Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture and neoclassical architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities. The style was carried to other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact.
Renaissance style places emphasis on
Historiography
Renaissance |
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The word "Renaissance" derives from the term rinascita, which means rebirth, first appeared in Giorgio Vasari's Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori (Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, 1550).
Although the term Renaissance was used first by the French historian Jules Michelet, it was given its more lasting definition from the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, whose book Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien, 1860 (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1860, English translation, by SGC Middlemore, in 2 vols., London, 1878) was influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance. The folio of measured drawings Édifices de Rome moderne; ou, Recueil des palais, maisons, églises, couvents et autres monuments (The Buildings of Modern Rome), first published in 1840 by Paul Letarouilly, also played an important part in the revival of interest in this period. Erwin Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art, (New York: Harper and Row, 1960) The Renaissance style was recognized by contemporaries in the term "all'antica", or "in the ancient manner" (of the Romans).
Principal phases
Historians often divide the Renaissance in Italy into three phases.[note 1] Whereas art historians might talk of an Early Renaissance period, in which they include developments in 14th-century painting and sculpture, this is usually not the case in architectural history. The bleak economic conditions of the late 14th century did not produce buildings that are considered to be part of the Renaissance. As a result, the word Renaissance among architectural historians usually applies to the period 1400 to c. 1525, or later in the case of non-Italian Renaissances.
Historians often use the following designations:
- Quattrocento (c. 1400–1500)
During the Quattrocento,
- High Renaissance (c. 1500–1525)
During the High Renaissance, concepts derived from classical antiquity were developed and used with greater confidence. The most representative architect is Donato Bramante (1444–1514), who expanded the applicability of classical architecture to contemporary buildings. His Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio (1503) was directly inspired by circular Roman temples. He was, however, hardly a slave to the classical forms and it was his style that was to dominate Italian architecture in the 16th century.[5]
- Mannerism (c. 1520–1600)
During the
- From Renaissance to Baroque
As the new style of architecture spread out from Italy, most other European countries developed a sort of Proto-Renaissance style, before the construction of fully formulated Renaissance buildings. Each country in turn then grafted its own architectural traditions to the new style, so that Renaissance buildings across Europe are diversified by region. Within Italy the evolution of Renaissance architecture into Mannerism, with widely diverging tendencies in the work of Michelangelo and Giulio Romano and Andrea Palladio, led to the Baroque style in which the same architectural vocabulary was used for very different rhetoric. Outside Italy, Baroque architecture was more widespread and fully developed than the Renaissance style, with significant buildings as far afield as Mexico[note 4] and the Philippines.[note 5]
History
Development in Italy
Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance. It is in Florence that the new architectural style had its beginning, not slowly evolving in the way that Gothic grew out of Romanesque, but consciously brought to being by particular architects who sought to revive the order of a past "Golden Age". The scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about.
Architectural
Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose.[8] Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery and Pisa Cathedral.
Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. Apart from Milan Cathedral, (influenced by French Rayonnant Gothic), few Italian churches show the emphasis on vertical, the clustered shafts, ornate tracery and complex ribbed vaulting that characterise Gothic in other parts of Europe.[8]
The presence, particularly in Rome, of ancient architectural remains showing the ordered
Political
In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded them, making the movement of artists possible. This enabled Florence to have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France.
In 1377, the return of the Pope from the
Commercial
In the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. The large towns of Northern Italy were prosperous through trade with the rest of Europe, Genoa providing a seaport for the goods of France and Spain; Milan and Turin being centres of overland trade, and maintaining substantial metalworking industries. Trade brought wool from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, the industry on which its wealth was founded. By dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport, and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the lucrative business of money-lending. The Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, by reason of both wealth and influence. Along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers.[10]
Religious
The return of the Pope Gregory XI from Avignon in September 1377 and the resultant new emphasis on Rome as the center of Christian spirituality, brought about a surge in the building of churches in Rome such as had not taken place for nearly a thousand years. This commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, reaching its peak in the Baroque period. The construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica, one of Christendom's most significant churches, were part of this process.[11]
In the wealthy
Philosophic
The development of printed books, the rediscovery of ancient writings, the expanding of political and trade contacts and the exploration of the world all increased knowledge and the desire for education.[8]
The reading of philosophies that were not based on Christian theology led to the development of humanism through which it was clear that while God had established and maintained order in the Universe, it was the role of Man to establish and maintain order in Society.[12]
Civil
Through humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. This led to the building of structures such as Brunelleschi's Hospital of the Innocents with its elegant colonnade forming a link between the charitable building and the public square, and the Laurentian Library where the collection of books established by the Medici family could be consulted by scholars.[13]
Some major ecclesiastical building works were also commissioned, not by the church, but by guilds representing the wealth and power of the city. Brunelleschi's dome at Florence Cathedral, more than any other building, belonged to the populace because the construction of each of the eight segments was achieved by a different quarter of the city.[8][13]
Patronage
As in the
Rise of architectural theory
During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, but also a matter for theoretical discussion. Printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas.
