APRIL 2006 » book review

Roses and Domes

Visions of Heaven: The Dome In European Architecture
by David Stephenson
Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY; 2005
192 pp.; hardcover; 125 color illus.; $60
ISBN 1-56898-549-59

The Rose Window: Splendor & Symbol
by Painton Cowen
Thames & Hudson, Inc., New York, NY; W.W. Norton, New York, NY, dist.; 2005
276 pp.; hardcover; 301 color illus., 80 b&w illus.; $85
ISBN 0-500-51174-8

Reviewed by Nicole V. Gagné

Two oversized books published in 2005 may seem at first glance to be more intended for the coffee table than for the shelves of architects or historians. But a perusal of Visions of Heaven: The Dome In European Architecture by David Stephenson and The Rose Window: Splendor & Symbol by Painton Cowen reveals that these books provide a thoughtful understanding of historic trends and spiritual aspirations in Western architecture – along with a seemingly endless parade of spectacular photographs. Any reader interested in architectural design, art history or Western religion will be captivated by these impressive works.

Photographer Stephenson has long been respected for his sense of the monumental, especially when dealing with nature, from cloudscapes to the icy wastes of Antarctica. With Visions of Heaven, he turns his attention to manmade monuments: the infinite imaginative possibilities of European dome design. Shrewdly, Stephenson underscores the epic variety of domes by photographing all of them the same way: looking straight up from the floor. This approach isolates the individual beauty and character of each dome while de-emphasizing its convex shape.

Indeed, many of the pictures, when examined out of context, barely look architectural at all. Stephenson's images of simpler domes in particular, such as the late-15th-century San Giorgio Maggiore of Venice, designed by the celebrated Andrea Palladio, are startling for their flat minimalist purity. Totally different – yet equally non-architectural in appearance – are his pictures of the extraordinary Islamic domes of the Alahambra in Granada, composed of thousands of stalactite squinches; their crystalline symmetries suggest nothing so much as vastly magnified photos of a grain of salt.

Stephenson's sensitive approach transforms what could have been a repetitious survey into a series of constant surprises and delights. There are domes richly illustrated with Christian imagery, such as the 14th-century Battistero in Padua, illuminated by Giusto de'Menabuoi's dense fresco of Jesus ringed by innumerable saints, or the 18th-century St. Peter and Paul in Steinhausen, Switzerland, with Johann Baptist Zimmermann's charming pastoral fresco. Others shun all pictorial effects and create an intense atmosphere of spiritual shelter and focus. Some of these are austere and forbidding, like the granitic 16th-century Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial; others are bright and clear, such as the Czech Chapel of St. Jan Nepomuk, an 18th-century "baroque Gothic" design by Jan Santini-Aichel, with its abstracted five-pointed star.

Still other designs introduce elements of light from windows set into the dome, notably the glorious cupola of the Duomo in Parma (also graced with a magnificent spiraling 16th-century fresco by Antonio Corregio), or the masterful Cappella Della Visitazione near Carignano, designed by Bernardo Vittone in the 18th century, in which sunlight plays among the deftly interwoven structural members. Vittone's contemporary, architect Antonio Galli Bibiena, had his cake and ate it too with the inspired ingenuity of his dome for Santa Maria Assumpta in another Italian town, Sabbionetta. His spectacular pierced-fretwork dome, which appears to be open to the blue sky and white clouds above, is a brilliant trompe l'oeil illusion, achieved by nesting the fretwork dome inside an outer dome, the interior of which was painted to resemble the sky.

Although somewhat light on text, Visions of Heaven includes a helpful and intelligent essay on the history of European dome design by art historian Victoria Hammond, which is keyed in to the major illustrations of the book. Also helpful was the decision to organize the photos by era: Classical, Byzantine, Islamic, Romanesque and Gothic form the first chapter; followed by the Renaissance; the Baroque in Southern and Western Europe; the Baroque and Rococo in Central and Eastern Europe; and the 19th Century.

A more thorough textual survey comes from writer/photographer Painton Cowen, whose affinity for stained glasswork resulted in such previous books as A Guide to Stained Glass in Britain (1985) and Six Days: The Making of the Chester Cathedral Creation Window (2005). A thoughtful and instructive author, Cowen has also provided The Rose Window with a detailed account of the development of this perennial religious symbol, from its first stirrings in oculus designs of the 6th century. The breakthrough into formal rose-window construction arises in France by the 12th century, and quickly spreads over the next 200 years through England, Italy, Spain and Germany; a number of innovations occurred along the way including the emergence of the Curvilinear style in England and the Flamboyant style in France.

Interestingly, the enthusiasm for rose windows managed to outlast the predominance of the Gothic architectural style that had inspired their creation, and inventive designs continued during the Renaissance. Not until the 18th century did the rose window suffer something of an eclipse, but with the Gothic Revival of the 19th century, roses bloomed once again, particularly in England with such noteworthy designers as Sir Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. Over the 20th century, the rose window continued to thrive in both Europe and the United States, albeit with increasing abstractions of design and imagery, with artists such as Henri Matisse and Charles J. Connick producing important and innovative designs.

Cowen's study also includes a thoughtful consideration of the rose window's symbolism and its interpretations over the centuries in "Cycles of Meaning: Iconography and Enlightenment." It ranges from St. Augustine's notion of the circle as "comparable to virtue because of the conformity and concordance of its essentials," to current multi-cultural concepts of the rose window as an intuitive variation on mandala or meditation diagrams. The author also offers a chapter that analyzes the geometry behind the design of these window as well as their construction and restoration techniques.

Above all, his book is a treasure trove for its hundreds of dazzling full-color photos of these windows, with detailed examinations of such masterpieces as the rose windows of the cathedrals at Chartres, Reims, Lausanne, Florence and Paris. The book is replete with large spreads that communicate a sense of the actual windows' scale and monumentality, as well as keenly observed detail shots that highlight their rich imagery and imaginative stylizations. The Rose Window combines an historian's consideration of context and influence with an artist's sense of wonder at brilliant aesthetic achievements created over the centuries. This subject could be served by no better approach, and Cowen's study is an indispensable contribution to the field. Much the same can be said of Visions of Heaven, despite its reliance on images over words. Together, these books will make any coffee table into the center of the room, and any home library into a first-rate research facility for these magnificent yet under-appreciated aspects of Western architecture. TB

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