Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/446

438 of the latter to coincide with his own purpose and vdshes, that hearing his Holiness express the intention of demolishing the church of San Pietro to construct it anew, he made numberless designs to that end, and among these there was one, which astonished all who beheld it, and was indeed of the most extraordinary magnificence and beauty. Nor would it be possible to display more consummate art, or a more perfect judgment than were evinced by Bramante, in this work: the design shows two towers, in the centre of which is the principal front of the building, as we see it on the medals afterwards struck for Julius II. and Leo X., by Caradosso, a most excellent goldsmith of that time, who had no equal in the execution of dies: the same thing may be seen in the medals of Bramante himself, which are also extremely beautiful. The Pope, being thus determined to undertake the commencement of that stupendous building, the church of St. Peter; caused one half of the older fabric to be demolished, and set hand to the reconstruction, with the firm resolve that in art, invention, arrangement, and beauty, as well as in extent, magnificence, and splendour of decoration, that edifice should surpass all the buildings ever erected in that city by the whole power of the republic; aided as this was by the genius of the many able masters whose works had illustrated the states of the church. With his accustomed promptitude the architect laid the foundations of his work, and before the death of the Pope, continuing his labours to the close of his own life, which followed soon after that of the pontiff; he raised the building to the height of the cornice, which is over the arches of the four piers, and of this part he also completed the vaulting, effecting the whole with extraordinary rapidity, as well as consummate art. He likewise conducted the vaulting of the