RENAISSANCE

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE
14TH-16TH CENTURY

BRIEF BACKGROUND
● Renaissance Architecture (1400-1600) is European Architecture in the period between the 14th and 16th
centuries.
● Renaissance is a French word meaning “rebirth”.
● The Renaissance style was born in Florence, but it quickly spread to the rest of Italy and on to most of
Europe, including England and Russia.
● Renaissance Architecture exemplifies the overall Renaissance Movement, a rebirth of the knowledge of the
Ancient Greeks and Romans which helped Europe transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era.
● Before the Renaissance, Europe was deep in the Age of Faith, when Gothic Architecture was the dominant
style. But eventually, the Renaissance Movement and this rebirth of knowledge lead to great social and
political changes.
● Renaissance architecture is based on the principles – Symmetry, Geometry, and Proportion.
● The new architecture perceived a balance between horizontal and vertical elements in forms reflecting
human proportions.
● The architectural style and its significance were to provide basic human needs and not religious principles,
unlike Roman and Gothic styles.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
● A classical architectural style
● Reserved and simplified
● Balanced, composed, and graceful sculptures
● Rhythm, symmetry, ad proportion
● Harmony and consistency

ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS

PLANS
- square, symmetrical appearance in which proportions are usually based on a module
FACADE
- symmetrical around their vertical axis
- Facades, especially of churches, were surmounted by pediments and organized by pilasters,
arches, and entablatures.
- The columns and openings seem to progress toward the center.
- Domestic buildings are surmounted by cornices with a repetition of openings on each floor,
whereas central doors are marked by special architectural features.
COLUMNS AND PILASTERS
- the Roman orders of columns are used — Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite
- the orders can either be structural, supporting an arcade, or purely decorative, set against the wall
in the form of pilaster
- used as an integrated system
ARCHES
- semi-circular or (in the Mannerist style) segmental.
- Often used in arcades, supported on piers or columns with capitals
VAULTS
- simple like barrel vaults with semicircles on the square plan.
DOME
- functions as a large structural feature externally and for small roofing spaces internally
 ROOFS
- either flat or coffered and they are painted or decorated
OPENINGS
- usually with a square lintel or surmounted by pediments
WALLS
- external walls were constructed of brick and faced with ashlar masonry, with corners emphasized
with rusticated quoins
- internal walls are plastered with lime wash.
DETAILS
- courses, moldings, and all decorative details are carved with great precision which stand out
around doors and windows rather than being recessed, as in Gothic architecture

TIMELINE

QUATTROCENTO (1400-1500)
- During this period, new architectural concepts were formulated and the foundational rules were
created.
- It is also referred to as the Early Renaissance.
- While earlier medieval buildings had been created with certain loose intuitiveness, these new
Renaissance buildings were designed with geometry in mind, utilizing the logical application of
proportionality.
- Certain ornamental elements were carried through from classic antiquity.
- Early Renaissance architects such as Flippo Brunelleschi created some prime examples from this
period, his work on the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence being a particularly notable wonder of
architecture.
HIGH RENAISSANCE (1500-1525)
- characterized by the further development of ideas adopted from classical antiquity and the use of
them with great proficiency.
- Donato Bramante is particularly notable among Renaissance architects of the 16th century, and
most well known for his application of classical styles to contemporary buildings such as his Roman
temple-inspired church, San Pietro in Montorio.
MANNERISM (1520-1600)
- Renaissance architects began experimenting with the connection between the spatial and solid
aspects of architectural forms.
- The more stringent concepts of early periods gave way to the rise of freer rhythms and more
imaginative spatial ideas.
- Italian Renaissance buildings are recognizable by the use of pilasters that reach from the ground to
the top of the building’s facade.
- This style, known as the “Giant Order”, was made popular by Michelangelo, the artist most
associated with the Mannerist style.
- Characteristics of Renaissance architecture from this period can be best illustrated by
Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome.
RENAISSANCE TO BAROQUE (1600-1750)
- As Italian Renaissance architecture began to spread to other parts of Europe, Renaissance
architects in other countries adopted the new style by combining it with their traditional styles. Thus,
each country had a regionally unique version of Proto-Renaissance architecture.
 ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE

FLORENTINE RENAISSANCE
BRIEF INTRODUCTION
● Renaissance architecture first developed in Florence in the 15th century and represented
a conscious revival of the classical styles.
● The buildings of the Early Renaissance in Florence expressed a new sense of light,
clarity and spaciousness.
● Florence was more than a city, being, in fact, one of the powers of Italy, although its
dominions included only a small part of Central Italy.
● The quarries of Tuscany supplied large blocks of stone and marble, which, being near the
surface, were easily obtained for building purposes, and the monumental character and
massiveness of these materials considerably influenced the style of the architecture.
● Among other causes which affected the development of the style, the bright and sunny
climate rendered large openings for light unnecessary.
● As rival parties in the city were engaged in constant hostilities, safety and defense were
primary motives in building, the palaces being in reality semi-fortresses.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
● The specific characteristics of the Florentine Romanesque are generally referred to a
survival or a recovery of elements of Roman classicism.
● The most evident element of this style is the partition of the facades characterized by the
presence of round arches, resting on semi-columns, geometric panels, obtained from
marble inlays, which divide the surface according to complex modularity and from
windows or aedicules generally surmounted by eardrums.
● The types of doors and windows may be divided into three groups:
- Arcade type
- Architrave type
- Order type

STRUCTURES

SAN LORENZO
DATES
● 1422-1470
BUILDER/DESIGNER
● Filippo Brunelleschi
● Antonio Manetti
IMPORTANT DETAILS
● In the church of San Lorenzo, Brunelleschi perfected his austere geometric style,
inspired by ancient Rome and completely different from the florid Gothic style that
prevailed in his time.
● Its main feature was the dominance of mathematical proportions, marked by a
spatial module based on the cubic form, with orthogonal straight lines and flat
planes. This architecture became the austere geometric rigor with a paradigm for
most of the buildings beyond the Florentine Renaissance.
STATUS
● Active
 ● one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the
main market district of the city
● it is the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
MATERIAL
● Stone
● Marble
MANNER
Interior
● Latin cross (cruciform shape)
● Aisles separated from the nave by Corinthian columns
supporting rounded arches.
● Nave is covered by a coffered ceiling with gilded rosettes
on a white ground.
Exterior
● The west front has remained in the same state since 1480,
showing a naked and flat front of coarse terracotta bricks
increasingly drilled through time.

RUCELLAI PALACE
DATES
● 1451-1455
BUILDER/DESIGNER
● Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472): a scholar deeply interested in classical
architecture
● Bernardo Rossellino
IMPORTANT DETAILS
● a palatial fifteenth-century townhouse on the Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence,
Italy.
● Its splendid facade was one of the first to proclaim the new ideas of Renaissance
architecture based on the use of pilasters and entablatures in proportional
relationship to each other
● Rucellai Palace demonstrates the impact of the antique revival but does so in a
manner which is full of Renaissance originality.
STATUS
● first Renaissance building to receive a facade using the classical orders
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
MATERIAL
● (no reference to specify the materials)
MANNER
● The façade is divided into three tiers but Alberti divided these with the
horizontal entablatures that run across the façade.
● The structural elements of ancient Rome are replicated in the arches,
pilasters and entablatures, and in the larger blocks on the ground floor
which heighten the impression of strength and solidity.
● The pilasters of the three stories embody different classical orders
creating an effect reminiscent of the Coliseum.
 ● It actually had four floors: the first was where the family conducted their
business; the second floor, or piano nobile (reception room), was where
they received guests; the third floor contained the family’s private
apartments; and a hidden fourth floor, which had few windows and is
invisible from the street, was where the servants lived.

ROMAN RENAISSANCE

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
● Roman Renaissance architecture is a style of architecture that developed in Rome, Italy,
in the early 15th century.
● The Roman Renaissance emerged as a result of papal patronage, rediscovery of
classical antiquity, the presence of influential artists and architects, and the growth of
educational institutions which sparked a renewed interest among scholars and artists in
classical culture.
● The remains of old Rome, such as the Colosseum, Pantheon, and colonnades, formed
the quarry from which much of the material for the Renaissance buildings was extracted.
● Splendid new palaces and churches were erected, and the decoration of old ones carried
on by successive painters of whom Peruzzi, Raphael, Michael Angelo, and others were
eminent.
● A school was created for artists and workmen, who afterwards spread abroad the style of
the Renaissance in other parts of Italy and beyond

CHARACTERISTICS
● Use of the classical orders (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite)
● Symmetry and proportion
● Use of arches, domes, and vaults
● Emphasis on harmony and balance
● Use of materials such as marble, travertine, and brick.
● Decorated with elaborate carvings, sculptures, and frescoes

