BRAMANTE, Donato

The Sforzas decided to safeguard the treasure in the keep of the Rocchetta, the most impregnable part of the Castello Sforzesco. The treasure room, which today houses the Trivulziana Library, still conserves part of a decoration commissioned by Ludovico il Moro. The most ambitious of Bramante’s wall paintings, the so-called Argus (c. 1490-93), is here. The elegantly posed, semi-nude hero stands at the foot of a tunnel-like flight of steps upon a kind of balcony of striking illusionism, consisting of a pair of superimposed pedestals supported upon corbels, framing a recessed tondo of fictive bronze. Argus, a mythical 100-eyed giant, was chosen as the symbolic custodian of the treasure.

It is assumed that Bramante’s pupil, Bramantino assisted Bramante in the realization of this fresco.

The Sforzas decided to safeguard the treasure in the keep of the Rocchetta, the most impregnable part of the Castello Sforzesco. The treasure room, which today houses the Trivulziana Library, still conserves part of a decoration commissioned by Ludovico il Moro. The most ambitious of Bramante’s wall paintings, the so-called Argus (c. 1490-93), is here. The elegantly posed, semi-nude hero stands at the foot of a tunnel-like flight of steps upon a kind of balcony of striking illusionism, consisting of a pair of superimposed pedestals supported upon corbels, framing a recessed tondo of fictive bronze. Argus, a mythical 100-eyed giant, was chosen as the symbolic custodian of the treasure.

It is assumed that Bramante’s pupil, Bramantino assisted Bramante in the realization of this fresco.

This was painted for the Abbey of Chiaravalle, near Milan. Mentioned by Lomazzo in Idea as a work by Bramante, other critics ascribe the painting to Bramantino. Still others see it as a collaboration between the two artists.

Christ’s torso, carved like a column, is a fine example of the geometrical monumentality that was Bramante’s inspiration not only as an architect but also as a painter. Through the window we can see a landscape with many watercourses. Light glints realistically on Christ’s curly hair. Both of these features can he related to similar work by Leonardo during his stay in Milan.

The prestigious project for a new eastern end (tribuna) to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, was commissioned by the Duke as a mausoleum; work began on 29 March 1492. The basic design, attached to Guiniforte Solari’s Late Gothic nave (1463), seems to have been Bramante’s, although this has not been proved conclusively. The layout consists of an enormous square crossing crowned with a hemispherical dome, vast apses to left and right and a square chancel covered by a remarkable umbrella vault and with a further apse beyond. Bramante’s fascination with apsidal design, which characterizes virtually all his church designs from Pavia Cathedral onwards, may here have had specific funerary associations, among them Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy, which served as a Medici mausoleum.

The overall coherence of the interior, which was executed largely in terracotta and stucco, nevertheless points to Bramante as the designer, as does the handling of such details as the raising of the pilasters on to pedestals and the placing of panels in the frieze, both of which recall the rear fa�ade of S Maria presso S Satiro. The less coherent and more ornamental exterior, which was conceived as a series of superimposed storeys, seems much less characteristic of Bramante, and he may have played little part in its design.

View the ground plan and section of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan had been started in Gothic style in 1463, but in 1492 Duke Ludovico Sforza ordered the choir to be torn down and replaced by a Renaissance structure to house the tombs of the Sforza dynasty; Leonardo’s drawings for a centrally planned church may be related to this project. Although no document connects Bramante’s name with the present apse, transept, crossing and dome, they are attributed to him under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, whose ideas on radial architecture they reflect. Whether or not all the surface decorations were designed by Bramante himself, the structure is composed, like the examples in Leonardo’s drawings, of permutations and combinations of geometric forms such as cubes, hemispheres, half-cylinders, and the like.

The photo shows the apse and tribune.

View the ground plan and section of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Work at the Santa Maria delle Grazie was probably begun in the early 1490s and was continued all through the 1490s. Externally, the building consists of a long, rather low, nave and aisles, built by another architect. Bramante added the tribune to the east end of the large church. Bramante left it incomplete when he went to Rome.

The photo shows the front of the church.

View the ground plan and section of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

The pilgrimage church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro in Milan is the first major work built by Bramante. Although a small chapel to house a miracle-working image of the Virgin was begun as early as 1478, Bramante’s involvement is not documented until 1482, about when the chapel, parts of which can still be seen at the crossing when viewed from the Via del Falcone, was transformed into the present structure. Despite the building’s unusual shape, the design was probably conceived as a whole.

The church, attached to the small, round, 9th-century church of San Satiro (the exterior of which was refaced), is planned as a conventional Latin cross with aisled nave, domed crossing and three-bay transepts. However, the chancel arm was omitted because of the proximity of the Via del Falcone; instead there is a shallow niche, which, through the trompe l’oeil perspective design of its terracotta surface, achieves the striking illusion that it too is three full bays in extent. The niche houses the image of the Virgin at the perspective focus above the altar, an arrangement resembling, albeit on a much larger scale, such objects as Desiderio da Settignano’s Tabernacle (c. 1460; Florence, San Lorenzo). Two doors lead into the transepts from Via del Falcone to regulate the throngs of pilgrims.

At the intersection of the right transept and the nave is Bramante’s remarkable octagonal sacristy, the exterior view of which is shown on the photo.

View the ground plan and section of Santa Maria presso San Satiro.

The pilgrimage church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro in Milan is the first major work built by Bramante. Although a small chapel to house a miracle-working image of the Virgin was begun as early as 1478, Bramante’s involvement is not documented until 1482, about when the chapel, parts of which can still be seen at the crossing when viewed from the Via del Falcone, was transformed into the present structure. Despite the building’s unusual shape, the design was probably conceived as a whole.

