Unit 4 - Rennaissance and Mannerist

@ compiled by alamelu pasupathy
Renaissance and Mannerism

Idea of rebirth and revival
The re-introduction, or re-birth (Renaissance), of Classic

Architecture in Europe at the beginning of the fifteenth century
The broad term Renaissance is used to cover European and Russian architecture
from 1420 to 1830
It implies a conscious revival of Graeco-Roman style
It makes continuous acknowledgement of antiquity as the stylistic norm and
paragon.
The Renaissance movement, arising in Italy in the fifteenth century, spread
from thence to France, Germany, and England, and over the whole of
Western Europe over what had been the Roman empire in
the West.
The Eastern empire did not come under its influence, for the Greeks in the
East, who had been the most civilized people in Europe, were now falling
before the Turks.
Idea of rebirth and revival
The period is divided into separate stylistic phases which occurred in different
time, in different regions
They are
1. Early Renaissance
2. High Renaissance in mannerism
3. Baroque and Rococo
4. Neo Classical
Only Early Renaissance and Neo Classical can be described as self
conscious movements in reaction to previous styles

The others represent evolutionary developments of the style
Humanism
Humanism was an intellectual movement that led to ‘Renaissance’
It was an activity of cultural and educational reform, engaged by scholars,
writers, and civic leaders who are known as humanists
It developed during the fourteenth and turn-of-the fifteenth centuries, and
was a response to the challenge of Medieval Scholasticism. (It emphasized
practical, pre-professional and scientific studies. focused on preparing men to
be doctors, lawyers or professional theologians, and was taught from approved
textbooks in logic, natural philosophy, medicine, law and theology.)
Rather than train professionals in jargon and strict practice, humanists sought
to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity. Thus,
they would be capable of better engaging the civic life of their communities
and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions.
Development of thought
A new intellectual movement manifests itself sooner in literature than in
architecture, and thus the former influences the public taste.
Dante (1265-1321), Petrarch (1304-1374), and Boccaccio (1313-1375) aided in
the spread of the newly-discovered classic literature, which caused a revolt
against mediaeval art
The subsequent fall of Constantinople in A.D. 1453 caused an influx of Greek
scholars into Italy, whose learning was an important influence in an age which
was ripe for a great intellectual change.
Thus a revival of classic literature produced a desire for the revival of Roman
architecture.
Greek and Latin authors brought to light the Vitruvius' book of Architecture,
written in B.C. 50, which was translated into Italian in A.D.1521.
Development of thought
This resulted in a newly fashionable architectural
style that unearthed and modernized the tradition