- The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria ("On the Subject of Building") by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450. It was to some degree dependent on Vitruvius's De architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture.
- Sebastiano Serlio (1475 – c. 1554) produced the next important text, the first volume of which appeared in Venice in 1537; it was entitled Regole generali d'architettura ("General Rules of Architecture"). It is known as Serlio's "Fourth Book" since it was the fourth in Serlio's original plan of a treatise in seven books. In all, five books were published.
- In 1570, Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) published I quattro libri dell'architettura ("The Four Books of Architecture") in Venice. This book was widely printed and responsible to a great degree for spreading the ideas of the Renaissance through Europe. All these books were intended to be read and studied not only by architects, but also by patrons.
Spread of the Renaissance in Italy
In the 15th century the courts of certain other Italian states became centres for spreading of Renaissance philosophy, art and architecture.
In
Ferrara, under the Este, was expanded in the late 15th century, with several new palaces being built such as the Palazzo dei Diamanti and Palazzo Schifanoia for Borso d'Este.
In
In southern Italy, Renaissance masters were called to Naples by
Characteristics
The Classical orders were analysed and reconstructed to serve new purposes.[note 6] While the obvious distinguishing features of Classical Roman architecture were adopted by Renaissance architects, the forms and purposes of buildings had changed over time, as had the structure of cities. Among the earliest buildings of the reborn Classicism were the type of churches that the Romans had never constructed. Neither were there models for the type of large city dwellings required by wealthy merchants of the 15th century. Conversely, there was no call for enormous sporting fixtures and public bath houses such as the Romans had built.
Plan
The plans of Renaissance buildings have a square, symmetrical appearance in which proportions are usually based on a module. Within a church, the module is often the width of an aisle. The need to integrate the design of the plan with the façade was introduced as an issue in the work of
Façade
Domestic buildings are often surmounted by a
Columns and pilasters
Roman and Greek orders of columns are used:
Arches
Arches are semi-circular or (in the Mannerist style) segmental. Arches are often used in arcades, supported on piers or columns with capitals. There may be a section of entablature between the capital and the springing of the arch. Alberti was one of the first to use the arch on a monumental scale at the
Vaults
Vaults do not have ribs. They are semi-circular or segmental and on a square plan, unlike the Gothic vault which is frequently rectangular. The
Domes
The dome is used frequently, both as a very large structural feature that is visible from the exterior, and also as a means of roofing smaller spaces where they are only visible internally. After the success of the dome in Brunelleschi's design for the
Ceilings
Roofs are fitted with flat or
Doors
Doors usually have square lintels. They may be set with in an arch or surmounted by a triangular or segmental pediment. Openings that do not have doors are usually arched and frequently have a large or decorative keystone.
Windows
Windows may be paired and set within a semi-circular arch. They may have square lintels and triangular or segmental pediments, which are often used alternately. Emblematic in this respect is the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, begun in 1517.
In the Mannerist period the Palladian arch was employed, using a motif of a high semi-circular topped opening flanked with two lower square-topped openings. Windows are used to bring light into the building and in domestic architecture, to give views. Stained glass, although sometimes present, is not a feature.
Walls
External walls are generally constructed of brick, rendered, or faced with stone in highly finished
Details
Courses, mouldings and all decorative details are carved with great precision. Studying and mastering the details of the ancient Romans was one of the important aspects of Renaissance theory. The different orders each required different sets of details. Some architects were stricter in their use of classical details than others, but there was also a good deal of innovation in solving problems, especially at corners. Mouldings stand out around doors and windows rather than being recessed, as in Gothic architecture. Sculptured figures may be set in niches or placed on plinths. They are not integral to the building as in Medieval architecture.[8]
Early Renaissance
The leading architects of the Early Renaissance or Quattrocento were Brunelleschi, Michelozzo and Alberti.
Brunelleschi
The person generally credited with bringing about the Renaissance view of architecture is Filippo Brunelleschi, (1377–1446).[16] The underlying feature of the work of Brunelleschi was "order".
In the early 15th century, Brunelleschi began to look at the world to see what the rules were that governed one's way of seeing. He observed that the way one sees regular structures such as the
The buildings remaining among the ruins of ancient Rome appeared to respect a simple mathematical order in the way that Gothic buildings did not. One incontrovertible rule governed all Ancient Roman architecture – a semi-circular arch is exactly twice as wide as it is high. A fixed proportion with implications of such magnitude occurred nowhere in Gothic architecture. A Gothic pointed arch could be extended upwards or flattened to any proportion that suited the location. Arches of differing angles frequently occurred within the same structure. No set rules of proportion applied.
