Cinquecento Italy• Although other city-states remained outside of the control of the Pope, in the Papal States (incl. Rome), the Pope increased in power.• The brief period at the beginning of the century, between approximately 1495 and 1527, is known as the High Renaissance.• The end of the High Renaissance is brought about by two factors:-The deaths of Leonardo (1519) and Raphael (1520)- The invasion of Rome in 1527 by troops made up of an alliance between France, Florence, Milan, and Venice.• Beginning of the notion of the “artist-genius” who was divinely inspired (an idea originating with Plato). • Interest in classical culture, perspective, proportion, and human anatomy.• Although these interests continued through the rest of the century, the High Renaissance style was replaced by Mannerism around 1530.

Renaissance Era Rome

Materials• With the invention and proliferation of the printing press in the 1500s, bookmakers began to develop paper made from wood pulp.• Before the invention of paper, drawings were done on parchment or vellum, coated in a white ground (such as gesso). This was expensive, so artists’ drawings were very carefully rendered.• The artist used a technique called metalpoint, in which a small piece of soft metal (most often silver, referred to as silverpoint) was attached to a wooden handle, making a stylus that was the earliest precursor to the modern pencil. • As the artist drew, the metal would rub off, making a line.• Silverpoint drawings are not erasable. They begin greyish in color, but oxidize over the course of 6-12 months to brown. • Paper was a much cheaper material to draw on, freeing artists to sketch more loosely and prolifically, using materials such as metalpoint, chalk, charcoal, ink, brush, and pen. • Disegno – the Italian word for drawing, which also became the basis for the modern word design. During the Renaissance, a new level of importance was placed on drawing and design – it was believed that drawings were external manifestations of internal ideas.

Metalpoint Styluses

Leonardo da Vinci• Born in Vinci, a small town near Florence, Italy (1452-1519). • Trained by the sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio.• “Renaissance man” who was an artist and scientist• Kept a detailed journal of sketches, including studies of botany, geology, geography, cartography, zoology, military engineering, animal lore, anatomy, hydraulics, and mechanics.• Believed in close scientific observation, stating that his scientific investigations made him a better painter. • Believed that reality in an absolute sense is inaccessible and humans can know it only through its changing images.• Believed the eyes were the most vital organs and sight the most essential function.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Sketchesc. 1510

Leonardo in Milan• In 1481, Leonardo chose to leave Florence, possibly due to political instability in Florence at the time.• He wrote a letter to Ludovico Sforza, the son of the Duke of Milan, offering his services. • In his letter, Leonardo emphasized his skill and experience as a military engineer, as illustrated in the picture on the right. He only briefly mentioned his abilities as a sculptor and painter.• This emphasis of his military engineering skills underscores the importance of defense in the politically unstable climate of the time.• Sforza accepted Leonardo’s help, and Leonardo moved to Milan for the next 20 years.

Scythed ChariotLeonardo da Vinci

Madonna of the Rocks• This is the central panel of an altarpiece that Leonardo made for the chapel of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in San Francesco Grande shortly after he moved to Milan. • Leonardo believed that there were two objectives to painting: to depict man and the intention of his soul. He believed the subjects “soul” could be depicted through their gestures and movement.• Leonardo also used chiaroscuro (the play of light and dark to create form) to model the figures and create mood/emotion.• Leonardo’s interest in atmosphere is evident in the gentle, dim light that envelopes his figures, revealing and obscuring them at the same time, and creating a sense of unity. • Figures are arranged in a pyramidal grouping• Figures are connected through a series of gestures and glances

Madonna of the RocksLeonardo da Vinci. Began in 1483.

San Francesco Grande, Milan. Oil on wood.

Madonna and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John

• This is an example of a cartoon, or a preliminary drawing done to prepare for a painting. • The robust figures resemble Greek statues, such as on the Parthenon (although he never visited Greece, he had probably seen Roman copies of Classical Greek statues). • Figures are organized with an intellectual pictorial logic, and lit with a gentle light to create a sense of form.• Some areas are left incomplete.

Madonna and Child with St. Anne & Infant St. JohnLeonardo da Vinci. C. 1505. Black & white charcoal on brown paper.4’ 6” x 3’ 3”.

