Estipite: Difference between revisions

The '''estipite''' column is a type of [[pilaster]] typical of the [[Churrigueresque]] Baroque style of Spain and Spanish America used in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web|title=ESTÍPITE|url=http://www.mexicanarchitecture.org/index.php?q=estipite|website=Mexican Architecture|publisher=mexicanarchitecture.org|access-date=2 August 2016}}{{vague|date=February 2023}}</ref> In the late Baroque period, many classical architectural elements lost their simple shapes and became increasingly complex, offering variety of forms and exuberant decoration.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jerónimo de Balbás |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeronimo-de-Balbas#ref1042791 |access-date=4 October 2018 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> Therefore, the column has the shape of an inverted cone or obelisk. The shaft is always wider in its middle part than the base and capital.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Gabrielle G. |last2=Pierce |first2=Donna |title=Cambios: The Spirit of Transformation in Spanish Colonial Art |date=1992|isbn=978-08263140860-8263-1408-6 |publisher=Santa Barbara Museum of Art in collaboration with the University of New Mexico Press |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlRdAAAAMAAJ&q=estipite |access-date=4 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Spanish Architecture in the Baroque Period|work=Boundless Art History|date= 26 May 2016|url=https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/the-baroque-period-27/architecture-of-the-baroque-period-901/spanish-architecture-in-the-baroque-period-640-5421/|quote=Spanish Baroque is a strand of Baroque architecture that evolved in Spain and its provinces and former colonies, in the late 17th century.|publisher=boundless.com|access-date=2 August 2016}}</ref> The column combines features of both late [[Baroque]] and [[Mannerist]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baird, Jr.|first1=Joseph Armstrong|title=The Churches of Mexico, 1530-1810|date=1962|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles|page=38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3LVQoGVBFToC&q=architecture+-+Estipite&pg=PA38|access-date=2 August 2016}}</ref> It was widely used between 1720 and 1780. <ref name=":2"Goss1969>{{Citecite journalthesis |lastlast1=Goss |firstfirst1=Robert Carl |date=1969 |title=The principal retable of the church of San Xavier del Bac |urldate=1969 |hdl=https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/566292 |language=enhdl-USaccess=free }}</ref>

The shape of the estipite has a narrow base and the shaft is in the shape of an inverted obelisk. <ref name=":0"Kornegay1996>{{cite journal |last1=Kornegay, |first1=Paula B. “The|title=The Altar Screens of an Anonymous Artist in Northern New Spain: The Laguna Santero.” ''|journal=Journal of the Southwest'' 38,|date=1996 no.|volume=38 |issue=1 (1996): |pages=63–79. <nowiki>http://www.|jstor.org/stable/=40169967</nowiki>. }}</ref> This is a variation to previous uses of the pilaster which deviates from classical architecture with its form. In classical architecture, pilasters give the impression that they have a load bearing function. However, due to the obelisk shape of the estipite, this tradition is disrupted.<ref name=":1"Moffitt1984>{{Citecite journal |lastlast1=Moffitt |firstfirst1=John F. |datetitle=1984El Sagrario Metropolitano, Wendel Dietterlin, and the estipite: observations on Mannerism and Neoplateresque architectural style in 18th-Century Mexican ecclesiastical facades |trans-title= El Sagrario Metropolitano, Wendel Dietterlin, and the estipite: observations on Mannerism and Neoplateresque architectural style in 18th-Century Mexican ecclesiastical facades |urllanguage=https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/12859 |journal=Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA|date=1984 |issue=50 |pages=325–348 |issnhdl=021010324/12859 |hdl-9573access=free }}</ref> The estipite is not supposed to look solid, instead be dynamic and create movement. Creating an apparent lightness to the structure.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Goss |first=Robert Carl |date=1969 |title=The principal retable of the church of San Xavier del Bac |url=https:Goss1969//repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/566292 |language=en-US}}</ref>

“A supporting member, square or rectangular in section, and formed of multiple elements: pyramids and truncated prisms, parallelepipeds, superimposed foliage, medallions, garlands, bouquets, festoons. The ornament is all vegetable, applied to geometric forms”.<ref name=":22" Goss1969/>

[[File:Portada_Templo_de_Nuestra_Señora_del_Rosario.jpg|thumb|Estipite on main portal of Portada [[Templo de Nuestra Señora del Rosario]]]]

