Michelangelo

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Michelangelo

Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra

Born

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

6 March 1475
Caprese near Arezzo, Republic of Florence (presentdayTuscany, Italy)

Died

18 February 1564 (aged 88)

Rome, Papal States (present-day Italy)

Known for

Notable
work

Sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry

David
Piet
The Last Judgment
Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Movement

High Renaissance

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 18 February 1564), commonly

known as Michelangelo (Italian pronunciation: [mikelandelo]), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect,
poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the
development of Western art.[1] Considered the greatest living artist in his lifetime, he has since been
held as one of the greatest artists of all time.[1] Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his
versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a
contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his fellow Italian Leonardo da
Vinci.
A number of his works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in
existence.[1] His output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of
correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the bestdocumented artist of the 16th century.
Two of his best-known works, the Piet and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his
low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the
history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on theceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar
wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Manneriststyle at
the Laurentian Library. At the age of 74 he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the
architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished
to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.
In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist
whose biography was published while he was alive.[2] Two biographies were published of him during
his lifetime; one of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic
achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance, a viewpoint that continued to have currency in
art history for centuries.
In his lifetime he was also often called Il Divino ("the divine one").[3] One of the qualities most admired
by his contemporaries was histerribilit, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts
of subsequent artists to imitate[4] Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted
in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.
Contents

1 Life
o

1.1 Early life, 147588

1.2 Apprenticeships, 148892

1.3 Bologna, Florence and Rome, 149299

1.4 Florence, 14991505

1.5 Sistine Chapel ceiling, 150512

1.6 Florence under Medici popes, 1513 early 1534

1.7 Rome, 153446

1.8 St Peter's Basilica, 154664

2 Personal life

3 Works
o

3.1 Madonna and Child

3.2 Male figure

3.3 Sistine Chapel ceiling

3.4 Figure compositions

3.5 Architecture

3.6 Death

4 Michelangelo's legacy

5 See also

6 Footnotes

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

Life

The Madonna of the Stairs(149092), Michelangelo's earliest known work

See also: List of works by Michelangelo

Early life, 147588

Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475[a] in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany.[5] (Today, Caprese is
known as Caprese Michelangelo). For several generations, his family had been small-scale bankers
in Florence, the bank had failed and his father, Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, briefly took
a government post in Caprese, where Michelangelo was born.[2] At the time of Michelangelo's birth,
his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local
administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelo's mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena. [6]The
Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa; this claim remains
unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it.[7]Several months after Michelangelo's birth, the family
returned to Florence, where Michelangelo was raised. At later times, during his mother's prolonged
illness and after her death in 1481, when he was just six years old, Michelangelo lived with a
stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of Settignano, where his father owned a marble
quarry and a small farm.[6] Giorgio Vasari quotes Michelangelo:
"If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of
Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with
which I make my figures."[5]

Apprenticeships, 148892
As a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under
the Humanist Francesco da Urbino.[5][8][b] The young artist, however, showed no interest in his
schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches and seek the company of painters. [8]
The city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy.[9] Art was
sponsored by the Signoria (the town council), by the merchant guilds and by wealthy patrons such
as the Medici and their banking associates.[10] The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship
and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence.[9] In the early 1400s, the architect Brunelleschi had
studied the remains of Classical buildings in Rome and created two churches, San Lorenzo's and
Santo Spiritu, which embodied the Classical precepts. [11] The sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured
for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as
"The Gates of Paradise".[12] The exterior niches of the Church of Or' San Michele contained a gallery
of works by the greatest sculptors of Florence, Donatello, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco.
[10]
The interiors of the older churches were covered with frescos, mostly in the Late Medieval style,
but also in the Early Renaissance style, begun by Giotto and continued by Masaccio in
the Brancacci Chapel, both of whose works Michelangelo studied and copied in drawings.[13] During
Michelangelo's childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, in order
to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master of the
technique of fresco painting, of perspective, figure drawing and portraiture. He had the largest
workshop in Florence, at that period.[10]
In 1488, at thirteen, Michelangelo was apprenticed to Ghirlandaio. [14] When he was only fourteen, his
father persuaded Ghirlandaio to pay his apprentice as an artist, which was highly unusual at the
time.[15] When in 1489, Lorenzo de' Medici, de facto ruler of Florence, asked Ghirlandaio for his two
best pupils, Ghirlandaio sent Michelangelo andFrancesco Granacci.[16] From 1490 to 1492,
Michelangelo attended the Humanist academy which the Medici had founded along Neo
Platonic lines. At the academy, both Michelangelo's outlook and his art were subject to the influence
of many of the most prominent philosophers and writers of the day including Marsilio Ficino, Pico
della Mirandolaand Poliziano.[17] At this time, Michelangelo sculpted the reliefs Madonna of the
Steps (14901492) and Battle of the Centaurs (14911492).[13] The latter was based on a theme
suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici.[18] Michelangelo worked for a
time with the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni. When he was seventeen, another pupil, Pietro
Torrigiano, struck him on the nose, causing the disfigurement which is conspicuous in all the portraits
of Michelangelo.[19]

Bologna, Florence and Rome, 149299

Michelangelo's Piet, St Peter's Basilica (149899)

Lorenzo de' Medici's death on 8 April 1492 brought a reversal of Michelangelo's circumstances.
[20]
Michelangelo left the security of the Medici court and returned to his father's house. In the
following months he carved a polychrome wooden Crucifix (1493), as a gift to the prior of the
Florentine church of Santo Spirito, which had allowed him to do some anatomical studies of the
corpses of the church's hospital.[21] Between 1493 and 1494 he bought a block of marble, and carved
a larger than life statue of Hercules, which was sent to France and subsequently disappeared
sometime circa 18th century.[18][c] On 20 January 1494, after heavy snowfalls, Lorenzo's heir, Piero de
Medici, commissioned a snow statue, and Michelangelo again entered the court of the Medici.
In the same year, the Medici were expelled from Florence as the result of the rise of Savonarola.
Michelangelo left the city before the end of the political upheaval, moving to Venice and then
to Bologna.[20] In Bologna, he was commissioned to carve several of the last small figures for the
completion of the Shrine of St. Dominic, in the church dedicated to that saint. At this time
Michelangelo studied the robust reliefs carved by Jacopo della Quercia around main portal of
the Basilica of St Petronius, including the panel of The Creation of Eve the composition of which was
to reappear on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.[22] Towards the end of 1494, the political situation in
Florence was calmer. The city, previously under threat from the French, was no longer in danger
as Charles VIII had suffered defeats. Michelangelo returned to Florence but received no
commissions from the new city government under Savonarola. He returned to the employment of the
Medici.[23] During the half year he spent in Florence, he worked on two small statues, a child St. John
the Baptist and a sleeping Cupid. According to Condivi, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, for
whom Michelangelo had sculpted St. John the Baptist, asked that Michelangelo "fix it so that it
looked as if it had been buried" so he could "send it to Rome...pass [it off as] an ancient work and
sell it much better." Both Lorenzo and Michelangelo were unwittingly cheated out of the real value of
the piece by a middleman. Cardinal Raffaele Riario, to whom Lorenzo had sold it, discovered that it
was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome.
[24] [d]
This apparent success in selling his sculpture abroad as well as the conservative Florentine
situation may have encouraged Michelangelo to accept the prelate's invitation. [23]
Michelangelo arrived in Rome 25 June 1496[25] at the age of 21. On 4 July of the same year, he
began work on a commission for Cardinal Raffaele Riario, an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine
god Bacchus. Upon completion, the work was rejected by the cardinal, and subsequently entered
the collection of the banker Jacopo Galli, for his garden.

The Statue of David, completed by Michelangelo in 1504, is one of the most renowned works of the Renaissance.

