Donato Bramante
Donato Bramante (1444-1514) was an Italian architect and painter born in Urbino. He moved to Milan in 1474 where he built multiple churches in the New Antique style. During that era, Milan was a city which was deeply incorporated with Gothic architectural traditions before Bramante stepped in.
The New Antique Style was very prevalent in Milan before the onset of the Renaissance. It is also known as the New Classical Architecture This architectural style is built upon the principles and the forms of the classical Greco-Roman architecture. It is considered to be the modern resumption of the Neoclassical style, while withholding the Gothic, Romanesque, and early Baroque traditions. From the 13th century CE to the first half of the 15th century, Milan was revolutionized by the urban Gothic style.
Early Works
Bramante initially worked as an illusionistic muralist who painted on architecture. Whether he received any formal training in art, is unknown. He is known to practice his craft by observing prominent artists in Urbino. After coming to Milan, he also took inspiration from other Renaissance architects like Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Mantegna, and Filippo Brunelleschi.
The duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza made Bramante his court architect. He was commissioned for the trompe-l’oeil choir of the church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro (1482-86). The space inside the church was limited and Bramante did an extraordinary task of making an apse, richly decorated with low reliefs. Filippo Bruneslleschi is credited with rediscovering and systematising the principles of linear perspective in the early 1400s. The technique involves the usage of a vanishing point on the line of horizon, where parallel lines seem to converge. It is used to create the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface. This phenomenon had a profound impact on Renaissance art and architecture. Donato Bramante combined Brunelleschi’s perspective with ancient Roman elements, and created wonders.
Bramante arrived in Rome in 1499 and became known by important popes such as Alexander VI and Julius Caesar II. Bramante built his most harmonious piece under the patronisation of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile – the Tempietto of San Pietro. Other notable works of Bramante include the tribune of Santa Maria Delle Grazia in Milan, Belvedere Court in Vatican, Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the cloisters if the Sant’Ambrogio in Milan.
The Architectural Marvel of the Tempietto
The Tempietto or the “little temple’ was built in the 15th century. It serves as a martyrium commemoration the crucifixion of St. Peter. Bramante was very fond of the classical architectural geometry and Vitruvius’ writings. This structure strictly follows the rules and logics of temple design that were established by Vitruvius.
The small edifice, 4 meters in diameter consists of a two-tiered cylindrical drum and is richly decorated with metopes, triglyphs and other sculptural decorations. The bottom floor is encircled by a ring of Tuscan columns, known as the peristyle. It is crowned with a hemispherical dome. This dome is placed upon a high drum and surrounded a circular band of balustrades on the upper floor. The cella is circular with pilasters adorning the walls. The tempietto is placed on a three-stepped crepidoma. The number of steps is ideal to the classical architecture seen in ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome. The same characteristic is also reflected in Vitruvius’ book, De Architectura.
The temple is primarily based upon its columns. The sixteen columns that formed the peristyle were built from old and new building materials – it was a common practice in that era to recycle part of older architecture. The intercolumnar space is four times the diameter of the columns. The space between the cella wall and the columns is twice their diameter. The cella wall on the other hand consists of eight pilasters, places between several big and small niches. These strict measurements draw us back to the classical need for precision.
According to the plan, the temple might have been inspired by the ancient Greek tholos, which was amalgamated with the structure of the Roman Pantheon. The tholos was an architectural feature that was widely used in the classical world. It is namely a round structure which is built upon a crepidoma with a ring of columns that supports the domed roof.
But the better and more accurate comparison of the tempietto can be drawn with the ruined temple of Vesta at Tivoli. Both the buildings demonstrate two-tiered buildings with colonnaded bottom storeys and a dome above it that is surrounded by a balustrade.
The Temple of Vesta at Tivoli
Located in the Roman forum, Tivoli, the temple of Vesta was built the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius. The temple housed Vesta’s holy fire that was considered to be a symbol of Rome’s safety and prosperity.
The most recognisable feature of the temple is its circular plan. All the temples built for Vesta were round and had entrances that faced the east. It was meant to enhance the connection between Vesta’s fire and the sun as the sources of life. The architecture used Corinthian columns, marble and the Greek concept of a central cella. It can be described as a complex rendition of the Greek tholos.
The structure stands on a 8.5 metres high podium and was surrounded by twenty fluted Corinthian columns. Wide steps lead up to the entrance. The temple’s capital had two rows of acanthus leaves and its abacus is decorated with oversized hibiscus flowers. It is assumed that the roof probably had a vent or an oculus that allowed the smoke to release.
Since the worship of the Goddess Vesta began in the houses of the locals, the architecture seems to pay homage to the structure of the early Roman houses. Some researchers argue that the circular footprint of the temple was meant to symbolise the earth and the domed roof symbolised the heavens.
In conclusion, Donato Bramante’s Tempietto stands as a pivotal example of Renaissance architecture which showcases the wea’s emphasis on classical ideals of harmony, symmetry, and proportion. The structure is the epitome of elegant simplicity, combined with its powerful symbolism as a martyrium. It has subsequently influenced future architectural projects, making it a significant corner stone of history.
References:
Tzonis, A. and Lefaivre, L., 1986. Classical architecture: The poetics of order. Mit Press.
Bork, R., 2016. The Italian Challenge to the Gothic Design System. In The Geometry of Creation (pp. 433-458). Routledge.
Bieber, M., 1961. Roman Theater-Temples. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/292377
Summerson, J. and Powers, A., 2023. The classical language of architecture. Thames & Hudson.
Maddaluno, R., 2015. Harmony and conflict: the centrality of man and the periphery of architecture in the language of Donato Bramante in San Pietro in Montorio. ARCHITECTURE• URBANISM• CULTURE, p.201.
Günther, H., 1999. Bramante, Donato (c. 1443/44-1514).
DE PAOLI, M., 2012. The dome in the tempietto altars: examples of architectural culture in Lombardy. In Domes in the world (Vol. 1, pp. poster-session). Nardini Editore.
Image Sources:
- https://www.famous-architects.org/donato-bramante/#google_vignette
- https://www.britannica.com/place/Milan-Cathedral
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- https://www.classicist.org/articles/classical-comments-the-corinthian-of-the-temple-of-vesta-at-tivoli/
