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 BRAMANTE

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BRAMANTE

to research and literary work. There he published an Italian translation of Cardinal de B^rulle's "Eleva- tion" (1640) and of a portion of Ribadeniera's "Saintly Lives". He returned to Paris about 1640 and spent the rest of his life at the Church of St. Honor^. Among other works he published "Vie de St. Nicholas, archeveque de Myre" (1646); "Pallium Archiepiscopale" (1648 — the first serious study pub- lished in France on the significance, tradition, and use of that vestment); " Histoire chr^tienne" (1656); "La curiosity de I'une et I'autre Rome" (1655-59); " Caeremoniale Canonicorum ' (1657 — a practical guide on Roman lines); "Histoire de la sainte eha- pelle de Lorette" (1665).

Ingold, Essai de biblicgr. oratorienne (Paris, 1882), 27; MicH.tUD, Biag. univ. {Paris, 1811), V, 477.

John B. Peterson.

Bramante, Don.^to (also called d'Agnolo after his father Angelo), Italian architect and painter, b. about 1444 at Monte Asdrualdo (hence, some- times AsDRCALDixo); d. in Rome, 11 March, 1514. Nothing is known of his early youth. His early artistic development also, about which Vasari has made so many erroneous statements, is mostly a matter of conjecture. To-day, however, it seems fairly certain that Laurana, the architect of the ducal palace at Urbino, showed him the way to the impressive style of the High Renaissance. Bra- mante's artistic activity is divided into two periods of which the first was spent in Milan and the other in Rome. His work in Milan is characterized by a pronounced picturesque, decorative style. In Rome, on the other hand, we find a style which is more proper to the High Renaissance, exemplified in works that are, as far as possible, free from all external decoration, impressive by reason of their propor- tions, and recalling the antique by their grandeur and power. In 1476 Bramante became the court architect of Lodovico Sforza (II Moro), having been in Milan, as has been abundantly shomi, from 1474. At first he seems to have been engaged principally as a painter, following the vigorous manner of Mantegna and Melozzo da Forli. It is true that only scanty remains of his work at this time have been found. Such are the recently discovered fresco fragments, transported from the Casa Prinetti to the Brera (single figures of warriors, philosophers, poets, and singers); the more poorly preserved decorative paintings of the Casa Fontana, and among panel pictures, undoubtedly the Scourging of Christ (Badia Chiaravalle near Milan). Bartolomeo Suardi, called Bramantino [cf. Suida in Jahrbuch der Kmist- sammlungen des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses (1905), 1 sqq.], was his assistant and rather weak imitator in the field of painting, but not his teacher as was thought by Vasari (ed. Milanesi-Sansoni, IV, 175). If Bramante occasionally devoted himself to Gothic, as he unquestionably did in some designs for the Milan cathedral, he exhibits from the start an ex- cellent style, which, as Stile Bramantesco, became tj-pical for the Renaissance architecture of Lombardy. It is characterized by ambitious proportions, internal concentration, a greater organic relation of parts, and by ricli and fresh decorative forms.

His first great achievement in this line is the choir of the church of Santa Maria presso S. Satiro, begun in 1476. The choir has a flat end and a false apse, rendered in relieved perspective. The adjoin- ing sacristy, octagonal in plan and surmounted by a dome, is charming on account of the richness of the interior articulation and most effective space- development. Its two interior stories are separated by a splendid terra-cotta frieze overlaid with bronze. The church came to have the same significance in Northern Italy as the Pazzi Chapel or the Sacristy of Santo Spirito in Florence. Still richer in orna- ment are the transept and choir of Santa Maria

delle Grazie (1492-99), by which the superiority of the imposing new style over the Gothic can best be shown. In addition to these great churches, the Canonica, or canons' residence, of San Ambrogio (1492, only half completed) and the remodelled court of the Ospedale Maggiore are the only exam- ples of Bramante's genius in Milan. A further de- velopment of this somewhat more decorative style to the larger, simpler proportions of the Roman period is suggested by the church of the Barnabites, Santa Maria di Capenuova in Pavia (1492), and also by the churches of Busto Arsizio and Santa Maria in Legnano. The magnificent articulation of the fagade of Ab- biategrasso shows in full de\elopment the powerful boldness of the Roman style whose growth, in Rome, was influenced not only by the antique, but also by the use of a more intractable material (travertine) which made small, detail treatment an impossibility. The date of this church is probably 1497 instead of 1477, as Gej-muUer read it. Other ecclesiastical structures of Lombardy upon which the influence or imitation of Bramante is perceptible, are the Cathe- dral of Como (south portal), the Pilgrimage Church at Crema, and the Incoronata at Lodi.

Even greater is the number of structures indi- rectly influenced by Bramante in Northern and Middle Italy after the downfall of the Sforzas in Milan (1499). Bramante at the end of the same year moved to Rome where he found in Alexan- der VI and still more in Julius II magnanimous patrons. Here, too, very little is knowTi of his early work. It is still disputed whether or not the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace and the facade of the Church of the Anima can be ascribed to him. This is also true of the immense palace of Cardinal Raf- faello Riario (the present Cancelleria) with the ad- joining church of San Lorenzo in Damaso. On account of the inscribed dates (1489 and 1495) Gnoli ascribes them not to Bramante but to a Tuscan master, whereas GeymuUer more correctly persists in ascribing them to Bramante, basing his view on considerations of style and on Bramante's relations with the Sforzas and the Riarios; this would also explain Bramante's working in Rome prior to 1492 [cf. Gnoli in Arch. stor. dell' arte (1892), IV, 176 sqq.; Riv. d'ltalia (1898); and Gej-muUer in Rassegna d'arte (October and December, 1901), I]. The Palace Giraud Torlonia is a structure similar to the Cancelleria in its beautiful rhythmic articulation, its simplicity, and its monumental character. Un- doubtedly Bramante is the designer of the pretty little circular temple in the court of San Pietro in Montorio (completed in 1502). It is planned quite after the manner of an antique temple and is the first structure consciously designed and executed in the classic spirit, embodying the purest and simplest forms and the most agreeable proportions. A peristyle, never carried out, was intended to com- plete the building. Other works of Bramante's first Roman period are the choir of Santa Maria del Popolo, the plan for the reconstruction of the Vati- can, the extension of the Belvedere court, etc. The most majestic creation, not only of Bramante and of the High Renaissance, but in fact of Christian art, is the new St. Peter's. According to Vasari, this was intended originally to enclose tlie magnificent tomb of Julius II, begun by Michaelangelo. But on accoimt of the hopelessly ruinous condition of the old St. Peter's, its rebuilding became an immediate ne- cessity and, indeed, was determined upon shortly after the accession of Julius II, probably in con- nexion with the reconstruction of the Vatican. As early as 18 April, 1506, the cornerstone of the pier of St. Helena was laid, and a year later those of the other three piers at the transept were in position. The ways and means employed by Bramante in dealing with the old building brought him many