In November 1497, the French ambassador to the Holy See, Cardinal Jean de Bilhres-Lagraulas,
commissioned him to carve a Piet, a sculpture showing the Virgin Mary grieving over the body
of Jesus. The subject, which is not part of the Biblical narrative of the Crucifixion, was common in
religious sculpture of Medieval Northern Europe and would have been very familiar to the Cardinal.
[26]
The contract was agreed upon in August of the following year. Michelangelo was 24 at the time of
its completion.[26] It was soon to be regarded as one of the world's great masterpieces of sculpture, "a
revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture". Contemporary opinion was
summarized by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been
reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh." [27] It is now located in St
Peter's Basilica.

Florence, 14991505
Main article: David (Michelangelo)
Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499. The republic was changing after the fall of antiRenaissance Priest and leader of Florence,Girolamo Savonarola, (executed in 1498) and the rise of
the gonfaloniere Piero Soderini. He was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an
unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by Agostino di Duccio: a colossal statue of Carrara
marble portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed on the gable of Florence
Cathedral.[28] Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the Statue of David, in
1504. The masterwork definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary
technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination. A team of consultants,
including Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, was called together to decide upon its placement,
ultimately the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It now stands in
the Academia while a replica occupies its place in the square.[29]

With the completion of the David came another commission. In early 1504 Leonardo da Vinci had
been commissioned in the council chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio depicting the Battle of
Angiari between the forces of Florence and Milan in 1434. Michelangelo was then commissioned to
paint the Battle of Cascina. The two paintings are very different, Leonardo's depicting soldiers
fighting on horseback, and Michelangelo's showing soldiers being ambushed as they bathe in the
river. Neither work was completed and both were lost when the chamber was refurbished. Both
works were much admired and copies remain of them, Leonardo's work having been copied
by Rubens and Michelangelo's by Bastiano da Sangallo.[30]
Also during this period, Michelangelo was commissioned by Angelo Doni to paint a "Holy Family" as
a present for his wife, Maddalena Strozzi. It is known as the Doni Tondo and hangs in the Uffizi
Gallery in its original magnificent frame which Michelangelo may have designed. [31][32] He also may
have painted the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist, known as the Manchester Madonna and
now in the National Gallery, London, United Kingdom.[33]

Sistine Chapel ceiling, 150512

Main article: Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; the work took approximately four years to complete (150812)

In 1505, Michelangelo was invited back to Rome by the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was
commissioned to build thePope's tomb, which was to include forty statues and be finished in five
years.[34]
Under the patronage of the Pope, Michelangelo experienced constant interruptions to his work on
the tomb in order to accomplish numerous other tasks. Although Michelangelo worked on the tomb
for 40 years, it was never finished to his satisfaction. [34] It is located in the Church of S. Pietro in
Vincoli in Rome and is most famous for the central figure ofMoses, completed in 1516.[35] Of the other
statues intended for the tomb, two known as the Heroic Captive and the Dying Captive, are now in
the Louvre.[34]
During the same period, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took
approximately four years to complete (15081512). [35] According to Condivi's account, Bramante,
who was working on the building of St Peter's Basilica, resented Michelangelo's commission for the
Pope's tomb and convinced the Pope to commission him in a medium with which he was unfamiliar,
in order that he might fail at the task.[36]
Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the Twelve Apostles on the triangular
pendentives that supported the ceiling, and cover the central part of the ceiling with ornament.
[37]
Michelangelo persuaded Pope Julius to give him a free hand and proposed a different and more

complex scheme, representing the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Promise of Salvation through the
prophets, and the genealogy of Christ. The work is part of a larger scheme of decoration within the
chapel which represents much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. [37]
The composition stretches over 500 square metres of ceiling, [38] and contains over 300 figures.[37] At
its centre are nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's Creation of
the Earth; God's Creation of Humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of
Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are
painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of the Jesus; seven prophets of Israel
and five Sibyls, prophetic women of the Classical world.[37] Among the most famous paintings on the
ceiling are The Creation of Adam, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Deluge, the
Prophet Jeremiah and theCumaean Sibyl.

Moses for the tomb of Pope Julius II

Florence under Medici popes, 1513 early 1534

In 1513, Pope Julius II died and was succeeded by Pope Leo X, the second son of Lorenzo dei
Medici.[35] Pope Leo commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the faade of the Basilica of San
Lorenzo in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. He agreed reluctantly and spent three years
creating drawings and models for the faade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at
Pietrasanta specifically for the project. In 1520 the work was abruptly cancelled by his financially
strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a faade to this day.[39]
In 1520 the Medici came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family
funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo.[35] Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the
artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realized. Michelangelo used his own
discretion to create its composition of the Medici Chapel. It houses the large tombs of two of the
younger members of the Medici family, Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, and Lorenzo, his nephew, but it
also serves to commemorate their more famous predecessors, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his
brother Giuliano who are buried nearby. The tombs display statues of the two Medici and allegorical
figures representing Night and Day, and Dusk and Dawn. The chapel also contains
Michelangelo's Medici Madonna.[40] In 1976 a concealed corridor was discovered with drawings on
the walls that related to the chapel itself.[41][42]

Pope Leo X died in 1521, to be succeeded briefly by the austere Adrian VI, then his cousin Giulio
Medici as Pope Clement VII.[43] In 1524 Michelangelo received an architectural commission from the
Medici pope for the Laurentian Library at San Lorenzo's Church.[35] He designed both the interior of
the library itself and its vestibule, a building which utilises architectural forms with such dynamic
effect that it is seen as the forerunner of Baroque architecture. It was left to assistants to interpret his
plans and carry out instruction. The library was not opened until 1571 and the vestibule remained
incomplete until 1904.[44]
In 1527, the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored
the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by
working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530 and the Medici were
restored to power.[35] Michelangelo fell out of favour with the young Alessandro Medici who had been
installed as the first Duke of Florence, and fearing for his life, he fled to Rome, leaving assistants to
complete the Medici chapel and the Laurentian Library. Despite Michelangelo's support of the
republic and resistance to the Medici rule, he was welcomed by Pope Clement who reinstated an
allowance that he had previously made the artist and made a new contract with him over the tomb of
Pope Julius.[45]

Rome, 153446

The Last Judgement (153441)

In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. It was at this time that he met
the poet, Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara, who was to become one of his closest friends
until her death in 1547.[46]
Shortly before his death in 1534 Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint a fresco
of The Last Judgement on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. His successor, Paul III was
instrumental in seeing that Michelangelo began and completed the project. Michelangelo labored on
the project from 1534 to October 1541.[35] The fresco depicts the Second Coming of Christ and his
Judgement of the souls. Michelangelo ignored the usual artistic conventions in portraying Jesus, and
showed him a massive, muscular figure, youthful, beardless and naked. [47] He is surrounded by
saints, among which Saint Bartholomew holds a drooping flayed skin, bearing the likeness of
Michelangelo. The dead rise from their graves, to be consigned either to Heaven or to Hell. [47]

Once completed, the depiction of Christ and the Virgin Mary naked was considered sacrilegious,
and Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua's ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco
removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. At theCouncil of Trent, shortly before Michelangelo's
death in 1564, it was decided to obscure the genitals and Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of
Michelangelo, was commissioned to make the alterations.[48] An uncensored copy of the original,
by Marcello Venusti, is in the Capodimonte Museum of Naples.[49]
Michelangelo worked on a number of architectural projects at this time. They included a design for
the Capitoline Hill with its trapezoid piazza displaying the ancient bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius.
He designed the upper floor of the Palazzo Farnese, and the interior of the Church of Santa Maria
degli Angeli, in which he transformed the vaulted interior of an Ancient Roman bathhouse. Other
architectural works include San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, the Sforza Chapel (Capella Sforza) in
the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and the Porta Pia.[50]

The dome of St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's Basilica, 154664

Main article: St Peter's Basilica Architecture
While still working on the Last Judgement, Michelangelo received yet another commission for the
Vatican. This was for the painting of two large frescos in the Cappella Paolina depicting significant
events in the lives of the two most important saints of Rome, the Conversion of Saint Paul and
the Crucifixion of Saint Peter. Like the Last Judgement, these two works are complex compositions
containing a great number of figures.[51] They were completed in 1550. In the same year, Giorgio
Vasari published his Vita, including a biography of Michelangelo.[52]
In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.[35] The process of
replacing the Constantinian basilica of the 4th century had been underway for fifty years and in 1506
foundations had been laid to the plans of Bramante. Successive architects had worked on it, but little
progress had been made. Michelangelo was persuaded to take over the project. He returned to the
concepts of Bramante, and developed his ideas for a centrally planned church, strengthening the
structure both physically and visually.[53] The dome, not completed until after his death, has been
called by Banister Fletcher, "the greatest creation of the Renaissance".[54]
As construction was progressing on St Peter's, there was concern that Michelangelo would pass
away before the dome was finished. However, once building commenced on the lower part of the
dome, the supporting ring, the completion of the design was inevitable.

