Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/101

 Fes. 2, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 85. design for S. Peter’s it must be admitted that his design is justly described by Vasari as ‘‘of the most extraordinary magnificence and beauty. Nor would it be possible to dis- play more consummate art, or a more perfect judgment than were evinced by Bramante.” The first stone was laid with great ceremony on the 18th of April, 1506; ‘‘ not—as Michael Angelo observes in one of his letters—after an obscure or confused plan, but in accord- ance with a design which was clear, compre- hensive, and luminous.” As Michael Angelo remarked, all who depart from the original design must injure it, and yet he himself unfortunately did so. The conception and par- tial execution of this stupendous monument of constructive and artistic skill, would alone be sufficient to confer deathless fame on Bra- mante. The master, however, was not de- stined to see its completion, for he died one year after the death of his patron—one may almost say coadjutor—the warlike Julius, in the year 1514, leaving. by will, the charge of the continuance of the work to his pupil, Raffaelle da Urbino, with whom were asso- ciated Giuliano da San Gallo, and Fra Giocondo, of Verona, the final arrangement, as at present seen, being mainly due to Michael Angelo. It is impossible to judge Bramante by the church as it now appears; but whatever merit there is in it belongs to Bramante. We may almost add, as certainly, what is faulty is due to those ill-advised successors who de- parted from his original design. Overlaid as the interior now is with tawdry ornamen- tation in the worst possible taste, its effect is still most. imposing. Externally it may be pronounced a failure, with very few redeem- ing features indeed. Of the style formed by Bramante it affords no trace. ‘That style, in Rome at least, was broad, simple, and elegant. His proportions are excellent, his details most studied, his use of ornament judiciously small. If there is an objection to be made to its style, it is that of a certain flatness of ap- pearance and absence of effect, arising from the slightness of his projections and the adoption of thin pilasters and flat rustica- tion as a wall ornament. Those seen in front cast but little shadow, and are of slight effect. Seen in perspective, however, the general appearance of the wall is pleasing and ornamental. His great merit consists not only in the introduction of system: and order in the form- ation of astyle of domestic architecture, and in his constructive skill, but also in the refined taste and careful study which characterise all his works. At Milan his style was much more allied to the ornamental character of the early Renaissance buildings of Lombardy, founded as they were, to a great extent, on such Roman remains as the Arco de’ Borsari and Arco de’ Leoni, at Verona. At Rome this ornamental style disappears, and his works are distinguished by a simplicity of character similar to that of Brunelleschi. Indeed, the change is so marked and the similarity of character so strong, that we can- not but suspect that Bramante must have visited Florence and studied Brunelleschi’s works there, although we find no mention of it in his biography. Nor does it scem likely that so ardent a student of the art should have gone to Milan and to Rome to improve himself, and have passed by without notice Florence, which was but a comparatively short distance from his home, and which, when Bramante was a student, boasted the completion of the greatest marvel of archi- tectural art which the world can show, the unrivalled dome of Florence Cathedral. Bramante may be fairly called the father of the Roman style of architecture ; his palaces especially were the models on which all suc- ceeding buildings of that class were modelled until its development into a bolder style by Peruzzi, the San Gallos, and Michael Angelo. Milan and Rome are the two cities which bear the strongest impress of his genius, and it has been well remarked that whilst Branelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti may be said to have recalled the ancient style of architecture to life, itis to Bramante we are indebted for its firm establishment, and it was he who found means to adapt it to the requirements of modern life. We append a list of the works designed byhim. At Milan the follow- ing buildings are ascribed to him :— 1. The Sepulchral Chapel of the Trivulzi family, in the Church of San Nazaro Maggiore. 2. The cupola, and presumably the apse, of S. M. Delle Grazie, a noble composition, remarkable for its fine terra-cotta work, com- pleted about the year 1493, to the building of which Ludovico Sforza was a principal contributor. 3. 8. M. Presso San Celso, also founded by Ludovico, but now greatly modernised. 4. The monastery of S. Ambrozio, built for Ludovico, and completed about 1445, an important work, now, or lately, used as a hospital. 5. The house known as that of the ‘‘Stampa Castiglioni” Valery describes as one of his first works at Milan. 6. The church of San Satiro, and the Sacristy, an octagonal building, with sculpture by the famous goldsmith, Caradosso. Con- sidered by Kugler as equal in merit to S. M. Delle Grazie, and certainly a most admirable work of its class. 7. The choir and cupola of N. D. diSarronne, ornamented with some of Luini’s best pro- ductions. 8. S. M. Incoronata, Pavia, described by Valery as ‘‘ of a plain but noble architecture,” designed for Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, Bishop of Pavia, about the year 1488. 