of ancient Rome called RENAISSANCE

RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance of the fifteenth century in Italy, and of the sixteenth century in
other parts of Western Europe, was a break in that orderly evolution of
architecture which is based on the nature and necessities of materials.
The main features in the style were the Classic orders viz., the Doric, Ionic, and
Corinthian, which were often used decoratively, as by the Romans, and at other
times with their true constructive significance.
Buildings designed for more modern wants were clothed in the classic garb of
ancient Rome, but it must not be supposed that in this development no advance
was made.
It is true that Roman precedent was the basis, but columns and pilasters, whether
plain, fluted or paneled, with entablature and details, were applied in many novel
and pleasing forms, a system in their application being gradually evolved, and a
style built up which has become the basis of all modern styles.
RENAISSANCE
Italy, the headquarters of the new movement, in the fifteenth century possessed
skilful jewellers and excellent medallists, and it was by their help that the
Renaissance commenced and expanded.
From their well-known good taste, architects consulted them, and often, indeed,
were their pupils, as Ghiberti, Donatello, and Brunelleschi.
Men, therefore, who were at once painters, sculptors, architects, silversmiths,
jewellers, and goldsmiths some what naturally only looked at the finished results
as the goal to be aimed at, and were not troubled about the means to such an
end.
The development of the schools of painting also had their influence on
architecture, and aided the tendency which caused structures to be looked upon
as works of art, instead of being dependent mainly for their form and effect on
structural necessities.
For the same reasons, the period may be looked upon as the age of accessories, in
which iron, gold and silver work, and tombs, monuments, altars, fonts, and
fountains, were designed in great numbers, and, by the whim and fancifulness of
the designer, were special features of the style.
RENAISSANCE
Architecture ceased to a certain extent to be subject to the considerations of use,
becoming largely independent of constructive exigencies, and to a greater extent
an art of free expression in which beauty of design was sought for.
Speaking generally, there was an endeavor to reconcile the Gothic and the Roman
methods of construction, i.e., the body and facing were one and the same thing
constructively, because the architects of the period, attracted by the mere
external appearance of ancient Roman art, but perceiving that this form was
merely an envelope, continued in the matter of construction to a large extent to
follow the traditions of the Middle Ages, which did not separate the structure
from the decoration.
Owing, therefore, to ignorance of Roman methods, the Roman manner of forming
the main walling of concrete and casing it with marble, stone, or brick was not
followed.
RENAISSANCE
In the Gothic period each stone was finished, moulded, and sculptured in the
workshops before being laid a method which produced skilful and intelligent
masons and stone dressers, and obliged the sculptor to make the decoration suit
each piece of stone.
In the Renaissance period the new mouldings and carvings could be executed with
more exactitude and less expense in situ, and thence forward the necessity of
making the jointing accord with the various architectural features being no longer
imperiously felt, a want of harmony between the jointing and the architectural
features often resulted.
RENAISSANCE
A building, was regarded rather as a picture with pleasing combinations of lines
and masses than as a structure of utility, being often designed by men trained as
painters, sculptors, or goldsmiths.
Such structures often have a princely dignity, as in many of the Roman palaces ,
where the column, pilaster, frieze, and cornice were employed as elements of
composition with special regard to the artistic result and with considerable
originality.
The wide and narrow spacing of the pilasters in the Palazzo Giraud is a novel form.
Renaissance architecture was not solely imitative, for new
and delightful combinations of features were introduced, and
architecture became to a great extent a personal art due to the fancy of
individual architects, many of whom founded schools of design, in which their
principles were followed by their pupils and followers.
RENAISSANCE- dome|wall
The Renaissance architects followed the Byzantine treatment of the Dome, but
increased it in importance by lifting it boldly from its substructure and placing it on
a " drum," in which windows were formed, thus making it a great external
dominating feature.
Likewise, they were the first to introduce as an architectural "motif" the wall of
massive rusticated masonry with arched openings, as in the Palazzo Riccardi,
Florence, the Palazzo Pesaro, Venice, and elsewhere, in Which buildings the wall
was frankly treated as architecture, and was in no way imitative of ancient Roman
buildings.
RENAISSANCE decorative details
In the decorative detail, also, an advance was made.
In metal work the bronze baptistery gates at florence were won in competition by
the sculptor Ghiberti, in 1404, and are the finest examples of a class of work for
which these craftsmen architects were famous.
These accessories of architecture were erected, or added to many old buildings,
both in Italy and elsewhere.
RENAISSANCE Vaulting
In the beginning of the fifteenth century the Gothic principles of ribbed vaulting
were abandoned, giving place to the revival of the Classic method of solid
semicircularvaulting.
This type of vaulting was much used in the halls, passages, and staircases of
Renaissance palaces and churches, and was besides frequently built of wooden
framing, plastered and painted with colored decoration, often of remarkable
richness and beauty, as at the Vatican palace by Raphael.
Influencing inventions
Three great inventions had an important influence
gunpowder, which had changed the whole method of warfare ;
the mariner's compass, which led to the discovery of the West Indies (1492) and
America, and the foundation of colonies by European states
lastly, printing, which favoured that stirring of men's minds which caused the
reformation in religion, and the revival of learning.
Copperplate engraving was discovered in the third quarter of the fifteenthcentury.
Galileo (1564-1642) proved that the earth was not the centreof the universe, but
merely a minute planet in the solar system.
The late medieval Italy
The economic prosperity of late medieval Italy, depended on early

urbanization, precocious development of banking
and the textile industries, maritime trade and the
revenues of the church
It saw the emergence of the business families, like the pazzi, the piiti, the
medici etc
The Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house in
the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century.
The Medici bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century, seeing the
Medici gain political power in Florence — though officially they remained

simply citizens, rather than monarchs.
The renaissance patron
Like other signore families they dominated their city's government.
They were able to bring Florence under their family's power, allowing for an
environment where art and humanism could flourish.
They saw the advantage of the style that allied them with the mood of
awakening
They fostered and inspired the birth of the Italian
Renaissance along with other families of Italy, such as
the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Este of Ferrara, and the Gonzaga of
Mantua.
In the fifteenth centaury the new
Italian architectural
language was spread by patronage connections

For example, the Italianizing tendencies of the court of Matthias Corvinus, the
king of Hungary, reinforced by his marriage with Beatrice d’Aragona of Naples ,
brought the early appearance of renaissance forms in Budapest
Architectural exploration
Urbanism - City planning

The churches
The Urban Palaces
The villas
Urbanism renaissance architecture
Urbanism during the Renaissance was indeed in full bloom.
Spontaneous construction was not practiced; everything was done with extensive
plans and the job preformed by great craftsmen with multiple talents.
Renaissance towns adopted a more mild look in shape and harmony.
Linked with military needs were Renaissance ideas of city planning based on radial
street systems and centralized plans.
They were most commonly put into practice in founding new fortress citadels,
such as the Venetian town of Palmanova (1593) or new capitals such as Karlsrube
(1715).
Their streets were straight and diagonal, following a straight line.
Streets become the focus of architectural research.

