Transformation as Movement

In 1888 the art historian Heinrich Wölfflin proposed the notion that the primary characteristic of baroque architecture is the illusion of movement. Captivating as this suggestion may be he was not very clear about how movement manifests itself. In the case of buildings utilizing curved forms such as San Carlo alla Quatro Fontane one might surmise that the sweeping lines suggest movement and the bulging exterior is a result of the pressure the oval space inside seems to exert on the facade. But how is movement to be understood in the case of so many baroque buildings that have no curved forms? In this formal analysis of a baroque facade it is asserted that the illusion of movement is achieved through various operations that can be described through a series of transformation diagrams from an initial condition of complete flatness to an end condition that accounts for the full depth of the facade. Using one of the first Baroque examples in Rome as a case study – the facade of Santa Susanna by Carlo Maderno – a set of transformation diagrams is presented here which imply movement in much the same way that consecutive still frames make up a motion picture (Fig. 4.1 – 4.6). This makes explicit what is implied when dynamic words such as ‘stepping’ is used to describe the massing or ‘multiplying’ is used to describe the elements of a facade.