Renaissance architecture

• 1. Origins And Early Renaissance

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  In the early 15th century, a brick dome began to rise over Florence Cathedral. This structure had been left unroofed by Arnolfo di Cambio in the 14th century. Filippo Brunelleschi, born in 1377 and dying in 1446, designed this daring engineering feat. He studied the ruins of ancient Rome to find rules that governed one's way of seeing regular structures. The Pantheon offered a solution with its single-shell concrete dome and coffering. Brunelleschi used eight large ribs and sixteen internal ones to hold a brick shell arranged in a herringbone manner. His work marked the beginning of a conscious revival of classical Greek and Roman thought. Wealthy patrons like Cosimo de' Medici supported his architectural experiments. The Basilica of San Lorenzo followed shortly after, designed around 1425. It featured a modular plan where each portion was a multiple of the square bay of the aisle. This formula controlled vertical dimensions as well. The church Santo Spirito, built in 1428, shared these characteristics. Both buildings demonstrated a new philosophy based on symmetry and careful proportion.

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• 2. High Renaissance And Mannerism

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  Donato Bramante, born in Urbino in 1444, turned from painting to architecture. He found patronage under Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, producing buildings over twenty years. After the fall of Milan to the French in 1499, he traveled to Rome. There he created the Tempietto in the Cloister of San Pietro in Montorio. This small circular temple marks the spot where St Peter was martyred. The building adapts the style apparent in the remains of the Temple of Vesta. In 1506, his design for Pope Julius II's rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica was selected. Michelangelo Buonarroti took over the project in 1546. He reverted to Bramante's Greek-cross plan and redesigned the piers and walls. His dome used two masonry shells crowned by a massive roof lantern supported on ribs. The exterior featured a giant order defining every external bay held together by an unbroken cornice. Michelangelo also designed the vestibule of the Laurentian Library in Florence. It is tall, taller than it is wide, and crowded by a large staircase pouring out like lava. This space reveals Mannerism in its most sublime architectural form. Giulio Romano worked for Federico II Gonzaga at Mantua on the Palazzo Te between 1524 and 1534. He used illusionistic effects and features that seemed somewhat disproportionate or out of alignment.

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• 3. Architectural Theory And Patronage

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  Leon Battista Alberti published On the Subject of Building in 1450. This treatise depended on Vitruvius's De architectura, discovered in 1414 in a Swiss library. Sebastiano Serlio produced Regole generali d'architettura with the first volume appearing in Venice in 1537. Andrea Palladio published I quattro libri dell'architettura in Venice in 1570. These books were intended to be read by patrons as well as architects. Wealthy families like the Medici of Florence gathered around them people of learning and ability. They promoted skills and created employment for talented artists. The Palazzo Rucellai in Florence received its classical orders of columns applied to three levels between 1446 and 1451. Alberti completed the design for Santa Maria Novella in 1456 though work finished in 1470. He linked lower roofs of aisles to the nave using two large scrolls. This became a standard Renaissance device for solving roof height problems. Cosimo de' Medici commissioned Michelozzo to design the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in 1444. The building respected Florentine liking for rusticated stone without classical column orders.

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• 4. Spread Across Europe

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  The 16th century saw economic and political ascendancy of France, Spain, and Portugal. Signs of Renaissance architectural style began to appear outside Italy after about 1500. Inigo Jones studied architecture in Italy where the influence of Palladio was strong. He returned to England to design the Queen's House at Greenwich in 1616. The Banqueting House at Whitehall followed three years later. These works had clean lines and symmetry revolutionary in a country still enamoured with mullion windows. Philibert de l'Orme worked in France while Juan Bautista de Toledo served in Spain. Hans Vredeman de Vries published books with engraved illustrations demonstrating plans in the Netherlands. The Château d'Amboise appeared in the Loire Valley as an early example. St Michael's Church in Munich was built by William V, Duke of Bavaria between 1583 and 1597. It was inspired by the Church of the Gesù in Rome. In Poland, Wawel Castle Courtyard exemplified the first period of Renaissance architecture designed by Italian architects like Francesco Fiorentino. The Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania showed Italian influences during the reign of Sigismund I the Old.

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• 5. Key Structural Innovations

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  Renaissance buildings featured square symmetrical appearances based on a module. Within a church, the module often equaled the width of an aisle. Semicircular arches replaced Gothic pointed arches which could be extended upwards or flattened. Brunelleschi observed that a semi-circular arch is exactly twice as wide as it is high. This fixed proportion occurred nowhere in Gothic architecture. Vaults did not have ribs but were semi-circular or segmental on a square plan. The barrel vault returned to architectural vocabulary at St Andrea in Mantua. Domes became indispensable elements visible from the exterior or roofing smaller spaces internally. Palladio used the Pantheon's temple-like portico for his Villa Capra known as La Rotonda. Columns and pilasters formed integrated systems supporting arcades or set against walls as decoration. Facades were symmetrical around their vertical axis surmounted by pediments organized by pilasters. Windows paired within semi-circular arches had triangular or segmental pediments used alternately. External walls constructed of brick faced with stone in highly finished ashlar masonry laid in straight courses. Corners emphasized by rusticated quoins created visual weight against smooth pink-washed walls.

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