Leonardo preformed experiments on the streets and developed a very primitive
form of traffic regulations.
Urbanism renaissance architecture
Within existing cities, streets were widened, straightened or newly planned on

geometrical principles to focus on important monuments, fountains or obelisks.
Renaissance period was the greatest age for the urban daydreamers, who went on
to create some of the greatest projects in today’s fantastic towns. Their wondrous
works continue to inspire both urbanites and construction workers alike.
Ideal form & centrally planned church
The planning of churches was influenced by symbolism, liturgical change,

reforming movements and the new religious orders as well as by the aesthetic
preferences of architects and patron.
‘Decorum” was a fundamental rule of Renaissance culture, and the function of a
church was crucial to its plan.
Centralized plans based on circle, square and Greek cross were praised for their
symbolic perfections but often acknowledged to be unsuitable for cathedral or
monastic churches.
In practice, commemorative structures associated with miracles, plague
deliverance or martyrdom provided opportunities for central plans with domes,
exploiting the precedent of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem,
associated with the tomb of Christ.
A composite plan, attaching a longitudinal nave to a domed centralized crossing,
was an acceptable compromise, where processional functions and traditional

Latin-cross symbolism were important.
Later, an oval plan provided a directional axis in a basically centralized plan.
Ideal form & centrally planned church
Monastic churches in medieval Italy had substantial rood screens across the nave,
separating the laity from the monks’ choir and presbytery.
This practice died out in a new churches of the fifteenth century and the choir
was removed to a chapel behind the high altar.
After the Council of Trent screens were systematically taken out to accord with
the emphasis on preaching and participation in the mass.
The new religious orders of the second half of the sixteenth century, the Jesuits,
Barnabites and Oratorians, tended to adopt single-nave plans, often with
interconnecting side chapels, abbreviated transepts and clear division of the parts.
Italian urban palace
The Italian urban palace and country villa were adapted to the different political,
social and economic conditions of the rest of Europe.
IT took more than a century, however for monarchical and aristocratic patrons to
abandon the outward signs of power such as towers and crenellations and to
adopt to more subtle language of dominance implied by the Classical orders.
The use of gunpowder artillery and the metal cannon ball rendered obsolete the
late mediaeval defenses which had been based on high walls and towers.
In late fifteenth century Italy new defensive systems were pioneered which
involved low walls punctuated by arrow shaped bastions to provide both offensive
capability and defensive coverage of the curtain wall by flanking fire.
Italian villa
The villa as a distinctive architectural type re-emerges in the Renaissance after its
disappearance in late antiquity.
Villas vary so enormously according to functions (agriculture, centre, hunting
lodge, sub urban retreat), region, patron and architect that only a few common
features, such as external loggias, can be discerned.
Land reclamation, agricultural improvement and consolidation of estate preceded
villa construction in Tuscany and the Veneto.
Palladio drew on the traditions of the Veneto to evolve a particularly functional
and flexible series of villas for agricultural proprietors.
They incorporated barns, storage loggias and granaries into hierarchically unified
groups of buildings, dominated by the pedimented fronts.
In Rome the suburban villa modeled on literary descriptions on ancient villas was
popular with members of the pleasure-loving papal court
Early Renaissance -ITALY
The concepts of architectural order were explored and rules were formulated.
The study of classical antiquity led in particular to the adoption of Classical detail
and ornamentation.
Space, as an element of architecture, was utilised differently to the way it had
been in the Middle Ages. Space was organised by proportional logic, its form and
rhythm subject to geometry, rather than being created by intuition as in Medieval
buildings.
The prime example of this is the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence by Filippo
Brunelleschi
Filippo Bruncelleschi (1377-1446)
The Renaissance revival of ancient architectural principles began in Florence with
the work of Filippo Bruncelleschi (1377-1446) who set an enduring stamp on the
Early Renaissance style.
He applied his antiquarian and scientific studies to the practice of architecture
He worked out and demonstrated a full fledged substitute for gothic design
His architecture is based on simple modular proportions, clarity of design and a
standardized vocabulary of monolithic grey stone columns and pilasters set
against white plaster walls.
In detail, in his forms depend less on ancient Roman buildings than on the Tuscan
Romanesque, especially the Florentine baptistery which was believed to be
antique structure.
His use of arches supported on columns is the norm in such Romanesque churches
as SS. Apostolic and his favorite pendentive vaults owe little to Roman buildings
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
Results of Brunelleschi’s experiments
Architect conceived the building
Unitary plan drawn to measure
Structure can be erected with architect supervision
Ratios were simple keyed to fixed module of so many bracia
Building parts (columns, pilasters, moldings, pediments, niches ) were
standardized and could be assembled in rational predictable way as in greek
temple
The design and correspondence of how theses parts shape the space or elevation
were learned matters and not workshop skills
The specialisation in guilds will no longer create an architect