The church, attached to the small, round, 9th-century church of San Satiro (the exterior of which was refaced), is planned as a conventional Latin cross with aisled nave, domed crossing and three-bay transepts. However, the chancel arm was omitted because of the proximity of the Via del Falcone; instead there is a shallow niche, which, through the trompe l’oeil perspective design of its terracotta surface, achieves the striking illusion that it too is three full bays in extent. The niche houses the image of the Virgin at the perspective focus above the altar, an arrangement resembling, albeit on a much larger scale, such objects as Desiderio da Settignano’s Tabernacle (c. 1460; Florence, San Lorenzo). Two doors lead into the transepts from Via del Falcone to regulate the throngs of pilgrims.

At the intersection of the right transept and the nave is Bramante’s remarkable octagonal sacristy, the exterior view of which is shown on the photo.

View the ground plan and section of Santa Maria presso San Satiro.

It was probably about 1502 that Bramante received the commission for his epoch-making Tempietto, even though its style suggests that the design, which is undocumented, was substantially redrafted several years later. The date 1502 appears in an inscription in the crypt and refers either to the commission - transmitted by Cardinal Carvajal from Ferdinand II, King of Sicily and Arag�n, and Isabella, Queen of Castile and Le�n - or to the actual beginning of work. The circular building, which stands in a courtyard next to San Pietro in Montorio, serves as a shrine marking the supposed site of St Peter’s crucifixion; at its very centre is the hole reputedly for the cross, exposed in the crypt and also visible through an opening in the paved floor above.

Despite its tiny size, the Tempietto is majestically conceived. The shrine is encircled by a ring of sixteen Doric columns raised on three steps, with an entablature and balustrade above; the upper level has a drum and a dome with a crowning finial (altered in 1605). Under the colonnade, respondent pilasters frame windows alternating with niches and three portals (only one of which is original); panelled pilaster-strips around the drum frame a similar arrangement of openings. The interior also has Doric pilasters but with alternating narrow and wide bays, the ample niches in the wide bays for the portals (originally only one) and the altar.

In its basic design and function, Bramante’s Tempietto can be related to structures built to house precious relics, such as Matteo Civitale’s Tempietto for the Volto Santo (1484) in San Martino, Lucca. Yet despite the externally expressed drum, with its arguably Christian associations, the design is conceived much more on the model of an ancient round peripteral temple.

View the ground plan and section of Tempietto.

Bramante’s Tempietto is in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, believed to be the site of St Peter’s martyrdom. The architect clearly worked from a historical typology: individual architectural elements such as columns, entablature, and vault acknowledge a debt to classical structures. The resulting centralized building represented a new type of Christian architecture.

View the ground plan and section of Tempietto.

The photo shows the colossal semicircular exedra erected by Bramante at the end of the uppermost terrace in the Cortile del Belvedere. In 1562-65, Pirro Ligorio added a third story, enclosing the central space with a vast half-dome to form the largest niche that had been erected since antiquity - the nicchione (“great niche”). He completed his structure with an uppermost loggia that repeated the hemicycle of the niche. This part of the courtyard is called the Cortile della Pigna after the Pigna, a large bronze pinecone, mounted in the nicchione.

In 1492-94, on the Duke’s initiative, a new square, the Piazza Ducale, was laid out in Vigevano, 12 km south-west of Milan. The work, which was carried out almost certainly to outline designs by Bramante, who was recorded there in 1492-96, involved the wholesale demolition of much of the old centre to create an open space extending more than 130 m from the fa�ade of the cathedral - a size unprecedented in Lombardy - and the construction of new fa�ades around three of the sides interrupted only at the dominant, towered entrance to the ducal castle towards the western end. Models for the scheme include the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia (c. 1485) in Brescia, as well as the ancient Forum Romanum as described by Vitruvius and Alberti, whose writings are echoed in an inscription on the castle tower.

The fa�ades, which have painted decorations (restored 19th century), are of uniform design, with ground-level columned porticos (as recommended by Vitruvius), an upper floor with arched windows and an attic. The bay sequence is broken, however, by two painted triumphal arches (only partly restored), which mark the position of roadways and were almost certainly designed by Bramante. One, positioned near the centre of the short western end, is a single-arch design; in combination with framing pilasters at the upper level, the arrangement closely resembles a slightly earlier archway in the piazza at Brescia. The other arch, in the angle facing the castle tower, is a triple-arch design similar to the fa�ade of Alberti’s Sant’Andrea (1472) in Mantua. As also in the Prevedari engraving, the capitals have bands of lattice decoration at their necks, no doubt to allude to the basket mentioned by Vitruvius in his account of the legendary origins of the Corinthian order.

In 1492-94, on the Duke’s initiative, a new square, the Piazza Ducale, was laid out in Vigevano, 12 km south-west of Milan. The work, which was carried out almost certainly to outline designs by Bramante, who was recorded there in 1492-96, involved the wholesale demolition of much of the old centre to create an open space extending more than 130 m from the fa�ade of the cathedral - a size unprecedented in Lombardy - and the construction of new fa�ades around three of the sides interrupted only at the dominant, towered entrance to the ducal castle towards the western end. Models for the scheme include the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia (c. 1485) in Brescia, as well as the ancient Forum Romanum as described by Vitruvius and Alberti, whose writings are echoed in an inscription on the castle tower.