STRUCTURE

TEMPIETTO IN S. PIETRO IN MONTORIO

DATES
● Construction began in 1502 and was completed in 1510.
BUILDER/DESIGNER
● Donato Bramante (The first Roman architect in the Roman Renaissance period. He was
a Florentine by birth, but studied at Rome, practicing first in the city of Milan)
IMPORTANT DETAILS
● The Tempietto is a small, circular temple that is considered to be one of the masterpieces
of Roman Renaissance architecture. It is located in the courtyard of the Church of San
Pietro in Montorio on the Gianicolo hill in Rome.
● It is believed that Tempietto is where St. Peter was crucified.
● The internal diameter is only 15 feet.
● An interior cylinder is nested within a cylinder of columns and capped with a dome.
 ● The building is emphasized vertically, particularly within the small courtyard it is
positioned reinforcing a central organization and point.
● In plan, it is a circular building within the rectangular courtyard.
● The front door is clearly presented to enter the space. After ascending a few steps and
passing the threshold of the circular colonnade, one can see the interior is a small double
height space. A cylindrical room, capped with a celestially painted dome ceiling and a
small hole in the center of the floor
● This small room at ground level is not the most important space. Instead as one
continues walking to the rear of the structure, there is a stair descending under the
ground. The hole in the middle of the floor at ground level makes a direct connection to
what is happening below in the underground. But its main purpose was to portray a
spiritual connection by connecting the heavens (the ground floor) to the earth (the
underground room where an altar lies)
STATUS
● Active
● The Tempietto is well-preserved and is open to the public.
● It is not currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it is part of the Historic Centre of
Rome
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
MATERIAL
● Travertine marble
MANNER
● The Tempietto is built on a raised platform and is accessed by a flight of steps.
● The temple is made of travertine marble and has a circular colonnade of sixteen
Doric columns.
● The columns support a dentilated entablature and a dome.
● The interior of the temple is decorated with frescoes by Raffaello and his
students. (Raffaello Sanzio or Raffaello Santi is a master painter and an architect
of Italian Renaissance)
● The Tempietto is built in the Roman Renaissance style, which is characterized by
its use of classical orders, geometric proportions, and symmetry.

VENETIAN RENAISSANCE

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Venetian Renaissance architecture began rather later than in Florence.
● The city was very rich during the period, and prone to fires
● Venetian buildings were often particularly luxuriantly ornamented.
● The architecture of Venice is, in general, of a lighter and more graceful style.

CHARACTERISTICS
● Byzantine and Gothic Influence
● Use of Canals and Waterfront Location
● Polychrome Facades
● Rounded Arches, contrasting with gothic pointed arches
● Use of Columns and Pilasters
● Domed and Barrel-Vaulted Ceilings
● Ornate Detailing
 ● Palazzo Style

BUILDINGS ON WATER
Venice's water-based location was advantageous for its mercantile activities, but also presented
risks to building due to soft land, tides, and moisture-damaged materials.
Solutions
● Buildings are built on bricks
● Stucco finishes
● Using lots of Wood in their buildings

PERIODS (how the renaissance style appeared in venice)

Early Renaissance Architecture in Venice
● The sculptor and architect Pietro Lombardo (1435–1515) and his two
sculptor-sons Antonio Lombardo (1458–1516) and Tullio Lombardo (1455-1532)
are the first works of the Venetian Renaissance.
● They rebuilt the Scuola di San Marco about 1490.
● At about the same time, Tullio Lombardo was responsible for the tomb of Doge
Andrea Vendramin.
● The Lombardo were exceptional, however. In general, local traditions gave way
to the advance of classicism more slowly in Venice than in central Italy.
High Renaissance Architecture in Venice
Two greatest architects at work in Venice were:
● Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570)
● Andrea Palladio (1518-80).
Sansovino an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect
● The classical style of architecture appeared
● His Library of 1537 was the first example of uncompromising Classicism
in Venetian architecture.

STRUCTURE

SANTA MARIA DEI MIRACOLI or SAINT MARY OF THE MIRACLES

DATES
● 1481 and 1489
BUILDER/DESIGNER
● Pietro Lombardo
IMPORTANT DETAILS
● also known as “the marble church”
● It was originally built in order to house an icon of the virgin mary and child
STATUS
● Active
● The organization Save Venice Inc. restored the church over a period of seven
years, from 1990 to 1997
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
MATERIAL
● Marble
● Istrian Stone
● Terracotta
 ● Wood
● Bronze
● Stained Glass
MANNER
Exterior
● The church’s exterior is composed of two layers.
● The facade, with the original semi-circular front pediment
adorned by rose windows.
● The cylindrical roofing perfectly encloses the volume of the
church.

Interior
● The interior is enclosed by wide barrel vaults, with a single nave
with no columns
● The interior is decorated with pink, white and gray marble
● The wooden barrel vault consists of gilded wooden coffers and
fifty-two panels.
● The raised chancel and high altar is accessed by a rather steep
flight of steps; designed so that everyone below, can see the
votive image of the Virgin.
● There is a domed apse above and the sacristy is underneath the
chancel.