They must have a broader education
Brunelleschi's first architectural commission was the Foundling Hospital
Its long loggia would have been a rare sight in the tight and curving streets of
Florence, not to mention its impressive arches, each about 8 m high.
The building was dignified and sober; there were no displays of fine marble and
decorative inlays.
It was also the first building in Florence to make clear reference—in its columns
and capitals—to classical antiquity
Soon other commissions came in;
Ridolfi Chapel in the church of San Jacopo sopr'Arno
Barbadori Chapel in Santa Trinita,

Pazzi Chapel
Sagrestia Vecchia
His most famous work, the dome of the cathedral of florence
Santa Maria del Fiore was the new cathedral of the city, and by 1418
the dome had yet to be defined.
When the building was designed in the previous century, no one had any idea
about how such a dome was to be built, given that it was to be even larger than
the Pantheon's dome in that no dome of that size had been built since antiquity.
Because buttresses were forbidden by the city fathers, and clearly was impossible
to obtain rafters for scaffolding long and strong enough (and in sufficient quantity)
for the task, it was unclear how a dome of that size could be built, or just avoid
collapse.
It must be considered also that the stresses of compression were not clearly

understood at the time, and the mortars used in the periods would only set after
several days, keeping the strain on the scaffolding for a very long time.[7]
In 1419, the Arte della Lana, the wool merchants' guild, held a competition to
solve the problem. The two main competitors were Ghiberti and Brunelleschi,
with Brunelleschi winning and receiving the commission.
The dome, the lantern (built 1446–ca.1461) and the exedrae (built 1439-1445)
would occupy most of Brunelleschi’s life.
Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical and
mathematical genius.
Brunelleschi used more than 4 million bricks in the construction of the dome.
He invented a new hoisting machine for raising the masonry needed for the dome,
a task no doubt inspired by republication of Vitrivius' De Architectura, which
describes Roman machines used in the first century AD to build large structures
such as the Pantheon and the Baths of Diocletian, structures still standing which
he would have seen for himself.
He also issued one of the first patents for the hoist in an attempt to prevent theft

of his ideas.
Brunelleschi was granted the first modern patent for his invention of a river
transport vessel
The competition consisted of the great architects attempting to stand an egg upright
on a piece of marble. None could do it but Brunelleschi, who, according to Vasari:
...giving one end a blow on the flat piece of marble, made it stand upright...The
architects protested that they could have done the same; but Filippo answered,
laughing, that they could have made the dome, if they had seen his design.
Of the two churches that Brunelleschi designed, the Basilica of San Lorenzo, (1419-
1480s) and Santo Spirito (1441–1481), both of which are considered landmarks
in Renaissance architecture, the latter is seen as conforming most closely to his
ideas.
Besides accomplishments in architecture, Brunelleschi is also credited with
inventing one-point linear perspective which revolutionized painting and allowed
for naturalistic styles
In addition, he was somewhat involved in urban planning: he strategically
positioned several of his buildings in relation to the nearby squares and streets for
"maximum visibility".
For example,
demolitions in front of San Lorenzo were approved in 1433 in order to create

a piazza facing the church.
At Santo Spirito, he suggested that the façade be turned either towards the
And so travellers would see it, or to the north, to face a large, prospective
piazza.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404 – 72)
“ architecture is a very noble science, not fit for every head. He
ought to be a man of fine genius, of a great application , of
the best education… that presumes to declare himself to be
an architect “
Dominated the second half of 15th century