On 7 December 2007, a red chalk sketch for the dome of St Peter's Basilica, possibly the last made
by Michelangelo before his death, was discovered in the Vatican archives. It is extremely rare, since
he destroyed his designs later in life. The sketch is a partial plan for one of the radial columns of the
cupola drum of Saint Peter's.[55]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (also spelled Gianlorenzo or Giovanni Lorenzo; Naples, 7 December 1598
Rome, 28 November 1680) was an Italian artist and a prominent architect [1] who worked principally
in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of
sculpture.[2] In addition, he painted, wrote plays, and designed metalwork and stage sets.
Bernini possessed the ability to depict dramatic narratives with characters showing intense
psychological states, but also to organize large-scale sculptural works which convey a magnificent
grandeur.[3] His skill in manipulating marble ensured that he would be considered a worthy successor
of Michelangelo, far outshining other sculptors of his generation, including his rival, Alessandro
Algardi. His talent extended beyond the confines of sculpture to a consideration of the setting in
which it would be situated; his ability to synthesize sculpture, painting and architecture into a
coherent conceptual and visual whole has been termed by the art historian Irving Levin the "unity of
the visual arts".[4] A deeply religious man,[5] working in Counter Reformation Rome, Bernini used light
as an important metaphorical device in his religious settings, often using hidden light sources that
could intensify the focus of religious worship[6] or enhance the dramatic moment of a sculptural
narrative.
Bernini was also a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his
contemporaries, the architectFrancesco Borromini and the painter and architect Pietro da Cortona.
Early in their careers they had all worked at the same time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially
under Carlo Maderno and, following his death, under Bernini. Later on, however, they were in
competition for commissions, and fierce rivalries developed, particularly between Bernini and
Borromini.[7][8] Despite the arguably greater architectural inventiveness of Borromini and Cortona,
Bernini's artistic pre-eminence, particularly during the reigns of popesUrban VIII (162344)
and Alexander VII (165565), meant he was able to secure the most important commission in the
Rome of his day, St. Peter's Basilica. His design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is
one of his most innovative and successful architectural designs.
During his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were
associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the papal nephew, Cardinal
Scipione Borghese, and in 1621, at the age of only twenty-three, he was knighted by Pope Gregory
XV. Following his accession to the papacy, Urban VIII is reported to have said, "It is a great fortune
for you, O Cavaliere, to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini made pope, but our fortune is even greater to
have Cavalier Bernini alive in our pontificate."[9] Although he did not fare so well during the reign
of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he once again regained pre-eminent artistic domination and
continued to be held in high regard by Clement IX.

Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque. It is only from
the late 19th century that art historical scholarship, in seeking an understanding of artistic output in
the cultural context in which it was produced, has come to recognise Bernini's achievements and
restore his artistic reputation. The art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that, during the
seventeenth century, "there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini". [10]
Contents
[hide]

1 Personal life

2 Early Works for Cardinal Borghese

3 The Papal Artist: Bernini in the age of Urban VIII

4 Bernini under Innocent X: The Towers of St Peter's and Temporary Disgrace

5 Beautifying the city: Bernini and Alexander VII

6 Visit to France

7 Architecture

8 Fountains in Rome

9 Other works

10 First biographies of Bernini

11 Selected works
o

11.1 Sculpture

11.2 Architecture and fountains

11.3 Paintings

12 Gallery

13 References

14 Further reading

15 External links

Personal life[edit]

Bernini was born in Naples in 1598 to a Mannerist sculptor, Pietro Bernini, originally from Florence,
and Angelica Galante, a Neapolitan, the sixth of their thirteen children. [11][12]Bernini himself would not
marry until May 1639, at age forty-one, when he wed a twenty-two-year-old Roman woman, Caterina
Tezio, in an arranged marriage. She bore him eleven children including youngest son Domenico
Bernini, who became his first biographer.[13] In 1606, at the age of eight, he accompanied his father to
Rome, where Pietro was involved in several high profile projects.[14] There, as a boy, Gianlorenzo's
skill was soon noticed by the painter Annibale Carracci and by Pope Paul V, and he soon gained the
important patronage of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the papal nephew. His first works were inspired
by antique classical sculpture.
In the late 1630s he engaged in an affair with a married woman named Costanza (wife of his
workshop assistant, Matteo Bonucelli, also called Bonarelli) and sculpted a bust of her (now in the
Bargello, Florence) during the height of their romance. She later had an affair with his younger
brother, who was Bernini's right-hand man in his studio. When Gian Lorenzo found out about
Costanza and his brother, in a fit of mad fury, he chased his brother Luigi through the streets of
Rome, intent on murdering him. To punish his unfaithful mistress, Bernini had a servant go to the
house of Costanza to slash her face several times with a razor. The servant was later jailed, and
Costanza was jailed for adultery.[15]
Bernini died in Rome in 1680, and was buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

Early Works for Cardinal Borghese[edit]

Apollo and Daphne (162225)

Under the patronage of the Cardinal Borghese, the young Bernini rapidly rose to prominence as a
sculptor. Among the early works for the cardinal were decorative pieces for the garden of the Villa
Borghese such as The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun, and several

allegorical busts, including the Damned Soul and Blessed Soul. By the time he was twenty-two, he
was considered talented enough to have been given a commission for a papal portrait, the Bust of
Pope Paul V.
Bernini's reputation was clearly established by four masterpieces, executed between 1619 and 1625,
all now displayed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. To the art historian Rudolf Wittkower these four
worksAeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius (1619), The Rape of Proserpina (162122), Apollo and
Daphne (162225), and David (162324)"inaugurated a new era in the history of European
sculpture".[16] It is a view repeated by other scholars.[17] Adapting the classical grandeur of
Renaissance sculpture and the dynamic energy of the Mannerist period, Bernini forged a new
conception for religious and historical sculpture.
Unlike those done by his predecessors, these sculptures focus on specific points of narrative tension
in the stories they are trying to tellAeneas and family fleeing Troy; the instant that Pluto grasps
Persephone; the moment Apollo sees his beloved Daphne begin her transformation into a tree. They
are transitory moments in each story. Bernini's David is the most obvious example of this. Unlike
Michelangelo's Davidwhich shows the subject holding a rock in one hand and a sling in the other,
contemplating the battle, or versions by other Renaissance artists, notably Donatello'swhich show
the subject in his triumph after the battle with Goliath, Bernini illustrates David during his combat with
the giant, as he twists his body to catapult towards Goliath. To emphasise these moments, and to
ensure these specific moments were appreciated by the viewer, Bernini designed the sculptures with
a specific viewpoint in mind. Their original placements within the Villa Borghese were against walls,
so that the viewers' first view was the dramatic moment of the narrative. [18][19]
The result of such an approach is to invest the sculptures with greater psychological energy. The
viewer finds it easier to gauge the state of mind of the characters and therefore understands the
larger story at workDaphne's wide open mouth in fear and astonishment, David biting his lip in
determined concentration, or Prosperina desperately struggling to free herself. In addition to
portraying psychological realism, they show a greater concern for representing physical details. The
tousled hair of Pluto, the pliant flesh of Prosperina, or the forest of leaves beginning to envelop
Daphne all demonstrate Bernini's exactitude and delight for representing complex real world textures
in marble form.[20][21]

