THE BAROQUE IN ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES C. I6OO-C. 1760

69. GIANLORENZO BERNINI: THE ROYAL STAIRCASE (SCALA REGIA) IN THE VATICAN
PALACE, ROME, A 1665.
Now this decorative creed could leave no room in the minds of
patrons and artists of the Baroque to be squeamish about honesty
in the use of materials. As long as the effect was attained, what could
it matter whether you attained it with marble or with stucco, with
gold or with tin, with a real bridge or a sham bridge such as we find
sometimes in English parks ? Optical illusion is in fact (to Ruskin's
grave displeasure) amongst the most characteristic devices of Baroque
architecture. Bernini's Royal Staircase, die Scald Regia in the
Vatican Palace (pi. txvn and fig. 69), illustrates this at its most
suggestive. It was built during the same sixties which saw Borro-
mini's facade of S. Carlo rise from the ground and the colonnades
in front of St Peter's (pi. ixnr). As they are a masterpiece of stage
setting, seemingly raising the height and weight of Maderna's
facade, and at the same time making the loggia of the Papal bene-
dictions and the Porta Santa visible to everybody amongst the tens
of thousands who would stand in the forecourt on the occasion
of great celebrations, so is the Scala Regia designed with a supreme
knowledge of scenic effects. It is the main entrance to the palace.
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