He was a classicist, Play writer, papal secretary , art theorist, grammarian , social
commentator and then ARCHIECT
1452- the early version of “ ten book on architecture “ – was the first major
treatise after vitruvius
Vitruvius – from a practitioner to other practitioners – summarized the cumulative

building knowledge of greeks for his contemporaries
Alberti – from humanist to rich patrons – architecture as a component of new
learning – exalted the profession of architecture and its place in public life
By contrast the approach to antiquity of Leon Battista Alberti (1404 – 72) was far
more archaeological:
comparing Roman buildings with Vitruviu’s text, he introduced specific ancient
features such as the triumphal arch and temple into his churches.
He understood but was not hidebound by Vitruviu’s account of the orders, and
took care to combine arch with pier and column with straight entablature, in the
Roman manner.
Alberti’s careers was peripatetic, and enthusiasm for the new architecture spread
to patrons in Rome, Ferrar, Mantua, Rimini and Urino.
For the Rucellai family in Florence Alberti designed several buildings, the façade
of Palazzo Rucellai, executed by Bernardo Rosselino, the façade of Santa Maria
Novella, the marble-clad shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, and perhaps also the
Capella Rucellai.
In the later fifteenth century architects like Giuliano da Sangallo and Francesco di
Giorgio compiled extensive sketch books of ancient buildings, often reconstructing
the monuments in a recognizably Early Renaissance manner.
Merchant Prince palaces
The large urban dwellings (‘palazzi’) of the urban participate exhibit considerable
regional variations in their plans, although by the 1530s they tended to a common
language of decoration.
Shared features are the rectangular block of three storeys, the central colonnaded
courtyard, and the placing of the main apartments on the first floor (the ‘piano
nobile’) facing on to the street;
the vaulted ground floor may house shops, summer apartments and, by the
sixteenth century, stables,
while children’s and servants’ rooms are on the second floor, wine, oil and fuel
storage in the basement.
Apartments consisted of suites of interconnecting rooms of diminishing size from
the great ‘salone’ to the small ‘camera’.
Corridors were rate and the functions of rooms flexible depending on their size
rather than their furnishings.

The number of rooms was relatively small in mercantile palaces of the fifteenth
century; only high ecclesiastics and petty princes retained large households.
The Medici PalaceP-Palazzo Riccardi (1444-)
It set the pattern of fifteenth century Tuscan palace design.
It has been associated with Michellozzo (1397-1473), The plan, while not fully
symmetrical, is organized around a central arcaded courtyard of modified
Brunelleschian style with a garden at the back.
An internal staircase leading off the courtyard rises to the main living quarters on
the first floor, which are organized in suites of apartments containing
interconnecting rooms of diminishing size.
The second and attic storeys were used for children, services and so on.
The exterior is faced with stone, graduating from heavy rustication on the ground
floor to smooth ashlar on the second floor, and is crowned with the first
‘all’antica’ cornice found in a domestic building.
The two light windows divided by columns are Renaissance versions of those on
the Palazzo della Signoria.
The ground floor ‘kneeling’ windows in the filled-in loggia are by Michelangelo
(1516-17), and greatly influenced later Tuscan window design.
The palace was extended in 1680 by the Riccardi family, who added six window
bays to the original eleven.
High Renaissance
Bramante’s work in Rome (c. 1500-14) marks the beginning of the High
Renaissance style.
The aim was monumentality, even on a small scale, emulation of the massive
spatial effects of Imperial Roman architecture, and a more Vitruvian use of the
language of the order.
He introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style
to Rome, where his most famous design was St. Peter's Basilica.
High Renaissance
Raphael (1483-1520), who criticized the bareness of Bramante’s buildings, came
closes to all Renaissance architects to realizing the decorative richness and variety
of ancient architecture
He was followed by Peruzzi (1481-1536) and Giulio Romano (c. 1499-1546) in his
imaginative and un dogmatic approach to the Classical vocabulary;
Antio daSangallo the Younger, by contrast, tended to seek out the Vitruvian
elements amid the confusing variety of antique remains.
High Renaissance
The movement of patrons and architects from Rome to other centers, and the
publication of architectural books and engravings, resulted in the rapid diffusion of
High Renaissance forms throughout Italy and all over Europe.
Sansovino (1486-1570) and Sanmicheli (1484-1559) took the new language ot the
Veneto, while Giulio Romano pursued more fanciful goals in Mantua.
The two most influential architects of the mid century. Michelangeo (1475-1564)
and Palladio (1508-80), seem to stand at opposite ends of the sixteenth century
spectrum.
High Renaissance
Michalangelo’s plastic approach to the wall mass, his spatial innovations and
fantastic sculptural detail, pave the way for the Baroque;
Palladio’s clear, harmonious proportions, masterly deployment of select, almost
standardized antique forms, and commitment to systematic formulations of rules,
made his buildings a model for Classicizing architects all over Europe.
Yet Michelangelo adhered firmly to a clear structural framework and the principles
of symmetry, while Palladio, especially in his later buildings, permitted himself odd
juxtapositions and the use of bizarre detail.
Palladio (A.D. 1518-1580)
Vicenza was the birthplace of Palladio (A.D. 1518-1580) and the scene of his
labors.
He indefatigably studied, and measured, all the Roman antiquities, as may be seen
by the drawings in his book on architecture.
His designs were mostly erected in brick and stucco, the lower story being
rusticated, and the upper ones having pilasters.
A second method was to comprise two floors in the height of the order to obtain
scale in that feature, and unity and dignity in. the whole composition. Examples:
the Palazzo Barbarano (A.D. 1570) the Palazzo Chierecati (A.D. 1560)
The Basilica at Vicenza, originally erected in the mediaeval period (about 1444),
owes its importance to the double-storied Renaissance arcades. These arcades
were designed by Palladio in 1549, and are his most famous work, being built in a
beautiful stone in two stories of Doricand Ionic orders, separated by arches
supported on a minor order. This is generally known as the Palladian "motif" and
was produced in this case by the necessity of making each bay correspond with
the Gothic hall, of which it forms the frontispiece.
Villa Capra - Vincenza

Villa capra - vincenza
The Villa del Capra, situated atop hill in suburban Vicenza (generally known as the
Rotonda),is an example of the application of the features of Classic architecture
carried to an extreme
Paolo Almerico, a papal prelate, commissioned Villa Rotonda in 1566 upon his
return to Vicenza after a long residence in Rome.
It is a square building, with a pillared portico on each face leading to a central
rotunda, which appears externally as a low dome above the tiled roof, hipped all
ways from the angles of the main building.
Its four facades look out upon cultivated fields on three sides and a wooded slope
on the fourth.
The central dome, one of Palladio's most famous and imitated motifs, was itself

inspired by the Pantheon of ancient Rome.
Villa capra - vincenza
Palladio's protege Vincenzo Scamozzi oversaw completion of the structure
following Palladio's death in 1580.
The design of this building was utilized by Lord Burlington at Chiswick and it has
also been copied elsewhere, both in England and on the Continent
Although Palladio's designs were mainly executed in common materials such as
brick and stucco, and were often never fullycarried out, still their publication in
books had a far-reaching influence on European architecture, and he wl& followed
in his methods by Inigo Jones
Mannerism
Thus the state was set for the emergence of two main themes in sixteenth century
architectural style:
on the one hand a tendency to ‘correctness’ and the formulation of rules
(Sangallo, Vignola);
on the other an inventiveness verging on eccentricity (Michalangelo, Ligorio,
Alessi).
The latter is often called ‘Mannerist’, but it is important to realize that, while
often breaking the Classical ‘rules’, it did not imply rejection of ancient example.
Mannerism
Mannerism, a style in art and architecture, originating in Italy as a reaction
against the equilibrium of form and proportions characteristic of the High
Renaissance.
In architecture the style was manifested in the use of unbalanced
proportions and arbitrary arrangements of decorative features.
Elements of mannerism can be found in
the elegant Laurentian Library in Florence, designed (c.1525) by Michelangelo;
the Massimi Palace, Rome, planned by Peruzzi;
the Palazzo del Te, Mantua, built and decorated by Giulio Romano;
and the Uffizi, planned by Vasari.
In Spain, Berruguette was a leading exponent of mannerism.
Toward the end of the 16th cent., mannerism assumed an academic

formalism in the works of the Zuccaro brothers.
By the end of the century it had given way to the Baroque
Michaelangelo (A.D. 1474-1564)
A famous Florentine sculptor, and painter of the roof of the Sistine Chapel in the
Vatican (A.D. 1508), representing the Fall and Redemption of Mankind, also
turned his attention, late in life, to architecture, but reckless detail marks his work.
He was influential not only in the late sixteenth century , renaissance, but also in
the baroque period
He combined a firm sense of visual unity of a building, often using giant orders and
strong horizontal cornices to bind the design together
He had an willfully unorthodox, often bizarre approach to sculptural detail
He finished the Farnese Palace, and carried out the Dome of S. Peter
But perhaps his best work was the reconstruction 'of the Palaces of the Capitol
(A.D. 1540-1644), grand examples of one-order buildings.
His principal works at Florence were the Mausoleum (or New Sacristy) (A.D. 1520),
having statues of his patrols, Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medici, and the Laurentian
Library (A.D. 1524), both at S. Lorenzo.