The fa�ades, which have painted decorations (restored 19th century), are of uniform design, with ground-level columned porticos (as recommended by Vitruvius), an upper floor with arched windows and an attic. The bay sequence is broken, however, by two painted triumphal arches (only partly restored), which mark the position of roadways and were almost certainly designed by Bramante. One, positioned near the centre of the short western end, is a single-arch design; in combination with framing pilasters at the upper level, the arrangement closely resembles a slightly earlier archway in the piazza at Brescia. The other arch, in the angle facing the castle tower, is a triple-arch design similar to the fa�ade of Alberti’s Sant’Andrea (1472) in Mantua. As also in the Prevedari engraving, the capitals have bands of lattice decoration at their necks, no doubt to allude to the basket mentioned by Vitruvius in his account of the legendary origins of the Corinthian order.

The photo shows the Piazza Ducale with the tower of the Castello Sforzesco (Torre del Bramante), attributed to Bramante, at left.

In 1492-94, on the Duke’s initiative, a new square, the Piazza Ducale, was laid out in Vigevano, 12 km south-west of Milan. The work, which was carried out almost certainly to outline designs by Bramante, who was recorded there in 1492-96, involved the wholesale demolition of much of the old centre to create an open space extending more than 130 m from the fa�ade of the cathedral - a size unprecedented in Lombardy - and the construction of new fa�ades around three of the sides interrupted only at the dominant, towered entrance to the ducal castle towards the western end. Models for the scheme include the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia (c. 1485) in Brescia, as well as the ancient Forum Romanum as described by Vitruvius and Alberti, whose writings are echoed in an inscription on the castle tower.

The fa�ades, which have painted decorations (restored 19th century), are of uniform design, with ground-level columned porticos (as recommended by Vitruvius), an upper floor with arched windows and an attic. The bay sequence is broken, however, by two painted triumphal arches (only partly restored), which mark the position of roadways and were almost certainly designed by Bramante. One, positioned near the centre of the short western end, is a single-arch design; in combination with framing pilasters at the upper level, the arrangement closely resembles a slightly earlier archway in the piazza at Brescia. The other arch, in the angle facing the castle tower, is a triple-arch design similar to the fa�ade of Alberti’s Sant’Andrea (1472) in Mantua. As also in the Prevedari engraving, the capitals have bands of lattice decoration at their necks, no doubt to allude to the basket mentioned by Vitruvius in his account of the legendary origins of the Corinthian order.

The photo shows the view of the Piazza Ducale towards the Cathedral.

In 1492-94, on the Duke’s initiative, a new square, the Piazza Ducale, was laid out in Vigevano, 12 km south-west of Milan. The work, which was carried out almost certainly to outline designs by Bramante, who was recorded there in 1492-96, involved the wholesale demolition of much of the old centre to create an open space extending more than 130 m from the fa�ade of the cathedral - a size unprecedented in Lombardy - and the construction of new fa�ades around three of the sides interrupted only at the dominant, towered entrance to the ducal castle towards the western end. Models for the scheme include the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia (c. 1485) in Brescia, as well as the ancient Forum Romanum as described by Vitruvius and Alberti, whose writings are echoed in an inscription on the castle tower.

The fa�ades, which have painted decorations (restored 19th century), are of uniform design, with ground-level columned porticos (as recommended by Vitruvius), an upper floor with arched windows and an attic. The bay sequence is broken, however, by two painted triumphal arches (only partly restored), which mark the position of roadways and were almost certainly designed by Bramante. One, positioned near the centre of the short western end, is a single-arch design; in combination with framing pilasters at the upper level, the arrangement closely resembles a slightly earlier archway in the piazza at Brescia. The other arch, in the angle facing the castle tower, is a triple-arch design similar to the fa�ade of Alberti’s Sant’Andrea (1472) in Mantua. As also in the Prevedari engraving, the capitals have bands of lattice decoration at their necks, no doubt to allude to the basket mentioned by Vitruvius in his account of the legendary origins of the Corinthian order.

The photo shows the Piazza Ducale with the tower of the Castello Sforzesco (Torre del Bramante), attributed to Bramante, at left.

Vigevano is a town in the province of Pavia, Lombardy. The Piazza Ducale is one of the finest piazzas in Italy. It is an elongated rectangle that is almost in the ideal proportions 1:3 advocated by the architectural theorist Filarete. It is said to have been laid out by Bramante, and was certainly built for Ludovico il Moro, starting in 1492-93 and completed in record time, unusual for early Renaissance town planning.

The photo shows the Piazza Ducale with the tower of the Castello Sforzesco (Torre del Bramante), attributed to Bramante, at left.

The fa�ades, which have painted decorations (restored 19th century), are of uniform design, with ground-level columned porticos (as recommended by Vitruvius), an upper floor with arched windows and an attic. The bay sequence is broken, however, by two painted triumphal arches (only partly restored), which mark the position of roadways and were almost certainly designed by Bramante. One, positioned near the centre of the short western end, is a single-arch design; in combination with framing pilasters at the upper level, the arrangement closely resembles a slightly earlier archway in the piazza at Brescia.

The photo shows the Piazza Ducale with the tower of the Castello Sforzesco (Torre del Bramante), attributed to Bramante, in the centre, and one of the painted triumphal arches at right.

The construction of Cortile del Belvedere was the initiative of Pope Julius II and Bramante who wanted to connect an ancient pontifical palace on the right side of St. Peter’s, and the palace which was built for Innocent VIII by Pollaiolo on the little hill known as del Belvedere. Pope Julius was a great collector of statues when he was still a cardinal. After he was elected as pope he carried all his collection to the Vatican. The Belvedere was one of the places that contained the pope’s several sculpture collections and started making the place more attractive and popular.

