The High Renaissance (c. 1495-1520): Rise of strong central
governments all over Europe, parallel with growth of large-scale
capitalistic enterprise. Accession of Henry VIII in England (1509),
Francis I in France (1515), and Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor and
heir to Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Naples and Sicily, etc. (1519).
In Italy, during the brief interlude of peace between two foreign
invasions, shift of political and cultural center to Rome with
expansion of papal territory and sphere of influence, especially under
Julius II (1503-1513). Republic of Venice only competing power in
Italy.
State patronage of the arts replacing private patronage. In Italy,
romantic cult of antiquity replaced by rational recreation of classic
principles in classic vocabulary for modern purposes: systematic
balance between Christianity and paganism, with the two mutually
complementing each other.
In the High Renaissance the focus of architecture moved physically
from Florence to Rome and Venice, while its aesthetic objectives
became the search for an all encompassing spatial experience. The
three major architects of the century were Donato Bramante,
Michelangelo, and Andrea Palladio. Bramante expanded on the
Quattrocentro idea of self-awareness, which he transformed into a
perception of one's position in a complex by response to mass and
volume. (For Michelangelo and Palladio, see following notes.)
Positive-Negative Space: The perception of space in architecture at
the end of the fifteenth century, especially in Leonardo and Bramante,
in which space was treated not merely as a vacuum but as an almost
tangible positive force in architecture.
Key works:
1. Donato Bramante: S. Maria presso S. Satiro, Milan, c. 1485: figs.
476, 477
2. Leonardo da Vinci: Architectural sketchbooks from Milan, 1480s and
1490s [
101 detail: represention of a church interior in anti-
perspectival rendering]
3. Bramante: Tempietto of S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502++ [
098
reconstructed plan and section as intended to be built]; figs. 479,
480.
4. Donato Bramante and others: New St. Peter's, Rome, founded 1506
[
093 fragment of proposed plan;
087 reconstruction of proposed plan;
094 and
092 views of construction underway]; fig. 483, 484
Works in context:
Terms: