Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 04 (of 10): Filippino Lippi to Domenico PuligoVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 04 (of 10): Filippino Lippi to Domenico Puligo
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
So sublime was the intellect of this marvellous craftsman, that he
made a vast design for restoring and rearranging the Papal Palace.
And so greatly had his courage grown, on seeing the powers and
desires of the Pope rise to the level of his own wishes and genius,
that, hearing that he was minded to throw the Church of S. Pietro to
the ground, in order to build it anew, he made him an endless number
of designs. And among those that he made was one that was very
wonderful, wherein he showed the greatest possible judgment, with
two bell-towers, one on either side of the facade, as we see it in
the coins afterwards struck for Julius II and Leo X by Caradosso, a
most excellent goldsmith, who had no peer in making dies, as may
still be seen from the medal of Bramante, executed by him, which is
very beautiful. And so, the Pope having resolved to make a beginning
with the vast and sublime structure of S. Pietro, Bramante caused
half of the old church to be pulled down, and put his hand to the
work, with the intention that it should surpass, in beauty, art,
invention, and design, as well as in grandeur, richness, and
adornment, all the buildings that had been erected in that city by
the power of the Commonwealth, and by the art and intellect of so
many able masters; and with his usual promptness he laid the
foundations, and carried the greater part of the building, before
the death of the Pope and his own, to the height of the cornice,
where are the arches to all the four piers; and these he turned with
supreme expedition and art. He also executed the vaulting of the
principal chapel, where the recess is, giving his attention at the
same time to pressing on the building of the chapel that is called
the Chapel of the King of France.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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