The Papal Artist: Bernini in the age of Urban VIII [edit]

Baldacchino in St. Peter's Basilica

On the assumption of Maffeo Barberini to the role of Pope Urban VIII, and Bernini's subsequent
patronage from the Barberini pope, the artist's horizons broadened. He was not just producing
sculpture for private residences, but playing the most significant artistic (and engineering) role on the
city stage.[22] His appointments testify to this "curator of the papal art collection, director of the papal
foundry at Castel Sant'Angelo, commissioner of the fountains of Piazza Navona". [23] Such positions
gave Bernini the opportunity to demonstrate his skills throughout the city. Perhaps most significantly,
he was appointed Chief Architect of St Peter's in 1629. From then on, Bernini's work and artistic
vision would be placed at the symbolic heart of Rome.
The St Peter's Baldacchino was the centrepiece of this. Designed as a massive spiralling bronze
canopy over the tomb of St Peter, Bernini's four-pillared creation reached nearly 30 m (98 ft) from the
ground and cost around 200,000 Roman scudi (about $8m in currency of the early 21st century).
[24]

"Quite simply", writes one art historian, "nothing like has ever been seen before". [25] As well as

the St Peter's Baldacchino, Bernini's rearrangement of the crossing of the basilica left space for
massive statues, including the St Longinus executed by Bernini. Bernini also began work on the
tomb for Urban VIII, a full sixteen years before Urban's death.

Bust of Cardinal Armand de Richelieu (164041)

Despite this engagement with public architecture, Bernini was still able to produce artworks that
showed the gradual refinement of his portrait technique. A number of Bernini's sculptures show the
continual evolution of his ability to capture the personal characteristics that he saw in his sitters. This
included a number of busts of Urban VIII himself, the family bust of Francesco Barberini or most
notably, the Two Busts of Scipione Borghese the second of which had been rapidly created by

Bernini once a flaw had been found in the marble of the first. [26] The transitory nature of the
expression on Scipione's face is often noted by art historians, iconic of the Baroque concern for
representing movement in static artworks. To Rudolf Wittkower the "beholder feels that in the twinkle
of an eye not only might the expression and attitude change but also the folds of the casually
arranged mantle".[26]
One noted portrait is that of Costanza Bonarelli (executed around 1637), unusual in its more
personal nature. Bernini had an affair with Costanza, who was the wife of one of his assistants.
When Bernini then suspected Costanza of involvement with his brother, he badly beat him and
ordered a servant to slash her face with a razor. Pope Urban VIII intervened on his behalf, and he
was fined.[27]
Bernini also gained royal commissions from outside Rome, for subjects such as Cardinal
Richelieu of France, Francesco I d'Este of Modena, Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria. The
sculpture of Charles I was produced in Italy from a portrait made by Van Dyck, though Bernini
preferred to produce portraits from life the bust of Charles was lost in the Whitehall Palace fire of
1698 and that of Henrietta Maria was not undertaken due to the outbreak of the English Civil War.[28]
[29]

Bernini under Innocent X: The Towers of St Peter's and

Temporary Disgrace[edit]
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1651

Under Urban VIII, Bernini had been appointed chief architect for the basilica of St Peter's. Work by
Bernini included the aforementioned Baldacchino and also sculptures such as St Longinus. In 1637,
Bernini attempted to embellish the facade of the basilica, originally designed by Carlo Maderno
earlier in the century. Bernini's plan was to add two massive bell towers on each flank of the facade,
making use of the foundations Maderno had supplied. But once the first tower was erected in 1641,
cracks began to appear in the facade. Work was immediately stopped and the towers were pulled
down a few years later.[30]
Bernini's opponents within the Roman artistic world pinned the blame on Urban's artist, and Bernini
suffered, both financially and in terms of reputation.[31] Bernini's unfinished work of 1647, Truth
Unveiled by Time, is commonly taken to be his commentary on the events, where Time would show
the actual Truth behind the story; Bernini believed Maderno's insecure foundations were the real
source of the bell tower problem.
Nevertheless, this affair did not mean that Bernini lost patronage. The new pope, Innocent X, who
took the Holy Seat in 1644, maintained Bernini in the roles given to him by Urban. Work continued
on beautifying the massive nave of St Peters, with tiled flooring, polychromatic marble and pilasters
being added to the previously unadorned surfaces of the basilica. [31] He continued to work on Urban

VIII's tomb.[32] A few months after completing Urban's tomb, Bernini won, in controversial
circumstances, the commission for the Four Rivers Fountain on Piazza Navona.

Memorial to Maria Raggi, 1651

If there had been doubts over Bernini's position as Rome's preeminent artist, the success of the Four
Rivers Fountain removed them. Bernini continued to receive commissions from Pope Innocent X and
other senior members of Rome's clergy and aristocracy, as well as foreign patrons such Francesco
d'Este. In such an environment, Bernini's artistic style flourished. New types of funerary monument
were designed, such as the floating medallion for the deceased nun Maria Raggi, while chapels he
designed, such as the Raimondi Chapel in the church of San Pietro in Montorio, illustrated how
Bernini could use hidden lighting to help suggest divine intervention within the narratives he was
depicting.
But it was the commission for the Cornaro Chapel that fully demonstrated Bernini's innovative skill.
The chapel showcased his ability to integrate sculpture and architecture and thus create what
scholar Irving Lavin has called the "unified work of art". The central focus of the Cornaro Chapel is
the ecstasy of the Spanish nun and saint, Teresa of Avila.[33] Bernini situated emotionally vivid
portraits of the swooning Teresa and the quietly smiling angel, who delicately grips the arrow
piercing the saint, and also, to the side, onlooking portraits of the astonished Cornaro familythe
Venetian family that had commissioned the piecewithin an architectural environment that provided
the spiritual context (a heavenly setting with a hidden source of light) that suggests to viewers the
ultimate motive of this miraculous event.[34]
It was an artistic tour de force that showed the forms Bernini employed: hidden lighting, differently
painted sculptures, thin golden beams, recessive space, secret lens, and over twenty diverse types

of marble to create the final artwork"a perfected, highly dramatic and deeply satisfying seamless
ensemble".[35]

Beautifying the city: Bernini and Alexander VII[edit]

On his accession to the Chair of St Peter, Pope Alexander VII (165567) immediately commissioned
large-scale architectural changes in Rome, connecting new and existing buildings by opening up
streets and piazzas. It is no coincidence that Berninis career showed a greater focus on designing
buildings during this pontificate, as there were far greater opportunities.

View of Rome from the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica, June 2007

Berninis most notable creation during this period was the piazza leading to St Peter's. Previously a
broad, unstructured space, Bernini created two massive semi-circular colonnades, each row of
which was formed of four white columns. This resulted in an oval shape that formed a spectacular,
inclusive arena within which any gathering citizens, pilgrims and visitors could witness the
appearance of the pope either as he appeared on the loggia on the facade of St Peter's or on
balconies on the neighbouring Vatican palaces. Often likened to two arms reaching out from the
church to embrace the waiting crowd, Bernini's creation extended the symbolic greatness of the
Vatican area, creating an "exhiliarating expanse" that was, architecturally, an "unequivocal success".
[36][37]

The long avenue to the river Tiber was a later addition, when Benito Mussolini ordered the

clearing of housing that led up to Bernini's piazza.

