RENAISSANCE

ARCHITECTURE
DONATO BRAMANTE
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI
PALAZZO RICCARDI
Important events
Donato Bramante  Leone Battista Alberti
 1444 - Born in a small place near Urbino, Italy
  1460’s - Studied architecture under
Renaissance masters
 Mantegna and Pierro Della Francesca
  1474 - Moved to Milan
 1476- Appointed chief or court architect by the
Duke
  1482 – 1486 - Started work on the rebuilding
of the Choir Of the church of Santa Maria
presso San Satiro
 1492-99 - Built Santa Maria delle Grazie
  1499 - Moved to Rome
 1502 - Started with  the Tempietto of San
Pietro in Montorio
 1503 - Engaged with the construction of the
grandest Architectural commission of the
European 16thcentury, the complete re-
building of St Peter's Basilica
   1514 - Died on March 11
 18TH FEB 1404- Born in Genoa, French
Empire(now Italy).
 1429- Alberti belonged to an important
Florentine family. They were exiled from
Florence but they returned back. He attendded
school in Padua.
 He attended the university of Bologna where
he studied law.
 Alberti never received formal architectural
education. His architectural ideas were a
product of his own studies and research. He
was influenced by Brunellschi, though his
interest at this stage was purely theoretical.
 He travelled to Rome where he was amazed
by classical architecture.
 He worked as an architect from 1450’s onwards.
 3rd April 1472- died in Rome.
Principles and Ideologies
Bramante
 One of the greatest architects of
the Italian Renaissance, Bramante
stands out for the pure classicism of
his buildings.
  His influence extended throughout
Europe.
 Except for the long nave, the whole
of St. Peter’s in Rome is designed by
him
  He may have studied at Mantua
with Andrea Mantegna and with
Piero Della Francesca at Urbino, and
hence their interests are seen on
Bramante’s works.
ALBERTI
 He was the father of modern
architecture.
 Alberti was an ideal renaissance
man.
 For most part , he concentrated on
gothic style.
 He aspired to recreate the glory of
ancient times through architecture.
 Was inspired by roman architecture.
Architectural works
Bramante
Santa,1482–1486 Maria presso San Satiro,
Alberti
Milan Palazzo Rucellai
Santa Maria delle Grazie (cloister and
apse); Milan, 1492–1498 Completion of façade of
Palazzo Caprini (also known as Raphael's
St.Maria Novella (1448-
House), Rome, started around 1510
(demolished in the 17t century) 70).
San Pietro in Montorio (also called the
San Sebastiano, Mantua
Tempietto); Rome, 1502
 Santa Maria Della Pace (cloister); Rome, (1458).
1504
 St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, design 1503,
Pianza(1459-62).
ground breaking, 1506 Sepolcro Rucellai , San
 Cortile del Belvedere, Vatican City,
Rome, 1506. Pancrazio (1467).
Tribune for Santissima
Annunziaka, Florence
The Tempietto in San PIETRO,
MONTORIO.
INTRODUCTION-
-San Pietro in Montorio is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its
courtyard The Tempietto (a small commemorative martyrium) built
by Donato Bramante.
-The circular domed chapel commemorates the traditional site of the
martyrdom of S.Peter visible through a hole in the floor.

Plan of
San Façade of San Pietro; entrace to
Pietro. the cloister where the Tempietto is
present is on the right.
FEATURES-
-It is almost a piece of sculpture, for it has little architectonic use.
–The building absorbed much of Brunelleschi's style.
-Perfectly proportioned, it is composed of slender Tuscan columns, a
Doric entablature modeled after the ancient Theater of Marcellus, and
a dome. 
-The stern Doric colonnade with a consciously correct Doric entablature
encircles the exterior, which resembles a Roman peripteral temple
although the projecting drum and the semicircular dome befit a
christian shrine.

