Who Shaped Renaissance Architecture?
An overview of Renaissance architecture.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint a fresco in the Sistine Chapel in 1534.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Eugène Delacroix painted The Death of Sardanapalus in 1826 or 1827, inspired by Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.David sculpture by Michelangelo.
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© Chicago Architecture Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about Chicago's Harold Washington Library Center (1991) as an exemplar of postmodern architecture.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Designer of Aqua Tower, the St. Regis Chicago, and the Lincoln Park Nature Boardwalk, Jeanne Gang is one of the best-known contemporary architects in the world.
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Written and photographed by Victoria S. Lautman; Produced and edited by Matthew Cunningham (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Stepwells are spectacular subterranean edifices “like skyscrapers sunk into the earth,” explains Victoria Lautman in the video Subterranean Ghosts: India's Disappearing Stepwells (2013), produced and edited by Matthew Cunningham.
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© Chicago Architecture Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about the Chicago fire of 1871 and the rebuilding of the city, including construction of the Rookery building (1886), designed by Daniel H. Burnham and John Wellborn Root.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: The Renaissance architecture style originated in Florence in the early 15th century and then spread throughout Europe, replacing the medieval Gothic style by the end of the 16th century. Renaissance architecture marked a rebirth of Classical culture, using many ancient Roman forms, including the column and round arch, the tunnel vault, and the dome.
Renaissance architects studied the theory and practice of their Roman predecessors. They read the treatise "On Architecture" by Roman architect Vitruvius and examined ancient ruins in Italy, France, and Spain to develop their style. Classical antiquity and Renaissance architecture used order, a system of traditional architectural elements, as the basis for design.
Five orders were used during the Renaissance: the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The architects of the early Renaissance used the ornate Corinthian order the most, while the simple and strong Doric was more prevalent during the High Renaissance.
Renaissance architects sought to achieve beauty through proportion, as Classical architects had before them. This characteristic differentiates the Renaissance style from the Gothic. Interest in proportion also led to the pictorial device of perspective, first formulated by the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
Brunelleschi was one of the pioneers of early Renaissance architecture in Italy. His most famous work is the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Also called the Duomo, this building took 16 years to construct. Early in his career Brunelleschi lived in Rome. The Pantheon interested him greatly, causing him to study the engineering of its dome.
Brunelleschi applied what he had learned from the Pantheon to the construction of the Duomo. He made the dome self-supporting, employing machines that he invented for the project, including the world's first reverse gear. Brunelleschi also used pillars for structural support, rather than ornamentation alone, for the first time since the Romans.
Leon Battista Alberti was another influential mind behind Renaissance architecture in the 15th century. His "Ten Books on Architecture" became a bible for the craft. Alberti created the facades of the Santa Maria Novella and the Palazzo Rucellai, both in Florence. These facades are noteworthy for their proportionality and perfect sense of measure.
The beginning of the 16th century saw the development of the High Renaissance style of architecture, which heralded harmony, clarity, and repose. Donato Bramante introduced this style with works such as the rectory of Sant'Ambrogio and the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, both in Milan. The Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, his first Roman masterpiece, is a centralized dome structure that recalls Classical temple architecture. Bramante also served as the first architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome until his death in 1514.
The Late Renaissance, also called Italian Mannerism, spanned from 1520 until the end of the 16th century. Its style of architecture is characterized by sophistication, complexity, and novelty, often in stark contrast to principles of the High Renaissance. Examples of Mannerism include Michelangelo's Laurentian Library in Florence and the Palazzo del Te by Giulio Romano, near Mantua. The construction of these buildings exploited the calculated breaking of rules and took sophisticated liberties with Classical architectural vocabulary.
Renaissance architects studied the theory and practice of their Roman predecessors. They read the treatise "On Architecture" by Roman architect Vitruvius and examined ancient ruins in Italy, France, and Spain to develop their style. Classical antiquity and Renaissance architecture used order, a system of traditional architectural elements, as the basis for design.
Five orders were used during the Renaissance: the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The architects of the early Renaissance used the ornate Corinthian order the most, while the simple and strong Doric was more prevalent during the High Renaissance.
Renaissance architects sought to achieve beauty through proportion, as Classical architects had before them. This characteristic differentiates the Renaissance style from the Gothic. Interest in proportion also led to the pictorial device of perspective, first formulated by the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
Brunelleschi was one of the pioneers of early Renaissance architecture in Italy. His most famous work is the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Also called the Duomo, this building took 16 years to construct. Early in his career Brunelleschi lived in Rome. The Pantheon interested him greatly, causing him to study the engineering of its dome.
Brunelleschi applied what he had learned from the Pantheon to the construction of the Duomo. He made the dome self-supporting, employing machines that he invented for the project, including the world's first reverse gear. Brunelleschi also used pillars for structural support, rather than ornamentation alone, for the first time since the Romans.
Leon Battista Alberti was another influential mind behind Renaissance architecture in the 15th century. His "Ten Books on Architecture" became a bible for the craft. Alberti created the facades of the Santa Maria Novella and the Palazzo Rucellai, both in Florence. These facades are noteworthy for their proportionality and perfect sense of measure.
The beginning of the 16th century saw the development of the High Renaissance style of architecture, which heralded harmony, clarity, and repose. Donato Bramante introduced this style with works such as the rectory of Sant'Ambrogio and the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, both in Milan. The Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, his first Roman masterpiece, is a centralized dome structure that recalls Classical temple architecture. Bramante also served as the first architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome until his death in 1514.
The Late Renaissance, also called Italian Mannerism, spanned from 1520 until the end of the 16th century. Its style of architecture is characterized by sophistication, complexity, and novelty, often in stark contrast to principles of the High Renaissance. Examples of Mannerism include Michelangelo's Laurentian Library in Florence and the Palazzo del Te by Giulio Romano, near Mantua. The construction of these buildings exploited the calculated breaking of rules and took sophisticated liberties with Classical architectural vocabulary.
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