The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (102 page)

Churrigueresque
.

Term applied to an extravagant style of architecture and ornament popular in Spain (and also Latin America) in the 18th cent. and sometimes used more loosely to refer to the
Rococo
period as a whole in Spanish architecture. It is named after the Churriguera family of architects and sculptors, who were active mainly in Seville. The most important member of the family was José Benito (1665–1725), whose work is well represented by the
retable
(1693–1700) of the church of San Esteban in Salamanca, an important early example of the style, full of lavishly decorated barley-sugar columns. It sill retains a sense of architectural solidity, however, and is restrained compared with later manifestations of the style, in which surface ornament runs riot to such a degree that the underlying structure is hidden. To
Neoclassical
taste the Churrigueresque style represented the last word in decadence and it died out completely in the last quarter of the 18th cent.

 
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(1630–1700).
English sculptor of Danish birth. He arrived in England before the Restoration in 1660, probably via Amsterdam, and worked for John Stone , son of Nicholas
Stone
. His first important work was the large
relief
(1674) on the base of the Monument erected in memory of the Great Fire of London (1666). Other works in London included the dramatic figures of
Raving
and
Melancholy Madness
(
c.
1675) for the gate of old Bedlam Hospital (now in the Bethlem Royal Hospital Museum, Beckenham). Much of his later career was taken up with decorative sculpture, notably for Sir Christopher Wren at Hampton Court and St Paul's Cathedral. With the exception of the figures of
Raving
and
Melancholy Madness
, which are powerful and original pieces, and the dignified and moving tomb of Thomas Sackville at Withyham, Sussex (1677), Cibber's work is usually competent but uninspired; it is of interest, however, in reflecting
Baroque
influence (still unusual in England at this time) from Italy (where Cibber is said to have studied early in his career) and also from the Netherlands. He was the father of Colley Cibber (1671–1757), the actor-manager and dramatist.

 
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ciborium
.

A term applied to both a liturgical vessel used for holding the consecrated Host and an altar canopy supported on columns, popular particularly in Italy in the
Romanesque
and
Gothic
periods. In the latter sense the word is not easily distinguished from
baldacchino
.

 
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(1628–1719).
Bolognese painter. He was a pupil of
Albani
, but his style is closer to that of Guido
Reni
and he became the main force in upholding the tradition of Bolognese classicism into the 18th cent. In 1711 he became the first president of the Accademia Clementina in Bologna.

 
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(1706–70).
Italian historical, religious, and decorative painter, active mainly in and around Verona. He was the leading artist of his period there, working in an elegantly academic style.

 
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(1559–1613).
Florentine painter, architect, and poet. A pupil of Alessandro
Allori
, he was the outstanding Florentine painter of his generation and his work represents the complex stylistic cross-currents in the period of transition from
Mannerism
to
Baroque
. His sensuous colour and handling show the influence of
Barocci
,
Correggio
, and the art of Venice, and his dramatic handling of light and shade that of
Caravaggio
, especially after he moved to Rome in 1604 (
Ecce Homo
, Pitti, Florence, 1606).