The Grandeur of Baroque Architectural Mouldings and Ornamentation

The Elegance and Grandeur of Baroque Mouldings

Baroque architecture dominated much of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by dramatic shapes, elaborate ornaments, and a sense of movement and dynamism. One of the most iconic elements of the Baroque style is its distinctive mouldings, which create visual interest and draw the eye across surfaces and structures.

Mouldings are architectural elements that provide transition between surfaces or structural members. They can be decorative or functional. In Baroque buildings, mouldings were employed creatively to add drama, motion, and lavish elegance to interiors and exteriors alike.

What Are Baroque Mouldings?

Baroque mouldings are architectural details crafted from plaster, stucco, wood, or stone. They can be found on walls, ceilings, columns, arches, window and door frames, furniture, altars, and more.

Some of the most common types of Baroque mouldings include:

• Cornices - decorative projections crowning walls or framing ceilings
• Friezes - horizontal bands decorating walls
• Architraves - ornamental mouldings framing doors and windows
• Pilasters - rectangular columns projecting from walls
• Pediments - triangular finishes above doors, windows, and niches
• Balustrades - railings with balusters and handrails
• Cartouches - ornamental frames around coats of arms, inscriptions, etc.

Baroque mouldings feature elaborate curling scrolls, foliage, flowers, fruits, seashells, animal shapes, and angelic or human faces. Their forms undulate, twist, and turn in an endless variety of curves, conveying energy and movement.

Asymmetric Shapes and Swelling Forms

One of the hallmarks of Baroque decorative detail is asymmetry. Mouldings swerve and swell in unpredictable ways, bursting with vitality. C-shaped scrolls called volutes in particular dominate, creating rhythmic movement and drama.

Cartouches take on irregular cloud-like contours. Columns bulge and then taper towards their ends, defying gravity to create a feeling of upwards surge. Arches invert and take complex concave or convex shapes instead of simple semicircles. Cornices jut out at different angles, manipulated to heighten viewers’ sense of motion.

Lavish Ornamentation

Baroque mouldings showcase the sheer wealth and lavish tastes of the aristocracy, royalty, and Catholic Church. No surface was left unadorned. Everything was saturated with painstaking hand-carved embellishment for maximum visual impact.

Foliage, flowers, shells, and French scrolls known as rinceaux provided decorative focus. Exotic woods, coloured marble, and real gold leaf added further richness at great expense. This lavish display of handcraft demonstrated the prestige and power of those who commissioned such works.

The green man or foliate head, a pagan symbol of rebirth, appears frequently in Baroque ornamentation. Cherubs, garlands, and wreaths abound. Italianate putti, the plump nude babies popularized during the Renaissance, can be spotted frolicking mischieviously.

The Illusion of Unlimited Space

Baroque mouldings were cleverly designed to dissolve boundaries, creating an illusion of unlimited space. Architects manipulated perspectives to make rooms seem larger and more majestic than they really were.

Curving walls, domed ceilings, and gilded mirrors produced a fish-eye effect, vastly expanding apparent dimensions. Columns might taper towards the bottom instead of the top, tricking the eye upwards. Ceilings were elaborately coffered or painted with trompe l’oeil illusions.

This manipulation of perception resulted in awe-inspiring grand spaces where mortals could connect with the glory of the divine while surrounded by seemingly endless ornamentation.

Light and Shadow

Baroque architects and designers also played with light and shadow to amplify the three-dimensional volume of spaces. Deeply set windows cast dramatic shadows, while skylights illuminated specific details.

Contrasts between convex and concave shapes created patterns of light and dark. Gilding and mirrors bounced torchlight around interiors at night. Exteriors revealed themselves slowly as sunlight raked across their textured facades.

This chiaroscuro effect imparted a sense of mystery and religious revelation, while highlighting the plasticity of the architectural forms.

Famous Examples of Baroque Mouldings

Some of the most stunning displays of Baroque mouldings can be seen in historic buildings across continental Europe. Let's explore some of the finest examples from the 17th and 18th centuries.

French Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles outside Paris epitomizes the French Baroque style and extravagance of King Louis XIV. Every surface gleams with gilded carvings and mouldings aglow with movement.

The King’s Grand Apartment overflows with sculpted scrolls known as lambrequins, laurel garlands, scallop shells, and decorative panels called boiseries. The circular Salon of Apollo features a radiating sunburst pattern on its domed ceiling.

The Hall of Mirrors contains seventeen mirrored arches reflecting candlelit chandeliers, all framed by white and gilt mouldings studded with statues and glass displays.