As a result of the demand to connect the two palaces, Bramante designed two long corridors which created a big courtyard. Pope Julius II was a great fan of architectural works and wanted to build something impressive which would enhance the grandeur of both palaces. Just as expected, Bramante designed a spectacular court yard which connected the Vatican Palace and the Villa Belvedere. He designed a series of terraces which were connected by stairs and had narrow wings on its sides.

Bramante was very innovative when designing the Cortile del Belvedere. The courtyard contained six narrow terraces which were crisscrossed by a central staircase that led to the wide middle terrace. The long wings on the sides of the terraces of Cortile del Belvedere are what now house the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library.

The Cortile del Belvedere provided an easy and comfortable means of passing from a garden terrace to the palace court. Bramante made another decorative erection of a garden structure within the colossal semicircular exedra set into a screening wall devised by Bramante to disguise the fact the villa fa�ade was not parallel to the facing Vatican Palace fa�ade at the other end.

The court was incomplete when Bramante died in 1514. It was finished by Pirro Ligorio for Pius IV in 1562-65. To the great open-headed exedra at the end of the uppermost terrace, Ligorio added a third story, enclosing the central space with a vast half-dome to form the largest niche that had been erected since antiquity - the nicchione (“great niche”). He completed his structure with an uppermost loggia that repeated the hemicycle of the niche. This part of the courtyard is called the Cortile della Pigna after the Pigna, a large bronze pinecone, mounted in the nicchione.

The photo shows a view from the top of Basilica di San Pietro.

The construction of Cortile del Belvedere was the initiative of Pope Julius II and Bramante who wanted to connect an ancient pontifical palace on the right side of St. Peter’s, and the palace which was built for Innocent VIII by Pollaiolo on the little hill known as del Belvedere. Pope Julius was a great collector of statues when he was still a cardinal. After he was elected as pope he carried all his collection to the Vatican. The Belvedere was one of the places that contained the pope’s several sculpture collections and started making the place more attractive and popular.

As a result of the demand to connect the two palaces, Bramante designed two long corridors which created a big courtyard. Pope Julius II was a great fan of architectural works and wanted to build something impressive which would enhance the grandeur of both palaces. Just as expected, Bramante designed a spectacular court yard which connected the Vatican Palace and the Villa Belvedere. He designed a series of terraces which were connected by stairs and had narrow wings on its sides.

Bramante was very innovative when designing the Cortile del Belvedere. The courtyard contained six narrow terraces which were crisscrossed by a central staircase that led to the wide middle terrace. The long wings on the sides of the terraces of Cortile del Belvedere are what now house the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library.

The Cortile del Belvedere provided an easy and comfortable means of passing from a garden terrace to the palace court. Bramante made another decorative erection of a garden structure within the colossal semicircular exedra set into a screening wall devised by Bramante to disguise the fact the villa fa�ade was not parallel to the facing Vatican Palace fa�ade at the other end.

The court was incomplete when Bramante died in 1514. It was finished by Pirro Ligorio for Pius IV in 1562-65. To the great open-headed exedra at the end of the uppermost terrace, Ligorio added a third story, enclosing the central space with a vast half-dome to form the largest niche that had been erected since antiquity - the nicchione (“great niche”). He completed his structure with an uppermost loggia that repeated the hemicycle of the niche. This part of the courtyard is called the Cortile della Pigna after the Pigna, a large bronze pinecone, mounted in the nicchione.

Democritus (c. 460 - c. 370 B.C.) and Heraclitus (c. 540 - c. 475 B.C.) are known as the ‘laughing and crying philosophers.’

Democritus, a Greek philosopher, born at Abdera in Thrace, was known as the laughing philosopher because he found amusement in the folly of mankind. (The citizens of Abdera were proverbially stupid.) His philosophic system was contrasted with that of the earlier Heraclitus of Ephesus, who was known as the ‘Dark’ or ‘Obscure’ and was reputed to be melancholic. They were linked as a contrasting pair by Seneca, by Juvenal and others. Florentine humanists, to whom such classical texts were well-known used the pair to support the view that a cheerful demeanour was proper to a philosopher.

The two philosophers are widely represented in European painting of the Renaissance and Baroque period, either in one picture or as companion pieces. Bramante represents Democritus with his attribute, the terrestrial globe.

The engraving depicts the interior of a ruined church or temple with figures, the central one kneeling before a tall candelabrum. The subject, although unclear, seems to represent a pagan temple given over to Christian worship.

This print is documented in a contract dated 24 October 1481 in which Bernardus de Prevedari (Bernardo Prevedari) was commissioned by Matheus de Fidelibus to engrave a design on paper by Bramante which was to be completed in two months. Bramante’s name appears beneath the cadelabrum, though Prevedari’s does not.

This is the largest engraving from a single plate to have been made in the fifteenth century.

Around 1492 the Duke of Milan commissioned Bramante to design the courtyard known as the Canonica at the Romanesque abbey church of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan. The courtyard, of which only two incomplete sides were ever built, abuts the north wall of the church; its main axis is marked by a doorway into the building. On each side there are 11 arches, which, except at the centre, are supported on columns with Corinthian capitals. The central arch, twice as wide and almost twice as tall as the others, is supported on slender piers, each faced with a pilaster and raised on a tall pedestal. The columns next to the piers and those at the angles were made to resemble tree trunks. This motif, apart from being an emblem of the Duke, provides a learned antiquarian reference to the historical ancestry of the column as described by Vitruvius and illustrated by both Filarete and Francesco di Giorgio in their treatises.

