Milan Cathedral Like many of the most important Milanese architects before and after him, Ricchini was involved with the continuing work on the city’s cathedral. Shortly after his return from Rome in 1603, he presented to his patron, Cardinal Borromeo, his own designs for the unfinished façade. With the Cardinal’s support, Ricchini was appointed
capomastro of the cathedral in March 1605, under the architect Aurelio Trezzi (
fl. 1598–1616). In this capacity, Richini supervised the early stages of work on the façade to designs by
Pellegrino Tibaldi dating from the late 16th century, while continuing to propose variations of his own that were influenced by his recent experience of aedicular façades in Rome. Richini’s involvement in the debate over the façade won him enemies within Milan’s architectural establishment, but with the support of his powerful patron he became architect and
engineer to the cathedral in July 1631, after which he was chiefly occupied with work on the tomb of Charles Borromeo in the
crypt. Construction proceeded slowly on the façade, for which he completed the main interior portal to his own design, as well as external door and window surrounds to designs by Tibaldi. With the death of Cardinal Borromeo in 1631, however, support for Richini from within the cathedral chapter diminished, and he was dismissed in July 1638. Nevertheless, his expertise continued to be sought by the cathedral authorities, particularly after
Carlo Buzzi’s submission of his designs for a
Gothic façade in 1645. Richini’s early contributions to the scheme are virtually obscured by the Gothicisms with which the façade was finally completed in 1806–13 following orders given by
Napoleon.
San Giuseppe and other works Ricchini’s first independent commission was for the church of
San Giuseppe (1607–16) in Milan. Its plan conjoins two Greek crosses, providing a large domed nave and a smaller, vaulted choir. Such an arrangement constitutes a much simplified variation of
Lorenzo Binago’s church of
Sant'Alessandro in Zebedia (1601), Milan, which itself was influenced by the designs for
St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, by
Michelangelo and Bramante, and by earlier precedents in Lombard architecture. Nevertheless, Richini’s adaptation of Binago’s model within the tight confines of the site of San Giuseppe resulted in one of the earliest truly Baroque church spaces. The short arms of the nave (225 sq. m) appear to compress the space, as do the bevelled corners with their flanking three-quarter columns, thereby forcing the viewer’s attention either upwards to the dome of the nave or towards the high altar at the far side of the choir. Richini thus succeeded not only in retaining the domed centralized form and its symbolism so prized by
Renaissance architects, but also in implementing the traditional longitudinal focus on the high altar as dictated by the reforms of Charles Borromeo. A unity was achieved, moreover, through the use of the composite order in both the nave and choir, as well as through the adoption in both parts of the church of the same ground-plan. With this design, Richini effectively defined new territory for Baroque architects, which would be further explored by
Baldassare Longhena in
Venice (
Santa Maria della Salute; begun 1631),
Carlo Rainaldi in Rome (
Santa Maria in Campitelli; 1662–7) and
Filippo Juvarra in
Turin (the
Basilica of Superga; 1716–31), among others. The façade (1629–30) of San Giuseppe, an aedicular composition flanked by volutes and incorporating a number of Mannerist devices, is derived from the façade (1568–75) by
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and
Giacomo della Porta for the
Church of the Gesù in Rome, although the more immediate precedent was Maderno’s façade (1597–1603) of
Santa Susanna, also in Rome. The façade of San Giuseppe is skilfully integrated with the staged octagonal dome, the drum of which, set on a square base, is continuous on one plane with the ground storey of the façade. Such a design is similar to the church of
Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome, which was begun in 1502 by
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and completed in 1585 by
Giacomo del Duca, who built the drum and dome. The discord at Santa Maria di Loreto between the original base and the later drum was avoided at San Giuseppe by Richini’s use of the Roman aedicular composition. The continuous vertical articulation harmoniously links the lower and upper storeys, while the volutes mediate between the outer bays of the façade at ground level and the receding sides of the drum. This solution, with its tentative dynamic interplay between church and façade, sets San Giuseppe apart from contemporary examples of this type in Rome, for which the façade was still largely a virtually flat and independent element screening the church from the street. Only the next generation of High Baroque architects in Rome would succeed in accomplishing the demise of this aesthetic. At
Busto Arsizio, near Milan, Richini began work in 1607 on the basilica of
Church of Saint John the Baptist. Many of the churches designed by Richini after 1611, the year of his admission to the Milanese College of Architects and Engineers, have been destroyed or remodelled or were completed by other architects after his death; thus, while he was one of the most prolific of northern Italian architects, it is difficult to make an accurate assessment of his contribution to the Baroque. What is known of his projects is derived mainly from surviving fragments, including the elaborate gateway of the Seminario Maggiore () in Milan, where
caryatids representing the Christian virtues support a pediment surmounted by a low attic bearing the Borromeo arms. His work is also known from surviving drawings (Milan,
Sforza Castle), which include many projects for architectural ephemera. Richini worked also for the
Collegio Borromeo in
Pavia and the
Certosa di Pavia (1625). He designed the Altar of Our Lady of the Assumption in the
Como Cathedral, a work that lasted several decades and was completed in 1686. == Secular works ==