Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (the Jesuit church on Via del Quirinale. 200m from Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, on the same Via del Quirinale that consequently constitutes the most concentrated single street of high Baroque architecture in Rome): the 1658-1670 Bernini church commissioned by Cardinal Camillo Pamphilj (the nephew of Pope Innocent X) for the Jesuit novitiate whose building complex occupies the entire Via del Quirinale block between the church and Piazza del Quirinale. The specific Bernini statement about Sant'Andrea al Quirinale: Bernini, in the last decades of his life, described Sant'Andrea al Quirinale as the building in which he had fully achieved his architectural intentions, the "perlina" (the little pearl) of his own hand, the work that he was most satisfied with: the specific Bernini self-assessment is notable because Bernini's architectural production includes the St Peter's colonnade, the Trevi Fountain site preparation (the design rejected), and the Ponte Sant'Angelo angel program, the Sant'Andrea's position as Bernini's favorite work from this output is the most cited piece of evidence for the argument that Bernini considered intimate architectural perfection more significant than monumental urban presence.
The spatial innovation: the Sant'Andrea al Quirinale plan (the transverse oval, the oval whose long axis runs parallel to the entrance wall rather than perpendicular to it, as the standard Baroque oval plan would require): the specific Bernini spatial trick (you enter the church through the short end of the oval, and instead of looking down the nave toward the altar (the standard expectation), you see the full width of the oval simultaneously, the altar is on the far wall (the short axis terminus), dramatically framed by the pink marble Sicilian columns, while the entire oval space unfolds to the left and right as your eye adjusts to the specific transverse orientation). The specific effect: the Sant'Andrea is a small church (approximately 33m × 19m) that feels substantially larger than its dimensions because the transverse orientation maximizes the visual width rather than the visual depth.
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Sant'Andrea al Quirinale: Interior, Martyrdom, and Via Quirinale
The Interior
Sant'Andrea al Quirinale interior (the specific polychrome marble program, the pink Sicilian marble columns, the dark green marble pilasters, the white stucco figures, and the gilded lantern that Bernini uses to produce the specific Sant'Andrea color atmosphere (the warm pink-and-gold interior that the Bernini lighting program (the hidden windows behind the cornice and the specific lantern position) illuminates from above): the altarpiece (the 1668 Guglielmo Cortese painting of the martyrdom and apotheosis of Sant'Andrea, the specific Bernini program (the painted Andrea ascending in the altarpiece is mirrored by the stucco Andrea emerging from the broken pediment above the altarpiece into the dome space, creating the specific Bernini theatrical device of the narrative continuing from the painting into the three-dimensional architecture)). And the chapel of Saint Stanislaw Kostka (the Polish Jesuit novice who died in the Sant'Andrea al Quirinale novitiate building in 1568, the specific chapel off the sacristy, with the polychrome marble sleeping figure by Pierre Legros (1703), the finest single piece of sacred sculpture in any Rome church after Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa). Open Tuesday-Sunday 9:00-12:00 and 15:00-18:00. Free.
Via del Quirinale Baroque Walk
Via del Quirinale Baroque walk (the 200m stretch between the Sant'Andrea al Quirinale and the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, the most concentrated Baroque street in Rome, the two buildings representing the Bernini and Borromini poles of the Baroque architectural debate): the specific walk (the Sant'Andrea al Quirinale visit (30 minutes), the walk to the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (5 minutes on foot), and the San Carlo visit (30 minutes)): the complete Via del Quirinale Baroque experience in 70 minutes, free.
Q&A: Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
Is Sant'Andrea al Quirinale better than San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane?
Incomparable, the two buildings represent the two poles of Baroque architectural philosophy and must be evaluated by different criteria: Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (Bernini, the harmony, the completeness, the spatial warmth, and the specific theatrical program (the martyrdom narrative moving from the canvas to the sculpture to the dome)). San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Borromini, the spatial daring, the geometric innovation, the refusal of the conventional architectural vocabulary). The Sant'Andrea is immediately emotionally accessible (the visitor responds to the beauty of the materials, the warmth of the lighting, and the completeness of the program). The San Carlino is intellectually demanding (the visitor needs some architectural knowledge to fully appreciate what Borromini has achieved in the curved walls and the geometric coffers). Both are essential and both are free: the 70-minute Via del Quirinale walk is the best single two-building architectural comparison available anywhere in Europe.
Internal Links
- Via del Quirinale: Sant'Andrea e San Carlino
- Bernini vs Borromini: Il Confronto sul Quirinale
- Fotografare Sant'Andrea al Quirinale: L'Ovale
- Barocco Romano: Sant'Andrea nel Circuito
- Via del Quirinale in Inverno: Il Barocco Senza Folla
- Sant'Andrea al Quirinale: Ingresso Gratuito
- Quirinale: La Strada del Barocco