The photo shows the courtyard. The wing with rectangular columns at the right is a 20th-century addition.

Around 1492 the Duke of Milan commissioned Bramante to design the courtyard known as the Canonica at the Romanesque abbey church of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan. The courtyard, of which only two incomplete sides were ever built, abuts the north wall of the church; its main axis is marked by a doorway into the building. On each side there are 11 arches, which, except at the centre, are supported on columns with Corinthian capitals. The central arch, twice as wide and almost twice as tall as the others, is supported on slender piers, each faced with a pilaster and raised on a tall pedestal. The columns next to the piers and those at the angles were made to resemble tree trunks. This motif, apart from being an emblem of the Duke, provides a learned antiquarian reference to the historical ancestry of the column as described by Vitruvius and illustrated by both Filarete and Francesco di Giorgio in their treatises.

The photo shows the courtyard. The wing with rectangular columns at the right is a 20th-century addition.

Around 1492 the Duke of Milan commissioned Bramante to design the courtyard known as the Canonica at the Romanesque abbey church of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan. The courtyard, of which only two incomplete sides were ever built, abuts the north wall of the church; its main axis is marked by a doorway into the building. On each side there are 11 arches, which, except at the centre, are supported on columns with Corinthian capitals. The central arch, twice as wide and almost twice as tall as the others, is supported on slender piers, each faced with a pilaster and raised on a tall pedestal. The columns next to the piers and those at the angles were made to resemble tree trunks. This motif, apart from being an emblem of the Duke, provides a learned antiquarian reference to the historical ancestry of the column as described by Vitruvius and illustrated by both Filarete and Francesco di Giorgio in their treatises.

The photo shows the courtyard. The wing with rectangular columns at the right is a 20th-century addition.

The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan had been started in Gothic style in 1463, but in 1492 Duke Ludovico Sforza ordered the choir to be torn down and replaced by a Renaissance structure to house the tombs of the Sforza dynasty; Leonardo’s drawings for a centrally planned church may be related to this project. Although no document connects Bramante’s name with the present apse, transept, crossing and dome, they are attributed to him under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, whose ideas on radial architecture they reflect. Whether or not all the surface decorations were designed by Bramante himself, the structure is composed, like the examples in Leonardo’s drawings, of permutations and combinations of geometric forms such as cubes, hemispheres, half-cylinders, and the like.

The photo shows the nave.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Although no document connects Bramante’s name with the present apse, transept, crossing and dome, they are attributed to him under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, whose ideas on radial architecture they reflect. Whether or not all the surface decorations were designed by Bramante himself, the structure is composed, like the examples in Leonardo’s drawings, of permutations and combinations of geometric forms such as cubes, hemispheres, half-cylinders, and the like.

The numerous oculi in the pre-existing church and in the new apses are echoed by the large painted roundels that adorn the arches and by the laced circles between the ribs of the dome.The monochromatic sgraffito decoration on the walls respects Dominican commitment to austerity. The effect is one of luminous expansiveness.

Whether or not all the surface decorations were designed by Bramante himself, the structure is composed, like the examples in Leonardo’s drawings, of permutations and combinations of geometric forms such as cubes, hemispheres, half-cylinders, and the like. Bramante transformed the oculi of the Gothic church into circles that are treated as ornament in the exterior decoration. In the interior, where apses curve onward around the dome, the circles are used to decorate the arches below the dome. The effect is bold, dramatic, and thoroughly Renaissance in its decorative motifs.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Although no document connects Bramante’s name with the present apse, transept, crossing and dome, they are attributed to him under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, whose ideas on radial architecture they reflect. Whether or not all the surface decorations were designed by Bramante himself, the structure is composed, like the examples in Leonardo’s drawings, of permutations and combinations of geometric forms such as cubes, hemispheres, half-cylinders, and the like.

The photo shows the interior of the dome.

The prestigious project for a new eastern end (tribuna) to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, was commissioned by the Duke as a mausoleum; work began on 29 March 1492. The basic design, attached to Guiniforte Solari’s Late Gothic nave (1463), seems to have been Bramante’s, although this has not been proved conclusively. The layout consists of an enormous square crossing crowned with a hemispherical dome, vast apses to left and right and a square chancel covered by a remarkable umbrella vault and with a further apse beyond. Bramante’s fascination with apsidal design, which characterizes virtually all his church designs from Pavia Cathedral onwards, may here have had specific funerary associations, among them Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy, which served as a Medici mausoleum.

The overall coherence of the interior, which was executed largely in terracotta and stucco, nevertheless points to Bramante as the designer, as does the handling of such details as the raising of the pilasters on to pedestals and the placing of panels in the frieze, both of which recall the rear fa�ade of S Maria presso S Satiro. The less coherent and more ornamental exterior, which was conceived as a series of superimposed storeys, seems much less characteristic of Bramante, and he may have played little part in its design.

The photo shows the interior of the tribune.

The prestigious project for a new eastern end (tribuna) to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, was commissioned by the Duke as a mausoleum; work began on 29 March 1492. The basic design, attached to Guiniforte Solari’s Late Gothic nave (1463), seems to have been Bramante’s, although this has not been proved conclusively. The layout consists of an enormous square crossing crowned with a hemispherical dome, vast apses to left and right and a square chancel covered by a remarkable umbrella vault and with a further apse beyond. Bramante’s fascination with apsidal design, which characterizes virtually all his church designs from Pavia Cathedral onwards, may here have had specific funerary associations, among them Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy, which served as a Medici mausoleum.

