Baroque: more than a style, an attitude

Eduardo Prieto, professor at the Madrid School of Architecture, was responsible for delivering the third session of lecture series Calvo Serrallerlecture series , organized by the University of Navarra's School Philosophy Letters in partnership the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation.

His session began with a staff anecdote, not because it was his own, but because it was a fragment of the life of Tomás de Cardona. "He was not an artist or an architect, but an important explorer and merchant who succeeded thanks to his trips to the Caribbean to exploit pearl banks," he explained. "His success came from knowing how to market these gems, which stood out for their irregular, bulbous shapes, far removed from the rule. Precisely because of their appearance, they were called barrocas in Portuguese, or barruecas in Spanish, like geological formations." With this anecdote, the speaker a journey through the centuries, explaining how the word that critics used a hundred years later to describe the supposed Baroque style of the 17th century originated. "What began as a derogatory term to judge Structures shapes and Structures became a qualifier."

For him, the negative connotation is nothing more than a sample the term's efficiency. The baroque pearl was striking because the smooth pearl was the rule. "If there were no rules, there would be no innovation, no transgression," he said. Something similar happened with 17th-century architecture. With the Renaissance and classicism as the paradigm, the Baroque stood out because it broke with previous tradition.

The Baroque, therefore, is transgressive within a tradition. To illustrate this, Professor Prieto showed examples of architects and works that, within their distortion, revealed their references to classical culture. Bernini's David, as the speaker pointed out, would be incomprehensible without Michelangelo's David. Prieto used this same work to highlight another of the pillars of the Baroque: movement. "The artists' ability to bring the subject to life is admirable," he said. Baroque stone breathes and moves.

No detail of this architecture is chosen arbitrarily. Geometric considerations, perspective, mastery of measurement... Every decision involves a thorough study of reality, because in order to distort it, one must have a deep understanding of it.

After studying all the characteristics of this style, Prieto has shown that, despite its critics, the relevance of the Baroque is undeniable. "Given its transversality, rather than a style, it could be said that the Baroque is an attitude. Today, it is clear that we are the heirs to that irreverent attitude." At a time when digital technology is leading the way in innovation, architecture is seeking to be transgressive, and cities are returning to their purpose but symbolic purpose , Prieto's conclusion is spot on: "Perhaps the Baroque is closer to us than we think."

The final session of this tenth edition of the series will be given by Fernando Marías, Full Professor Art History, who will introduce the audience to some of Velázquez's compositions in order to answer one last question about the Sevillian artist: Can we classify him as a Baroque artist?