Elsewhere within the Vatican area, Bernini made systematic rearrangements of space that exist to
the present day. The Cathedra Petri, the symbolic throne of St Peter in the apse of the basilica, was
rearranged as a monumental golden extravagance that matched the Baldacchino created earlier in
the century. Bernini's restoration of the Scala Regia, the papal stairway between St Peters's and the
Vatican Palace, was less ostentatious in appearance but still taxed Bernini's creative powers to
create a seemingly uniform stairway to connect two irregular buildings. [38]

Not all works during this era were on such a large scale. Indeed, the commission Bernini received to
build the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale for the Jesuits was relatively modest in size and
payment for Bernini. But Sant'Andrea shared with the St Peter's piazza unlike the complex
geometries of his rival Francesco Borromini a focus on basic geometric shapes, circles and ovals
to create spiritually intense buildings.[39] Equally, Bernini moderated the presence of colour and
decoration within these buildings, focussing visitors' attention on these simple forms that
underpinned the building. Sculptural decoration was never eliminated, but its use was more minimal.
The church of Santa Maria dell'Assunzione in the town of Arricia with its circular outline, rounded
dome and three-arched portico is particularly noteworthy in this respect. [40]

Visit to France[edit]
Bust of Louis XIV, 1665

At the end of April 1665, and still considered the most important artist in Rome, Bernini was forced
by political pressure (from both the French court and Pope Alexander VII) to travel to Paris to work
for King Louis XIV, who required an architect to complete work on the royal palace of the Louvre.
Bernini would remain in Paris until mid-October. Louis XIV assigned a member of his court to serve
as Bernini's translator, tourist guide, and overall companion, Paul Frart de Chantelou, who kept
a Journal of Bernini's visit that records much of Bernini's behaviour and utterances in Paris. [41]
The trip began well; Bernini's popularity was such that on his walks in Paris the streets were lined
with admiring crowds. But things soon turned sour.[42] Bernini presented some designs for the east
front (i.e., the all-important principal facade of the entire palace) of the Louvre, which were, after a
short while, rejected. It is often stated in the scholarship on Bernini that his Louvre designs were
turned down because Louis and his financial advisor Jean-Baptise Colbert considered them too
Italianate or too Baroque in style.[43] In fact, as Franco Mormando points out, "aesthetics
are never mentioned in any of [the] . . . surviving memos" by Colbert or any of the artistic advisors at
the French court. The explicit reasons for the rejections were utilitarian, namely, on the level of
physical security and comfort (e.g., location of the latrines).[44]
Other projects suffered a similar fate.[45] With the exception of Chantelou, Bernini failed to forge
significant friendships at the French court. His frequent negative comments on various aspects of
French culture, especially its art and architecture, did not go down well, particularly in juxtaposition to
his praise for the art and architecture of Italy (especially Rome); he said that a painting by Guido
Reni was worth more than all of Paris.[46] The sole work remaining from his time in Paris is the Bust of
Louis XIV, known as one of the grandest portrait busts of the baroque age. Back in Rome, Bernini
later created a monumental equestrian statue of Louis XIV; when it finally reached Paris (in 1685,
five years after the artist's death), the French king found it extremely repugnant and wanted it
destroyed; it was instead re-carved into a representation of the ancient Roman hero, Marcus Curtius.
[47]

Architecture[edit]
Bernini's architectural works include sacred and secular buildings and sometimes their urban
settings and interiors.[48] He made adjustments to existing buildings and designed new constructions.
Amongst his most well known works are the Piazza San Pietro (165667), the piazza and
colonnades in front of St. Peter's Basilica and the interior decoration of the Basilica. Amongst his
secular works are a number of Roman palaces: following the death of Carlo Maderno, he took over
the supervision of the building works at the Palazzo Barberini from 1630 on which he worked
with Borromini; the Palazzo Ludovisi (now Palazzo Montecitorio, started 1650); and the Palazzo
Chigi (now Palazzo Chigi-Odescalchi, started 1664).

St. Peter's baldachin, 162433

His first architectural projects were the faade and refurbishment of the church of Santa
Bibiana (162426) and the St. Peter's baldachin(162433), the bronze columned canopy over the
high altar of St. Peter's Basilica. In 1629, and before St. Peter's baldachin was complete,Urban
VIII put him in charge of all the ongoing architectural works at St Peter's. However, due to political
reasons and miscalculations in his design of the bell-towers for St. Peter's, of which only one was
completed and then subsequently torn down, Bernini fell out of favor during the Pamphili papacy of
Innocent X.[49] Never wholly without patronage, Bernini then regained a major role in the decoration of
St. Peter's with the Pope Alexander VII Chigi, leading to his design of the piazza and colonnade in
front of St. Peter's. Further significant works by Bernini at the Vatican include the Scala
Regia (166366), the monumental grand stairway entrance to the Vatican Palace, and theCathedra
Petri, the Chair of Saint Peter, in the apse of St. Peter's.

Colonnade of Piazza San Pietro

Bernini did not build many churches from scratch; rather, his efforts were concentrated on preexisting structures, and in particular St. Peter's. He fulfilled three commissions for new churches; his
stature allowed him the freedom to design the structure and decorate the interiors in a consistent
manner. Best known is the small oval baroque church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, a work which
Bernini's son, Domenico, reports his father was very pleased with. [50] Bernini also designed churches
in Castelgandolfo (San Tommaso da Villanova, 165861) and Ariccia (Santa Maria Assunta, 1662
64).
When Bernini was invited to Paris in 1665 to prepare works for Louis XIV, he presented designs for
the east facade of the Louvre Palace, but his projects were ultimately turned down in favour of the
more stern and classic proposals of the French doctor and amateur architectClaude Perrault,
[51]

signalling the waning influence of Italian artistic hegemony in France. Bernini's projects were

essentially rooted in the Italian Baroque urbanist tradition of relating public buildings to their settings,
often leading to innovative architectural expression in urban spaces like piazze or squares. However,
by this time, the French absolutist monarchy now preferred the classicising monumental severity of
Perrault's facade, no doubt with the added political bonus that it had been designed by a
Frenchman. The final version did, however, include Bernini's feature of a flat roof behind a Palladian
balustrade.
In 1639, Bernini bought property on the corner of the via Mercede and the via del Collegio di
Propaganda Fide in Rome. On this site he built himself a palace, the Palazzo Bernini, at what are
now Nos. 11 and 12 via della Mercede. He lived at No. 11, but this was extensively changed in the
19th century. It has been noted how very galling it must have been for Bernini to witness through the
windows of his dwelling, the construction of the tower and dome of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte by his
rival, Borromini, and also the demolition of the chapel that he, Bernini, had designed at the Collegio
di Propaganda Fide to see it replaced by Borromini's chapel.[52]

Fountains in Rome[edit]

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

True to the decorative dynamism of Baroque, among Bernini's most gifted creations were his
Roman fountains, which were both public works and papal monuments. His fountains include
the Fountain of the Triton, or Fontana del Tritone, and the Barberini Fountain of the Bees,
the Fontana delle Api.[53] The Fountain of the Four Rivers, or Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, in the Piazza
Navona is a masterpiece of spectacle and political allegory. An oft-repeated, but false, anecdote tells
that one of the Bernini's river gods defers his gaze in disapproval of the facade of Sant'Agnese in
Agone (designed by the talented, but less politically successful, rival Francesco Borromini),
impossible because the fountain was built several years before the faade of the church was
completed. Bernini was also the artist of the statue of the Moor in La Fontana del Moro in Piazza
Navona (1653).