The overall coherence of the interior, which was executed largely in terracotta and stucco, nevertheless points to Bramante as the designer, as does the handling of such details as the raising of the pilasters on to pedestals and the placing of panels in the frieze, both of which recall the rear fa�ade of S Maria presso S Satiro. The less coherent and more ornamental exterior, which was conceived as a series of superimposed storeys, seems much less characteristic of Bramante, and he may have played little part in its design.

The photo shows the interior of the tribune.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

At the intersection of the right transept and the nave is Bramante’s remarkable octagonal sacristy, the interior view of which is shown on the photo. Apart from the octagonal sacristies at Loreto, its most immediate model is local: the chapel of Sant’Aquilino attached to the Early Christian church of San Lorenzo, Milan, both of which were then believed to be antique. The lower storey of the interior of Bramante’s sacristy has eight large niches that are alternately curved and rectangular, folded ornamental pilasters in the corners with exquisitely wrought stone Corinthian capitals, and an entablature with all’antica heads and reliefs in the tall frieze executed by Agostino Fonduli. A second storey is encircled by a gallery with two arched openings on each side; the lighting is from the vault above.

The photo shows the interior of the sacristy.

View the diagonal section of the sacristy.

The pilgrimage church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro in Milan is the first major work built by Bramante. Although a small chapel to house a miracle-working image of the Virgin was begun as early as 1478, Bramante’s involvement is not documented until 1482, about when the chapel, parts of which can still be seen at the crossing when viewed from the Via del Falcone, was transformed into the present structure. Despite the building’s unusual shape, the design was probably conceived as a whole.

The church, attached to the small, round, 9th-century church of San Satiro (the exterior of which was refaced), is planned as a conventional Latin cross with aisled nave, domed crossing and three-bay transepts. Two doors lead into the transepts from Via del Falcone to regulate the throngs of pilgrims.

At the intersection of the right transept and the nave is Bramante’s remarkable octagonal sacristy, the interior view of which is shown on the photo. Apart from the octagonal sacristies at Loreto, its most immediate model is local: the chapel of Sant’Aquilino attached to the Early Christian church of San Lorenzo, Milan, both of which were then believed to be antique. The lower storey of the interior of Bramante’s sacristy has eight large niches that are alternately curved and rectangular, folded ornamental pilasters in the corners with exquisitely wrought stone Corinthian capitals, and an entablature with all’antica heads and reliefs in the tall frieze executed by Agostino Fonduli. A second storey is encircled by a gallery with two arched openings on each side; the lighting is from the vault above.

View the diagonal section of the sacristy.

The photo shows the interior of the dome of the sacristy.

The photo shows the interior of the dome of the sacristy.

Bramante fostered connections with those members of the papal circle with Spanish affiliations, such as Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who supplied him with his first major Roman commission in 1500, the cloister at Santa Maria della Pace (completed 1504). In some respects the design still relies on the formal vocabulary of his previous works: the pilasters on the courtyard side articulating the piers of the lower storey are raised upon pedestals, the subordinate pilaster-strips under the groin-vaulted arcades lack capitals, and the trabeated upper storey, which is not particularly tall, has a doubled rhythm.

The square plan with four bays to each side is based on the module of a single bay measured from the centres of the pilasters, so that the pilasters in the corners appear only as thin fillets, as in Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo, Florence. The pilasters of the lower storey have Ionic capitals, the conventional choice for a cloister, and those above have Composite capitals, which complement the Ionic ones with their volutes; the additional supports between the piers at this level are slender columns with less ornamental Corinthian capitals. The corbels in the frieze above, which derive from the top storey of the Colosseum, add suitable weight to the terminal entablature.

The picture shows the cloister.

The current building of the church was built on the foundations of a pre-existing church in 1482, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV. The author of the original design is not known, though Baccio Pontelli has been proposed.

A main feature of the church and monastery complex is the Bramante cloister. Built in 1500-04 for Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, it was the first work of Donato Bramante in the city. It has two levels: the first is articulated by shallow pilasters set against an arcade; the second also has pilasters set against an arcade which is vertically continuous with the lower storey, but with columns located in between each arch span.

The picture shows the cloister.

Between 1505 and 1510, Bramante added a new extended choir behind the main altar to the to the Quattrocento church reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV. It was commissioned from Bramante by Julius II to house the tombs of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza and Cardinal Girolamo Basso della Rovere (d 1507). The tombs, created by Andrea Sansovino, are set below innovative Serlian windows either side of a square space covered by a saucer dome, approached from the pre-existing crossing through a barrel-vaulted bay, with another barrel-vaulted bay and apse beyond. The second barrel vault has coffering modelled on the entrance into the Pantheon, and the lowest coffer on the southern side is left open to make a window, an arrangement sometimes found in ancient cryptoportici.

Apart from the saucer dome, frescoed by Bernardino Pinturicchio (c. 1510), the interior is remarkably stark, only articulated by plain pilaster-strips. It typifies the conception of true all’antica architecture that Bramante arrived at late in his career.

The photo shows the interior of the choir.

Between 1505 and 1510, Bramante added a new extended choir behind the main altar to the to the Quattrocento church reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV. It was commissioned from Bramante by Julius II to house the tombs of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza and Cardinal Girolamo Basso della Rovere (d 1507). The tombs, created by Andrea Sansovino, are set below innovative Serlian windows either side of a square space covered by a saucer dome, approached from the pre-existing crossing through a barrel-vaulted bay, with another barrel-vaulted bay and apse beyond. The second barrel vault has coffering modelled on the entrance into the Pantheon, and the lowest coffer on the southern side is left open to make a window, an arrangement sometimes found in ancient cryptoportici.

