Bramante Donato
Donato Bramante, Donato also
spelled Donino or Donnino (born c. 1444, probably at Monte
Asdrualdo, Duchy of Urbino [Italy]—died April 11, 1514, Rome),
architect who introduced the High Renaissance style in architecture.
His early works in Milan included the rectory of Sant’Ambrogio and
the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In Rome, Bramante served as
principal planner of Pope Julius II’s comprehensive project for
rebuilding the city. St. Peter’s Basilica, of which he was the chief
architect, was begun in 1506. Other major Roman works were the
Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio (1502) and the Belvedere court
in the Vatican (begun c. 1505).
Early years and training
Donato Bramante was born of a family of well-to-do farmers. In
his childhood, says the 16th-century biographer and artist Giorgio
Vasari, “besides reading and writing, he practiced much at the
abacus.” His father probably directed him toward painting.
Little is known of Bramante’s life
and works before 1477. He probably served as an assistant to Piero
della Francesca in Urbino, which, under the nobleman Federico da
Montefeltro (died 1482), had become a humanist centre of
considerable importance. In 1477 Bramante was working in Bergamo as
a painter of illusionistic murals of architecture. He probably
derived his training not only from the works of artists active in
Urbino but also from those of other artists he may have observed in
his travels, such as those of Leon Battista Alberti (in Rimini and
Mantua), Andrea Mantegna (in Mantua and Padua), Ercole de’Roberti
(in Ferrara), and Filippo Brunelleschi (in Florence).
None of Bramante’s youthful
productions has survived, though some historians attribute various
architectural perspectives to him. Almost all of them show some
characteristics of Bramante’s work, but they appear very different
from each other. Before 1477 Bramante may have been primarily a
planner, designer, and painter of architectural perspectives that
other artists partly modified and inserted into their own paintings
or carried out in construction; there are a number of later
instances in which he is known to have furnished painters with such
architectural perspectives.
Lombard period
By 1477 Bramante had left Urbino for unknown reasons and settled
in the northern Italian province of Lombardy. He worked on frescoes
for the facade of the Palazzo del Podestà (later altered) in Bergamo
showing Classical figures of philosophers in a complex architectural
setting. Vasari (though poorly informed on this period) says that
Bramante, after working in various cities on “things of no great
cost and little value,” went to Milan “to see the cathedral.” The
cathedral workshop, in which Italian, German, and French craftsmen
worked by turns, constituted an important centre for the exchange of
knowledge, planning methods, and techniques. Moreover, Milan was a
large and wealthy metropolis, the capital of a state ruled by
Ludovico Sforza, called Il Moro, and Renaissance architecture was a
commodity to be imported. Thus the city represented an opportunity
for a young and up-to-date architect like Bramante.
The first architectural work that
can be definitely attributed to Bramante is a design: a print made
in 1481 by a Milanese engraver, Bernardo Prevedari, from a Bramante
drawing representing a ruined temple with human figures. About the
same time, Bramante was working on the church of Santa Maria presso
San Satiro, the first structure definitely attributed to him. Along
with a certain adherence to local taste, this church shows traces of
the influence of Alberti, Mantegna, Brunelleschi, and the Urbino
school. This last influence is particularly evident in its choir,
which was painted in perspective to give an illusion of a much
larger space. Perhaps from the same period (c. 1480–85) is
Bramante’s decoration of a room in Casa Panigarola in Milan
(fragments in the Brera, Milan) that consists of architectural
settings and the figures of men at arms rendered by means of
illusionistic perspective. Similar experiments, perhaps also in the
same years, seem to have been carried out by Bramante on the facades
of buildings, such as Casa Fontana, later called Silvestri, in
Milan.
In 1488 Bramante, along with a
number of other architects, was asked by Cardinal Ascanio Sforza,
brother of Ludovico Sforza and bishop of Pavia, to draw up a new
plan for the cathedral of Pavia. Bramante went many times to that
city during this period, and it was probably under his direction
that the crypt and the lower portion of the building were executed.
Bramante appears to have had close
relations with Leonardo da Vinci. In 1482 Leonardo had visited Milan
from Florence, and in 1490 both Bramante and Leonardo were occupied
with stylistic and structural problems of the tiburio, or crossing
tower, of the cathedral of Milan. From 1487 to 1490 a number of
mutual exchanges can be documented. The only written evidence of
Bramante’s ideas on architecture goes back to this time (1490) and
consists of a report on the tiburio problem. Bramante examined
various solutions (among them one of his own, a square plan),
demonstrating a conception of architecture remarkably like that of
Alberti.
Bramante by now enjoyed the favour
of both Ludovico and Ascanio Sforza, as well as that of influential
courtiers. His modest salary and the irregularity of payment,
however, did not allow him to live luxuriously. He came in contact
not only with artists but also with humanists and poets of the
Sforza court, and he himself wrote verses. Like Leonardo, he was
involved in the staging of spectacles at the Sforza court, such as
one on the occasion of a baptism in 1492.
Architecture increasingly dominated
his interests, but he did not give up painting. Of the many works
attributed to him by various 16th-century writers, however, none
seems to have been preserved. The only extant easel picture that has
ever been attributed to him is the Christ at the Column of the Abbey
of Chiaravalle (c. 1490). A fresco in a complex architectural
setting (c. 1490–92) in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan is probably
his, with the collaboration of his pupil Il Bramantino.
Starting in 1492, Bramante was
entrusted by Ludovico and Ascanio Sforza with the reconstruction of
the canonica (rectory) of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan. The work was
interrupted by the fall of Ludovico, and, though it was resumed in
the 16th century, only one side of the building was executed. Though
Bramante’s responsibility cannot be proved, the idea for the new
tribuna (chancel) for Santa Maria delle Grazie probably originated
with him; destined to be the burial mausoleum of the Sforzas, the
tribuna was in an overall project of reconstruction, begun in 1492,
for the entire church. Bramante also may have planned the painted
decoration of the interior, but the execution and the clarification
of details, particularly on the exterior, were probably done by
Lombard masters.
Bramante’s activities in the 1490s,
before he left Milan finally for Rome, are sporadically documented.
It has been conjectured that in the summer of 1492 he was in
Florence studying the work of Brunelleschi, in view of the emphatic
Brunelleschian character of the Sant’Ambrogio canonica. In 1493 he
made a report on certain fortifications on the Swiss border for
Ludovico.
His last few years in Lombardy were
marked by the restless activity that characterized the remainder of
his career. He was probably responsible for the designs of the
piazza of Vigevano (carried out between 1492 and 1494, partly
transformed in the late 17th century), of the painted architectural
decoration on the arcaded facades that marked its limits, and for
the designs of other structures of the Vigevano complex, as well as
the painted decoration (which has disappeared) for the interior of
the castle of the same city. His covered passageway (ponticella) for
the Castello Sforzesco in Milan must also be from this period, and
the facade of the church of Santa Maria Nascente ad Abbiategrasso
(near Milan) dates from 1497. Between 1497 and 1498, in addition to
a chapel (later altered) of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, he worked on the
Cistercian Monastery being erected in Milan under the auspices of
Ascanio Sforza; like his work on the canonica, it was suspended in
1499 and is unfinished.
Endowed with an extremely receptive
character, Bramante was by no means immune to the influence of other
artists active in Milan. He was also influenced by his study of
Lombard monuments dating from the late ancient and Carolingian
periods, the memory of which was to be useful to him in Rome.
Conversely, Bramante’s presence (together with Leonardo’s) in Milan
was of fundamental importance for the later artistic developments in
that city.
Roman period
Bramante probably remained in Milan until Ludovico was forced to
flee before the city was occupied by the French in September 1499.
Bramante appears to have been active from the first in Rome on a
variety of projects, such as a painting (now lost) at San Giovanni
in Laterano celebrating the Holy Year 1500. As under-architect of
Pope Alexander VI, he probably executed the fountains in Piazza
Santa Maria in Trastevere and in St. Peter’s Square (later altered)
and served on several architectural councils. It is probable that in
these years he had reduced his activity as a designer and was
devoting himself to the study of the ancient monuments in and around
Rome, even ranging as far south as Naples. In the meantime, he had
come in contact with Oliviero Carafa, the wealthy and politically
influential cardinal of Naples, who had a deep interest in letters,
the arts, and antiquity. Carafa commissioned the first work in Rome
known to be by Bramante: the monastery and cloister of Santa Maria
della Pace (finished 1504). Bramante seems to have been engaged in
1502 to begin the small church known as the Tempietto in San Pietro
in Montorio, on the site where St. Peter was said to have been
crucified.
The election of Pope Julius II in
October 1503 began a new phase in Bramante’s work—the grand, or
mature, manner. Almost immediately he entered the service of the new
pope, one of the greatest patrons in art history. Bramante became
the interpreter, in architecture and city planning, of the pontiff’s
dream of re-creating the ancient empire of the Caesars (renovatio
imperii). Bramante planned gigantic building complexes that adhered
as never before to the idiom of antiquity. At the same time, the
buildings often represented an unbiased, personal, and contemporary
interpretation of that idiom.
Perhaps as early as 1505, Bramante
designed the immense courtyard of the Belvedere, extending the
nucleus of the older Vatican palaces to the north and connecting
them with the pre-existing villa of Innocent VIII. Many aspects of
the complex were conceived on Classical models; for example, the
Doric, Ionic, Corinthian arrangement of orders for the three-level
lower terrace echoed the Colosseum’s elevation, and the entire
terraced complex was reminiscent of imperial palaces on the hills of
ancient Rome. Though the work was carried forward with great speed,
the scale was so large that on the death of Julius II, in 1513, and
of Bramante himself, in 1514, it was still far from completion. The
project, which continued throughout the 16th century and later,
suffered so many changes that today Bramante’s concept is almost
unrecognizable.
Beginning in 1505, at first in
competition with two other architects, Giuliano da Sangallo and Fra
Giocondo, Bramante planned the new Basilica of St. Peter in Rome—his
greatest work and one of the most ambitious building projects up to
that date in the history of humankind. The first stone was placed on
April 18, 1506 (after Bramante’s first plan had been rejected by the
pope, according to a contemporary). The project’s site had to be
cleared first of the old, crumbling Basilica of Constantine.
