The Columns of Alberti and Perrault

Order in Renaissance & Neo-Classical Architecture
Alberti and Perrault thought differently about the role of the column in architecture. Alberti was a Renaissance architect—and like many others of the Renaissance era, he was inspired by the symmetrical beauty, mathematical precision, and classical guidelines of the ancients. Alberti used the column in architecture to give a sense of harmony and wholeness. Perrault, who designed architecture some two centuries after Alberti in the 17th century, was standing on different shoulders. Whereas Alberti had been operating in a world of wholeness prior to the wreck of Europe that was the Protestant Reformation, which tore the Continent apart, Perrault grew up in an Age where Christian nations were divided. Thus, the same love of wholeness and harmony that Alberti displayed in his use of columns was not felt by Perrault. Perrault focused less on mathematical precision and more on the concept of beauty and how space could be used to give a maximum impression of order. Just as the ancient Greeks performed optical illusions with their spacing of columns, Perrault too employed this concept to create an effect on the viewer that was rich, rewarding and romantic—in short, architecture that was Baroque. This paper will use Alberti’s S. Maria Novella (1457-70) and Perrault’s East Façade of the Louvre, Paris (1667-74) to examine their different positions and to answer the question: How does the column relate to the composition of the façade in each case, and what meaning does it carry? The answer this paper argues is that Alberti used mathematical harmony to create a sense of order, symmetry, and overall cohesion; Perrault used spatial dimensions to create impressions of depth and richness with his use of columns.
In On the Art of Building, Alberti stated that ornament and beauty could produce a “graceful and pleasant appearance,” which is certainly applicable to the façade of Alberti’s S. Maria Novella.[footnoteRef:2] Alberti noted that Vitruvius was the sole survivor of the ancient world in terms of an architect who had written on theory and practice—yet the former also pointed out that the latter’s works were not very efficient in conveying a clear application of theory to practice. Alberti addressed that issue with his On the Art of Building. Like Sullivan, who quipped that “form must ever follow function,” Alberti stressed that function and ornament should be united as one in any structure, for the two were part of the same essence of the architectural construction. In S. Maria Novella, this is most apparent, as the church is patterned gorgeously with a repeating motif of squares in the Roman classical tradition and columns that embellish the façade but do not overwhelm it or exist to give an illusory impression of depth. The columns are there to serve the grandeur of the function of the building—not to act as an end in and of themselves—i.e., as the endpoint of beauty. Perrault, with his East Façade of the Louvre, uses the column to do just the opposite—to draw the eye and hold it. Alberti’s columns help to direct the eye upward along the façade of the church, which is meant to lift men’s minds and hearts upward to God. Thus, the column in Alberti’s church facilitates the purpose and function of the church. Perrault’s column does not so much direct the eye as capture it and hold it, the columns acting like sentries along the colonnade. Perrault’s columns create a sense of drama—a sense of epic grandeur and importance that was perfectly suited to the Baroque. [2: Alberti, Leon Battista. “Book Six” In On the Art of Building. 154- 188 and 244-290 (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980), 155.]
Alberti’s use of the column relates to the composition of the façade in S. Maria Novella by supporting the façade rather than overwhelming it or serving as the main highlight. Perrault’s column is the main attraction: the columns in his colonnade of the East Façade of the Louvre do not support the façade structurally or mathematically; instead, they serve as a type of loud trumpet announcing the importance of the structure that they stand in front of. Perrault’s columns relate to the composition of the façade of the Louvre by acting as a herald—a messenger communicating the grand, eloquent and mysterious aura of the Louvre’s interior.