9. The circular baptistry of the Cathedral, Como. 10. The Madonna dell’ Umilité, Pistoia, a very beautiful work, carried out by Bramante’s assistant, Ventura Vitoni, of Pistoia, the cupola being erected by Vasari, but apparently on Bramante’s plan. 11. The great staircase of the Palazzo Pubblico at Bologna, possibly designed by Bramante when at Bologna in 1504. 12. The Church of La Madonna della Consolazione, at Todi, a Greek cross on plan, with a high central cupola, one of Bramante’s masterpieces. 13. The Monastery of La Quercia, near Viterbo, with fine terra-cottas by one of the Della Robbias. In Rome we meet with the following im- portant buildings, most of which are engraved in D’Agincourt’s ‘* Histoire de l’Art,” &e. :— 14. The arcaded cloister of the Monastery della Pace, date about 1504, and peculiarly interesting as being Bramante’s first work in Rome, according to Vasari, although the three following buildings are ascribed by other writers to an earlier date :— 15. The Cancellaria, the principal door of which, however, is of subsequent insertion. 16. The Church of San Lorenzo, in Damaso, attached to the Cancellaria 17. The Corneto, now Torlonia Palace, in the Borgo Santo Spirito. 18. Many portions of the Vatican, includ- ing the celebrated winding staircase, in which Bramante was the first to apply the Classic orders in regular succession, one above another; and the Hall of Antiquities, in which, during his lifetime, the most famous statues of the Laocoon, Apollo, Venus, &c., were placed in positions expressly designed for them, a principle which ought never to be departed from in the formation of a gallery of sculpture. 19. The design for S. Peter’s, a portion only completed at his death, in 1514, 20. The small circular temple in the cloister of §. Pietro-a-Montorio, esteemed by Palladio as the only modern work of his time worthy of being ranked with the best antique. It is generally admitted to be Bramante’s master- piece. 21. A palace inthe Borgo 8. Spirito, erected for the great painter Raffaelle, now destroyed. From the engraving of it preserved in Ferrerio’s ‘‘ Palazzi de Roma,” it would appear to differ materially from his usual style, and to have been one of his finest designs. According to Vasari, it was built of brick, and ornamented with stuceo work cast in moulds and affixed to the building by a method invented by Bramante, and which he employed also for the stucco work of S. Peter’s. 22. The design and decoration of S. Maria, at Loretto, continued and greatly altered by many succeeding architects. 23. The Palazzo Gubernatorio, at Loretto, 24. A plan for uniting all the Law Courts. never more than commenced, and of which some remains, especially a rustic basement, still exist in the Via Giulia, Rome. 25. A house near the Piazza delle Copelli (?) Rome, for II. Pietro Turchi, a.v., 1500. I have named this the last on account of the date, which I believe to be correct, taken from a drawing made by myself in 1848. If so, it proves that Bramante’s peculiar style was formed as early as the year 1500, the date of his arrival in Rome, and that the cloister of the Della Pace Monastery was not his first work there. Besides these are to be named the enlarge- ment of ‘the principal chapel in S. M. Maggiore,” Rome; ‘‘an edifice for the furtherance of the business” of the office of Clerk to theSignet, a post held by Bramante under Julius IL. ; also ‘‘ a very beautiful press for the printing of the Papal bulls,” besides “ models for innumerable temples and palaces which are now in Rome, and many other parts of the States of the Church” (Vasari). He appears also to have been a lover of music and poetry, and to have produced some compositions in both. Indeed, the close con- nection between these arts and architecture was recognised and practically carried out by most of the great] artists of the Renais- sance. Of his paintings few, if any, authen- tic examples are preserved. The dead Christ mourned by the Marys over the door of San Sepolero, at Milan, often ascribed to Bramante, is distinctly stated by Vasari to be the work of Bramantino. It appears, indeed, that the paintings usually attributed to Bramante were in fact the work of Bramantino, of Milan. Bramante’s influence on the architects and sculptors of his day must have been very great, for of the first-named we find acting either as assistants or as pupils, Cesare Ceesariano, of Milan, author of a commen- tary on Vitruvius, appointed architect to the Duomo in that city (d. 1542) ; Doleebono, the architect of the Monastero Maggiore di San Maurizio, Milan (1497—1506) ; Antonio di Montecavallo, who superintended the works of the Corneto Palace, Rome; Balthazar Peruzzi, and Antonio San Gallo; whilst among the numerous sculptors employed by him are particularly to be noted Jacopo Sansovino, who subsequently became so cele- brated an architect, and the Spaniard, Alonzo Berughetta—as Vasari calls him—or Berruguete (1480—1561), who became one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance period in Spain. Se ge NOTES ON BRICKWORK.—XI. T used to be a common practice to insert bond-timbers in walls to tie the work together longitudinally, but these have been found to have decayed. When Covent Garden Theatre was burnt down some years ago, and the old walls pulled down, the bond timbers were found quite rotten. A much stronger and safer material for this purpose is hoop- iron. It should be, according to the opinion of some, allowed to rust before being used, the object being to give it a better hold on the work, but others prefer to have it dipped in melted pitch, and well sanded before the pitch sets again. Jloop-iron bond was first used by Sir Mark Isambard Brunel, the father of Mr. I. K. Brunel, the engineer of the Great Western Railway, the Great Eastern