Apart from the saucer dome, frescoed by Bernardino Pinturicchio (c. 1510), the interior is remarkably stark, only articulated by plain pilaster-strips. It typifies the conception of true all’antica architecture that Bramante arrived at late in his career.

The photo shows the interior of the choir.

It was probably about 1502 that Bramante received the commission for his epoch-making Tempietto. The circular building, which stands in a courtyard next to San Pietro in Montorio, serves as a shrine marking the supposed site of St Peter’s crucifixion; at its very centre is the hole reputedly for the cross, exposed in the crypt and also visible through an opening in the paved floor above.

On the exterior, the shrine is encircled by a ring of sixteen Doric columns raised on three steps, with an entablature and balustrade above; the upper level has a drum and a dome with a crowning finial. The interior also has Doric pilasters but with alternating narrow and wide bays, the ample niches in the wide bays for the portals (originally only one) and the altar.

The photo shows the crypt.

It was probably about 1502 that Bramante received the commission for his epoch-making Tempietto. The circular building, which stands in a courtyard next to San Pietro in Montorio, serves as a shrine marking the supposed site of St Peter’s crucifixion; at its very centre is the hole reputedly for the cross, exposed in the crypt and also visible through an opening in the paved floor above.

On the exterior, the shrine is encircled by a ring of sixteen Doric columns raised on three steps, with an entablature and balustrade above; the upper level has a drum and a dome with a crowning finial. The interior also has Doric pilasters but with alternating narrow and wide bays, the ample niches in the wide bays for the portals (originally only one) and the altar.

It was probably about 1502 that Bramante received the commission for his epoch-making Tempietto. The circular building, which stands in a courtyard next to San Pietro in Montorio, serves as a shrine marking the supposed site of St Peter’s crucifixion; at its very centre is the hole reputedly for the cross, exposed in the crypt and also visible through an opening in the paved floor above.

On the exterior, the shrine is encircled by a ring of sixteen Doric columns raised on three steps, with an entablature and balustrade above; the upper level has a drum and a dome with a crowning finial. The interior also has Doric pilasters but with alternating narrow and wide bays, the ample niches in the wide bays for the portals (originally only one) and the altar.

The photo shows the interior with the statue of St Peter in the niche.

View the ground plan of Tempietto.

Bramante started as a painter of considerable creativity and first appears as an architect in Milan in 1485, when he undertook the rebuilding of Santa Maria presso San Satiro. In this interior view the choir seems to stretch for three bays beyond the crossing, under a barrel vault matching that of the nave, but the space that we see here does not exist. A street directly behind the plot prevented Bramante from building a choir, so he was forced, in a triumph of Renaissance art of deceit, to create this illusion. The effect is the result of carefully calculated decoration on a flat wall; the actual depth is only about a meter.

Santa Maria presso San Satiro is the first structure definitely attributed to Bramante. Along with a certain adherence to local taste, this church shows traces of the influence of Alberti, Mantegna, Brunelleschi, and the Urbino school. This last influence is particularly evident in its choir, which was painted in perspective to give an illusion of a much larger space.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria presso San Satiro.

Bramante started as a painter of considerable creativity and first appears as an architect in Milan in 1485, when he undertook the rebuilding of Santa Maria presso San Satiro. In this interior view the choir seems to stretch for three bays beyond the crossing, under a barrel vault matching that of the nave, but the space that we see here does not exist. A street directly behind the plot prevented Bramante from building a choir, so he was forced, in a triumph of Renaissance art of deceit, to create this illusion. The effect is the result of carefully calculated decoration on a flat wall; the actual depth is only about a meter.

Santa Maria presso San Satiro is the first structure definitely attributed to Bramante. Along with a certain adherence to local taste, this church shows traces of the influence of Alberti, Mantegna, Brunelleschi, and the Urbino school. This last influence is particularly evident in its choir, which was painted in perspective to give an illusion of a much larger space.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria presso San Satiro.

From the old house of the Panigarola family, later owned by the Prinetti, where it decorated the so-called Barons’ Hall. Detached and removed to the Brera Gallery in 1901. It is likely that this painting, as well as the entire fresco cycle, was commissioned by Gottardo Panigarola, Chancellor to Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan. According to Lamazzo, the cycle portrays the most famous men-at-arms of the time; Pietro Suola the Elder, Giorgio Moro da Ficino and Beltrame.

A certain exuberance in the architectural details of the niche, as well as the lucid, incisive form of the drapery and the hair, show the probable influence on Bramante of north Italian art. The example of Melozzo da Forli and Mantegna is also apparent. Bramante’s desire to make the figure heroic, and the frozen violence of the Roman pose, give the composition a remote rarefied air.

The fresco together with Man with a Broadsword, and Man-at-Arms come from the old house of the Panigarola family, later owned by the Prinetti, where they decorated the so-called Barons’ Hall. Detached and removed to the Brera Gallery in 1901. It is likely that the entire fresco cycle was commissioned by Gottardo Panigarola, Chancellor to Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan. According to Lamazzo, the cycle portrays the most famous men-at-arms of the time; Pietro Suola the Elder, Giorgio Moro da Ficino and Beltrame.

The original placement of the frescoes required the spectator to view them from below. In that position these soldiers appeared to loom up and hang over the spectator, their gigantic forms seeming to emerge from their architectural frames. The firm perspective and luminous clarity of the composition display the artist’s desire to deal in absolute abstract form.