Last Supper• Commissioned by the church of Santa Maria delle Grazzie in Milan (for the refectory).• Portrays the moment at the Last Supper when Jesus reveals to the 12 disciples that he knows one of them will betray him, and the disciples react in shock, asking, “is it I?”• Jesus appears calm and isolated from the turmoil around him.• Jesus’ head is the vanishing point of the 1 pt perspective.

The Last SupperLeonardo da Vinci.

C. 1495. Oil and tempera

on plaster. 13’ 9” x 29’ 10”.

• The window behind Jesus, with its arched pediment and diffused light, acts as a halo. • Disciples are arranged in four groups of three. Outermost disciples are calmest, to create a sense of framing.• Judas’ face is in shadow, his right hand clutches his money purse, his left reaches out on the table.• Leonardo attempted to make this fresco more like an oil painting by mixing oil and tempera, and painting on top of dried plaster, hence the deterioration.

Mona Lisa• The identity of the woman is not known for sure, but Leonardo’s biographer asserted she was Lisa di Antonio Maria Gherardini, hence Mona (a contraction of ma donna “our lady”) Lisa.• This is a portrait of an individual, not an idealization.• She wears no jewelry or symbol of wealth. • However, she does gaze out toward the viewer, a sign of self-assuredness in a time when etiquette dictated that a woman should not look directly into a man’s eyes.• The combination of a self-assured young woman without the trappings of power but engaging the audience psychologically is thus remarkable.• Example of Leonardo’s sfumato (“smoky”) technique, in which he gently blurred the edges to create a sense of atmosphere.• Seated in front of a mysterious landscape background (originally was seated in a loggia, but a later owner had the painting trimmed, so that only the bottoms of the columns are still visible).

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.C. 1505. Oil on wood. 2’ 6” x 1’ 9”.

Marriage of the Virgin• Raphaello Santi, or Raphael as he is now known, was from a small town near Umbria, and was taught the basics of painting by his father, and later joined the studio of Perugino (Keys). • This early painting was done for the chapel of St. Joseph in the church of San Francesco in Citta di Castello, SE of Florence.• According to the Golden Legend, a 13th century collection of stories about the lives of the saints), Joseph competed with other suitors for Mary’s hand. The high priest was to give the Virgin to whichever suitor presented to him a wooden rod that had miraculously bloomed.• Joseph holds his blooming rod in his left hand, and a wedding ring in his right, which he places on Mary’s finger.• Other virgins are on the left, and other suitors are on the right.• One frustrated suitor breaks his wooden rod on his knee, giving Raphael an opportunity to show off his skill at foreshortening.

Marriage of the VirginRaphael. Chapel of St. Joseph, San Francesco, Citta di Castello, Italy, 1504. Oil on wood. 5’ 7” x 3’ 10”.

Madonna of the Goldfinch• Raphael lived in Florence between 1504 and 1508, where he was introduced to the work of Leonardo. • During this period, Raphael made a series of Madonna paintings, where he blended the styles of Leonardo and Perugino. -Leonardo: draperies, triangular arrangement of figures, robust figures-Perugino: lighter colors, feathery background trees, imaginative landscape setting• In Madonna of the Goldfinch, Raphael used a parting of clouds to emphasize the centralized placement of Mary. • Symmetrical stability is created through using a horizontal and vertical central axis.• The shallow cup on John the Baptist’s belt symbolizes his role as a giver of baptisms.• The goldfinch in John’s hand was a symbol for Christ’s death on the cross, explaining his pose of retreat to the security of his mother’s lap.

Madonna of the Goldfinch1506. Oil on wood. 4’ 6” x 2’ 5”.

The Small Cowper Madonna

Madonna in theMeadow

Philosophy (School of Athens)• Raphael was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint frescoes in some of the rooms of the Vatican Palace.• On each of the four walls in the Stanza della Segnatura (“Room of the Signature,” a library in which the pope signed documents), Raphael painted images symbolizing the four branches of human knowledge and wisdom under the headings Theology, Law (Justice), Poetry, and Philosophy (also commonly called School of Athens). These were the learning required of a Renaissance pope. • The fresco depicts a congregation of the great ancient scientists and philosophers, discussing their famous ideas under the coffered barrel vaults which recall the ancient Roman Basilica Nova.• Many of the ancient philosophers are also portraits of Renaissance artists and architects, equating the greatness of the Renaissance luminaries with the ancient thinkers they so admired.• In the center are Plato and Aristotle. Plato points upward to the realm of ideas and pure forms that were at the center of his philosophy. Aristotle gestures to the world around them, signifying the empirical world that for him served as the basis for understanding.