Other works[edit]

Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1665, painted by Giovanni Battista Gaulli

The Elephant and Obelisk is located in the Piazza della Minerva and in front of the church of Santa
Maria sopra Minerva. Pope Alexander VII decided that he wanted a small ancient
Egyptian obelisk (that was later discovered beneath the piazza) to be erected on the same site, and
in 1665 he commissioned Bernini to create a sculpture to support the obelisk. The sculpture of an
elephant bearing the obelisk on its back was executed by one of Bernini's students, Ercole Ferrata,
upon a design by Bernini and finished in 1667. An inscription on the base aligns the Egyptian
goddess Isis and the Roman goddess Minerva with the Virgin Mary, to whom the church is
dedicated.[54] A popular anecdote concerns the elephant's smile. To find out why it is smiling, the
viewer must head around to the rear end of the animal and to see that its muscles are tensed and its
tail is shifted to the left as if it were defecating. The animal's rear is pointed directly at the office of
Father Giuseppe Paglia, a Dominican friar who was one of the main antagonists of Bernini and his
artist friends, as a final salute and last word.[55]

The grave of Bernini in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Bernini worked along with Ercole Ferrata to create a fountain for the Lisbon palace of the
Portuguese nobleman, the Count of Ericeira. For the same patron he also created a series of
paintings with the battles of Louis XIV as subject. These works were lost as the palace, its great
library and the rich art collection of the Counts of Ericeira, were destroyed along with most of central
Lisbon as a result of the great earthquake of 1755.
Around 300 drawings by Bernini still exist; this is considered to be a tiny percentage of the drawings
he would have created in his lifetime.[56]
Among the many who worked under his supervision were Luigi Bernini, Stefano Speranza, Giuliano
Finelli, Andrea Bolgi, Filippo Parodi, Giacomo Antonio Fancelli, Lazzaro Morelli, Francesco
Baratta,Nicodemus Tessin, Jr., and Francois Duquesnoy. Among his rivals in architecture
were Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona; in sculpture, Alessandro Algardi.

Donato Bramante
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help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced
material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Donato Bramante

Donato Bramante

Born

Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio

1444
Fermignano, Duchy of Urbino, in presentday Italy

Died

11 March 1514 (Aged about 70)

Rome, in present-day Italy

Nationality

Italian

Known for

Architecture, Painting

Notable

San Pietro in Montorio

work

Christ at the column

Movement

High Renaissance

Donato Bramante (1444 11 March 1514) was an Italian architect, who introduced Renaissance
architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his plan for St. Peter's
Basilica formed the basis of design executed by Michelangelo. HisTempietto (San Pietro in Montorio)
marked the beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome (1502) when Pope Alexander VI appointed
him to build a sanctuary that allegedly marked the spot where Peter was crucified.

Rome[edit]
In Rome, he was soon recognized by Cardinal Della Rovere, shortly to become Pope Julius II. For
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile or possibly Julius II, Bramante designed one of the most
harmonious buildings of the Renaissance: the Tempietto (1510) of San Pietro in Montorio on
the Janiculum. Despite its small scale, the construction has all the rigorous proportions and
symmetry of Classical structures, surrounded by slender Doric columns, surmounted by a dome.
According to a later engraving by Sebastiano Serlio, Bramante planned to set it within a colonnaded
courtyard. In November 1503, Julius engaged Bramante for the construction of the grandest
European architectural commission of the 16th century, the complete rebuilding of St Peter's
Basilica. The cornerstone of the first of the great piers of the crossing was laid with ceremony on 17
April 1506. Very few drawings by Bramante survive, though some by his assistants do,
demonstrating the extent of the team which had been assembled. Bramante's vision for St Peter's, a
centralized Greek cross plan that symbolized sublime perfection for him and his generation
(compare Santa Maria della Consolazione at Todi, influenced by Bramante's work) was
fundamentally altered by the extension of the nave after his death in 1514. Bramante's plan
envisaged four great chapels filling the corner spaces between the equaltransepts, each one capped
with a smaller dome surrounding the great dome over the crossing. So Bramante's original plan was
very much more Romano-Byzantine in its forms than the basilica that was actually built. (See St
Peter's Basilica for further details.)
Bramante also worked on several other commissions. Among his earliest works in Rome, before the
Basilica's construction was under way, is the cloister (15001504) of Santa Maria della
Pace near Piazza Navona. The handsome proportions give an air of great simplicity.
Plans for St Peter's Basilica

A draft for St Peter's superimposed over a plan of the ancient basilica

Bramante's presentation plan, as a Greek cross design; as reconstructed by Geymller

The dome, as planned by Bramante

Carlo Maderno
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Faade of St. Peter's Basilica

Carlo Maderno (1556 30 January 1629) was a Swiss-Italian[1] architect, born in Ticino, who is
remembered as one of the fathers ofBaroque architecture. His faades of Santa Susanna, St.
Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the
Italian Baroque. He is often referred to as the brother of sculptor Stefano Maderno, but this is not
universally agreed upon.

Biography[edit]
Born in Capolago, Ticino (an Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland), Maderno began his career in
the marble quarries of the far north, before moving to Rome in 1588 with four of his brothers to assist
his uncle Domenico Fontana. He worked initially as a marble cutter, and his background in sculptural
workmanship would help mold his architecture. His first solo project, in 1596, was an utterly

confident and mature faade for the ancient church of Santa Susanna (15971603); it was among
the first Baroque faades to break with the Mannerist conventions that are exemplified inthe Ges.
The structure is a dynamic rhythm of columns and pilasters, with a protruding central bay and
condensed central decoration add complexity to the structure. There is an incipient playfulness with
the rules of classic design, still maintaining rigor.
The Santa Susanna faade won the attention of Pope Paul V, who in about 1603 appointed him
chief architect of St Peter's. Maderno was forced to modify Michelangelo's plans for the Basilica and
provide designs for an extended nave with a palatial faade. The faade (completed 1612) is
constructed to allow for Papal blessings from the emphatically enriched balcony above the central
door. This forward extension of the basilica (which grew from Michelangelo's Greek cross to the
present Latin cross) has been criticized because it blocks the view of the dome when seen from
the Piazza and often ignores the fact that the approaching avenue is modern. Maderno did not have
as much freedom in designing this building as he had for others structures.
Most of Maderno's work continued to be the remodelling of existing structures. The only building
designed by Maderno and completed under his supervision was the little Santa Maria della
Vittoria (160820), where Maderno's masterwork is often ignored in favor of Bernini's Cornaro
Chapel and its Ecstasy of St Theresa and where the churches' public faade is not by Maderno.

The faade of Santa Susanna, Rome

Even Maderno's masterpiece, the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, is not entirely his. There he
designed the faade and executed the dome, the second largest in the Roman skyline. The church
itself had been designed for the Theatines by Giuseppe Francesco Grimaldiand Giacomo della
Porta in 1540: it follows a familiar Jesuit plan, cruciform, its wide nave without aisles, with chapels
beyond arched openings. The crossing contains the high altar, lit under Maderno's dome (frescoed
by Giovanni Lanfranco 162125) on its high windowed drum. The earliest design is of 1608;
construction took from 1621 to 1625. At Maderno's death, the faade remained half built; it was
completed to Maderno's original conception by Carlo Fontana. In this faade, the standard formula

established at Il Ges is given more movement and depthin the varying planes of the frieze and
corniceand increased chiaroscuro as in the whole columns embedded in snug dark recesses
that outline their profiles with shadow, and in similar elements that are re-grouped for a tighter,
more sprung rhythm.
His other works include the Roman churches of Ges e Maria, San Giacomo degli Incurabili, Santa
Lucia in Selci and San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (where he is buried). In addition, he worked on
the Quirinal Palace, the Papal palace in Castel Gandolfo and the Palazzo Barberini and for
the Barberini Pope Urban VIII (1628 and completed 1633; much remodeled since). In the Palazzo
Barberini at Quattro Fontane, Maderno's work is overshadowed at times by details added
by Bernini and Borromini. His design of palaces is best represented by his design of Palazzo
Mattei (15981616).
Maderno was called upon to design chapels within existing churches, the Chapel of St Lawrence
in San Paolo fuori le Mura and the Cappella Caetani in Santa Pudenziana.
He designed the base supporting the Marian column in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore,
which later served as a model for numerous Marian columns in many Catholic countries.

Giacomo della Porta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giacomo della Porta

Born

c.1533
Porlezza, Lombardy

Died

1602
Rome, Italy

Nationality

Italian

Known for

Architecture

Movement

Renaissance

Faade of the church of Ges in Rome.

"Christ delivering the keys of Heaven to St. Peter" (1594), Santa Pudenziana, Rome

Giacomo della Porta (c. 1533 1602) was an Italian[1] architect and sculptor, who worked on many
important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica.[2] He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy and
died in Rome.

