Maderno, Carlo

(1556-1629)

   Architect from Capolago, now Switzerland, who was active in Rome where he arrived in c. 1576. There Maderno worked for his uncle, Domenico Fontana, Pope Sixtus V's favored architect. In 1594, Fontana moved to Naples and Maderno became an independent master. His façade for the Church of Santa Susanna, Rome, he created in 1597-1603, a design based on Giacomo da Vignola's II Gesù (1568-1584) with a gradual crescendo from the lateral bays to the central portal aimed at placing all focus on the entrance. In 1602, Maderno also designed the Water Theater in the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini. In the following year, he was appointed the official architect of St. Peter's and, in 1606-1612, he worked on the conversion of the structure into a longitudinal basilica and added a new façade. In 1628-1633, Maderno worked for the Barberini on the design of their palazzo, his most important secular commission. Maderno died in 1629, and the Palazzo Barberini was completed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.