From the observation of the architecture of Rome came a desire for symmetry and careful proportion in which the form and composition of the building as a whole and all its subsidiary details have fixed relationships, each section in proportion to the next, and the architectural features serving to define exactly what those rules of proportion are.[17] Brunelleschi gained the support of a number of wealthy Florentine patrons, including the Silk Guild and Cosimo de' Medici.
Florence Cathedral
Brunelleschi's first major architectural commission was for the enormous brick dome which covers the central space of
Inside the Pantheon's single-shell concrete dome is coffering which greatly decreases the weight. The vertical partitions of the coffering effectively serve as ribs, although this feature does not dominate visually. At the apex of the Pantheon's dome is an opening, 8 meters across. Brunelleschi was aware that a dome of enormous proportion could in fact be engineered without a keystone. The dome in Florence is supported by the eight large ribs and sixteen more internal ones holding a brick shell, with the bricks arranged in a herringbone manner. Although the techniques employed are different, in practice, both domes comprise a thick network of ribs supporting very much lighter and thinner infilling. And both have a large opening at the top.[8]
San Lorenzo
The new architectural philosophy of the Renaissance is best demonstrated in the churches of
Michelozzo
The Palazzo Medici Riccardi is Classical in the details of its pedimented windows and recessed doors, but, unlike the works of Brunelleschi and Alberti, there are no
Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti, born in Genoa (1402–1472), was an important Humanist theoretician and designer whose book on architecture De re Aedificatoria was to have lasting effect. An aspect of Renaissance humanism was an emphasis of the anatomy of nature, in particular the human form, a science first studied by the Ancient Greeks. Humanism made man the measure of things. Alberti perceived the architect as a person with great social responsibilities.[11]
He designed a number of buildings, but unlike Brunelleschi, he did not see himself as a builder in a practical sense and so left the supervision of the work to others. Miraculously, one of his greatest designs, that of the Basilica of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, was brought to completion with its character essentially intact. Not so the Church of San Francesco in Rimini, a rebuilding of a Gothic structure, which, like Sant'Andrea, was to have a façade reminiscent of a Roman triumphal arch. This was left sadly incomplete.[11]
Sant'Andrea is an extremely dynamic building both without and within. Its triumphal façade is marked by extreme contrasts. The projection of the order of pilasters that define the architectural elements, but are essentially non-functional, is very shallow. This contrasts with the gaping deeply recessed arch which makes a huge portico before the main door. The size of this arch is in direct contrast to the two low square-topped openings that frame it. The light and shade play dramatically over the surface of the building because of the shallowness of its mouldings and the depth of its porch. In the interior Alberti has dispensed with the traditional nave and aisles. Instead there is a slow and majestic progression of alternating tall arches and low square doorways, repeating the "triumphal arch" motif of the façade.[19]
Two of Alberti's best known buildings are in Florence, the Palazzo Rucellai and at Santa Maria Novella. For the palace, Alberti applied the classical orders of columns to the façade on the three levels, 1446–51. At Santa Maria Novella he was commissioned to finish the decoration of the façade. He completed the design in 1456 but the work was not finished until 1470.
The lower section of the building had Gothic niches and typical polychrome marble decoration. There was a large
High Renaissance
In the late 15th century and early 16th century, architects such as
Bramante
Donato Bramante, (1444–1514), was born in Urbino and turned from painting to architecture, finding his first important patronage under Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, for whom he produced a number of buildings over 20 years. After the fall of Milan to the French in 1499, Bramante travelled to Rome where he achieved great success under papal patronage.[11]
Bramante's finest architectural achievement in Milan is his addition of crossing and choir to the abbey church of
In Rome Bramante created what has been described as "a perfect architectural gem",[8] the Tempietto in the Cloister of San Pietro in Montorio. This small circular temple marks the spot where St Peter was martyred and is thus the most sacred site in Rome. The building adapts the style apparent in the remains of the Temple of Vesta, the most sacred site of Ancient Rome. It is enclosed by and in spatial contrast with the cloister which surrounds it. As approached from the cloister, as in the picture above, it is seen framed by an arch and columns, the shape of which are echoed in its free-standing form.
