RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE
The term Renaissance, signifying revival, has been given to the style
which succeeded the Gothic. It was, to a great extent, a reversion to
classic ideals modified to suit modern requirements. Its leading
characteristics are simplicity of plan, symmetry of proportion, and
massive grandeur of general effect, a minor peculiarity being the lavish
use of plaster, not only for surface decoration, but also in some cases
for the actual structure of such details as cornices, &c.
[Illustration: Example of Renaissance Ornament]
The Renaissance style was inaugurated in Italy, where, as already
stated, the Gothic never took root, and spread thence to the other
countries of Europe, assuming in each country a certain distinctive
character of its own in harmony with its environment. In Italian
Renaissance ecclesiastical architecture the old basilican plan was
revived, the dome became again, as in ancient Rome, the crowning glory
of the building, and was combined with horizontal entablatures upheld by
columns, with capitals of one or another of the Greek orders, and
porticoes with pediments. In secular Italian Renaissance a very notable
feature is the central cortile or courtyard surrounded by open arcades,
above which are the principal apartments, of style corresponding with
that of the arcades, the round-headed windows being divided from each
other by slender pilasters, and the spandrels above them filled in with
sculptured ornamentation. The principal facade of Italian palaces was
especially ornate, richly decorated courses of stone dividing the
stories from each other, in which the fenestration or grouping of the
windows was peculiarly effective.
Whereas in the history of mediaeval architecture few names emerge from
the obscurity in which those who planned and erected the great
cathedrals, churches, and castles were content to remain, in that of
Renaissance the individual architect comes to the front, all the
designing having been done by him and the whole work carried on under
his personal superintendence. In the new movement Florence took the
lead, owing the pre-eminence she quickly won to the gifted and versatile
Filippo Brunelleschi, who, like so many of his famous contemporaries,
was a skilled goldsmith and sculptor before he became an architect. His
first work of importance was the dome he added to the unfinished
cathedral of his native city, which was soon succeeded by the Churches
of S. Spirito and S. Lorenzo, both of which are typical Renaissance
buildings, as is also the Puzzi Chapel, on which the architect displayed
his wonderful sense of symmetry, combining domes, arches, and lintels
with consummate skill.
Fine examples of Renaissance secular architecture in Florence are the
Riccardi and Pitti Palaces, both designed by Brunelleschi, but
considerably modified after his death, the Rucellai Palace by Alberti, a
worthy successor of Brunelleschi, the Guadagni Palace, designed by
Bramante, and the Pandolfini, designed by Raphael, the last very
characteristic of the mature phase of Italian Renaissance.
[Illustration: Facade of a Venetian Palace]
It was in Rome that the style reached its noblest development, and the
Cathedral of S. Peter's, on which all the greatest architects of the
16th and 17th centuries were successively employed, affords a unique
opportunity for its study. Built on the site of the old basilica of S.
Peter, alluded to in the section on Early Christian architecture, what
was to become the largest church in the world was begun by Bramante in
1506. His plan, that of a square with four projecting apses, to be
covered in with a central and four supplementary domes, was followed
until his death in 1514, when the work was carried on by Giuliano da San
Gallo, Fra Giacondo and Raphael, who were in favour of certain
modifications of the original design, that if carried out would have
converted the square into a Latin cross. The withdrawal of San Gallo,
and the deaths of Giacondo and Raphael in 1515, led to Baldasarre
Peruzzi being appointed architect, and under his auspices the plan was
changed to that of a Greek cross. Before his death in 1536 the present
south transept and the vaulting, that was to encircle the central dome
were finished, and the massive pendentives that were to uphold the
latter were begun. The next architect to take up the vast scheme was
Antonio da San Gallo, who, could he have obtained the necessary funds,
would have added a long pronaos or corridor of approach, to be entered
from a domed porch at the western end. In his model the interior of the
central portion of the cathedral, with the notable exception of the
dome, appears much as it does now, so that with its aid a good idea can
be obtained of the state of the building when, in 1546, Michael Angelo
was appointed architect in chief, and set the seal of his genius upon a
complex creation which was already a reflection of the highest
constructive and aesthetic achievement of the golden age of Italian
architecture. Reverencing the noble design of Bramante, Michael Angelo
left the interior, of which the symmetry of plan and beauty of the many
pilasters with their Corinthian capitals are notable characteristics,
much as he found it, but though he introduced on the exterior Corinthian
pilasters resembling those of the interior, he greatly modified the
general aspect of the former by the removal of the projecting chapels
and the aisles round the apses. It was in his design for the dome that
Michael Angelo achieved his greatest architectural triumph, for without
tampering at all with what had already been done by Bramante, he set
upon the cylindrical drum that artist had intended to uphold a dome,
which was to be a mere reproduction of that of the Pantheon, a
magnificent structure of original design which dominates the capital,
producing an absolutely unrivalled impression of combined strength,
vastness, and symmetry, the eye being irresistibly led up from drum to
dome and from dome to lantern. From within the cathedral the effect is
scarcely less grand, a wonderful sense of space being conveyed by the
soaring vault, that seems to spring heavenwards of its own volition.
Michael Angelo died before his masterpiece was completed, but so far as
the dome was concerned his design was carried out, with certain slight
modifications, by Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana.
