Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/440

432 Monticavallo. Bramanie was likewise consulted in respect to the proposed enlargement of the church of San Jacopo degli Spagnuoli, situate on the Piazza Navona: he took part also in the deliberations relating to Santa Maria dell Anima; the building of which was afterwards entrusted to a German architect, and designed the palace of the Cardinal Adriano da Corneto in the Borgo Nuovo, which was built very slowly and ultimately remained unfinished, in consequence of the Cardinal’s flight. The enlargement of the principal chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore was also effected according to the designs of Bramante, and by these works he acquired so much credit in Eome that he began to be esteemed the first architect in that city, being exceedingly bold and prompt, with great and varied powers of invention. The most distinguished personages of Rome now employed him therefore in all their important undertakings, and when, in the year 1503, Julius II. was raised to the pontifical chair, Bramante was at once employed in his service.

A project had been formed in the mind of that pontiff, foi covering the space which then lay between the Belvedere and the Papal palace, with a building in the form of a quadrangular theatre, designing thereby to enclose a small valley which interposed between the palace and the new buildings erected for the residence of the Pontiffs, by Pope Innocent VIII.; the intention of Julius was to construct two corridors, one on each side of the valley, by which means he could pass from the Belvedere to the palace under a loggia, and in. like manner could return from the palace to the Belvedere, without exposure to the weather; the ascent from the lowest point of the valley to the level of the Belvedere was to be effected by flights of steps. Bramante therefore, who had great judgment and a most ingenious fancy in such matters, divided the lower part into