CANEVALE, Isidore
(b. 1730, Vincennes, d. 1786, Wien)

Exterior view

1760-77
Photo
Cathedral, Vác

In Canevale's design for the façade of the cathedral in Vác architectural elements are set against a windowless wall. The façade was planned as the focus of a square which was to be framed by colonnades in the manner of St. Peter's in Rome. The side façades of the church are indeed noticeably small and show a marked resemblance to the church of Sant'Anderea in Mantua by Leon Battista Alberti.

In the interior, too, Canevale continued the íBaroque tradition magnificently represented by Franz Anton Maulbertsch's monumental ceiling fresco.

The cathedral in Vác served as a model for other Hungarian churches, such as the cathedrals at Esztergom, Eger, and Szombathely, all of which eagerly sought to express a monumental Neoclassical style, though in a less consistent fashion.