ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

15th – early 19th c.

By

Ar. Haripriya Sathyanarayanan

 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCED ARCHITECTURE – ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Religious & intellectual unity of Christendom crumbled due to Protestantism and Counter Reformation which gave rise to
new religious orders such as Jesuits, Barnabites, etc. Rival Popes fought against each other

Wars were fought :

• Between city states
• Italy and France
• Napoleonic wars & invasion of Venice

Economic prosperity of Italy depended on

• Early urbanization
• Development of textile and banking industry
• Maritime trade in Venice, Genoa etc.
• Revenues of church

Literature works of Petrarch and others

Scientific inventions in printing – wood cut & copper plate engraving, movable types which spread from Germany

TYPOLOGIES
1. Churches
2. Palaces
3. Villas
4. Public buildings – Hospitals, Libraries, Theatres, Piazzas ( city square)
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
CHURCHES CHOIR
CHURCH PLANNING

Planning of churches was influenced by

1. Liturgical change
2. Symbolism HIGH ALTAR
3. Reformation movement & evolution of new religious orders
4. Aesthetic preference of architects & clients S GIORGIO MAGGOIRE, VENICE

“Decorum” was crucial to the planning of a church and it was a fundamental rule of Renaissance culture and
function

INTERIORS OF CHURCHES:

1. Choir – was converted into a Chapel behind the main altar

Eg. S GIORGIO MAGGOIRE, VENICE

2. Emphasis on preaching and participation in the mass – Liturgical change

3.Screens behind choir & nave were removed

4.Pulpit gained importance

PULPIT
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
TYPES OF PLANNING CHURCHES: CHURCHES
1. Aisle less single nave churches
S MARIA, VENICE

2. Centralized plans based on square, circle and the Greek cross (mainly for symbolic perfection)
S. PIETRO, ROME
Not suitable for cathedral or monastic churches
Suitable for Commemorative structures associated with miracles and martyrdom
S PIETRO, ROME (site of martyrdom of S Peter visible in the crypt
below through a hole in the floor)

3. Combination of both S. ANDREA, ROME

A composite plan attaching a longitudinal nave to a domed centralized crossing
S PETERS, ROME

4. Oval plan which provided a directional axis in a centralized plan

S ANDREA, ROME
S LORENZO, TURIN
S. LORENZO, TURIN
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
PALACES
PLANNING OF PALACES
Large Urban dwellings were called “ PALAZZO” in Italian for Palace ( Pallazzi – Plural)
• It normally had a regional variation in plan
• There was a commonality in adopting a common language of decoration

FEATURES in the palaces of Italy:

1. Rectangular blocks of 3 storeys

2. Central colonnaded courtyard

3. “Piano Nobile” placing of main apartments on the first floor facing the street

4. Storeys:
Vaulted Ground Floor – housed Shops, Summer apartments,
Stables etc.
First Floor – Main Apartments – Piano Nobile
Second Floor – Servants, Childrens room
Basement – Wine, oil, fuel storage
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
PLANNING: PALACES
1. Symmetrical planning with a single axis was common
PALAZZO FARNESE, ROME
PALAZZO RICCARDI or MEDICI PALACE,
FLORENCE
2. Apartments of the palaces consisted of:
SUITES of interconnecting rooms of diminishing size
GREAT SALON – a large drawing room or reception area
CAMERA – a small vaulted private chamber
3. Corridors were rare. PALAZZO FARNESE, ROME
4. The function of the rooms was flexible and depended on their
size and not on the furnishings

TYPES OF PALACES:
1. Medium sized palaces – for Mercantile class
2. Large palaces – for high ecclesiastics and princes
3. Use of Carriages due to the demand of large service areas and
stables with wide entrances. Increase in the number of domestic
staff and workers

BAROQUE PERIOD – There was an increasing emphasis on multi

axes, spectacular staircases and interconnecting courtyards.
Eg. PALAZZO BARBERINI, ROME ( H shaped plan) SECTION- PALAZZO RICCARDI
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
REGIONAL VARIATIONS: PALACES
FLORENCE
1. Palaces retained an embattled air with
rusticated stone work
Eg. PALAZZO RICCARDI

2. In the 16th c. – Use of rustication was restricted to Quoins

and Voussoirs
Eg. PALAZZO GUADAGNI

3. A continuous stone bench for public use around the base of

the palace was a characteristic Florentine feature
Eg. PALAZZO STROZZI

4.Large Pedimented windows supported on Volutes appeared

on the ground floor called the “KNEELING WINDOWS”.
Oiled linen or paper was used in the windows instead of
glass
Eg. PALAZZO RICCARDI PALAZZO FARNESE
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
PALACES
ROME
•Large palaces had loggias at the upper levels also for maximum shade and
breeze
•In small palaces Grandeur of façade, staircase and courtyard were given
importance over size
Eg. PALAZZO FARNESE