Bramante went on to work at the Vatican, where he designed the Cortile del Belvedere. In 1506 his design for Pope Julius II's rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica was selected, and the foundation stone laid. After Bramante's death and many changes of plan, Michelangelo, as chief architect, reverted to something closer to Bramante's original proposal.[8]
Sangallo
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1485–1546) was one of a family of military engineers. His uncle, Giuliano da Sangallo was one of those who submitted a plan for the rebuilding of St Peter's and was briefly a co-director of the project, with Raphael.[11]
Antonio da Sangallo also submitted a plan for St Peter's and became the chief architect after the death of Raphael, to be succeeded himself by Michelangelo.
His fame does not rest upon his association with St Peter's but in his building of the
Raphael
Mannerism
Mannerism in architecture was marked by widely diverging tendencies in the work of Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Baldassare Peruzzi and Andrea Palladio, that led to the Baroque style in which the same architectural vocabulary was used for very different rhetoric.
Peruzzi
Baldassare Peruzzi, (1481–1536), was an architect born in Siena, but working in Rome, whose work bridges the High Renaissance and the Mannerist period. His Villa Farnesina of 1509 is a very regular monumental cube of two equal stories, the bays being strongly articulated by orders of pilasters. The building is unusual for its frescoed walls.[8]
Peruzzi's most famous work is the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome. The unusual features of this building are that its façade curves gently around a curving street. It has in its ground floor a dark central portico running parallel to the street, but as a semi enclosed space, rather than an open loggia. Above this rise three undifferentiated floors, the upper two with identical small horizontal windows in thin flat frames which contrast strangely with the deep porch, which has served, from the time of its construction, as a refuge to the city's poor.[20]
Giulio Romano
Michelangelo
St. Peter's was "the greatest creation of the Renaissance",[8] and a great number of architects contributed their skills to it. But at its completion, there was more of Michelangelo's design than of any other architect, before or after him.
St. Peter's
The plan that was accepted at the laying of the foundation stone in 1506 was that by
Michelangelo's dome was a masterpiece of design using two masonry shells, one within the other and crowned by a massive roof lantern supported, as at Florence, on ribs. For the exterior of the building he designed a giant order which defines every external bay, the whole lot being held together by a wide cornice which runs unbroken like a rippling ribbon around the entire building.
There is a wooden model of the dome, showing its outer shell as hemispherical. When Michelangelo died in 1564, the building had reached the height of the drum. The architect who succeeded Michelangelo was Giacomo della Porta. The dome, as built, has a much steeper projection than the dome of the model. It is generally presumed that it was della Porta who made this change to the design, to lessen the outward thrust. But, in fact it is unknown who it was that made this change, and it is equally possible and a stylistic likelihood that the person who decided upon the more dynamic outline was Michelangelo himself at some time during the years that he supervised the project.[note 8]
Laurentian Library
Michelangelo was at his most Mannerist in the design of the vestibule of the
Michelangelo takes all Brunelleschi's components and bends them to his will. The Library is upstairs. It is a long low building with an ornate wooden ceiling, a matching floor and crowded with corrals finished by his successors to Michelangelo's design. But it is a light room, the natural lighting streaming through a long row of windows that appear positively crammed between the order of pilasters that march along the wall. The vestibule, on the other hand, is tall, taller than it is wide and is crowded by a large staircase that pours out of the library in what Nikolaus Pevsner refers to as a "flow of lava", and bursts in three directions when it meets the balustrade of the landing. It is an intimidating staircase, made all the more so because the rise of the stairs at the center is steeper than at the two sides, fitting only eight steps into the space of nine.
The space is crowded and it is to be expected that the wall spaces would be divided by pilasters of low projection. But Michelangelo has chosen to use paired columns, which, instead of standing out boldly from the wall, he has sunk deep into recesses within the wall itself. In the
Giacomo della Porta
Giacomo della Porta, (c. 1533–1602), was famous as the architect who made the dome of St. Peter's Basilica a reality. The change in outline between the dome as it appears in the model and the dome as it was built, has brought about speculation as to whether the changes originated with della Porta or with Michelangelo himself.
Della Porta spent nearly all his working life in Rome, designing villas, palazzi and churches in the Mannerist style. One of his most famous works is the façade of the
Andrea Palladio
Palladio was to transform the architectural style of both palaces and churches by taking a different perspective on the notion of Classicism. While the architects of Florence and Rome looked to structures like the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine to provide formulae, Palladio looked to classical temples with their simple peristyle form. When he used the triumphal arch motif of a large arched opening with lower square-topped opening on either side, he invariably applied it on a small scale, such as windows, rather than on a large scale as Alberti used it at Sant'Andrea's. This Ancient Roman motif[24] is often referred to as the Palladian Arch.
