Bramante, D
Name: Donato Bramante
Achievements: Major Baroque architect
Born: 1444, probably at Monte Asdrualdo (now Fermignano), Urbino, Italy
Died: April 11, 1514, Rome, Italy.l Aged about 70
Field & Discipline: Architecture; Architect
Language: Italy
Father: Angelo Vittorio Bramante
Mother: Unknown
Siblings: 1 brother: Antonio; 7 sisters
Spouse: None
Children: None
Education: Unknown
Major Work:
Cloisters in San Ambrogio, Milan
Tempietto, church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome
Belvedere court in the Vatican
St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
Palazzo Caprini, Rome (House of Raphael)
Life & Times:
Little of Bramante's early life is known, but since he was called Bramante of Urbino, it is likely he was apprenticed to artist [apprenticed to] Della Francesca* in Urbino, a cultural center whose artists became known for their use of perspective. The Duke of Urbino, [a patron was] Federigo di Montefeltro*, a great patron of the arts, employed dozens of artists, decorators and craftsmen to work on civic buildings. Bramante probably worked on the Ducal palace where illusionist architectural painting was being tried to great effect.
By 1477, when he was 33, Bramante had become an itinerant artist in Lombardy. One of his jobs was to paint illusionist architectural murals on the facade of the Podesta Palace in Bergamo. He eventually made his way to Milan, where he is believed to have worked on the Cathedral, when he was obliged to conform with the northern Romanesque-Gothic style. (Perspective, and the new classicism, both of them Florentine ideas that he had learned in Urbino, had not yet taken hold in Milan).
The first construction that Bramante is known to have designed was the Eastern part of the church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro in Milan. It was the first time he applied the principles of perspective illusionism to a large structure, and the influence of [influenced by] Alberti*, [influenced by] Mantegna* and [influenced by] Brunelleschi* can clearly be seen. Bramante regarded painting and architecture as interchangeable, and the choir in the church was painted to give the illusion of a larger space.
Bramante was now making a name for himself, and in 1488, he and other architects were invited by Milanese ruler Ludovico Sforza brother, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, to design a cathedral at Pavia. Bramante was probably responsible for the crypt and lower half of the church. Two years later, he was back in Milan working with [worked with] Da Vinci* on the Cathedral. Both Bramante's and Da Vinci's plans for the tower were rejected in favor of a more traditional plan. In 1492, Bramante was put in charge of the reconstruction of the rectory of San Ambrogio.
At the Sforza court in Milan, he mixed with humanists, poets and artists and often worked on court pageants and festivities. Only one painting of this period has been attributed positively to Bramante: "Christ at the Column" (c. 1490).
Little is known about the other projects in which Bramante was involved over the next seven years. In 1493, he was sent to survey fortifications on the Swiss border. He probably designed the square and other structures in the town of Vigevano. He designed the covered passageway for the Sforza Castle in Milan, the facade of the church of Santa Maria Nascente at Abbiategrasso, and worked on the Cistercian Monastery in Milan. This and many other projects had to be abandoned in 1499 when the French occupied Milan and the Sforza’s were forced to flee.
Bramante also left and was in Rome by 1500. Bramante found work in Rome immediately. He was under-architect to Pope [worked for] Alexander VI* and got to know Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who was interested in antiquity and the arts. Carafa commissioned Bramante's first known work in Rome: the monastery and cloister of Santa Maria della Pace. In 1502, Bramante designed a small church, the Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, in Rome.
In 1503, Pope [worked for] Julius II* summoned Bramante, now 60, and asked him to design the new Basilica of St. Peter's and the Belvedere complex in the Vatican. This was part of Julius' idea to rebuild Rome as a city of classical grandeur. Bramante mapped out the Pope's grand concept in 1505, producing a plan that echoed the imperial glories of ancient Rome.
The entire area of the Vatican was to form a single complex by enlargment of the old Vatican palaces, extending them to link up with the existing Belvedere Villa of Innocent III. The Villa was to be extended by building an immense courtyard that would be used as a gallery for antiquities. A difference in height between the two sites was overcome by linking the Vatican palace and the Villa with covered streets and long walkways with loggia laid out in terraces.
In the space between the walkways, Bramante planned an open-air theater, meeting rooms, offices, and gardens with shady walks and fountains. He even planned for ramps for horses.
The culmination of Bramante's career was his design for St. Peter's Basilica. The Pope chose Bramante's plan over two others, but the project was full of problems. The Pope insisted that the tomb of St. Peter remain directly centered under the dome and the whole area of the old basilica be covered.
The destruction required was unpopular, and Bramante was nicknamed "Master Breaker". His plan was always in a state of flux, but by the time of his death, the four main piers had been built as well as the arches to support the dome.
While working on St. Peter's, Bramante continued to work on smaller projects and contributed to an ambitious plan to redevelop Rome within a single overall design. As part of the scheme, he designed the Caprini palace.
It became a model for many other 16th-century palaces and was later bought by artist [work related to] Raphael*. Italian artist [referred to by] Vasari* told friends that Bramante had designed the architectural background for Raphael's "School of Athens" (1508-11) and that Raphael repaid him by portraying Bramante as Euclid in a fresco painting.
Extra Connections: A passionate admirer of Italian poet [admired] Dante*. Influenced [influenced] Barry* and [influenced] Palladio*
He studied the work of [influenced by] Vitruvius*
Assessment: In his manipulation of space and volume he differed from the humanist Florentine architects, and unwittingly exposed the limitations and contradictions of the new classicism. By so doing, he anticipated the ambiguities of Mannerism
Oneliner: Donato Bramante, major Renaissance architect
Bibliography:
- Bruschi, Arnaldo, Bramante, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London, 1977.