RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g -reinfo 141 brackets, enclose a window. Typical Late Renaissance ornaments and geometric designs of various kinds, such as spheres on pedestals, top the entablature and pediment. Jesuit Churches in India Perhaps the most ingenious exploitation of the motif in India was by the Jesuit Fathers, whose building schemes form such an important part of the history of art of Colonial Iberian architecture in Asia and the Americas. It can be seen not only on the façade of the now vanished collegiate church of São Paulo in Velha Goa, but also in the Church of their College of São Paulo in Baçaim. The Arch of Triumph decoration of their Baçaim church is of great interest for my main argument because at least one art historian has noticed its structural similarities to that of retables. David M. Kowal's recent article implies that not only the façade of the Baçaim collegiate church, but also that of Velha Goa should be so considered and he describes them as "retable-like." Not all art historians would classify any of the church fronts in Portuguese India as retable-façades, including those of the Jesuits, although it is difficult to dismiss D. Kowal's claim for these two churches.13 The name of the church at Baçaim, built between 1561-1579, is actually Nome de Jesus (Name of Jesus). Its large Arch of Triumph indeed resembles those appearing in a number of Renaissance retable-façades in Southern Spain, such as that of the church of St. Elizabeth, in Seville. As far as the Arch of Triumph motif itself is concerned, the most important sixteenth-century example in India may be seen in the Church of São Paulo in Velha Goa. Moreover, one could take 1560, the year when building of the new college and church of São Paulo were initiated, as signalling a more ambitious phase in the Society of Jesus' architectural projects in India. When it was completed in 1572 São Paulo was not only the first major church built by the Jesuits in India, it was also one of the most masterful Portuguese churches in Asia, attesting to the importance that the Jesuit fathers attached to it.15 Its association with St. Francis Xavier ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 144 of Triumph theme itself has been incorporated here into a more sumptuous design and at first glance is not immediately apparent. Although it is not possible to discuss it in detail, one should at least take note of the articulation of the façade. Its luxuriously applied decoration is executed in a soft local stone and stands out from the brick wall, once coated in white plaster. It starts with Corinthian columns on three bays of the ground floor that connect to Doric and Corinthian pilasters in the two storeys above and a fanciful Mannerist Composite order with decorative shafts in the attic. But the overall design is highly compartmentalized by means of large buttresses framing the corners and central bay in the shape of classical brick pilasters rising on all storeys. However, in spite of similarities, one can see a marked difference to the churches the Jesuits has built previously. Quite novel are the Mannerist carvings now embellishing practically the whole design of the façade of the Bom Jesus. The rendition of the symbol of the Society of Jesus in the attic, inside an oculus framed by a Mannerist cartouche upheld by eight angels, as well as other unusual details, is typical of the Mannerist style (Fig.10). Started in 1601 the Collegiate Church of the Society in Diu is the second most important example of a new development in Jesuit churches in India. Its proper name is Espírito Santo, or Church of the Holy Spirit. The design of the front elevation basically reproduces that of the Bom Jesús, except that it has been greatly unified by the abolition of the third storey and the compartments created by the buttresses in that building (Figs. 11,12). In ornamental extravagance its carved white stucco decoration outdoes the Bom Jesús and it has been argued that this is partly due to the influence of Indian architecture. Both the influence of retables claimed by D. Kowal for the Jesuit portals showing arches of triumph in Velha Goa and Baçaim, as well as the decorative complexity of the fronts of the Bom Jesus and Espiritu Santo are new developments. They point the way towards the even more novel departures seen in the façade of the Church of Madre de Deus in Macao. Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 162 1993, p. 154. Morais, Carlos Alexandre de, Cronologia Geral da Índia Portuguesa, Lisbon-Macao, 1993. Ms. Amita Bairg, UNESCO heritage consultant on India, kindly provided number of churches and convents in 17th century Velha Goa. 10 Arches of Triumph appeared in church portals at the time in Andalusia, in Southern Spain. For Vandelvira's career and famous treatise on architecture, see Barbé-Coquelin de Lisle, Tratado de Arquitectura de Alonso de Vandelvira, 2 vols. Albacete, 1977. "V. Fraser. "Architecture and Imperialism in sixteenth-century Spanish America”, Art History, 9, No. 3, Sept. 1986, pp. 325-35. "The Architecture of conquest: building in the Viceroyalty of Peru, 1535-1633", 2 volumes, Ph.D. diss., Uni. of Essex, Colchester, 1984. 12 George Kubler's classic thesis on the plain style of Portuguese architecture forms the subject of his book, Portuguese Plain Architecture: Between Spices and Diamonds, 1521-1706, Middletown, Conn., Wesleyan University Press, 1972. For a recent discussion of this style, see Miguel Soromenhos' article, "Classicismo, italianismo e ‘estilo chão'. O ciclo filipino", in História da Arte Portuguesa, direcção Paulo Pereira, Volume 2, Lisbon, 1995, pp. 377-403. See in particular pp. 383-86. 13 David M. Kowal, "Innovation and Assimilation: The Jesuit Contribution to Architectural Development in Portuguese India", in The Jesuits, Culture, Sciences, And The Arts, 1540-1773, University of Toronto Press, 1999, pp. 482 and 488. It is somewhat ironic that D. Kowal uses the term "retable-like" for the portal decoration of the façade of São Paulo. Professor J.B. Bury dismissed an exact term in the first assessment of my MPhil thesis (see note 1) as not precise enough, one which I eventually gave up. 14 See flap of vol. 2, in Barbé-Coquelin de Lisle, op. cit, for illustration of the seldom reproduced portal of Saint Elizabeth Church. 15 Documenta Indica, (edited by Josef Wicki) Rome, “Monumenta Historica Soc. Iesu", 18 vols, 1948-1988. For São Paulo, see vol. 4, pp. 726-27; vol. 8, pp. 584-86; vol. 9, p. 491. For an interesting reconstruction of the site of Church and College see, Schurhammer, G., Francis Xavier, vol. 8, Jesuit Historical Institute, Rome, 1980, p. 457. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 163 - Mario T. Chico. "Algumas observações acerca da arquitectura da Companhia de Jesus no distrito de Goa: igrejas, fachada, planta e espaço interior", Garcia de Orta. Lisboa, número especial 1956, pp.257-72. See Professor Giorgio Bonsanti's elucidating article dealing mainly with St. Francis Xavier's mausoleum in the Bom Jesus, published in Velha Goa, exhibition catalogue of A. Martinelli's photos. Fundação Oriente, Macao. September 15, 2000. (Unnumbered). However, vid. D.Kowal, op. cit., p. 488, who states the Jesuit Domingo Fernandes, aided by J. Simão were architects of Bom Jesus. Also Documenta Indica, **For Charles Borromeo's Instructions, see E.C. Voelker, “Charles Borromeo's Instructiones Fabricae et Supellectilis Ecclesiasticae, 1577. A Translation with Commentary and Analysis". Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 1977. "L.E. McCall. "Early Jesuit Art in the Far East". Artibus Asiae, XI. Ancona, 1948. pp. 62-9. Y. Okamoto, The Namban Art of Japan, (translation by R.K. Jones of Namban Bijutsu. Tokyo, 1965), Weatherhill/Heibonsha, New York-Tokyo, 1972, pp. 99-103. See also more recently, Gauvin Bailey. "The Art of the Jesuit Missions in Japan in the Age of St. Francis Xavier and Alessandro Valignano”. lecture in the 450th Anniversary of St. Francis Xavier's Arrival in Japan. International Symposium '98, Sophia University 1998, pp.7-22. "Guillen-Nuñez, C., "Retablo and Imafronte: A Study of the Influence of the Retable on the Church-façade in Mexico and Peru", (unpublished M.A. dissertation), University of Penn., 1973. "H. Rodriguez-Camilloni. "The Retablo-Façade as Transparency: A Study of the Frontispiece of San Francisco, Lima", in Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas, 62, Mexico, 1991, pp. 111-22. Sylvie Deswarte, "Francisco de Hollanda et les Etudes Vitruviennes en Italie”, in A Introdução da Arte da Renascenca na Península Iberica, Coimbra, 1981, pp. 254-80. * Hugo-Brunt, op. cit., p. 11. Kubler and Soria, op. cit., p. 24. See Hugo-Brunt, op. cit., p.13, note 24. ================================================================================