Philosophy (School of Athens)Raphael. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome.

1510. Fresco, 19’ x 27’.

Statues of Apollo & Athena

Pythagoras writes as a

servant holds up the harmonic

scale.

Philosopher Heraclitus is shown

brooding, and is also a portrait of the

stormy-tempered Michelangelo, who

was painting the Sistine Chapel next

door. His stonecutter’s boots

signify him as a sculptor more than a

painter.

Socrates reclines on the steps, representing his teaching from his prison bed. The cup next to him could refer to

his death by a drink of poison (hemlock).

Euclid, father of geometry, bends over a slate with a compass, and is also a portrait of Bramante, the architect who was at the

time working on rebuilding St. Peter’s.

The crowd around Euclid represent the stages of understanding: literal learning, dawning comprehension, anticipation of the outcome, and assisting the teacher.

Raphael’s self portrait is next too Ptolemy (geographer, holding a terrestrial globe) and Zoroaster (astronomer, holding a celestial globe).

Galatea• Agostino Chigi, a wealthy banker who managed the Vatican’s financial affairs, commissioned Raphael to decorate his palace with scenes from classical mythology. • Based on Stanzas for the Joust of Giuliano de’ Medici by Angelo Poliziano, whose poetry also inspired Birth of Venus.• Galatea flees on a shell drawn by dolphins to escape her uncouth lover, the cyclops Polyphemus (painted on another wall by a different artist). • The painting praises human beauty and zestful love• Compositionally, Raphael enhanced the liveliness of the image by placing the sturdy figures around Galatea in bounding and dashing movements that always return to her as the center.• How is this stylistically different from Botticelli’s Birth of Venus?• To which period of ancient Greek art is this most stylistically similar?

Galatea, by Raphael.Sala di Galatea, Villa Farnesina, Rome.

C. 1513. Fresco, 9’ 8” x 7’ 5”.

Pope Leo X• Succeeding Julius II as Raphael’s patron was Pope Leo X. • Leo, whose name before becoming pope was Giovanni de’ Medici, was the second son of the famous Lorenzo de’ Medici.• Leo became pope just after the Medici family returned to Florence after twenty years of exile, and he used his power to advance their interests.• The cardinal on the left is Giulio de’ Medici, who became “Pope Clement VII, and the man seated behind Leo’s chair is Luigi de’ Rossi, Leo’s cousin on his mother’s side.• The pope is depicted seated at a table in his study, with an illuminated 14th century manuscript (the detail of which is so accurate that it can be identified as folio 400 verso of the Hamilton Bible), with a magnifying glass and an engraved bell, items signifying him as a man of learning and collector of beautiful objects, rather than as head of state.• The three men do not look at each other or the viewer, but look outward in different directions, as if lost in thought.• How is this painting similar to earlier Netherlandish painting, such as those of Van Eyck?

Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi.Raphael. c. 1517. Oil on wood. 5’ x 3’10”.

Baldassare Castiglione• Most of Raphael’s portraits are of the wealthy members of Pope Leo X’s court, such as Count Baldassare Castiglione.• Castiglione was an author and philosopher, who wrote the Book of the Courtier, a treatise on what it meant to be the perfect gentleman. • The book depicts a series of conversations, which take place over four days among a group of wealthy people at a princely court. The book is Castiglione’s argument that the “perfect gentleman” should be well-learned in the philosophies of the ancients, instead of being a brutal warrior or a chivalrous but illiterate knight.• Raphael’s portrait is posed in half-length and ¾ view, as made popular by the Mona Lisa. • Raphael sought not only to depict Castiglione realistically, but psychically as well. What about this painting conveys Castiglione’s role as a philosophical author?

Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael.c. 1514.

Michelangelo• Michelangelo Buonarroti was an architect, poet, engineer, and painter, but he considered himself first and foremost a sculptor.• He believed that sculpture was better than painting because the sculptor shares in the divine power to “make man.”• He believed that the sculptor needed to find the image trapped in the stone, then remove the excess stone to reveal the form within.• Michelangelo did not believe in using mathematical formulas to achieve the “perfect form.” Instead he believed the artist’s own eye was the best judge of proportion and beauty.• Michelangelo felt that the artist must not be bound by traditional rules, but should have freedom of self-expression.• Michelangelo’s earlier years were spent in Florence, training and making artworks for the Medici family. He later went to Rome, where he completed projects for the papacy.

