The Renaissance in Rome, 1400-1600 (The everyman art library)
Rome was both product and cradle of the High Renaissance. Palaces evolved from the stark Roman and F...
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Rome was both product and cradle of the High Renaissance. Palaces evolved from the stark Roman and Florentine traditions of the Quattrocento into buildings of imposing nobility, in the hands of Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo, Vignola and della Porta. Churches rose by the dozen; planned on principles of spatial and cosmic harmony behind a temple facade, they displayed unending stylistic versatility in their solutions to formal and theological conundrums. Bramante's and Michelangelo's St. Peter's, and Vignola's and della Porta's Il Gesu, discussed in detail here, perhaps present the apotheosis of Renaissance ecclesiastical architecture, just as Sangallo's and Michelangelo's Palazzo Farnese stands as the culmination of secular architecture.Partridge also examines Rome's sculptural and painted decoration, on altarpieces, chapels, and halls of state, including the masterpieces of the Sistine Chapel and the stanze of the Vatican. Masolino and Fra Angelico, Perugino and Pinturicchio, Michelangelo and Raphael were among those called upon to glorify the church and legitimate its authority, and their achievements live on to delight and inform subsequent generations.
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