The best known of Palladio's domestic buildings is
Like Alberti, della Porta and others, in the designing of a church façade, Palladio was confronted by the problem of visually linking the aisles to the nave while maintaining and defining the structure of the building. Palladio's solution was entirely different from that employed by della Porta. At the
Progression from Early Renaissance through to Baroque
In Italy, there appears to be a seamless progression from Early Renaissance architecture through the High Renaissance and Mannerism to the Baroque style. Pevsner comments about the vestibule of the Laurentian Library that it "has often been said that the motifs of the walls show Michelangelo as the father of the Baroque".
While continuity may be the case in Italy, it was not necessarily the case elsewhere. The adoption of the Renaissance style of architecture was slower in some areas than in others, as may be seen in England, for example. Indeed, as Pope Julius II was having the Old St. Peter's Basilica demolished to make way for the new, Henry VII of England was adding a glorious new chapel in the Perpendicular Gothic style to Westminster Abbey.
Likewise, the style that was to become known as Baroque evolved in Italy in the early 17th century, at about the time that the first fully Renaissance buildings were constructed at Greenwich and Whitehall in England,
In a similar way, in many parts of Europe that had few purely classical and ordered buildings like Brunelleschi's Santo Spirito and Michelozzo's Medici Riccardi Palace, Baroque architecture appeared almost unheralded, on the heels of a sort of Proto-Renaissance local style.
Spread in Europe
The 16th century saw the economic and political ascendancy of France and Spain, and then later of England, Germany, Poland and Russia and the Low Countries. The result was that these places began to import the Renaissance style as indicators of their new cultural position. This also meant that it was not until about 1500 and later that signs of Renaissance architectural style began to appear outside Italy.
Though Italian architects were highly sought after, such as
Books or ornament prints with engraved illustrations demonstrating plans and ornament were very important in spreading Renaissance styles in Northern Europe, with among the most important authors being Androuet du Cerceau in France, and Hans Vredeman de Vries in the Netherlands, and Wendel Dietterlin, author of Architectura (1593–94) in Germany.
Baltic States
The Renaissance arrived late in what is today
In Estonia, artistic influences came from Dutch, Swedish and Polish sources.[28] The building of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads in Tallinn with a façade designed by Arent Passer, is the only truly Renaissance building in the country that has survived more or less intact.[29] Significantly for these troubled times, the only other examples are purely military buildings, such as the Fat Margaret cannon tower, also in Tallinn.[30]
Latvian Renaissance architecture was influenced by Polish-Lithuanian and Dutch style, with Mannerism following from Gothic without intermediaries. St. John's Church in the Latvian capital of Riga is an example of an earlier Gothic church which was reconstructed in 1587–89 by the Dutch architect Gert Freze (Joris Phraeze). The prime example of Renaissance architecture in Latvia is the heavily decorated House of the Blackheads, rebuilt from an earlier Medieval structure into its present Mannerist forms as late as 1619–25 by the architects A. and L. Jansen. It was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt during the 1990s.[31]
Lithuania meanwhile formed a large dual state with
Bohemia
The Renaissance style first appeared in the Crown of Bohemia in the 1490s. Bohemia together with its incorporated lands, especially Moravia, thus ranked among the areas of the Holy Roman Empire with the earliest known examples of the Renaissance architecture.[34]
The lands of the Bohemian Crown were never part of the ancient Roman Empire, thus they missed their own ancient classical heritage and had to be dependent on the primarily Italian models. As well as in other Central European countries the Gothic style kept its position especially in the church architecture. The traditional Gothic architecture was considered timeless and therefore able to express the sacredness. The Renaissance architecture coexisted with the Gothic style in Bohemia and Moravia until the late 16th century (e. g. the residential part of a palace was built in the modern Renaissance style but its chapel was designed with Gothic elements). The façades of Czech Renaissance buildings were often decorated with sgraffito (figural or ornamental).
During the reign of Holy Roman Emperor and Bohemian King
Croatia
In the 15th century,
England
After some first efforts by kings and courtiers, most now vanished, like Henry VII's
The first great exponent of classicizing Italian Renaissance architecture in England was
France
During the early years of the 16th century the French were involved in wars in northern Italy, bringing back to France not just the Renaissance art treasures as their war booty, but also stylistic ideas. In the Loire Valley a wave of building was carried and many Renaissance châteaux appeared at this time, the earliest example being the Château d'Amboise (c. 1495) in which Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years. The style became dominant under Francis I (See Châteaux of the Loire Valley).[8][17]
Germany
The Renaissance in Germany was inspired first by German philosophers and artists such as
.In July 1567 the city council of
Hungary
One of the earliest places to be influenced by the Renaissance style of architecture was the Kingdom of Hungary. The style appeared following the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus and Beatrice of Naples in 1476. Many Italian artists, craftsmen and masons arrived at Buda with the new queen. Important remains of the Early Renaissance summer palace of King Matthias can be found in Visegrád. The Ottoman conquest of Hungary after 1526 cut short the development of Renaissance architecture in the country and destroyed its most famous examples. Today, the only completely preserved work of Hungarian Renaissance architecture is the Bakócz Chapel (commissioned by the Hungarian cardinal Tamás Bakócz), now part of the Esztergom Basilica.[37]
Habsburg Netherlands
As in painting, Renaissance architecture took some time to reach the Habsburg Netherlands and did not entirely supplant the Gothic elements. An architect directly influenced by the Italian masters was Cornelis Floris de Vriendt, who designed the city hall of Antwerp, finished in 1564. The style is sometimes called the Flemish-Italian Renaissance style and is also known as the Floris style.[38] In this style the overall structure was similar to that of late-Gothic buildings, but with larger windows and much florid decoration and detailing in the Renaissance styles. This style became widely influential across Northern Europe, for example in Elizabethan architecture, and is part of the wider movement of Northern Mannerism.