Biography[edit]
Della Porta was influenced by and collaborated with Michelangelo, and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola,
his teacher of architecture. After 1563 he carried out Michelangelo's plans for the rebuilding of
the Campidoglio or Capitoline Hill's open spaces where he completed the faade and steps
of Palazzo Senatorio, and the Cordonata capitolina or the ramped steps up to the Piazza del
Campidoglio.
After the death of Vignola in 1573, he continued the construction of Il Ges, the mother church of
the Jesuit order, and in 1584 modified its faade after his own designs.
From 1573 he was in charge of the ongoing construction of St. Peter's Basilica, and later, in
collaboration with Domenico Fontana, completed Michelangelo's dome between 1588-1590.
Giacomo della Porta completed a number of Rome's fountains from the 16th century; these included
the fountains in the Piazza del Popolo, the Fountain of Neptune, Rome and La Fontana del Moro in
the Piazza Navona.

Selected works[edit]

Oratorio del SS. Crocifisso (1562-1568)

Chiesa del Ges (1571-1575)

Fountains at the Palazzo Borghese (1573)

Fountains in Piazza Colonna (1574)

Small fountains at Piazza Navona (1574)

One fountain at the Piazza della Rotonda

Palazzo Senatorio at the Capitol Hill (1573-1602)

Palazzo della Sapienza (1578-1602)

Palazzo Capizucchi (1580)

Santa Maria dei Monti (1580)

Sant'Atanasio dei Greci (1581)

Faade of San Luigi dei Francesi (1589)

Fontana delle Tartarughe (1584)

Santa Maria Scala Coeli

Palazzo Marescotti (1585)

Palazzo Serlupi (1585)

SS. Trinit de' Monti (1586)

Fontana di Piazza alli Monti (1589)

Cupola of St. Peter's Basilica (158890)

Fountains at the Piazza di Santa Maria in Campitelli (1589)

Fountains opposite SS. Venanzio e Ansovino (1589)

Fontana della Terrina (1590)

Sculpture "Christ delivering the keys of Heaven to St. Peter" (1594), altar of the St. Peter
chapel, church Santa Pudenziana

Palazzo Fani (1598)

San Paolo alle Tre Fontane (1599)

San Nicol in Carcere (1599)

Palazzo Albertoni Spinola (1600)

Villa Aldobrandini (160002) in Frascati

Cappella Aldobrandini (160002) in Santa Maria sopra Minerva

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The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the Trajan's Market in Rome, considered Sangallo's masterwork.

View of St. Patrick's Well in Orvieto.

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (April 12, 1484 August 3, 1546), born Antonio Cordiani, was
an Italian architect active during the Renaissance.
Contents
[hide]

1 Biography

2 Selected works

3 References

4 External links

Biography[edit]
Sangallo was born in Florence. His grandfather Francesco Giamberti was a woodworker, and his
uncles Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo were noted architects of the time.
He went while very young to Rome, and became a pupil of Bramante, of whose style he was
afterwards a close follower. He lived and worked in Rome during the greater part of his life, and was
much employed by several of the popes. He designed the brick andtravertine church of Santa Maria
di Loreto. The lower order is square in plan, the next octagonal; and the whole is surmounted by a
fine dome and lofty lantern. The lantern is, however, a later addition.
Sangallo also carried out the lofty and well-designed church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, which
had been begun by Jacopo Sansovino. The east end of this church rises in a very stately way out of
the bed of the Tiber River, near the Ponte Sant'Angelo; the west end has been ruined by the addition
of a later facade, but the interior is a noble example of a somewhat dull style. Great skill was shown
in successfully building this large church, partly on the solid ground of the bank and partly on the
shifting sand of the river bed. Antonio also built the Cappella Paolina and other parts of the Vatican,
together with additions to the walls and forts of the Leonine City. His most ornate work is the lower
part of the cortile of the Farnese Palace, afterwards completed by Michelangelo, a very rich and
well-proportioned specimen of the then favorite design, a series of arches between engaged
columns supporting an entablature, an arrangement taken from the outside of the Colosseum.
He built a palace for himself on the Via Giulia that was later bought in 1649 by the Sacchetti family
and renamed the Palazzo Sacchetti. It is still owned by the Sacchetti family but the building itself has
been subject to a number of alterations.
After the Sack of Rome (1527), he mainly worked in other cities, mainly as military architect: he
designed, for example, the fortifications of Ancona. He also constructed, on commission of

pope Clement VII, the very deep (53 m) and ingenious Pozzo di San Patrizio atOrvieto, formed with
a double spiral staircase, like the Well of Saladin in the citadel of Cairo.
He often worked with his brother Giovanni Battista da Sangallo. The two worked on numerous
projects together, Giovanni Battista responsible for measuring and surveying.

Selected works[edit]

Palazzo Baldassini in Rome.

Churches of Santa Maria di Loreto and San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome.

Villa Madama in Rome (started 1518).

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome (chief architect from 1520 on).

Palazzo Farnese in Rome (153446), designed for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

Cappella Paolina in the Vatican

Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.

Saint Peter's Basilica (Rome) (1506-1626)

Contents

Introduction
Background: Art and Religion
Structure and Dimensions
Interior Decoration: Nave, Chapels, Sculpture
Exterior Architecture: Facade, Dome
Tombs and Relics
History
Saint Peter's Square

For more religious architecture, see: Christian Art (c.150-2000).

EVOLUTION OF VISUAL ART

For details of art movements
and styles, see: History of Art.
For a guide to chronology,
see: History of Art Timeline.
ALTARPIECES
Maesta Altarpiece (1308-1311)
Ghent Altarpiece (1425-32)

Introduction
The Basilica Papale di San Pietro in the Vatican City, commonly known as Saint
Peter's Basilica, is the most famous Roman Catholic church in the world and
one of the holiest sites in Christendom, dating back to Roman architecture of
the early Christian art period. The basilica, now the Pope's principal church,
was built according to tradition above the burial site of St. Peter, one of the

Assumption of the Virgin (1516-18)

Sistine Madonna (1513-14)
Altarpiece art (1000-1700)
FRESCO
Scrovegni Chapel Frescoes (c.1303-10)
Brancacci Chapel frescoes (1424-8)
The Last Supper (149598)
Genesis Fresco (1508-12))
Last Judgment Fresco (1536-41)
RELIGIOUS BOOK PAINTING
History of Illuminated Manuscripts

twelve disciples of Jesus and the first Bishop of Rome, who was martyred in
the year 64 CE. To maintain this tradition, Popes are now buried within the
basilica. Designed as a replacement for the old Constantinian church (where,
for instance, King Charlemagne had been crowned Holy Roman Emperor on
Christmas Day 800) which had been erected around 320 CE, construction of
the present building was begun in 1506 (under Pope Julius II) and completed
in 1626 (under Pope Urban VIII). Admired for its Renaissance sculpture as well
as its fusion of Renaissance and Baroque architecture, the design, construction
and decoration of Saint Peter's involved the greatest Old Masters of the day,
including Alberti, Raphael, Bramante, Michelangelo, and Bernini. Note that it is
called a papal basilica rather than a cathedral, since it is not the seat of a
bishop: the Arch Basilica of St. John Lateran is actually the cathedral church of
Rome. The latter functions as the principal church for worshippers who live in
Rome, whereas the former serves as the focal point for all pilgrims who come
to Rome, as well as locals.

Background: Art and Religion

From the ninth century onwards, the Christian Church was inextricably linked
with the fine arts of architecture (for basilicas, cathedrals, churches, abbeys
like Cluny), sculpture (both reliefs and statues) and painting (altarpiece panels
as well as monumental works), for which it became the greatest sponsor and
patron across Europe. It also commissioned many types of decorative art,
including stained glass (notably in Gothic cathedrals), and tapestry art, as well
as a huge range of mural painting (Sistine Chapel) illuminated
manuscriptsand miniature painting. In south-eastern Europe, in particular, it
commissioned numerous items of mosaic art and a wealth of icon-painting. All
these beautiful designs and objects of religious art were created in order to
inspire religious congregations with the Christian message. In fact, at certain
times, such as during the mid-16th century Counter-Reformation, sculptors
and painters were given detailed instructions about how the precise features
of a New Testament story should be presented. So it is no surprise that Saint
Peter's Basilica itself - the world centre of the Roman Church - is lavishly
endowed with many different types of art.

