Editing Francesco Borromini (section)

=== San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (San Carlino) ===
{{main|San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane}}

In 1634, Borromini received his first major independent commission to design the church, cloister and monastic buildings of [[San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane]] (also known as San Carlino). Situated on the [[Quirinal]] Hill in Rome, the complex was designed for the [[Trinitarian Order|Spanish Trinitarians]], a religious order. The monastic buildings and the cloister were completed first after which construction of the church took place during the period 1638-1641 and in 1646 it was dedicated to San Carlo Borromeo. The church is considered by many to be an exemplary masterpiece of Roman Baroque architecture. San Carlino is remarkably small given its significance to Baroque architecture; it has been noted that the whole building would fit into one of the dome piers of [[Saint Peter's Basilica|Saint Peter's]].<ref>As [[Siegfried Giedion]] pointed out in ''Space, Time and Architecture'' (1941 etc.)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/040.html |title=Plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2006-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208034820/http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/040.html |archive-date=2008-12-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim//rooma/pages/SCARLOQU.HTM| title = S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref> 
 
The site was not an easy one; it was a corner site and the space was limited. Borromini positioned the church on the corner of two intersecting roads. Although the idea for the serpentine façade must have been conceived fairly early on, probably in the mid-1630s, it was only constructed toward the end of Borromini's life and the upper part was not completed until after the architect's death.

Borromini devised the complex ground plan of the church from interlocking geometrical configurations, a typical Borromini device for constructing plans. The resulting effect is that the interior lower walls appear to weave in and out, partly alluding to a cross form, partly to a hexagonal form and partly to an oval form; geometrical figures that are all found explicitly in the dome above.<ref>Steinberg L. ''San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. A Study in Multiple Form and Architectural Symbolism''. New York 1977, p 117 and Fig. 85. The effect has been noted by others that he "designed the walls to weave in and out as if they were formed not of stone but of pliant substance set in motion by an energetic space, carrying with them the deep entablatures, the cornices, mouldings and pediments" (Trachtenberg & Hyman)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://web.comhem.se/~u13117202/scarlino.htm |title=San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2006-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408152811/http://web.comhem.se/~u13117202/scarlino.htm |archive-date=2009-04-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The area of the pendentives marks the transition from the lower wall order to the oval opening of the dome. Illuminated by windows hidden from a viewer below, interlocking octagons, crosses and hexagons diminish in size as the dome rises to a lantern with the symbol of the Trinity.