Alberti, Leon Battista (1404-1472), a painter, musician, writer, and man of many other talents, wrote the first treatise on Renaissance architecture, De re aedificatoria (On the art of building in ten books). His buildings were based on humanistic ideals of perfect proportion. Important projects attributed to him are the upper facade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, the Church of San Andrea in Milan, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.
Bramante, Donato (c. 1443-1514) was born in Urbino and may have been influenced by artists at that ducal court. He began his career as a painter and later worked as an architect for the duke of Milan, for whom he remodeled several important churches. Bramante designed the Belvedere court of the Vatican, as well as a Greek cross plan for Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Brunelleschi, Filippo (1377-1446), engineer and architect, was originally trained as a goldsmith. All of Brunelleschi’s commissions were in Florence, including the Ospedale degli Innocenti, the nave and choir of the Church of Santo Spirito, the Old Sacristy of
San Lorenzo, and, his most famous accomplishment, the dome of the cathedral of Florence.
Delorme, Philibert (1514-1570), the son of a stonemason, visited Rome and returned to France filled with classical ideas for architectural commissions. His most complete building was the chateau of Anet outside Paris, featuring the first circular church in France.
Ducerceau the Elder, Jacques Androuet (c.
1515-1585) wrote Livre d’architecture (Book of architecture, 1539), the first such handbook published in France. Best known as an engraver, in his books he documents buildings and decoration of the time, much of which is now lost to us.
Filarete (Antonio Averlino) (c. 1400-1469), famous as a sculptor and goldsmith, created the bronze doors of Old Saint Peter’s in Rome (now the west door of the Basilica). His major architectural legacy is the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan, begun in 1456.
Floris de Vriendt the Younger, Cornelis (c.
1513/14-1575), usually referred to as Cornelis Floris, was one of a family of painters and architects. Floris designed the splendid 16th-century town hall of Antwerp. He was also famous for publishing engravings of Italian ornamental material.
Fontana, Domenico (1543-1607) was commissioned by Sixtus V to modernize the city of Rome. His engineering family placed the Egyptian obelisk now outside Saint Peter’s, and Fontana was the architect for what is known as the Vatican Library, completed in 1590. He was among the architects working on completing the dome for Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Herrera, Juan de (1530-1597), trained as a mathematician, collected a library of scientific material. In 1563 he began working on the Escorial under the guidance of juan Bautista de Toledo and supervised the project after Toledo died. His other major contributions included the Exchange in Seville and the cathedral of Vallodolid.
Lescot, Pierre (1510/15-1578) was a French architect working in and near Paris. His masterpieces
Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe
Were the Italianate courtyard of the Louvre, surviving today, and the Fontaine des Innocents (1547-49), which has been reconstructed.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance, also worked as an architect, creating a new sense of sculptural form in his projects. He designed the New Sacristy for San Lorenzo as well as the Biblioteca Lauren-ziana in Florence. In 1546 he commenced work on Saint Peter’s but had not quite completed the dome at his death 18 years later.
Michelozzo di Bartolommeo {or Michelozzi Michelozzo) (1396-1472) first worked as a sculptor in Florence. The Medici commissioned him to renovate their villa at Careggi, and in 1444 he designed the Palazzo Medici, providing the model for other Florentine palazzos. His major works include the Convent of San Marco in Florence, notably the elegant library, and probably the Pazzi Chapel.
Palladio, Andrea {Andrea di Pietro della Gondola) (1508-1580) took the Roman classical style to the Veneto, creating classicizing villas with porticoes and pediments. His most famous villa is La Rotonda in Vicenza, completed by Scamozzi. Palladio was influenced by Raphael and Bramante in the designs for his facades.
Peruzzi, Baldassare (1481-1536) moved from Siena to Rome in 1503 and assisted in the building of Saint Peter’s for much of his career. He also designed villas, such as the Villa Farnesina in Rome, commissioned for Agostino Chigi (1465-1520), a powerful banker from Siena.
Raphael {Raffaello Sanzio) (1483-1520) was best known as a painter. He became architect of Saint Peter’s in 1514 and a few years later designed the Villa Madama. Much of his work in architecture involved painting frescoes to decorate their walls.
Rossellino, Bernardo (c. 1407-1464) began his career as a sculptor, then during the 1450s he worked in Rome as a papal engineer. Upon returning to Florence, he was in charge of building the
Palazzo Rucellai and designed the lantern atop the cathedral’s dome. Rossellino was the architect selected by Pius II to remodel Pienza as a Renaissance town.
Sangallo the Younger, Antonio da (1483-1546) was trained as an architect by his uncles. In 1516 he succeeded one of them as architect of Saint Peter’s and worked at that post for three decades. Sangallo designed the Palazzo Farnese in Rome as well as laying the foundations for the Villa Farnese at Caprarola.
Sansovino, Jacopo Tatti (1486-1570) spent most of his career working for the city of Venice, notably the Libreria del Sansovino (or Libreria Vecchia), praised by none other than Palladio. He also designed or renovated several churches and palaz-zos, including the Church of San Francisco della Vigna, for which Palladio created the facade.
Scamozzi, Vincenzo (1522-1616), Palladio’s pupil, completed several of his buildings. He also wrote two treatises relating to architecture, Dis-corsi sopra le antichitd di Roma (Discourses on the antiquity of Rome, 1582) and L’idea dell’architet-tura universale (The idea of universal architecture, 1615).
Serlio, Sebastiano (1475-c. 1554) first studied architecture in the studio of Peruzzi, learning about ancient Roman buildings. His books on architecture were very influential, especially since they included woodcut illustrations. Serlio was the first to publish an explanation of the architectural orders.
Toledo, Juan Bautista de (d. 1567) designed the Escorial. After having worked for the Spanish viceroy in Naples, he returned to Spain in 1559 to become royal architect. His most important ecclesiastical commission was the facade of the church of the Convento de Descalzas Reales in Madrid.
Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574) was a multitalented artist as well as a writer. His most important building project was the Uffizi complex in Florence, and he collaborated on the design for the Villa Giulia. Vasari’s biographies of his contemporaries, first published in
Architecture and Urban Planning
1550 and expanded in 1568, constitute a precious record of their life and work.
Vignola, Giacomo da (1507-1573) was both an architect and a garden designer. In 1530 he became architect to Julius III and designed several churches in Rome, including the famous Gesu. His 1562 publication on the orders was considered a masterful treatment of the subject.
Vredeman de Vries, Jan (1527-c. 1606) worked in northern Europe. He was chiefly a landscape architect, who included galleries and other structures in his garden designs. Vredeman de Vries published pattern books of perspective drawings, gardens, and decorative material, and his own work included the Renaissance royal gardens in Prague.
World History