Library at
S.Lorenzo
(laurentian library)
Library at S.Lorenzo (laurentian
library)
The Laurentian library is located in the cloister of S.Lorenzo
The library itself is a long room with reading desks
It is well lit by rows of windows between pilasters which corresponds to the
beams of the ceiling this reposeful and clearly articulated space is preceded
by a much taller monumental vestibule of square plan
It is entirely filled by an extraordinary staircase, spilling from the library door
and multiplying into three flights of stairs , of which the outer two are hardly
useable
The vestibule walls are particularly unorthodox.
It has paired columns rising from insubstantial volutes
They are recessed behind the white plaster wall surface from which project
tabernacle niches with pilasters perversely widening towards their capitals
Britain during Renaissance
Architecture in England from 1500 to 1830 did not pass through a

neatly chronological sequence of styles, Renaissance, Baroque,
Rococo and Neo Classicism as found in continental Europe.
The initial delay in the arrival of the Renaissance, the eclecticism of
the seventeenth century which was out of phase with continental
developments
And the precociousness of the Gothic Revival all make it hard to
identify architectural style with specific periods.
For these reasons, several divisions based on the successive
dynasties of the royal family have been retained here, although
major stylistic changes over lap them.

Britain during Renaissance
Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean (1505-1625)

Stuart, Commonwealth and Restoration (1625-1702)
Georgian (1702-1830)
English baroque ( 1702- 1725)
Palladianism (1715 -1750)
Neo classicism ( 1750 – 1830)
Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean (1505-
1625)
Henry VII (1509-47) attempted to introduce Italian and French modes into the building
of the court,
but Renaissance elements tended to be used as decorative details grafted
on to a late Gothic stock.
1625)
The architecture of Elizabeth I’s reign (1558-1603) saw the introduction of
large scale Renaissance motifs Somewhat indiscriminately takeover from
French, Italian and Flemish books on architecture.
The orders were used to articulate window bays and as frontispieces in the
French manner.
The most important printed soruces wers Serlio, due Cerceau ande Philibert
de l’Orme, and later Wendel Dietterlin (q.v.).
Strapwork and grotesques derived from Fontainebleau through Flemish
pattern books were influential on both exteriors and interiors.
1625)
Robert Smythson (1536-1614) was capable of rising above the amiable but
chaotic eclecticism of his contemporaries to produce well-structured plans
which display an overall control of design.
Generally, the external silhouette of Elizabethan buildings displays a varied
skyline of towers, gables, parapets, balustrades and chimney stacks:
facades are enlivened by large mullioned oriel and bay windows.
The effect is similar to French sixteenth century architecture, but the
grouping is less rigid and more picturesque.
1625)
In Jacobean architecture German and Flemish decorative elements,
brought by immigrant craftsmen rather than copied from books, tended to
predominate over the French and Italian.
Jacobean country houses unify the diverse elements of Elizabethan
architecture into a more identifiable style, often using bricks with stone
dressings, capped turrets and Flemish gables, the orders being confided to
frontispieces
The great revolution brought about in English architecture by Inigo Jones
(1573-1652) begins in the later years of James I (1603-25), but is more
conveniently treated in the next section.
Stuart, Commonwealth and Restoration (1625-
1702)
Jones’s buildings for James and Charles I (1625-49) and their consorts
introduced into English architecture a thoroughgoing Classical style based
on pure geometrical shapes, interrelated proportions and a Vitruvian use of
the ‘correct’ forms and symbolic languages of the orders.
Jones’s sources, derived from two visits to Italy and an extensive collection
of drawings and architectural books, were above all Palladio and Scamozzi:
he abjured the licentious use of ‘composed ornaments’ made fashionable by
Michelangelo, except for interiors, where French influences were also
allowed.
1702)
Jone’s work was restricted to court circles, and his style was adopted in full
only by his nephew and pupil John Webb (1611-72).
Webb’s King Charles’s buildings at Greenwich shows a remarkable
mastery in pulling together a very long (24-bay) façade.
The deployment of centre and corner pavilions to punctuate the façade is
partially French, but the language is Palladian.
During the Protectorate, Roger Pratt (1620-84) was a masterly designer of
houses in a lucidly symmetrical but practical manner.
He introduced the ‘double-pile’ at Coleshill, and build the very influential
Clarendon House.
His Plain astylar facades with large simple windows, pedimented dormers
and chunky chimneys, set a new standard in unostentatious Classicism.
1702)
The majority of buildings of the period 1620-1660 however, showed little
response to the innovations of Jones and his contemporaries.
Outside court circles, an ‘artisan style’ prevailed in domestic building,
characterized by Dutch gables with curved volutes and pedimented tops,
heavy cornices and hipped roofs.
The use of brick and wooden framed windows as also taken over from
Holland.
1702)
Holland.
1702)
Holland.
Inigo jones (1573-1652)
He introduced the classical canons of Italian renaissance architecture to England
Long study in Italy, and especially at Vicenza, Palladio's native town, influenced
the work of Inigo Jones.
He was invited to Copenhagen by the King of Denmark, but returned to England in
1604.
He revisited Italy in 1612 for further study, and on his return introduced a purer
Renaissance style, founded on Italian models and ornamentation.
The Italian architect Palladio was Inigo Jones's favourite master in design, his
works being carefully studied by him, and thus Palladio had a great influence on
English architecture.
He started his career as designer of court masques but soon emerged as England's
foremost architect and he became the surveyor of king’s works
The Commonwealth intervened, and checked the execution of many of Inigo
Jones's designs and His influence extends to 18th century , as his buildings were
formative of palladian revival
The following are among his principal Buildings :
The Banqueting House, Whitehall (A.D. 1619-1621),is a part only of a Royal
Palace, which was one of the grandest architectural conceptions of the
Renaissance
The greater part of the building was to have been of three stories, each 30 feet
high, with a total height to the top of the parapet of 100 feet.
The remainder, as curtain wings to the main blocks, and in design like the
Banqueting House, was to be 75 feet high, divided into two stories.
The plan was arranged around courtyards, one of which was to be circular, and
the great court would have vied with that of the Louvre In this design, proportion,
elegance, and purity of detail, are more happily combined than in any other
Renaissance scheme of the kind.
S. Paul, Covent Garden (A.D. 1631-1638), is severe and imposing by reason of

