A sweeping two-volume exploration of the life and work of the Italian architect Francesco Borromini

One of the greatest and most idiosyncratic architects of the Roman Baroque, Francesco Borromini (1599–1667), is above all remembered for his major commissions, such as San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, the Oratorio dei Filippini, Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, and Sant’Agnese in Agone—spectacular buildings that brilliantly shaped the fabric of the Counter-Reformation city. Over two volumes, Joseph Connors outlines Borromini’s life and buildings, from his youth and early Roman work, his early maturity, his rise to fame, and his mature work, under the patronage of a succession of powerful popes. Connors considers the early biographies of Borromini, the fate of his drawings, reactions to his work, and revivals in his reputation. Themes of the architect and society in seventeenth-century Rome are organized around the architect’s collections of drawings, models, books, natural wonders, antiquities, and his friendships.
 
This elegant and scholarly monograph will form the fundamental basis of all future scholarship in the field. Thoroughly illustrated with archival material and new photography, the book also includes specially commissioned photography by Edward Burtynsky, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading photographers and honoured as Master of Photography at Photo London in 2018, and awarded in 2022 the Outstanding Contribution to Photography by the World Photography Organisation.