The
Tempietto
- exterior
view

Section- Tempietto
St.Peter’s, Rome
 Although the final structure of St.Peter’s was finished by Michelangelo, it was
the design of Donato Bramante that was selected, and for which the
foundation stone was laid in 1506.
 This plan was in the form of an enormous Greek Cross with a dome inspired by
that of the huge circular Roman temple, the Pantheon The main difference
between Bramante's design and that of the Pantheon is that where the dome of
the Pantheon is supported by a continuous wall, that of the new basilica was to
be supported only on four large piers. This feature was maintained in the
ultimate design. Bramante's dome was to be surmounted by a lantern.
 Bramante’s plan
for St.Peter’s- a
Greek cross plan.
A central dome
sorrounded by
four other
smaller dome
and four towers
at the corners.
Bramante’s dome
for St. Peter’s

•After Bramante’s death there were

several successors for the biggest
project of the century. These included
Giulliano Sangallo and Raphael. In the
end, Michelangelo was appointed the
successor of Sangallo, wherein he
embarked a radically new design by
making a combination of Bramante’s
and Sangallo’s design and by putting in
his own ingenious ideas.

Sangallo’s plan Michelangelo’s plan

SAN ANDREA, MANTUA
-It is a Renaissance church in Mantua.
-The church was begun in 1462 according to designs by Leon Battista Alberti and was
finishes 328 years later.
 The façade built abutting the pre- existing bell tower is based on the combination of
the pedimented temple front with triumphal arch.
 A large brick structure with hardened stucco used on the surface. It is defined by the
large central arch flanked by corinthean pilasters.
 No columns have been used, just major & minor pilasters.
 There is a recessed arch which makes ahuge portico before the main door.
 Novel aspect is the integration of corinthean columns and pilasters.
 This is surmounted on a pediment and above that a vaulted sculpture.
 There are no side aisles here, only barrel vaulted chapels on either side of the nave.
 There is a central barrel vaulted roof at the entrance and low barrel vaults in the
loggia.
 This phase of construction ended around 1494.
 In 1597, the lateral arms were added and the crypt was finished
 The high points of this particular design is that Alberti not only produced a new façade
design but also abandoned the nave and aisle type of Basilica church that Brunelleschi
had used.
 Similar to Brunelleschi’s Dell Angeli. The spaces seem carved out.

crypt Central barrel vaulted roof

Lateral arm crossing

nave
chapels

Façade
PALAZZO RICCARDI

 The Palazzo Medici Riccardi was designed by MICHELOZZO DI

BARTOLOMEO for COSIMO DE'MEDICI, the head of the Medici
banking family, and built between 1445-1460
 It was well known for its stone masonry that includes rustication and
ashlar. Michelozzo was influenced in his buildings by both classical
roman and Brunelleschian principles. During the Renaissance revival
of architecture, both built and imagined in paintings.
  In the palazzo Medici Riccardi, the rusticated masonry and the cornice
were precedent in roman practice, yet in totality it looks distinctly
Florentine, unlike any known Roman building.
FEATURES
 The solid geometry of the palace draws its inspiration from noble medieval
dwellings. But at the same time Michelozzo's clear and distinct conception
reverses the typically mideival tendency to treat the house as a fortress, and
imposes upon it a new sense of comfort and space.
 The shape is extremely simple , a loggia composed of four rectangular wingset
around the courtyard.
 The plan though not fully symmetrical, is originally organized around a central
courtyard with a garden at the back.

hall stage

loggias

Inner courtyard

PLAN
 The tripartite elevation used here, expresses the Renaissance spirit of rationality,order
and classicism on human scale.
 This tripartite division is emphasized by horizontal string courses which divide the
building into stories of decreasing height which gave it articulation.
 The bottom floor was constructed of rusticated stone to suggest a firm foundation and
impenetrable defenses. Higher floors were formed from smooth ashlar blocks, with the
joints hardly perceptible, to represent the refinement of living area.
 The overall effect emphasizes that the building appears progressively lighter as the eye
moves upwards.

The tripartite elevation

 Similarly, the early Renaissance
architect Brunelleschi used Roman
techniques and influenced
Michelozzo. The open colonnaded
court that is the center of the palazzo
plan has roots in the cloisters that
developed from Roman peristyles.

Inner courtyard
The once open corner loggia and shop
fronts facing the street were walled in
during the 16th century. In their place,
Michelozzo placed ground-floor
"kneeling windows" (finestre
inginocchiate) supported on innovative
scrolling consoles and framed in
pedimented aedicules that recall the
similarly treated main doorway. These
windows highly influenced the Tuscan
window designs later.