Unfortunately, however, the rest of the great architect's scheme was
departed from and its effectiveness destroyed by additions which he
would most certainly have condemned. At the suggestion of Pope Pius IV
the facade built under Michael Angelo was pulled down and replaced by
Maderno with that still _in situ_, whilst the nave was lengthened out of
all proportion to the rest of the building.
In spite of this lamentable mistake, the general effect of the interior
is remarkably fine, and is greatly enhanced by the rich colouring of the
lavish decoration of every portion, the massive piers and vast arches
spanning them, and the vaulted coffered ceilings, all harmonising with
and supplementing each other. Moreover, the unhappy result of the
substitution of Maderno's for Michael Angelo's facade was to some extent
neutralised in 1666 by the erection under Bernini of the lofty colonnade
encircling the piazza of S. Peter in the simple and dignified Doric
style, that forms an appropriate approach to the cathedral.
In the Renaissance palaces of Rome classic details were more closely
copied than in Florence, pilasters and arcades forming, in almost every
case, the chief decorations of the exteriors. Notable examples are the
so-called Venetian Palaces, the Cancellaria designed by Bramante, the
Sacchetti by Antonio San Gallo, and, above all, the Farnese, the
grandest in the capital, begun by San Gallo and completed by Michael
Angelo, with portions of the Vatican, including the Hall of the
Belvedere, designed by Bramante.
In Venice, where the Renaissance style was necessarily modified by the
peculiar conditions of the lagoon city, good examples of it are the
Churches S. Maria dei Miracoli, S. Zaccaria, and S. Maria della Salute,
with the palaces of Vendramini, Calergo, Trevisano, and Cornaro, all,
however, excelled by the beautiful Palazzo Grimani designed by San
Michele and the Library of S. Mark of Sansovino.
At Vicenza the famous architect Palladio erected many noble Renaissance
churches, including the Redentore, enclosed the ancient Basilica in
grand classic arcades, and designed a great number of fine palaces. In
Milan the finest Renaissance structures are the sacristy of S. Maria
Presso S. Sabino, the apse of S. Maria della Grazie and the arcaded
court of the great Hospital, all designed by Bramante. Near Pavia is the
fine Certosa, the facade of which is the work of Ambrogio Borgognoni;
Genoa is rich in effective groups of Renaissance palaces after the
designs of Alessio, and owns a late Renaissance church ascribed to
Puget, and at Verona is the typical Palazzo del Conseglio, built by Fra
Giocondo.
It was not until the beginning of the 16th century that the Renaissance
style gained a footing in France, and even for some time after that
French architects, whilst adopting its main features, clung to certain
characteristic Gothic details. This is very notably the case in some of
the royal chateaux on the Loire, justly considered the finest secular
Renaissance buildings in the country, especially in that of Chambord,
which, with a typical Renaissance facade, has a highly pitched roof with
soaring pinnacles and pointed-headed dormer windows.
Other fine Early Renaissance French buildings are the wing added by
Frances I to the old castle of Blois, famous for its beautiful external
spiral staircase, the chateaux of Chenonceaux, Chateaudun, and
Azay-le-Rideau, the Hotel de Ville at Beaugency, the Church of S.
Eustache, the Hotel des Invalides, the western portion of the Louvre,
and the Luxembourg, all in Paris. To the latest phase of what eventually
became almost a national style, belong the Pantheon, the Palais Royal,
the College and Church of the Sorbonne, all in Paris; the relics of the
noble Chateau built for Richelieu on the site of the great minister's
native village by Lemercier, the Chateau of Ballery in Normandy, the
additions to the castle of Blois, the Chateau des Maisons near, and the
Church of Val de Grace in Paris, all by Francois Mansard, whose name is
associated with a picturesque form of roof invented by him.
In the chateau of Versailles, designed by Jules Mansard, a distant
connection of the greater Francois, the first note of the decadence of
the Renaissance style was sounded, for well-built and richly decorated
though it is, the huge structure is lacking in the dignified grandeur,
so distinctive of the buildings enumerated above.
Although it was in Italy and France that European Renaissance
architecture achieved its greatest triumphs, some few fine examples of
it remain in other countries, including in Spain the great Monastery and
Palace of the Escurial near Madrid, the central church of which is
especially fine, the Cathedrals of Burgos, Malaga, and Granada, the town
halls of Saragossa and Seville, and portions of the Alcazar of Toledo,
the convent of Mafra in Portugal, the Town Hall of Antwerp, the Council
Halls of Leipzig and Rothenburg, the Cloth Hall of Brunswick, the Castle
of Schallenburg, and the Hall of the Belvedere at Prague.
It is unnecessary to refer in detail to the many buildings in Europe in
what is known as the Rococo style, of which grotesque and meaningless
ornamentation is the chief characteristic, but it must be added that in
the early 19th century something like a new classic revival took place
on the Continent. The Church of La Madeleine and the Opera House in
Paris, the Arco della Pace at Milan, the Royal Theatre at Berlin, the
Glyptothex and Pinacothex of Munich, the Walhalla at Ratisbon, the
Museum of Dresden, and the Church of S. Isaac at St. Petersburg being
notable instances of the skilful way in which Greek details of structure
were combined by the best architects with modern requirements.