Accession Number
1958/1.65

Title
Elevation of a Small Domed Church

Artist(s)
Giuseppe Barberi

Object Creation Date
1746-1809

Medium & Support
pen and brown ink with ink wash

Dimensions
10 7/8 in. x 8 in. ( 27.6 cm x 20.3 cm )

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
Gallery Rotation Spring 2013
Giuseppe Barberi
Italy, 1746–1809
Elevation of a small
domed church
1746–1809
Pen and brown ink with ink wash
Museum purchase, 1958/1.65
A silversmith by profession, Giuseppe Barberi also created designs for city plans, civic, domestic and ecclesiastical architecture, and monuments. These studies of church facades reveal Barberi’s interest in stage design. The church on the left is a single-story building with a temple front made up of an entablature and pediment supported by four Ionic columns. A dome rising on a high, windowed drum would have provided light to the church’s interior. The church on the right has a two-story elevation and a dome above the central space. Barberi also included the architectural sculptures that adorn the structures: acroteria or roof sculptures on the first church, and sculptural figures placed in outside niches on the second.

Subject matter
Barberi's drawing of a church shows a centrally planned structure where the double height portico at the entrance is repeated at the sides, perhaps indicating that the church is centrally planned and the "arms" of the cross are reduced to the exterior porticos. The low saucer dome, reminiscent of the Pantheon, suggests an affinity with Roman baroque architecture.

Physical Description
This drawing presents a frontal view of a small two-story church. The first level has a portico entrance flanked by statues in niches. Above the portico continues into the second level and is surmounted by a pediment. Above the second level is a shallow dome on a low drum.

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Primary Object Type
architectural drawing

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
Architecture
churches
columns
domes
niches
study