Perrault’s façade does not so much reflect the proportionate balance of parts that Alberti and Vitruvius admired in nature (though of course there is proportionality in Perrault’s façade). Perrault’s use of columns reflects the architect’s belief that beauty exists in the actual balance of variation with proportion, with the former serving as the most important element of design. Perrault wrote, “the beauty of a building, like that of the human body, lies less in the exactitude of unvarying proportion and the relative size of constituent parts than in the grace of its form, wherein nothing other than a pleasing variation can sometimes give rise to a perfect and matchless beauty without strict adherence to any proportional rule.”[footnoteRef:3] By giving variation to the façade of the Louvre, Perrault broke up the monotony of the building’s exterior and produced a tantalizing effect that could mesmerize and hypnotize. Perrault provided proportion and variation to the east façade of the Louvre through his use of columns down the length of the colonnade. The columns stand out triumphantly above all, supported by a base—whereas in Alberti’s church, the columns support the rest of the façade and are there to serve the façade—just as man is meant to serve the church and the church is there to serve God. Everything is ordered in Alberti’s structure and the idea of the building is united to the idea of the façade. Instead of using the column as a support, Perrault used the column to visually effect a sense of grace: his façade is given a graceful appearance primarily because of the colonnade.[footnoteRef:4] [3: Perrault, Claude. “Preface”. In Ordonnance, 47-63. (Santa Monica: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1993), 47.] [4: Allais, Lucia. “Ordering the Orders”. Future Anterior 2, No 2 (2005): 53-74.]
Alberti’s column helps support the concept of ordonnance that was important in classical design, as described by Vitruvius. Damisch notes that the Romans “linked structure to continuous masonry.”[footnoteRef:5] Continuation of design was important to achieve the proper aesthetic according to the Roman conception of beauty. Alberti’s façade contains a systematic arrangement of parts. Its beauty is based on organization, cohesion, and a continuation of parts. Just as the four sides of the square represent equality on all sides, Alberti’s façade is replete with a sense of equal parts: it contains ordonnance throughout. Perrault rejected the idea that ordonnance could only be achieved by a systematic ordering of parts.[footnoteRef:6] Perrault embraced the notion of the swirling, imperfect, dramatic exuberance of life. After all, Perrault was operating during the Baroque era when artists were emphasizing the beauty of imperfection over the systematic ordering of parts. For him, as a Baroque artist, finding the simple beauty through balance with a mindful attention given to the rule of the ancients but also with an intuitive sense given to the simple appreciation of harmony and beauty in nature was really all an architect had to do to achieve beauty as a whole in design: [5: Damisch, Hubert. “The Column and the Wall.” In Architectural Design Profile 21: Leonis Baptiste Alberti 49, no. 5-6 (1979): 18.] [6: Rykwert, Joseph. “Positive and Arbitrary”. In The First Moderns, 23-53 (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980), 37.]
The revolutionary nature of Perrault’s doctrine is summed up in the detailed preface to the Ordonnance. The point of departure is the criticism of the traditional, "classical" doctrine. Perrault abandons explicitly-as I suggested earlier-the immemorial doctrine of an analogy between pitch and length, between visual and musical harmony; the proportions which an architect must observe "are not certain and invariable as are those which make for the beauty and harmony of sounds in music, and which do not depend on us, but which nature has delimited (arrestee) and established with exact precision so they may not be changed without instantly shocking the least sensitive ears.”[footnoteRef:7] [7: Rykwert, Joseph. “Positive and Arbitrary”. In The First Moderns, 23-53 (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980), 33.]
In other words, Perrault’s approach to beauty and harmony did not rest solely on the need to be as systematically ordered as Alberti was with his S. Maria Novella. Perrault wanted to take liberties—but liberties only in so far as they reflected true beauty, which he believed stretches beyond the confines and restrictions of the systematic ordering of things. The columns in his East Façade of the Louvre relate to the composition of the whole by stylizing the whole and giving it an air of grandeur that accentuates its simplicity. The meaning embodied by the columns is that they can essentially stand on their own: their beauty is their own. They do not need to supplement an overall scheme but can, rather, be the scheme themselves. The columns in Perrault’s façade speak for themselves: they symbolize virtue, authority, honor, integrity, esteem, and class. They adorn the façade as much as they are the façade themselves. Durand was no doubt sympathetic to the vision of Perrault when he wrote, “We shall not enlarge upon the ruinous consequences of the abuse of geometric drawing in architecture; suffice it to say that this kind of work does irreparable harm to young men whose talent has survived the obstacles set in their way by a senseless routine.”[footnoteRef:8] Durand held the view, indeed, that the beauty of all great architecture will present itself when the viewer simply focuses on the disposition or character of the building itself.[footnoteRef:9] Laugier acknowledged as much when he stated, “A beautiful building speaks eloquently for its architect. In his writings M. Perrault is at most a scholar; the Colonnade of the Louvre makes him a great man.”[footnoteRef:10] Perrault’s East Façade speaks to the architect’s genius in cutting through the clutter of architectural philosophy: it presents the importance and value of the Louvre—a house of art and artifacts—as a monument to mankind’s worth—and for that, the colonnade resonates with a triumphant score. [8: Durand, Jean-Nicolas-Louis. Precis of the Lectures on Architecture (Los Angeles: Getty, 2000), 75.] [9: Ibid, 85.] [10: Laugier, Marc-Antoine. An Essay on Architecture. Translated by Wolfgang Herrman and Anni Herrmann. (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, 1977), 8.]