Dutch Republic
In the early 17th century
Poland
In the second period (1550–1600), Renaissance architecture became more common, with the beginnings of
In the third period (1600–50), the rising power of sponsored
Portugal
The adoption of the Renaissance style in Portugal was gradual. The so-called
The first "pure" Renaissance structures appear under
Russia
Prince
In 1485, Ivan III commissioned the building of a royal
In 1505, an Italian known in Russia as
The Renaissance architecture that found its way to Scandinavia was influenced by the Flemish architecture, and included high gables and a castle air as demonstrated in the architecture of
In Denmark, Renaissance architecture thrived during the reigns of
Elsewhere in Sweden, with Gustav Vasa's seizure of power and the onset of the Protestant reformation, church construction and aristocratic building projects came to a near standstill. During this time period, several magnificent so-called "Vasa castles" appeared. They were erected at strategic locations to control the country as well as to accommodate the travelling royal court. Gripsholm Castle, Kalmar Castle and Vadstena Castle are known for their fusion of medieval elements with Renaissance architecture.
The architecture of
There is little evidence of Renaissance influence in Finnish architecture.
Spain
In Spain, Renaissance began to be grafted to Gothic forms in the last decades of the 15th century. The new style is called
Spread in the Colonial Americas
- Bolivia
Renaissance architecture spread to Colonial Bolivia, with examples being the Church of Curahuara de Carangas built between 1587 and 1608[42] known as the "Sistine Chapel of the Andes" by the Bolivians for its rich Mannerist decoration in its interior;[42] and the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana built between 1601 and 1619[43] designed by the Spanish architect Francisco Jiménez de Siguenza.
- Brazil
The best-known examples of the Renaissance architecture in the Colonial Brazil are the Mannerist Cathedral Basilica of Salvador built between 1657 and 1746[44] and the Franciscan Convent of Santo Antônio in João Pessoa built between 1634 and 1779.[45]
- Dominican Republic
The House of the Five Medallions is a historic house built in 1540, located in Santo Domingo, this preserves a Plateresque Renaissance façade.
- Ecuador
The large
- Mexico
A notable example of Renaissance architecture in Colonial Mexico is the Cathedral of Mérida, Yucatán, one of the oldest cathedrals in the Americas,[47] built between 1562 and 1598[48] and designed by Pedro de Aulestia and Juan Miguel de Agüero.
- Peru
Several of the churches of the city of Cusco were begun during the Renaissance period, including Cusco Cathedral, (1539). Many others are Baroque in style.[49]
Legacy
Many styles of Late Renaissance and Mannerist architecture transitioned fairly easily in local styles of Baroque architecture; in other areas the change was more abrupt. Baroque and Neoclassical architecture dominated the later 17th and the 18th century in most areas, and persisted well into the 19th century in many places and individual buildings.
During the 19th century there was a conscious revival of the style in
Many of the concepts and forms of Renaissance architecture can be traced through subsequent architectural movements—from Renaissance to High-Renaissance, to Mannerism, to Baroque (or
See also
Notes
- Banister Fletcher, include Baroque as a phase of Renaissance architecture. Because of its extent, diversity and deviation from the Classical it is not included here and is the subject of a main article.
- ^ The Italian translates literally to "fourteen-hundred" and coincides with the English "fifteenth century".
- ^ The Early Renaissance in architecture is most applicable to developments in Venice, where there was a more fluid development between medieval and Renaissance styles than in Florence.[3]
- ^ Cathedral of Chihuahua, 1725–1826
- Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, present structure 1735–39
- Banister Fletcher. See below.
- Renaissance Revivalstyle.
