Tempietto (1502)

Artist: Donato Bramante

Artwork description & Analysis: This image depicts the innovative Tempietto in the
courtyard of the Church of San Pietro, cross-aligned with the spot where St. Peter
was crucified. The round temple consists of a single chamber, inspired by
Bramante's knowledge of classical buildings such as the Pantheon (113-125) and the
Temple of Vesta (3rd century). It smoothly incorporates references from both Greek
and Roman architecture into one unified effect. The sixteen columns that ring the
building are a variation of the Doric column, which came to be called the Tuscanic
column as it used a simpler round base and in its proportions followed the ratios of
the Ionic column. The entablature above the columns depicts the keys of St. Peter
and elements of the Catholic Mass. Above the columns a balustrade encircles the
hemispheric dome, meant to symbolize the heavenly vault and the universe.

Bramante's original design placed the Tempietto within a circular courtyard, its
columns and niches proportionally designed to radiate from the temple, making the
building seem larger than it was. The plan was never completed, and subsequent
building boxed in the temple, creating a cramped effect. Bramante wanted to create a
building that was a perfect fusion of Humanist beliefs, derived from the classical
world and Christian faith, as shown in the circular building's resemblance of both a
Greek temple and the circular form traditionally used in tombs for Christian martyrs.
The symmetrical design follows mathematical proportions derived from Leonardo's
study of the Roman architect Vitruvius and his application of those proportions to the
human body as seen in his Human Figure in a Circle and Square, illustrating
Vitruvius on Proportion (1485-90), which Bramante studied when working with
Leonardo for the Duke of Milan.

This building was considered to be an exemplary High Renaissance building, as

reflected by architect Andrea Palladio in his treatise on ancient temples. Called a
"jewel" of the Renaissance, the building also prefigured Bramante's design, though
not carried out, for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.