PietáPietáMichelangelo. C. 1500. Marble, 5’ 8” high. St. Peter’s, Vatican

• Commissioned in Rome by the French cardinal Jean de Bilheres Lagrualas for the rotunda attached to the south transept of Old Saint Peter’s, in which he was to be buried.• Pietá images were popular in France and Germany, and the cardinal probably chose the subject.• Upon the unveiling of the sculpture, the youthfulness and beauty of Mary was controversial. Michelangelo explained that her ageless beauty was integral to her purity and virginity.• Christ also seems youthful and beautiful. Michelangelo minimized the appearance of his wounds. He seems almost to have drifted to sleep.• The textures of skin, hair, and fabric are part of what made this statue so famous. The glossy polish on the skin makes the figures seem almost radiant.

David• After finishing the Pieta, Michelangelo returned to Florence, where the Florence Cathedral building committee invited him to create a statue of David for the front of the Palazzo della Signoria (city hall), to accompany those of Donatello and Verrocchio. • Michelangelo’s David stands 17’ tall, and was referred to as the Giant by Florentines.• Instead of showing the moment of David’s victory, Michelangelo shows him just before the fight, sternly watching his enemy approach, his muscles tense in anticipation.• Although this statue recalls the proportions and contrapposto of Classical Greece, the psychological intensity and attention to an outside presence are more Hellenistic. • David’s rugged torso, sturdy limbs, and large hands and feet alert viewers to the triumph to come.• In this statue, Michelangelo presented towering, pent-up emotion, rather than calm, ideal beauty.

DavidMichelangeloc. 1504. Marble.17’ highPiazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy

Moses• Pope Julius II associated himself with the humanists and with Roman emperors. As such, when he saw Michelangelo’s David, he decided to commission him for many projects.• His first commission was for his own tomb, which was to be placed in St. Peter’s. The original plan was a huge monument, which included 28 statues. • Unfortunately, the project was halted (to divert funds to the rebuilding of St. Peter’s), and gradually diminished in size, until it had only 1/3 of the original number of statues. It was ultimately placed, not in St. Peter’s, but San Pietro in Vincoli, where Julius II had served as cardinal. • This statue of Moses was originally planned to be a part of a larger cluster of statues, and seen from below. • He is depicted with horns (a misinterpretation of “rays”), the stone tablets under one arm, and his hands gathering up his long beard. • As with David, he appears to suddenly turn his head to look at something, his tense expression and taut muscles expressing a swelling anger. His legs appear to move, as if he is about to rise.• Not since Hellenistic Greece was so much energy and emotion shown in a seated statue.

MosesMichelangeloc. 1515. Marble.7’ 8” highTomb of Pope Julius II, Rome, Italy

Bound Slave• The original design for the tomb included over 20 slaves or captives, in various stages of revolt and exhaustion.• Although traditionally, historians have believed this statue to have been one of the slave statues intended for the tomb, the truth is unclear. • Regardless, the statue is an example of Michelangelo’s ability to create figures that embody powerful emotional states. • This figure’s violent contrapposto is the image of frantic but impotent struggle.

Bound Slave(Rebellious Captive)

Michelangeloc. 1515

Marble,7’ high

From the tomb of Pope Julius II,

Rome, Italy

Medici Tomb in New Sacristy• After Pope Julius II died, his successor Leo X decided to not let Michelangelo finish Julius’ previously planned tomb. Instead, Leo commissioned Michelangelo to build for him a tomb in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo. • Unfortunately, Michelangelo also did not finish this tomb, and his original plans for the tomb are the subject of debate.• Some scholars believe he intended to place a pair of recumbent river gods at the bottom of the sarcophagus, balancing the pair above.• Each level of figures would have represented the soul’s ascent through the Neo-Platonic universe:-River gods (not completed) = underworld of brute matter, evil-2nd level = human world of time. Left figure = night, right figure = day. Depicted chained into never relaxing tensions. Night represents sleep, but seems troubled. She is surrounded with an owl, poppies, and an ugly mask representing nightmares. The figures allude to the life cycle and the passage of time leading to death.-Upper figure is Giuliano de’ Medici, seated above worldly matters. Clad in Roman emperor armor and holding a commander’s baton. He is not a true likeness, but an idealized figure representative of an active life.