- ^ Pevsner and Gardener suggest that Michelangelo began with the idea of a pointed dome, as in Florence, then in his old age reverted to the lower silhouette, and that della Porta stuck to Michelangelo's original concept. Mignacca, on the other hand, suggests that the pointed dome was Michelangelo's final, and brilliant, solution to the apparent visual tension within the building.
- Banqueting House, Whitehall
- ^ John Ruskin
Cambridge Camden Society - ^ An influential example, The Reform Club in London (1841) by Charles Barry was closely inspired by the Palazzo Farnese, discussed above Photos and commentary Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Charles Garnier
- ^ Louis Sullivan
References
- ^ ISBN 978-3-936681-16-1. Archivedfrom the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ISBN 9788854188075. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- ^ John McAndrew Venetian Architecture of the Early Renaissance (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1980).
- ^ Howard Saalman. Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings. (London: Zwemmer, 1993).
- ^ Arnaldo Bruschi. Bramante (London: Thames and Hudson, 1977).
- ^ [verification needed]Mark Jarzombek, "Pilaster Play" (PDF), Thresholds, 28 (Winter 2005): 34–41, archived (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2012, retrieved 27 December 2010
- ^ Arnold Hauser. Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origins of Modern Art. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1965).
- ^ ISBN 0-7506-2267-9).
- ^ Joëlle Rollo-Koster, Raiding Saint Peter: Empty Sees, Violence, and the Initiation of the Great Western Schism (1378), (Brill, 2008), 182.
- ^ a b c d Andrew Martindale, Man and the Renaissance, 1966, Paul Hamlyn, ISBN unknown
- ^ ISBN 0-7064-0857-8
- ISBN 0-00-632435-5
- ^ a b c d Helen Gardner, Art Through the Ages, 5th edition, Harcourt, Brace and World.
- ^ "Historic Centre of Urbino". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ISBN 3-8290-2657-9
- ^ Cropplestone, Trewin, World Architecture, 1963, Hamlyn. Page 243
- ^ a b c d e Robert Erich Wolf and Ronald Millen, Renaissance and Mannerist Art, 1968, Harry N. Abrams.
- ^ Giovanni Fanelli, Brunelleschi, 1980, Becocci editore Firenze
- ^ Joseph Rykwert, Leonis Baptiste Alberti, Architectural Design, Vol 49 No 5–6, Holland St, London
- ^ a b c d e Nikolaus Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture, Pelican, 1964, ISBN unknown
- ISBN 0-415-26709-9.
- ^ "Duomo di Pavia". Lombardia Beni Culturali. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
- ^ Ludwig Goldscheider, Michelangelo, 1964, Phaidon.
- ^ described by the architectural writer Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) in Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva
- ISBN 3-8228-0271-9
- ISBN 0-926494-36-8
- ^ ISBN 0-8109-3442-6.
- ISBN 9780810865716.
- ISBN 9949407184.
- ISBN 9780195334661.
- ISBN 9780195334661.
- ISBN 9780195334661.
- ISBN 80-7011-597-1.
- ISBN 9783861952503. Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
- ^ "St James's Cathedral". Archived from the original on 6 May 2009.
- ISBN 0-14-056003-3
- ^ Image of Bakócz Chapel Archived 23 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine (1506–08)
- ^ "City Mayors: Antwerp City Hall". www.citymayors.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ^ Harald Busch, Bernd Lohse, Hans Weigert, Baukunst der Renaissance in Europa. Von Spätgotik bis zum Manierismus, Frankfurt af Main, 1960
Wilfried Koch, Style w architekturze, Warsaw 1996
Tadeusz Broniewski, Historia architektury dla wszystkich Wydawnictwo Ossolineum, 1990
Mieczysław Gębarowicz, Studia nad dziejami kultury artystycznej późnego renesansu w Polsce, Toruń 1962 - ^ "Arquitectura Herreriana". arteespana.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- ^ "Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia", World Heritage List, Paris: UNESCO, archived from the original on 1 November 2015, retrieved 26 December 2019
- ^ a b "Iglesia Curahuara de Carangas". ibolivia.org (in Spanish). 7 August 2019. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- ^ Pepe Barrascout (5 August 2015). "Nuestra Señora de Copacabana – Bolivia". Cathedral of Escuintla website (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- ^ Flexor, Maria Helena Ochi. "Catedral Basílica". In: Igrejas e Conventos da Bahia. Series Roteiros do Patrimônio, vol. II. Brasília: Iphan / Programa Monumenta, 2010, pp. 11-36
- ^ "João Pessoa – Convento e Igreja de Santo Antônio e Casa de Oração e Claustro da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco". Brazilian heritage government Official website. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- ^ Manuel García Irigoyen (1898). Historia de la Catedral de Lima, 1535-1898. Imprenta de El País. pp. 5, 8, 10, 16, 19, 21, 25.
