The Schmuzers and the Rococo Transformation of Mediaeval Churches in Bavaria

Abstract

There are instances in many periods of the transformation of older churches by drastic remodeling or recasing of their exteriors or interiors. These are sometimes pregnant examples of stylistic change. In its early development, even at its initiation, a new style may be markedly influenced by the problems imposed by the preexisting physical structure. As regards exteriors, one thinks of Alberti's Tempio Malatestiano at Rimini. There the earlier mediaeval walls were entirely hidden by new front and side facades that all but adumbrated the High Renaissance more than a generation avant la lettre. In the preceding century the transformation of the Norman choir in Gloucester cathedral by a reticulated grid of molded mullions and transoms, covering evenly both the old broad piers and the openings between, certainly marked a major advance in the early development of the Perpendicular.