Tomb of Giuliano de’

MediciMichelangelo

c. 1525Marble.

Central figure is 5’ 11” high

New Sacristy (Medici Chapel),

San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy

Sistine Chapel• After Julius II stopped production on his tomb, he offered the bitterly disappointed Michelangelo the job of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo accepted in the hopes that work on the tomb would eventually begin again.• The project was challenging for several reasons:-Large size (total size of the ceiling is 128’ x 45’)-Height (ceiling is 70’ off the floor)-Challenging foreshortening problem caused by the curvature and pendentives of the ceiling-Michelangelo was inexperienced at frescoes• The central panels are broken into three sets of three scenes to tell the story of the creation of humankind (story of Noah & the flood, Story of Adam/Eve/Eden, and story of God’s creation of the world)• The most famous panel is Creation of Adam, in which Adam, who, unanimated, is still part of the earth, receives the spark of life from God, who rises above the earth.• Woman under God’s left arm is either Eve or Mary (with Jesus)• Exemplary of Michelangelo’s style: 1. large, muscular bodies and 2. diagonal, twisted poses. The eye follows the implied line across the arms of Adam and God to off-center focal points.

Creation of Adam, detail from theSistine Chapel Ceiling by Michelangelo

Vatican City, Rome. 1508-12. Fresco. 9’2” x 18’ 8”.

Last Judgment• Pope Leo X was succeeded by Pope Clement VII, who was succeeded by Pope Paul III in 1534. • By this time, the Reformation that started in the North had become widespread, and the Catholic Church began taking measures to counteract it, known as the Counter-Reformation.• During the Counter-Reformation, popes such as Paul III commissioned artwork as propaganda for the Church.• One such artwork is Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, which Pope Paul III commissioned for the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.• In the center, Christ judges humankind, raising his hand in a gesture of damnation.• Although a few righteous people ascend to Heaven, most tumble towards Hell, where grotesque demons attack them.• In the bottom left, the dead come to life.• The figure to the bottom right of Jesus is St. Bartholomew, who was martyred by being skinned alive. He holds the skin (which is also a contorted self-portrait of the artist), as well as the flaying knife.

Last Judgment by MichelangeloAltar wall of Sistine Chapel, 1526-1541. Fresco, 48’ x 44’.

Unfinished Pietá• In his seventies, Michelangelo set a new challenge for himself: to surpass the sculptors of Laocoön by carving four figures out of a single block of marble. He intended the statue for his own future tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore.• Unfortunately, Christ’s now missing left leg broke off due to a flaw in the marble. Enraged, Michelangelo gave up on the project, and began to smash the marble.• His assistants intervened, and eventually began to repair and finish the statue in part.• This grouping is technically a deposition group, as it also includes Mary Magdalene (left) and Nicodemus (top). • Mary Magdalene does not directly make contact with Christ’s flesh, underscoring the sacredness of his body. Nicodemus, however, does. Since Nicodemus is also a self-portrait of the artist, this direct concept would have been heretical in Counter-Reformation Italy (another possible reason the statue was not completed). • A more vertical composition than most Michelangelo artworks.

Unfinished PietáMichelangeloc. 1550Marble7’ 8” high

Tempietto• Tempietto means “Little Temple” as it is designed after ancient Roman temples by Donato d’Angelo Bramante, who was originally trained as a painter before becoming an architect.• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain commissioned the temple on the Janiculum hill overlooking the Vatican, which was the presumed location of St. Peter’s crucifixion.• Although the Tempietto is now located in the rectangular cloister of the church of San Pietro in Montorio, Bramante’s original design was for it to be surrounded by a circular colonnaded courtyard, with columns aligned to the columns on the Tempietto.• One of the main differences between the Early and High Renaissance styles of architecture is the former’s emphasis on detailing flat wall surfaces versus the latter’s sculptural handling of architectural masses.• Tuscan order columns• Decorative niches in upper drum create a visually interesting interplay of light and shadow.• This building ushered in the High Renaissance style, which was more similar to classical Greece/Rome.

TempiettoBramante

San Pietro in Montorio,Rome, Italy

Plans for St. Peter’s• Successive plans by Raphael and Antonio da Sangallo changed it to a Latin cross (one arm longer than other 3 to make a nave).• Michelangelo returned the plan to a Greek cross in 1546. • In the early 1600s, the Counter Reformation emphasized communal worship, and so they needed more space for people. • Pope Paul V in 1606 commissioned architect Carlo Maderno to extend one side, creating a Latin cross shape with a nave and a new façade.

