CARLO MADERNO. - Architect, born at Capolago (Canton Ticino) in 1559, died in Rome on 30 January 1629. Nephew of D. and G. Fontana, he collaborated with them on various works. After D. Fontana’s departure from Rome, he continued some of the constructions left unfinished by him, including the Palazzo del Cardinale Rusticucci in Borgo Nuovo, now demolished.
For the same cardinal, in 1595 he began the remodeling of the ancient church of S. Susanna, which proved significant for the evolution of Roman Baroque. Indeed, the façade (completed in 1603) was not only conceived as the dominant element in the spatial organization of a piazza but also gained new plastic force through the use of almost fully projecting columns; original too is the balustrade running along the tympanum, which accentuates the sense of pictorial quality and movement. In addition to the rich interior of S. Maria della Vittoria (1608–20), Maderno also continued S. Andrea della Valle (1608–22), which develops the model of the Gesù; for the latter church he also left a design for the façade, later modified in execution by C. Rainaldi (v.).
But his most famous work is the façade of St Peter’s Basilica, unjustly criticized by the immediately succeeding generations, whereas today its Michelangelesque conception is recognized, in the adoption of a single order and in the sense of grand plastic unity. The transformation of the plan from a Greek cross to a Latin cross was, as is well known, imposed not only by liturgical reasons but also by tradition, which required that the ground already occupied by the primitive Constantinian Basilica not remain exposed; nor should the excessive horizontal development of the façade be attributed to Maderno, but rather to the practical impossibility of executing the two bell towers, which in the architect’s design (later taken up decades afterward by Bernini) would have introduced a vertical note of balance.
No less extensive was Maderno’s activity in civil architecture: in addition to work on the Palazzo del Quirinale and the Vatican Palace, he is responsible for the continuation of the Palazzo Aldobrandini (later Chigi) in Piazza Colonna; another palace for the same family opposite S. Luigi dei Francesi; that for Monsignor Varesi in Via Giulia; and the Palazzo Mattei di Giove (1598–1613), which, through the contrast between the severity of its façades and the elegant decoration of its courtyard, constitutes one of the most significant expressions of the transitional period between Counter-Reformation and Baroque. It seems that he intended to adopt more open forms for the Palazzo Barberini, but this was left at the outset of construction at his death and BORROMINI, FRANCESCO (v.) BENIGNI, (v.).
Finally, among his lesser works should be recalled the fountain in Piazza S. Pietro, to the right of the obelisk (later imitated by Bernini in the symmetrical one); the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola on the Gianicolo, completed in collaboration with G. Fontana; and that in Piazza S. Maria Maggiore, beside the column he himself raised after removing it from the Basilica of Maxentius and on which he placed the statue of the Virgin. — See pl. CXX.