Structure and Dimensions

Built out of travertine stone, Saint Peter's is 452 feet high, 730 feet in length,
and 500 feet in width, with an interior length of just over 693 feet (roughly

211 metres). Covering an area of 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres or about 50,000
square feet), and large enough for 60,000 people, it used to be the largest
Christian church in the world, but in 1989 it was exceeded in size by the
church in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire.
Interior Decoration: Nave, Chapels, Sculpture
Pilgrims entering the basilica are monitored by church officials and members
of The Swiss Guard. Inside, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an
elongated nave in the form of a Latin cross. The nave is framed by wide aisles
giving access to a number of chapels. These include: the Chapel of the
Presentation of the Virgin, the Clementine Chapel, the Chapel of the Madonna
of Colonna, the Gregorian Chapel, the Chapel of the Pieta and several other
altars. In addition, beneath the high altar, is the Chapel of the Confession.
The interior of Saint Peter's contains a number of priceless treasures in marble
and bronze by the greatest Renaissance sculptors - works such as Pieta(1500)
by Michelangelo - as well as Baroque sculpture - such as the baldachinor
ceremonial canopy over the main altar, and the traditional Chair of St Peter
(Cathedra Petri), both designed by Bernini - and works by the
greatestneoclassical sculptors such as the marble statue of Pope Pius VI by the
Italian genius Antonio Canova (1757-1822). It also contains numerous papal
tombs ornamented with marble statues and reliefs - such as the Tomb of Pope
Leo XI (1634-44) by Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654) - as well as mosaics and
precious metalwork. Ironically, the huge and aggressive fund-raising campaign
required to pay for the cost of the basilica and its contents (46 million ducats),
led to protest across Europe and became an important factor in triggering the
Reformation and the birth of Protestantism.
Exterior Architecture: Facade, Dome
Saint Peter's is approached via St. Peter's Square, an elliptical forecourt
encircled by a Doric colonnade, derived from Greek architecture. It ends at the
facade of Saint Peter's which is 376 feet wide and 150 feet high. Designed by
Carlo Maderno, the facade features a giant order of Corinthian columns (each
90 feet high) and is topped by thirteen statues - Christ flanked by eleven of
the Apostles (excluding Peter) plus John the Baptist. At ground level it is
approached by steps guarded by two 18-feet high statues of Saints Peter and
Paul.
The Basilica of St. Peter is one of four Major Basilicas of Rome, the others
being Santa Maria Maggiore, St. Paul and St. John Lateran, but it is the dome
of Saint Peter's - the tallest dome in the world - that dominates the skyline of
Rome. Designed largely by Michelangelo, and built during the short but active
papacy of Sixtus V (15851590) by Michelangelo's pupil Giacomo della Porta,
the dome rests on four pendentives and massive piers, each 60 feet thick. It

was Michelangelo who increased the size and strength of the load-bearing
structure without destroying the central unity of Bramante's original design.
Immediate rivals of St Peter's dome include Florence Cathedral of the Early
Renaissance, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and completed in 1434 - for
details, see Florence Cathedral, Brunelleschi and the Renaissance (1420-36);
Constantinople's Hagia Sophia church, completed in 537; and the dome
designed by Christopher Wren for St Paul's Cathedral, finished in 1710. St
Peter's Basilica is maintained by the Sampietrini, a specialist group of workers
who continually scale and inspect the building's surfaces.
Tombs and Relics
Some 100 tombs are to be found within St. Peter's Basilica, including a
number located in the Vatican grotto, underneath the Basilica. They contain 91
popes, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, St. Ignatius of Antioch and Pope John
Paul II. In a subterranean crypt, directly below the dome and the main altar, is
the tomb of St. Peter himself.
Positioned in niches set into the four piers supporting the dome are a number
of statues associated with the holy relics of the basilica. They include: St.
Helena holding the True Cross, by Andrea Bolgi; St. Longinus holding the
spear that pierced the side of Jesus, by Bernini (1639); St. Veronica holding
her veil with the image of Jesus' face, by Francesco Mochi, and St. Andrew
with the St. Andrew's Cross, by Francois Duquesnoy.
History
The pope who first mooted the idea of a replacement for the old Constantinian
basilica was Pope Nicholas V (144755), who commissioned Leon Battista
Alberti (1404-72) and Bernardo Rossellino (1409-64) to produce a plan for a
new structure. Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) founded new churches, including
theSistine Chapel, widened streets, and helped to transform Rome into a
Renaissance city, but left the basilica alone. It wasn't until his nephew Pope
Julius II took over as pontiff in 1503 that things began to move. Julius decided
to demolish the old basilica and replace it with a new one to house his large
tomb. A long succession of popes, architects, designers and stone masons
eventually saw the project through to completion in 1626. Active pontiffs
included: Leo X (15131521), Clement VII (15231534), Paul III (1534
1549), Sixtus V (15851590), Gregory XIV (1590-1), Clement VIII (1592
1605), Paul V (16051621), and Urban VIII (16231644), while among the
most famous architects (Capomaestro) involved in its design, were Donato
Bramante(1444-1514), Raphael (1483-1520), Giuliano da Sangallo,
Baldessare Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo (14751564), Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno (1556-1629) (assisted
by Francesco Borromini 1599-1667) and Giovanni Bernini (1598-1680). The
lengthy and intermittent progress of its construction illustrates the changing

course of High Renaissance art towards a break from strict, antique precedent
to the freer eclectic tendencies of Mannerism and ultimately the Baroque. The
artistry, architectural grandeur and sheer mass of St Peter's Basilica reaffirmed
the status of Rome as the spiritual, if not temporal, home of Christianity.
Saint Peter's Square
Who wouldn't be weak at the knees to be among a crowd of anything up to
100,000 hushed and expectant people tightly packed in St Peter's Square
waiting for the Pope to raise his arms in the blessing urbi et orbi, dedicated to
the city (Rome) and the world? It is to Rome that people flock for this unique
experience - the characteristic gesture with which the Roman Catholic Church
presents itself to the world. They congregate in this square (dimensions: 787
feet x 1,115 feet; 240m x 340m) whose vast expanse so impressively
symbolizes the universal embrace of the Church.
It was Bernini, one of the most talented Baroque architects and sculptors, who
designed the layout of St Peter's Square in the manner of a theatre, with the
square as the auditorium and the facade of the basilica as the stage - all in
keeping with the desire to make St Peter's Basilica a textbook example
ofCatholic Counter-Reformation Art (c.1560-1700). Basing his ideas on the
architecture of classical antiquity, he drew up an elliptical space surrounded by
fourfold rows of columns adorned with the figures of 96 saints, which was to
become the most famous colonnade in the world. In the early 19th century,
the romantic poet Wilhelm Muller wrote that the tall colonnade encircled St
Peter's Square at night "as if with shimmering arms". Bernini himself
envisaged the colonnade as representing the arms of God enfolding the
faithful, and the architecture of the square has received praise throughout the
centuries for the elegance of its sublime proportions. A smaller square, the
Piazza Retta adjoins the great square. Its enclosed sides lend an air of greater
intimacy.
In the centre of St Peter's square today is an obelisk (132 feet high) brought
from Egypt to Rome in 37 CE during the reign of Caligula. Originally it was
located on the hill of the Vatican in Nero's Circus - the site of St Peter's
martyrdom - when he was crucified. It was brought to its present location in
1586, and is revered as a "witness" to Peter's death. Its move must have been
an astounding spectacle since it took 140 horses and 900 labourers to move
the 385 ton monolith to its new site, using a complex rope winch system.