palace at Madrid. The Palladio of

Spain was, however, by Juan de Herrera (died 1597), the architect of Valladolid

Cathedral, built under Philip V. This vast edifice follows the general lines of the

earlier cathedrals of Jaen and Granada, but in a style of classical correctness almost

severe in aspect, but well suited to the grand scale of the church. The masterpiece of

this period was the monastery of the Escurial, begun by Juan Battista of Toledo, in

1563, but not completed until nearly one hundred and fifty years later. Its final

architectural aspect was largely due to Herrera. It is a vast rectangle of 740 × 580

feet, comprising a complex of courts, halls, and cells, dominated by the huge mass of

the chapel. This last is an imposing domical church covering 70,000 square feet,

treated throughout with the Doric order, and showing externally a lofty dome and

campaniles with domical lanterns, which serve to diversify the otherwise monotonous

mass of the monastery. What the Escurial lacks in grace or splendor is at least in a

measure redeemed by its majestic scale and varied sky-lines. The Palace of

Charles V. (Fig. 197), adjoining the Alhambra at Granada, though begun as early as

1527 by Machuca, was mainly due to Berruguete, and is an excellent example of the

Spanish Palladian style. With its circular court, admirable proportions and well-

studied details, this often maligned edifice deserves to be ranked among the most

successful examples of the style. During this period the cathedral of Seville received

many alterations, and the upper part of the adjoining Moorish tower of the Giralda,

burned in 1395, was rebuilt by Fernando Ruiz in the prevalent style, and with

considerable elegance and appropriateness of design.

Of the Palace at Madrid, rebuilt by Philip V. after the burning of the earlier palace in

1734, and mainly the work of an Italian, Ivara; the Aranjuez palace (1739, by

Francisco Herrera), and the Palace at San Ildefonso, it need only be said that their

chief merit lies in their size and the absence of those glaring violations of good taste

which generally characterized the successors of Churriguera. In ecclesiastical design

these violations of taste were particularly abundant and excessive, especially in the

façades and in the sanctuary--huge aggregations of misplaced and vulgar detail, with

hardly an unbroken pediment, column, or arch in the whole. Some extreme examples

of this abominable style are to be found in the Spanish-American churches of the

17th and 18th centuries, as at Chihuahua (Mexico), Tucson (Arizona), and other

places. The least offensive features of the churches of this period were the towers,

usually in pairs at the west end, some of them showing excellent proportions and

good composition in spite of their execrable details.

FIG. 197.--PALACE OF CHARLES V., GRANADA.

Minor architectural works, such as the rood screens in the churches of Astorga and

Medina de Rio Seco, and many tombs at Granada, Avila, Alcala, etc., give evidence

of superior skill in decorative design, where constructive considerations did not limit

the exercise of the imagination.

PORTUGAL. The Renaissance appears to have produced few notable works in

Portugal. Among the chief of these are the Tower, the church, and the Cloister, at

Belem. These display a riotous profusion of minute carved ornament, with a free

commingling of late Gothic details, wearisome in the end in spite of the beauty of its

execution (150040?). The church of Santa Cruz at Coimbra, and that of Luz, near

Lisbon, are among the most noted of the religious monuments of the Renaissance,

while in secular architecture the royal palace at Mafra is worthy of mention.

MONUMENTS. (Mainly supplementary to preceding text.) AUSTRIA, BOHEMIA, etc.: At

Prague, Schloss Stern, 14591565; Schwarzenburg Palace, 1544; Waldstein Palace,

1629; Salvator Chapel, Vienna, 1515; Schloss Schalaburg, near Mölk, 15301601;

Standehaus, Gratz, 1625. At Vienna: Imperial palace, various dates; Schwarzenburg and

Lichtenstein palaces, 18th century.

GERMANY, FIRST PERIOD: Schloss Baden, 151029 and part 156982; Schloss Merseburg,

1514, with late 16th-century portals; Fuggerhaus at Augsburg, 1516; castles of

Neuenstein, 153064; Celle, 153246 (and enlarged, 166570); Dessau, 1533;

Leignitz, portal, 1533; Plagnitz, 1550; Schloss Gottesau, 155388; castle of Güstrow,

155565; of Oels, 15591616; of Bernburg, 1565; of Heiligenburg, 156987; Münzhof

at Munich, 1575; Lusthaus (demolished) at Stuttgart, 1575; Wilhelmsburg Castle at

Schmalkald, 158490; castle of Hämelschenburg, 15881612.--SECOND PERIOD:

Zunfthaus at Basle, 1578, in advanced style; so also Juleum at Helmstädt, 15931612;

gymnasium at Brunswick, 15921613; Spiesshof at Basle, 1600; castle at Berlin, 1600

1616, demolished in great part; castle Bevern, 1603; Dantzic, Zeughaus, 1605;

Wallfahrtskirche at Dettelbach, 1613; castle Aschaffenburg, 160513; Schloss

Weikersheim, 160083.--THIRD PERIOD: Zeughaus at Berlin, 1695; palace at Berlin by

Schlüter, 16991706; Catholic church, Dresden. (For Classic Revival, see next

chapter.)--TOWN HALLS: At Heilbronn, 1535; Görlitz, 1537; Posen, 1550; Mülhausen,

1552; Cologne, porch with Corinthian columns and Gothic arches, 1569; Lübeck

(Rathhaushalle), 1570; Schweinfurt, 1570; Gotha, 1574; Emden, 157476; Lemgo,

1589; Neisse, 1604; Nordhausen, 1610; Paderborn, 161216; Gernsbach, 1617.

SPAIN, 16TH CENTURY: Monastery San Marcos at Leon; palace of the Infanta, Saragossa;

Carcel del Corte at Baez; Cath. of Malaga, W. front, 1538, by de Siloë; Tavera Hospital,

Toledo, 1541, by de Bustamente; Alcazar at Toledo, 1548; Lonja (Town Hall) at

Saragossa, 1551; Casa de la Sal, Casa Monterey, and Collegio de los Irlandeses, all at

Salamanca; Town Hall, Casa de los Taveras and upper part of Giralda, all at Seville.--

17TH CENTURY: Cathedral del Pilar, Saragossa, 1677; Tower del Seo, 1685.--18TH

CENTURY: palace at Madrid, 1735; at Aranjuez, 1739; cathedral of Santiago, 1738;

Lonja at Barcelona, 1772.

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