The capitals usually highlight the line of a broken cornice and are unabridged. Or may be connected to another estipite by a horizontal entablature.<ref name=":332">{{Cite web |last=agustink |date=2020-05-19 |title=THEThe CALIFORNIACalifornia BUILDINGBuilding: A CASECase OFOf THEThe MISUNDERSTOODMisunderstood BAROQUEBaroque ANDAnd THEThe HISTORYHistory OFOf THEThe SANSan DIEGODiego MUSEUMMuseum/ MUSEUMMuseum OFOf MANMan by Richard W. Amero [PDF] |url=https://www.presenticabalboaparkhistory.comnet/doc/11804652/the-california-building-a-case-of-the-misunderstood-baroque-and-thechapter9.pdf |access-date=20222024-1106-1022 |website=Presenticabalboa Park History |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021002251/https://www.balboaparkhistory.net/chapter9.pdf|archive-date=2023-10-21|url-status=live}}</ref> The capital for esiplite pilasters are typically Corinthian .<ref name=":0" Kornegay1996/>. There are deviations to this. For example, decorations of vegetation and cherub heads take the place of the Corinthian capital in Capilla del Sagrario for the Cathedral of Segovia by Jeronimo de Balbas.<ref name=":22" Goss1969/>

[[File:Estípites_del_Templo_de_San_Francisco_Acatepec_1.jpg|thumb|Estípites from [[Church of San Francisco Acatepec|Templo de San Francisco Acatepec]]]]

Similar to Baroque styling with the use of double columns, the double estipites is a feature in some Churrigueresque buildings.<ref name=":332" />

Estipies were utilized between Ultra-Baroque and the rise of Neo-Classical styles. Therefore, even though estipites are distinct in style, they are sometimes used alongside Solomonic and classical columns. A good example of this is San Francisco Acatepec in Puebla.<ref name=":0" Kornegay1996/>

In Richard W. Amero's thesis, ''The California Building: A Case Of The Misunderstood Baroque'', he claims that Michelangelo is the first one to use an estipite pilaster in the [[Laurentian Library]] (1526).<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |last=agustink |date=2020-05-19 |title=THE CALIFORNIA BUILDING: A CASE OF THE MISUNDERSTOOD BAROQUE AND THE HISTORY OF THE SAN DIEGO MUSEUM/ MUSEUM OF MAN by Richard W. Amero [PDF] |url=https://www.presentica.com/doc/11804652/the-california-building-a-case-of-the-misunderstood-baroque-and-the |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Presentica |language=en}}</ref> Meanwhile, John F Moffitt states in his thesis ''El Sagrario Metropolitano, Wendel Dietterlin, and The Estipite'' that [[Juan de Arfe y Villafane]] could have been the first known person to mention the estipite. This is seen in Arfe’sArfe's, ''Description de la traza de la custodia de la Iglesia de Sevilla'' (1587).<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Moffitt |first=John F. |date=1984 |title=El Sagrario Metropolitano, Wendel Dietterlin, and the estipite: observations on Mannerism and Neoplateresque architectural style in 18th-Century Mexican ecclesiastical facades |url=https:Moffitt1984//uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/12859 |journal=Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA |issue=50 |pages=325–348 |issn=0210-9573}}</ref> Therefore, the origins of the estipite are debated among scholars.

The architect known for making estipites popular is [[José Benito de Churriguera|Jose Benito de Churriguera]], who has the Churrigueresque style named after him. His first works with estipites were Capilla del Sagrario for the [[Segovia Cathedral]] (1690) and [[Convento de San Esteban, Salamanca]] (1693). [[Jerónimo de Balbás|Jeronimo de Balbas]] was a spanishSpanish architect who moved to Mexico (New Spain) in 1717, and introduced the new world to estipites. His work Retablo de los Reyes in the [[Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral]] (1718-371718–37)  was the first building to showcase estipites in the New World. The era of estipites only lasted till 1783 with the establishment of [[Academy of San Carlos|Academia de San Carlos]], an architecture school in New Spain. However, in this short period of time 1736, the completion of Retablo de los Reyes, till 1783, many buildings in New Spain (Mexico) had facades or alters with estipites.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal |last=Goss |first=Robert Carl |date=1969 |title=The principal retable of the church of San Xavier del Bac |url=https:Goss1969//repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/566292 |language=en-US}}</ref> Due to the decline in popularity for the estipite pilasters, [[Solomonic column|Solomonic]] and [[Classical order|Classical columns]] were revived throughout Spain and New Spain. This leadled to many estipite-style monuments to be destroyed or replaced with classical columns in the last decades of the 1800s.<ref>{{cite namejournal |last1=":02">Kornegay, |first1=Paula B. “The|title=The Altar Screens of an Anonymous Artist in Northern New Spain: The Laguna Santero.” ''|journal=Journal of the Southwest'' |date=1996 |volume=38, no. |issue=1 (1996): |pages=63–79. <nowiki>http://www.|jstor.org/stable/=40169967</nowiki>. }}</ref>

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