Premise

Abstract

Over the last decades a direction of thematic studies has emerged around the personality, the influence and the legacy of Francesco Borromini (Bissone, 27 September 1599 - Rome, 3 August 1667) that represents an essential interpretative key of one of the most significant figures of European art in the seventeenth century.

In respect to these studies, the present volume develops, for the first time in an organic manner, the theme of Borromini’s unique and personal understanding of the profession of architect, as regards the Roman context of early seventeenth century artistic corporations and artistic academies and canons.

The volume is divided into four sections consisting of unpublished studies and substantially revised and expanded published studies. The first section explores the evolution, as well as the nature of the presence in Rome of Ticinese and Lombard immigrant architects and builders, from the “Lakes region”, who adapted to operate within the organizational Roman system of public building works, before and after the arrival of Borromini in the papal city in 1619. The second section considers the relationship between Borromini and the academic and professional artistic and architectural corporations on the basis of new documentary evidence. The third section analyzes Borromini’s complex relationships with contemporaneus architects and clients via an examination of two specific cases of his early and intermediate career. Finally, the fourth section interprets the diachronic evolution of Borromini’s career from a specifically professional point of view.