its simplicity and good proportions, but has been altered and rebuilt by
subsequent architects. The arcades and buildings around the market were also
designed by Inigo Jones.
Greenwich Hospital, the river facade of which was executedby John Webb, a
pupil of Inigo Jones, has the two lower stories included under one huge Corinthian
order. The hospital was afterwards added to by Sir Christopher Wren .
York Water Gate, London (A.D. 1626), executed by the master mason Nicholas
Stone, formed the river entrance to Old York House, since destroyed. The gateway
is now in the Embankment Gardens.
Houghton Hall, Beds (1616-1621); Raynham Hall, Norfolk(1630) ; Stoke Park,
Northants (1630-1634) ; the King's (Queen's) House, Greenwich (1639); Wilton
House, Wilts (additions) (1640-1648); Coleshill, Berks (1650); and Chevening
House, Kent , are examples of his country houses.
Lincoln's Inn Chapel (1617-1623); Houses in Lincoln's Inn Fields and Great Queen's
Street (1620); the Barber Surgeons' Hall (1636-1637) ; and Ashburnham House,
Westminster (1640),are examples of his town buildings.

Unit 4 - Rennaissance and Mannerist

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@ compiled by alamelu pasupathy

Renaissance and Mannerism

The re-introduction, or re-birth (Renaissance), of Classic

conscious movements in reaction to previous styles

This resulted in a newly fashionable architectural

style that unearthed and modernized the tradition

of ancient Rome called RENAISSANCE

The economic prosperity of late medieval Italy, depended on early

Medici gain political power in Florence — though officially they remained

language was spread by patronage connections

Urbanism - City planning

Streets become the focus of architectural research.

Within existing cities, streets were widened, straightened or newly planned on

The planning of churches was influenced by symbolism, liturgical change,

was an acceptable compromise, where processional functions and traditional

The specialisation in guilds will no longer create an architect

Barbadori Chapel in Santa Trinita,

demolitions in front of San Lorenzo were approved in 1433 in order to create

Dominated the second half of 15th century

Vitruvius – from a practitioner to other practitioners – summarized the cumulative

rather than their furnishings.

Villa Capra - Vincenza

Toward the end of the 16th cent., mannerism assumed an academic

Library (A.D. 1524), both at S. Lorenzo.

Architecture in England from 1500 to 1830 did not pass through a

major stylistic changes over lap them.

Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean (1505-1625)

S. Paul, Covent Garden (A.D. 1631-1638), is severe and imposing by reason of

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