- S2CID 163244523.
- ^ A. Gutiérrez R. (24 May 2017). "Historia". Merida Cathedral Official website (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- ^ "Lima Cathedral". famous-historic-buildings.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Bibliography
- Christy Anderson. Renaissance Architecture. Oxford 2013. ISBN 978-0192842275
- Sir ISBN 0-7506-2267-9.
- Tadeusz Broniewski, Historia architektury dla wszystkich Wydawnictwo Ossolineum, 1990
- Arnaldo Bruschi, Bramante, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977. ISBN 0-500-34065-X
- Harald Busch, Bernd Lohse, Hans Weigert, Baukunst der Renaissance in Europa. Von Spätgotik bis zum Manierismus, Frankfurt af Main, 1960
- Trewin Cropplestone, World Architecture, 1963, Hamlyn. ISBN unknown
- Giovanni Fanelli, Brunelleschi, 1980, Becocci editore Firenze. ISBN unknown
- Christopher Luitpold Frommel, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, London: Thames and Hudson, 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-15-503752-6
- Mieczysław Gębarowicz, Studia nad dziejami kultury artystycznej późnego renesansu w Polsce, Toruń 1962
- Ludwig Goldscheider, Michelangelo, 1964, Phaidon, ISBN 0714832960
- J.R.Hale, Renaissance Europe, 1480–1520, 1971, Fontana ISBN 0-00-632435-5
- Arnold Hauser, Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origins of Modern Art, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965, ISBN 0-674-54815-9
- Brigitte Hintzen-Bohlen, Jurgen Sorges, Rome and the Vatican City, Konemann, ISBN 3-8290-3109-2
- Janson, H.W., Anthony F. Janson, History of Art, 1997, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. ISBN 0-8109-3442-6
- Marion Kaminski, Art and Architecture of Venice, 1999, Könemann, ISBN 3-8290-2657-9
- Wilfried Koch, Style w architekturze, Warsaw 1996, ISBN 83-7129-288-0
- Andrew Martindale, Man and the Renaissance, 1966, Paul Hamlyn, ISBN
- Anne Mueller von der Haegen, Ruth Strasser, Art and Architecture of Tuscany, 2000, Konemann, ISBN 3-8290-2652-8
- ISBN 978-0-14-020109-3
- Ilan Rachum, The Renaissance, an Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1979, Octopus, ISBN 0-7064-0857-8
- Joseph Rykwert, Leonis Baptiste Alberti, Architectural Design, Vol 49 No 5–6, Holland St, London
- Howard Saalman, Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings, London: Zwemmer, 1993, ISBN 0-271-01067-3
- John Summerson, Architecture in Britain 1530–1830, 1977 ed., Pelican, ISBN 0-14-056003-3
- Paolo Villa: Giardino Giusti 1993–94, pdf with maps and 200 photos
- Robert Erich Wolf and Ronald Millen, Renaissance and Mannerist Art, 1968, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN not known
- Manfred Wundram, Thomas Pape, Paolo Marton, Andrea Palladio, Taschen, ISBN 3-8228-0271-9
Further reading
- Alberti, Leon Battista. 1988. On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Translated by Joseph Rykwert. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Anderson, Christy. 2013. Renaissance Architecture. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
- Buddensieg, Tilmann. 1976. "Criticism of Ancient Architecture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries." In Classical Influences on European Culture A.D. 1500–1700, 335–348. Edited by R. R. Bolgar. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
- Hart, Vaughan, and Peter Hicks, eds. 1998. Paper Palaces: The Rise of the Architectural Treatise in the Renaissance. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
- Jokilehto, Jukka. 2017. A History of Architectural Conservation. 2d ed. New York: Routledge.
- Koortbojian, Michael. 2011. "Renaissance Spolia and Renaissance Antiquity (One Neighborhood, Three Cases)." In Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture, from Constantine to Sherrie Levine. Edited by Richard Brilliant and Dale Kinney, 149–165. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
- Serlio, Sebastiano. 1996–2001. Sebastiano Serlio on Architecture. 2 vols. Translated by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
- Smith, Christine. 1992. Architecture in the Culture of Early Humanism: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Eloquence 1400–1470. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
- Waters, Michael J. 2012. "A Renaissance Without Order Ornament, Single-Sheet Engravings, and the Mutability of Architectural Prints." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 71:488–523.
- Tafuri, Manfredo. 2006. Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Wittkower, Rudolf. 1971. Architectural Principles In the Age of Humanism. New York: Norton.
- Yerkes, Carolyn. 2017. Drawing after Architecture: Renaissance Architectural Drawings and their Reception. Venice: Marsilio.