Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/448

440 changes, when he constructed the chapel of the King of France, in the transept which is on the side towards the Campo Santo. Under Paul III. the whole work was altered once more by Antonio da San Gallo, and after him Michael Angelo, setting aside all these varying opinions, and reducing the superfluous expense, has given to the building a degree of beauty and perfection, of which no previous successor to Bramante had ever formed the idea; the whc»le has indeed been conducted according to his plans, and under the guidance of his judgment, although he has many times remarked to me that he was but executing the design and arrangements of Bramante, seeing that the master who first founded a great edifice is he who ought to be regarded as its author. The plan of Bramante in this building, does indeed appear to have been of almost inconceivable vastness, and the commencement which he gave to his work was of commensurate extent and grandeur; but if he had begun this stupendous and magnificent edifice on a smaller scale, it is certain that neither San Gallo nor the other masters, not even Michael Angelo himself, would have been found equal to the task of rendering it more imposing, although they proved themselves to be abundantly capable of diminishing the work; for the original plan of Bramante indeed had a view to even much greater things. We find it asserted that the earnest desire of Bramante to make a rapid progress, and to see the building arising, induced him to permit the destruction of many admirable works which had previously adorned the church of St. Peter; sepulchral monuments of Popes namely, with paintings and mosaics: a circumstance which has caused the loss of numerous portraits in different styles of many great personages, which were scattered about in all parts of the older church, being, as it was, considered the principal church of all Chris-