Il principio marino del barocco. Sensualità, onirismo, provocazione

Abstract

The essay aims to overcome the contradiction between the theory of Wölfflin and that of D’Ors, trying to reconcile the history of art and aesthetics. The contrast between the rigor of a formal principle and the sensitivity of a material principle is overcome by means by a principle that is specifically marine and its ambivalence (source of life and death; instrument of connection and dissociation; principle of gentleness and aggression). Finally, the essay mentions the art of modeling, in which the clay is formed through the deformation and in which a rich vegetation develops from the formless. Through Bachelard, the essay develops a paradoxical analogy with the art of the blacksmith; this analogy is unexpectedly confirmed in the curves caressing the exuberant iron decoration, typical of Sicilian Baroque.

Keywords

• baroque aesthetics
• architectural theory
• form
• sicilian baroque