NASONI, Nicola

(b. 1691 Siena, d. 1773 ?)

Italian architect and painter, active in Portugal. He was a painter who only found his true vocation. when he came to Porto. His main creation was the Dos Clérigos church in Porto (begun 1732). Nasoni’s style, which incorporates elements of Italian Rococo, was highly successful, and over the following decades he received a large number of commissions. These included the façade for Bom Jesus von Matosinhos (completed 1748) and the Palácio de Freixo, one of the many late Baroque country houses in the north of Portugal and in the Duoro Valley.

Exterior view

In northern Portugal, away from court life, a new individual school of architecture developed after 1725. The founder was Nicola Nasoni, a Sienese painter who only found his true vocation. when he came to Porto. His main creation was the Dos Cl�rigos church (begun 1732), an elliptical structure with a double staircase in front of the western elevation and with the typical single bell tower, attached here to the hospital wing, to the east. Apart from this unusual solution, the fa�ade decoration deviates completely from the grandiose expression of court art under Joao V. Garlands of flowers, vases, bands, and volutes are all present, with statues, papal insignia, and architectural set pieces decorating the two-storey frontage with window aperture. The result is a picturesque whole which is reminiscent of festival or theatre decorations.

The picture shows the bell tower.

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Exterior view

The picture shows the church (1750-61) and the steps (from 1777)

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