Bramante’s part in its demolition earned him the nicknames of
“Maestro Ruinante” or “Maestro Guastante”—“Master Wrecker” or
“Master Breaker.” At the time of his death the new construction had
scarcely begun to take shape.
Named general superintendent of all
papal construction, a well-paid office, Bramante was not only the
pope’s principal architect and the engineer at the service of his
military enterprises but also his personal friend. Concurrent with
his work on the Belvedere and St. Peter’s, Bramante presented Julius
with a highly ambitious plan for the complete remodelling of the
Vatican palaces, which was, however, set aside.
Despite the grandiose scale of the
St. Peter’s undertaking, Bramante continued to work on lesser
projects. Between 1505 and 1509 he carried out an enlargement of the
choir of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, some construction
work in Castel Sant’Angelo, and a remodelling of the Rocca di
Viterbo. In addition, in 1506, as a military engineer, he
accompanied the pope to Bologna (where the grand staircase of the
Palazzo degli Anziani has been attributed to him).
About 1508, when Julius II’s new
city plan for Rome began to be put into effect, Bramante played an
important role as architect and town planner. Within the framework
of an organic plan, the Via Giulia (from the Ponte Sisto to the
Vatican) was laid out with a large piazza that was to constitute a
centre of activity for the city government; the Via della Lungara
(from the Vatican across Trastevere to the river port installations
of Ripa Grande) was begun; the Via dei Banchi, on which were erected
the offices of the most important banks of the time, was widened at
the entrance of the Ponte Sant’Angelo; and several streets in the
old structure of the medieval city were modified. On the Via Giulia,
Bramante designed a huge new Palazzo dei Tribunali (1508),
incorporating the church of San Biagio (1509, also by Bramante). The
structure is notable as a model for 16th-century architecture.
Within the framework of Bramante’s
overall plan, the basin of the port was dug out, and a marine
fortress was built at Civitavecchia. The west facade of the Vatican
Palace (now the side of the San Damaso courtyard) was also
constructed according to his design, though it was later taken up
and completed by Raphael. About 1509 Bramante probably furnished a
plan for the church of Roccaverano, whose facade anticipates certain
solutions of the late 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio.
Another noteworthy design was that
of the Palazzo Caprini (House of Raphael; later destroyed) in the
Borgo, which became the model for many 16th-century palaces. This
palazzo was later acquired by Raphael. According to Vasari,
Bramante, about 1509, had designed the architectural background for
the School of Athens by Raphael (1508–11; Vatican, Rome), and in
return, Raphael represented Bramante in the fresco in the guise of
Euclid.
After the death of Julius II,
Bramante, though elderly and perhaps in declining health, remained
in favour under Pope Leo X. According to a late and uncertain
source, in 1513 he presented to Leo X an audacious water-control
plan for the city, designed to avoid the periodic floodings of the
Tiber. At the end of 1513, however, when consulted about the
cathedral of Foligno (San Feliciano), he was too ill to accept the
commission and died the following year. He was buried in St.
Peter’s, carried there, according to Vasari, “by the papal court and
by all the sculptors, architects, and painters.”
Personality and interests
Even though he was called unlettered (as were Leonardo, Julius
II, and others), probably because he was ignorant of Latin and
Greek, Bramante must have acquired considerable learning, however
fragmentary. His contemporaries esteemed him not only as an
architect and painter and for his knowledge of perspective but also
as a poet and an amateur musician. He had an almost fanatical
interest in Dante. He also wrote some 20 sonnets on amorous,
humorous, and religious themes, and, though somewhat crude in style,
they are full of spirit.
His theoretical writings, apart
from his report on the tiburio of the Milan cathedral, have all been
lost, but their subjects are indicative of his interests; e.g.,
works on perspective, on the “German manner” (i.e., on Gothic
architecture), on fortification methods, and others.
Bramante seems to have been an
extravert. He was said to be very friendly to persons with talent,
and he did much to help them. Humour, irony, a taste for intelligent
jokes, and mockery of himself as well as others often appear in his
sonnets. Full of faith in himself, he was an irreverent person who
took pleasure in proposing paradoxical ideas. He was critical of
priests and courtiers but also capable of deep religious feeling. In
the treacherous atmosphere of courts, he was able to maneuver
skillfully. He must have been highly ambitious and not
overscrupulous when it came to securing an important commission. His
biographers emphasize his impatience and speed in the conception and
conduct of his work (Vasari calls him a “resolute, rapid, and
excellent inventor”). This quality was combined with imaginative
genius and an artful and lively curiosity. His insatiable thirst for
experiment and for new knowledge forced him, as Bramante himself
remarks in one of his sonnets, to “change himself” continually (“as
time changes in a moment / my thought, its follower, changes too”).
This trait of instability and inconstancy seems to have led him away
from convention in his works to a multiplicity of attitudes and
expressions.
Arnaldo Bruschi
Encyclopædia Britannica
