Fernando de Casas Novoa was a Spanish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was the chief representative of

Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

in Galicia. In 1711 he succeeded his teacher, Brother Gabriel Casas, head of the works of the

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

of the cathedral of Lugo, completed in 1714.

Background

In this work and in the convents of the Capuchins in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

and Santiago Dominican Belvis of classical solutions adopted, inspired by the architecture of the sixteenth century. But from 1725 evolved into the purest baroque and vibrant are his masterpieces: the Chapel of Our Lady of the Big Eye in the cathedral of Lugo, and, above all, the facade of Obradoiro, the cathedral

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

, in which movement, decoration and buoyancy effects create flavorful Baroque.

References

18th-century Spanish architects Spanish Baroque architects Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{Spain-architect-stub