Bramante and the aesthetics of high Renaissance architecture

High Renaissance

Bramante

Bramante and the aesthetics of the High Renaissance

Donato Bramante predates Michelangelo as one of the architects whose works represented a profound shift from the Gothic sensibility to that of the Renaissance. Bramante was profoundly interested in the study of classical antiquity and his knowledge of early Greek and Roman art and architecture infuses all of his work. Although he originally trained as a painter, his architecture is considered his greatest contribution to world art. His early studies clearly influenced his later architectural work.

Bramante's painter's eye can be seen in one of his earliest works, the Church of Santa Maria Presso San Satir. "His characteristic style focusing on perspective can be seen in aspects of the building….Bramante's contributions can be seen in the choir area that had to be remodeled. In order to make up for the reduced choir size, Bramante used a perspective painting to make it look bigger than it actually is" in a style that later became known as trompe l'oeil "an art technique that utilizes a realistic painting style to create an optical illusion of three-dimensionality" (Catt 2011). An attempt to create a realistic, anatomical depiction of the human body, as was seen in the art and sculpture of the Renaissance is manifested in Bramante's architecture, which combines a scrupulous attention to detail and uses technical knowledge of mathematics and geometry to create such a 'realistic' optical illusion. The fusion of knowledge of art, science, and geometry in a cross-disciplinary fashion is characteristic of the Renaissance.

Bramante's architectural designs inspired paintings themselves, according to the historian Vasari who "says that Bramante designed the majestic architectural setting of Raphael's fresco The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanze. Certainly Raphael paid tribute to Bramante by introducing his portrait into this painting as the mathematician Euclid. Bramante had an enormous influence as an architect, and his interest in perspective and trompe l'œil left a mark on Milanese painting, notably in the work of his follower Bramantino" (Chilvers 2008). The School of Athens famously celebrates pagan learning, using the exacting artistic style of the Renaissance -- both Biblical and pagan images could be celebrated, so long as they typified what was seen as the best of the human condition.

Bramante's style was a merging of older, classical Greek and Roman knowledge with Christianity in a manner that was likewise characteristic of the High Renaissance. Donato Bramante's greatest completed work is the Tempietto which was constructed to mark the place of St. Peter's martyrdom. "Despite its small size, the Tempietto is often considered the crowning jewel of High Renaissance architecture; it is certainly the most famous religious structure of the period" (Renaissance architecture, 2011, Essential Humanities). But despite the fact that it was designed to mark the passing of a great saint, it used Doric columns and a domed design similar to the Pantheon of Rome.

Bramante would occasionally delve into an older style, but even with his Gothic-influenced Milan Cathedral, the work was still characterized by the "internal concentration, a greater organic relation of parts, and by rich and fresh decorative forms" characterized by Renaissance design (Donato Bramante, 2011, New Catholic Encyclopedia). In the case of the Renaissance, rather than the disunity and grotesqueness of the Gothic, the proportionality and harmony reflected a greater optimism and belief in human perfectibility.

Like many architects of the Renaissance, the papacy exerted a heavy influence upon Bramante's career, particularly Pope Julius II. For example, according to the great biographer of Renaissance artists, Vasari, when Bramante was fulfilling his commission to "cover the space between the Belvedere and the palace" in the papal quarters, Bramante took more inspiration from Greek and Roman art than from Christian iconography and also drew extensively from Roman technical knowledge in terms of its construction (Vasari, 2006, Donato Bramante). The final structure the Cortile del Belvedere, or the Belvedere courtyard, became one of Bramante's most famous works, even though he did not live to see the final structure's full completion. "Bramante, who possessed a good judgment and a fanciful genius in such matters, divided the bottom part into two stories, first a fine Doric loggia like the Coliseum of the Savelli, but instead of half-columns, he put pilasters, building the whole of travertine. The second stage was of the Ionic order and with windows, rising to the level of the first apartments of the papal palace and of those of the Belvedere; to form subsequently a loggia more than four hundred paces on the side towards Rome and another towards the wood, with the valley between, so that it was necessary to bring all the water of the Belvedere and to erect a beautiful fountain" (Vasari, 2006, Donato Bramante).

The work combined elements of a variety of sacred and secular Roman architecture in its inspiration and design. Its "axiality recalled the ancient temple complex at Palestrina, the symbolism of the Cortile del Belvedere (1507-7) combined overtones of Roman villa and theatre" (Donato Bramante, 2011, Encyclopedia of Art). Unlike the anonymous artists of the Gothic era, Bramante proudly created a frieze on the front of the Belvedere which bore the name of his patron the Pope and also his own, celebrating his achievement. The antique gallery in the Belvedere contained statues of Greek antiquity (Vasari, 2006, Donato Bramante). This willingness to proudly take credit for his labor and to include images that celebrated the beauty of the human form, including works that predated Christianity, embodied a spirit of intellectual tolerance that could not have existed previously.