Influenced by his background as an architect, Bramante has created here a clearly defined space in which to place his heroic figure. The young soldier, caught as he turns slowly away from the spectator, has been posed so as to highlight the three-dimensionality of the architectonic niche. The halbard (which cannot be seen in this detail) creates an effect of depth, as does the seemingly sculptured drapery on the shoulder.

From the old house of the Panigarola family, later owned by the Prinetti, where it decorated the so-called Barons’ Hall. Detached and removed to the Brera Gallery in 1901. It is likely that this painting, as well as the entire fresco cycle, was commissioned by Gottardo Panigarola, Chancellor to Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan. According to Lamazzo, the cycle portrays the most famous men-at-arms of the time; Pietro Suola the Elder, Giorgio Moro da Ficino and Beltrame.

The emphasis placed on features such as the tufts of the beard and the tiny wrinkles of the face lend an almost caricatural tone to this parade figure. Bramante has also given careful attention to such psychological details as the glance of the eyes and the somewhat disdainful cut of the mouth.

A noteworthy design by Bramante was that of the Palazzo Caprini in the Borgo, Rome, which became the model for many 16th-century palaces. This palazzo was later acquired by Raphael (called House of Raphael; later destroyed). According to Vasari, Bramante, about 1509, had designed the architectural background for the School of Athens by Raphael, and in return, Raphael represented Bramante in the fresco in the guise of Euclid.

The appearance of the main fa�ade is known from an etching by Antonio Lafreri and a partial sketch attributed to Andrea Palladio.

The palace had a fa�ade with five bays and two levels, with rustication (using stucco) on the lower floor which, as often in Rome, was let out to shops. The upper floor had windows divided by double Doric columns, surmounted by a complete entablature. It was highly influential, providing a standard model for the integration of the rusticated ground floor with arched openings, characteristic of 15th-century Florentine palaces alla antica such as the Pitti Palace, with the classical orders. The decorative inclusion of large rusticated voussoirs and keystone instead of a lintel over the flat top of the lower rectangular openings in the end shop fronts was also a device with a long future.

The many buildings providing variations of the design include Somerset House in London.

Beginning in 1505, at first in competition with two other architects, Giuliano da Sangallo and Fra Giocondo, Bramante planned the new Basilica of St. Peter in Rome - his greatest work and one of the most ambitious building projects up to that date in the history of humankind. The first stone was placed on April 18, 1506. The project’s site had to be cleared first of the old, crumbling Basilica of Constantine. Bramante’s part in its demolition earned him the nicknames of “Maestro Ruinante” or “Master Wrecker.” At the time of his death the new construction had scarcely begun to take shape.

Bramante’s design, which was preferred to proposals submitted by Giuliano da Sangallo and Fra Giocondo, is represented on Caradosso’s foundation medal (1506; e.g. National Gallery of Art, Washington), and the same design, apart from some minor deviations of detail, is recorded in a half-plan drawing known as the Parchment Plan (1A, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). The layout seems to have grown out of the ideas he had considered at Pavia Cathedral and Santa Maria delle Grazie, namely a domed Greek cross inscribed within a square and with apses on the main axes. It is here further elaborated with four subsidiary domes on the diagonals, where the Greek-cross arrangement is repeated on a smaller scale, and with four corner towers. The centre of the design corresponds fittingly with the revered tomb of St Peter, and the multi-domed layout recalls that of earlier sepulchral churches, such as San Marco, Venice. The arrangement of the crossing is a major innovation in church design, with diagonal chamfers to the massive crossing piers giving the dome a much greater diameter than the width of the arms.

In its enormous scale, Bramante’s design for St Peter’s was quite without precedent for a post-medieval church and relied heavily on ancient Roman bath complexes, which seem to have inspired a wholly new approach to spatial planning. Whereas during the 15th century internal spaces were conceived as a product of designing walls, in St Peter’s the walls were a product of designing spaces. Through this new approach, greatly aided by Bramante’s revival of Roman brick-and-concrete construction, the massive vault-bearing walls took up the residual areas between neighbouring spaces and were hollowed out in a multitude of alcoves, arches and niches.

Bramante’s design for the dome, with its colonnaded drum resembling a circular temple and its crowning lantern, is known also from a plate in Serlio (Book III). In shape (hemispherical on the inside, stepped and dishlike on the outside) as well as in size, the design abandoned contemporary practice and was closely modelled instead on the Pantheon. The much greater overall size of St Peter’s, however, compared with the Pantheon, was no doubt regarded as emblematic of the triumph of Christianity over ancient paganism and of the authority of papal rule.

The Parchment Plan design was, nevertheless, just one of many alternatives considered even as construction progressed. No decision seems to have been made by Bramante’s death, however, even though the crossing had been substantially completed up to the height of the drum, with piers and attached Corinthian pilasters using capitals copied from those inside the Pantheon.

The picture shows Bramante’s plan for the dome. You can also view Bramante’s design of the ground plan for St Peter’s.

Bramante built the spiral staircase ramp in a tower near the Belvedere Court (a sculpture garden intended to incorporate an outdoor sculpture museum in the Vatican palaces).

Bramante is best known as an architect, but he began his artistic career by painting and drawing. A small number of paintings - all frescoes except one - and an even smaller number of drawings from his hand are known today.

This study was executed for the Tempietto, a small church in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio in Rome. The courtyard is believed to be the site of St. Peter’s martyrdom. The architect clearly worked from a historical typology: individual architectural elements such as columns, entablature, and vault acknowledge a debt to classical structures. The resulting centralized building represented a new type of Christian architecture.

View the ground plan of Tempietto.