Comprehension check-up

Exercise 1. Choose synonyms or antonyms to the following words:

Highest (lowest, uppermost, tallest, lowermost, middle, topmost, best, worst);

Front (facade, back, elevation, rear part, side, the exterior face of a building);

Initially (at the beginning, at the end, originally, finally);

Renaissance (revival, decadence, rebirth, Trecento, degradation, Quattrocento, cinquecento, architectural style).

Exercise 2. Prove each statement with the sentences, taken from text A.:

1. The Renaissance is claimed to have re-initiated classical detail.

2. It was the Renaissance that proved to bring greatness to architecture.

3. It is stated thet Brunelleschi was the initiator of the Renaissance.

4. The Renaissance in Europe countries appeared to differ greatly from the Italian Renaissance.

5. St.Peter’s Cathedral in Rome is assumed to present the Cinquento style or High Renaissance.

Exercise 3. Put questions to the sentences, give the answers to them:

1. (Коли, де і як) did the Renaissance begin to develop?

2. (Які) architectural works had the Renaissance produced?

3. (Хто) was the first to elaborate and show the Renaissance system of perspective?

4. (Як) can the Italian Renaissance be classified?

5. (Який) cathedral in Rome represents the Cinquecento?

6. (Як) is St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome composed?

7. (Що) can be said about the Renaissance in Russia?

8. (Коли та як) did the Italian Renaissance come to the British Isles?

9. (Які) important works of architecture is Inigo Jones known to have designed and built?

10. Can you prove that Ínigo Jones is to architecture what Shakespeare is to literature’?

Exercise 4. Translate the following sentences, pay attention to the translation of the Infinitive, it can perform different functions in the sentences:

1. To build correctly is the essence of architecture.

2. To build is to provide shelter.

3. The would-be architects promised to prepare their esquisses in time.

4. Art Nouveau was an early attempt to break away from eclecticism.

5. The architects meet to discuss common problems.

Exercise 5. Read and translate text B, discuss it with your classmates, use the following information to enlarge the theme:

1. In France the Baroque had been dark and ponderous.

2. The architects who created the Baroque in Rome were Gialorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Francesco Borromini (1599-1667), Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669).

3. The Rococo shared certain features with the Baroque-complexity of forms, fusion of the arts and illusionism.

4. Rastrelli”s masterpieces are the Great Palace, Tsarskoye Selo(1749-1756) and the Winter Palace, St. Pitersburg(1754-1762), both with immensely long facades and both painted turquoise-blue, with white trim.

Text b. Baroque and Rococo

The Baroque is a European style of architecture and decoration. The word “baroque” means irregular or imperfect, especially with reference to pearls. Being a reaction against Palladian formality, the Baroque developed in the 17^th century in Italy from late Renaissance and Mannerist forms. The term applies fully to the 17^th century in Italy and to the 17^th part of the 18^th centuries in Spain, Germany, and Austria, but with limitations to the 17^th century in France (Le Vau, Versailles), the 18^th century in Italy (Fontana, Juvarra), and the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries in England (Wren, Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh, Archer).

The Baroque style is characterized by spatially complex compositions, interpenetration of oval spaces, curved surfaces, and conspicuous use of decoration (broken pediments, paired or coupled columns or pilasters), sculpture and colour. There was an exuberant profusion of motifs – festoons of flowers and fruits, masks, scrolls, wreaths, and trophies of weapons. Baroque architects exploited effects of illusionism and made one art imitate the methods of the other. Sculptors introduced colour into their works in the spirit of a painter, architects used sculpture to support the members of a building and painters decorated the walls and vaults of churches with false architectural perspectives. The Baroque culminated in the churches, monasteries and places of southern Germany and Austria in the early 18^th century. The style prevailing in the restrained architectural climate of England can be called Baroque classicism, since the swelling forms of Baroque plans and elevations were never favoured in England.

The Rococo is assumed to have been the late phase of the Baroque, primarily French in origin. This style was first inspired by the shell-encrusted artificial fountains and grottoes at Versailles, which were imitated in parks and gardens in the early 18^th century. The Rococo is represented by profuse, asymmetrical, often semi-abstract ornamentation and lightness of colour and weight, as opposed to Baroque grandeur. One can find an exuberant intermingling of shells, C- and S-scrolls, rocks, seaweed, ribbons, and carving, and irregular acanthus foliation. The fashion of employing Chinese ornamentation in the 18^th century Rococo design was called Chinoiserie. The Rococo spread throughout Europe and reached England in the mid 18^th century, though some art historians think that England has no Rococo apart from occasional interiors. In Russia the then Indian style brilliantly adapted by Bartolommeo Rastrelli to the needs of the nobility and the Orthodox Church may be termed Russian Baroque.

Exercise 6. Prepare a report on one of the styles discussed above, reproduce it in the class. The following word combination may be of use to you:

1. The subject of my discussion...

2. It is important to say that ...

3. If I am not mistaken...

4. It is worth while mentioning...

5. Now I am coming to speak about...

6. It is generally said that...

7. In my opinion...

8. I think that ...

9. I want to draw your attention to...

10. A far as I know...

11. In conclusion I want to say...

12. To all this must be added...

13. Now I am going to sum up what has been said...

14. I mean to say that...