This is a stark contrast with the manner in which Alberti uses columns for S. Maria Novella. Alberti’s columns are humble, diminutive, supportive over the overall scheme of the façade. They do not yell or trumpet their arrival or importance. They do not bask in their own magnificence—but this too is in keeping with the overall character of the structure—a church, which is the house of God, the house wherein mankind is expected to humble itself before its maker. What would Perrault’s columns do on a façade like that of S. Maria Novella but subtract from the message that is communicated by the façade of the church? They would draw attention to themselves only instead of bow their heads in service of the majesty within. The façade’s ornamental symmetrical pattern of squares among squares preaches of the ordered existence that the Christians of Age of Faith were expected to maintain. It preaches of decorum—and the columns submit to uphold that sermon.
Rykwert points out that the emphasis on order corresponds with Alberti’s own approach to and philosophy of architecture: Alberti believed that man “exists to contemplate the universe and to imitate it. In order to make this ultimate end fit some visible description, the idea and its corporeality had somehow to become identified, as an image: hence the recurrent, almost obsessive repetition of the parallel between the building and a body.”[footnoteRef:11] The “recurrent, almost obsessive repetition” in Alberti’s façade is evident: the way the upper façade duplicates the lower columns with faux-columns; the arches in the lower half are made whole in the upper half. The elegance of the square pattern communicating with the friendliness of the circles and archways in the both the upper and lower half of the façade—all of it indicates solidarity, union, integrity, structure, and order. [11: Rykwert, Joseph (Ed.). Architectural Design Profile 21: Leonis Baptiste Alberti. 49, vol. 5-6. (London: Dr A. C. Papadakis, 1979), 5.]
But then Alberti lived towards the end of the Age of Faith, when all of these qualities were part and parcel of Christendom: Europe had not yet disintegrated into bitter civil wars under the pretext of religious quibbling. The Protestant Reformation had not yet wrenched the chair out from the under the Roman Pontiff and put in its place a pyre that would be lit to burn to ashes all the past centuries of doctrine and dogmas. The people of Christendom—of Europe—were still all on the same page—a page that was ordered, measured, systematic, perfectly reflective of the symmetry found in Alberti’s façade. The façade of S. Maria Novella reflects the faith of the people inside.
Perrault’s façade of the Louvre tells a different story and the columns help to announce it. His façade tells the story of a society that has been to the brink and back; it tells the story of a people who momentarily lost their way yet returned, affirmed in their belief that the artistic expressions of people throughout time are and shall always be of great value to humankind. Perrault’s columns do not shy away from this conviction. They are not there to serve a humble faith or to pay homage to the order that God gave to all creation, as Alberti’s seem to do in S. Maria Novella. They are there to praise art in and for itself. They are there to give testimony to the wonderful wisdom that was the Baroque’s—that life and art are too immense and rich to be stuffed into a narrowly and rigidly defined spectrum.
In conclusion, the two works by Alberti and Perrault from two different eras of architecture help to tell the story of the West, the story of how two great architects viewed themselves and their role in the field of architecture. They help to show how one too solace and refuge in the order and balance of proportion, and how another took comfort in liberty and the fact that beauty is not strictly relegated only to the boundaries imposed by rules and dictums. Alberti’s columns relate to the overall façade of S. Maria Novella by supporting the order and symmetry contained therein—giving their support to the greater tale told above of God’s natural order in the world. Perrault’s columns relate to the overall façade of the Louvre by declaring themselves as the main attraction—the reason for coming to see what there is to see. They announce their majesty and suggest that inside these walls is a similar majesty—and they do not mind that they stand alone to tell it.
Bibliography
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