• In 1506, Pope Julius II decided to demolish Old St. Peter’s, which had been built by Constantine in the fourth century, and had been the most important sacred site in Europe. • Julius commissioned Bramante to design the new church.• Bramante’s design was a central plan Greek cross, with four equal length arms crowned with one large dome, which symbolized the perfection of God.• In 1513 and 1514, Julius and Bramante died (respectively).

Dome of St. Peter’s• In 1546, Michelangelo became in charge of the building of St. Peter’s. He shared Bramante’s belief that a central plan church was ideal. • As a sculptor, he believed that architecture should follow the form of the human body, with units symmetrically arranged around a central axis, as the arms relate to the body.• Michelangelo’s design was a Greek cross inscribed in a square, with a double-colonnaded portico in the front.• Used the “colossal order” of pilasters in which the pilasters stretched over several stories (similar to Alberti’s Sant’Andrea) to create a sense of cohesion. • Michelangelo’s initial design for the dome was for it to be based on an ogival arch (pointed arch). However, he later chose to use a hemispherical dome instead, to create a greater sense of balance between the lower and upper portions of the building.• After Michelangelo’s death, Giacomo della Porta took over the project, and chose to instead use Michelangelo’s earlier ogival dome, creating the sense that the dome seems to rise from its base, rather than rest firmly on it.

Dome of St. Peter’sMichelangelo & Giacomo della Porta

Vatican City, Rome, Italy, c. 1546-1590.

Campidoglio• In 1537, Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to redesign the Capitoline Hill, or Campidoglio. • In ancient times, the Capitoline Hill housed the greatest temple to Jupiter in the Roman Empire.• The challenge was that he had to work around two existing buildings: the Palace of the Conservators (south) and the Palace of the Senators (east), which opposed each other at an awkward 80 degree angle.• Using his belief that architecture should be symmetrical like the human form, Michelangelo chose to build a third building, on the north side of the square, which would mirror the Palace of the Conservators, thus creating a symmetrical group.• In the center, Paul III placed the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was by then correctly identified as Marcus Aurelius, but still carried an association with Constantine.• Façades feature the giant/colossal order pilasters, which serve as sturdy structural support for the buildings.• The fourth side of the square was left open, leaving a view across the roofs of the city to the Vatican.

Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio)Michelangelo

Designed c. 1537.Rome, Italy.

Laurentian Library• This vestibule (entryway) was designed by Michelangelo for the Medici library adjoining the Florentine church of San Lorenzo.• He had to unite the long horizontal of the library with the narrow vertical of the vestibule.• The space is taller than it is wide, a narrowly compressed shaft.• By this point in his long career, Michelangelo was moving towards a Mannerist style, disposing of High Renaissance rules of proportion and balance.-He sank double columns into the walls, where they served no load-bearing purpose.-He placed scroll corbels into the wall, where they seem to simply hang from the moldings-His pilasters were sculpted to taper downwards -He broke through cornices arbitrarily• The last part to be added was the wide, flowing stairway (c. 1560), which foretold the coming dramatic movement of Baroque architecture.

Vestibule of the Laurentian LibraryMichelangelo

Florence, Italy, c. 1530.

Palazzo Farnese• Before he became Pope Paul III, the then Cardinal Alessandro Farnese commissioned Antonio da Sangallo the Younger to design a lavish private palace, the Palazzo Farnese.• After Antonio’s death in 1546, the Pope gave the remainder of the project to Michelangelo.• Antonio, the youngest of a family of architects, went to Rome in 1503 and became Bramante’s assistant and draftsman.• Corners of the building and doorway are rusticated masonry. • Large entrance with balcony and coat of arms cartouche above create a vertical central axis, which indicates the interior central corridor axis running through the entire building to the garden beyond, with rooms branching off the sides.• 2nd story windows alternate triangular and curved pediments. Window frames protrude, creating sense of three-dimensionality.• Interior courtyard features arcades separated by columns (inspired by Colosseum), and pilasters on the top story.• Building designed to convey wealth, power, intimidation, and familial identity.

Palazzo FarneseAntonio da

Sangallo the Younger

(completed by Michelangelo)

Rome, Italy1517-1550