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
Bramante had brought some money from Lombardy, and he earned some
more in Rome by executing certain works; and this he spent with the
greatest economy, since he wished to be able to live independently,
and at the same time, without having to work, to be free to take
measurements, at his ease, of all the ancient buildings in Rome. And
having put his hand to this, he set out, alone with his thoughts;
and within no great space of time he had measured all the buildings
in that city and in the Campagna without; and he went as far as
Naples, and wherever he knew that there were antiquities. He
measured all that was at Tivoli and in the Villa of Hadrian, and, as
will be related afterwards in the proper place, made great use of
it. The mind of Bramante becoming known in this way, the Cardinal of
Naples, having noticed him, began to favour him. Whereupon, while
Bramante was continuing his studies, the desire came to the said
Cardinal to have the cloister of the Frati della Pace rebuilt in
travertine, and he gave the charge of this cloister to Bramante, and
he, desiring to earn money and to gain the good will of that
Cardinal, set himself to work with all possible industry and
diligence, and brought it quickly to perfect completion. And
although it was not a work of perfect beauty, it gave him a very
great name, since there were not many in Rome who followed the
profession of architecture with such zeal, study, and resolution as
Bramante.
At the beginning he served as under-architect to Pope Alexander VI
for the fountain of Trastevere, and likewise for that which was made
on the Piazza di S. Pietro. He also took part, together with other
excellent architects, when his reputation had increased, in the
planning of a great part of the Palace of S. Giorgio, and of the
Church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, at the commission of Raffaello
Riario, Cardinal of S. Giorgio, near the Campo di Fiore; which
palace, whatever better work may have been executed afterwards,
nevertheless was and still is held, on account of its greatness, to
be a commodious and magnificent habitation; and the building of this
edifice was carried out by one Antonio Montecavallo. Bramante was
consulted with regard to the enlargement of S. Jacopo degli
Spagnuoli, on the Piazza Navona, and likewise in the deliberations
for the building of S. Maria de Anima, which was afterwards carried
out by a German architect. From his design, also, was the Palace of
Cardinal Adriano da Corneto in the Borgo Nuovo, which was built
slowly, and then finally remained unfinished by reason of the flight
of that Cardinal; and in like manner, the enlargement of the
principal chapel of S. Maria del Popolo was executed from his
design.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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