Austrian Melk Abbey

Overlooking the Danube River, the Benedictine abbey of Melk showcases south German and Austrian Baroque. Its church interior almost resembles lace, with an astonishing abundance of gilded Rococo stuccowork.

The piers feature spiral vines and figures of angels. The domed ceiling encircles a frescoed view of heaven, bordered by detailed gilded coffers and sculptures sitting on foliate ledges. Even the pipe organ is a masterpiece of carved wood embellishment.

Portuguese Mafra National Palace

Mafra National Palace contains over 1,200 lavishly decorated rooms. Its two Baroque church facades boast columns, pediments, and complex multi-curved gables framed by bell towers.

Inside, white Rococo stuccowork resembling icing trims every edge and archway. Gilded vines climb across ceiling borders while figures of saints look on. Hidden doors camouflaged with moulding details add an air of mystery.

Spanish Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

As a major Catholic pilgrimage site, Santiago de Compostela Cathedral combined Spanish Baroque with earlier Romanesque architectural elements. Its Obradoiro façade gleams with symmetrical columns, scallop shell motifs, and primaticcio stair railings that use Perspepctive moulding and figurative carvings to simulate three-dimensional verses.

Master sculptor Jose Gambino created the grand reredos altarpiece framed by Solomonic columns in 1767. Its fully gilded surround soars from the chequered marble floor all the way to the decorated dome ceiling featuring delicate ribs and coffers.

English St Paul’s Cathedral

Strikingly different from the florid Continental Baroque, the English style favoured cleaner lines and geometric order. St Paul's Cathedral by Christopher Wren epitomizes this restrained aesthetic.

Classical columns, arches, and pediments shape its facade. Inside, the nave features only sparing touches of moulding on pillars and rounded choir walls. But the iconic dome still impresses with its harmonious proportions and structural lightness.

Italian Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale

This exquisite Roman chapel exemplifies the theatricality of Italian Baroque design. Oval in plan, the small but soaring space resembles an ornate stage set.

Every surface drips with sculpted traditional motifs like curling vines, laurels, seashells, and architectural elements. Concave walls curve into the domed ceiling which glows with golden light raining through hidden windows. The altar itself resembles a tiered cascade of decorative elements.

Baroque Mouldings in Contemporary Design

The bold dynamism and luxurious ornamentation of Baroque mouldings lend them easily to creative reinterpretation by contemporary designers and architects. Many new buildings incorporate Baroque-inspired elements as accents.

Postmodern architecture in particular features historicist elements like columns, pediments, and moulded architraves reminiscent of the Baroque. Curvilinear forms suit today's sensibilities well. New materials like acrylic give moulded panels, cornices, and cartouches a sleek modern look.

Various annual Baroque festivals around Europe showcase historically inspired arts, music, dance, and costuming with rich ornamentation. Here the exuberance of the Baroque finds full expression in elaborate dress, decor, and performance.

Baroque motifs also frequently inform haute couture fashion with ruffles, draping, curling seams, and lavish accents like brocade, beading, and lace. Makeup and hair art draw from the era's portraiture.

In home décor, Baroque sophistication appears through gilded mirrors, wrought iron scrollwork, plush fabrics like damask and brocade, curled furniture legs, and artwork in ornate frames. Cabinetry, upholstery, and carpets take on baroque motifs.

By channelling aspects of Baroque style, today's artists and designers continue the tradition of creativity, craftsmanship, sensuality, and sumptuous adornment exemplified by the mouldings of centuries past.

FAQs

What materials were used to make Baroque mouldings?

Baroque mouldings were commonly crafted from plaster, stucco, wood, or stone. Expensive materials like exotic woods, colored marble, and gold leaf added ornate embellishments.

What architectural elements featured Baroque mouldings?

Baroque mouldings could be found on walls, ceilings, columns, arches, windows, doors, furniture, altars, railings, and more. No surface was left unadorned.

What motifs and symbols were popular in Baroque mouldings?

Curling scroll shapes called volutes were ubiquitous. Other common Baroque motifs included foliage, flowers, shells, cherubs, garlands, wreaths, and pagan symbols like the green man.

How did Baroque mouldings create an illusion of unlimited space?

Architects used curving walls, domed ceilings, tapered columns, gilded mirrors, and painted illusions to dissolve boundaries and make rooms seem larger than they were.

Where can I see the best examples of Baroque mouldings today?

Versailles in France, Melk Abbey in Austria, Mafra Palace in Portugal, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain feature some of the most famous Baroque mouldings still viewable today in their original historic contexts.