VENICE
•Distinctive planning of Venetian palaces is related to the water front setting and
conservative mercantile occupants
•Sites were narrower and courtyards were smaller than in Central Italy
•Palaces were sometimes divided vertically between members of the family
Eg. PALAZZO CORNARO
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
PALAZZO RICCARDI, FLORENCE
Designed by Michelozzo di Bartolommeo
begun 1444 -1460
Planning:
•Set the pattern for 15th c. Tuscan palace design
•Symmetrical planning with a single axis with a
garden at the back
•A cubical palace with an external aspect, but
sober and austere around to a courtyard centers
them with columns partially Corinthian, (recovery
of elements classics operated from Leon Battista
Alberti.)
•An internal staircase leads to the main living
areas on 1st floor – suites of apartments with
rooms of diminishing size
•2nd and attic for children & services
Façade:
Crowned with the first “all antica”
cornice •Rises about 70 feet above the ground.
•String courses separate the 3 stories, each of
The fortress-like appearance of the which is progressively decreased in height and
rusticated bottom story (imitating the surfaces of which become smoother with less
Roman monuments) emphasis of visible joints.
Quoins and voussoirs •Use of the double lancet windows with arches
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
PALAZZO RICCARDI, FLORENCE

The small central colonnaded courtyard with second

story windows echoing the facade and (originally) a third
story open loggia
Large Pedimented windows supported on Volutes appeared on the
ground floor called the “KNEELING WINDOWS”(by Michelangelo).
Oiled linen or paper was used in the windows instead of glass

Provision of a stone bench all around the base of the structure. Along
sides east and south a bench of via runs, a high bench in stone, that
it served for practical and aesthetic reasons.
The heavy cornice imitating classical molding
details and one of the mullioned windows with Addition of 6 window bays to original 11 in 17th c.
Corinthian colonnettes and Medici symbols
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
VILLAS
PLANNING OF VILLAS

•Villas or large houses became a distinct architectural typology after its disappearance in the
Roman period
•There were different types of villas based on the function
Agricultural
Suburban Retreat
•Common feature in the design of villas – External Loggias
•Barns, storage loggias, granaries etc. were hierarchically grouped and incorporated in the
agricultural villas
•Dominated by pedimented fronts
•Water played an increasing part in the design of villas in the form of
Feeding fountains
Cooling dining tables
Powering elaborate automata

•Eg. BOBOLI GARDENS, FLORENCE

 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
There are 4 distinct styles in Italian Renaissance:

1. EARLY RENAISSANCE (15th c.)

2. HIGH RENAISSANCE
&
MANNERISM (16th c.)

3. BAROQUE & ROCOCO (17th c. & early 18th c.)

4. NEO CLASSICAL (mid 18th – early 19th c.)

ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI (1377 – 1446)
Marks the beginning of the Early Renaissance style
Most of his works in the city of Florence

Architectural Principles:
1. SIMPLE MODULAR PROPORTIONS
Eg. Foundling Hospital, Florence
S Spirito, Florence

2. CLARITY OF DESIGN
Eg. Pazzi Chapel, S Croce, Florence

3. STANDARDISED VOCABULARY OF MONOLITHIC GREY STONE COLUMNS &

PILASTERS SET AGAINST WHITE PLASTER WALLS
Eg. Pazzi Chapel, Florence

His forms depend less on ancient Roman buildings

Eg. Use of Pendentive vaults (not Roman)
Use of arches supported on columns (Romanesque)
 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.
WORKS OF FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI (1377 – 1446)
FOUNDLING HOSPITAL (1419-1445)
Brunelleschi’s first architectural commission was the Ospedale degli
Innocenti or Foundling Hospital.
•The loggia of 9 bays is based on repeated modular elements with sail vaults
supported on monolithic grey stone columns and semicircular columns
•The ground floor plan of the hospital with 2 cloisters,
church and dormitories is governed by modular and
mathematical proportions and is roughly centralised,
without being symmetrical.
•The main hospital and side bays of the façade
Was not executed by Brunelleschi

The facade of this complex to house orphans uses slender Corinthian

columns to support round arches and a simple horizontal entablature.
The cornice serves as a base for a row of windows with classically-
inspired pediments, one centered above each arch.
 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.

A column and capital

Although Brunelleschi borrowed
The entrance and a framing pilaster from Roman architecture, his
Rational and clear proportions at the end columns aren't fluted. The capitals
The distance between the columns is the Brunelleschi framed the round arches have impost blocks and less
same as the distance from the columns of the bays on each end with fluted projection than Roman Corinthian
to the wall. The distance between the pilasters, an idea perhaps borrowed models.
floor of the loggia to just above the from the Colosseum.
impost blocks is also the same. Thus the
cube is a major module in this
proportional design. Other geometrical
relationships governed the location of
the cornice, the widths of doors and the
heights of windows.
Glazed terra cotta reliefs of children by
the Della Robbia school
 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.
WORKS OF FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI (1377 – 1446)
DOME OF FLORENCE CATHEDRAL(1420 – 34)
•Construction of a dome without use of centering supported by scaffolding
•The octagonal drum, pointed profile and double shell dome has spiraling
courses of herringbone brickwork, sloping beds and hoisting machines which
made it possible
•The construction geometry of both the octagonal shells is circular
•The corner and intermediate ribs serve to join the shells
•Stone and timber chains were also used
•Brunelleschi added semicircular exedrae with paired half columns and
niches at the base of the drum.
•Marble lantern with doubl volute brackets were completed by Michelozzo
and Rossellino
•Continued use of this system for Florentine domes
•The 2 shelled construction influenced S Peters and others
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.
WORKS OF FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI (1377 – 1446)
S SPIRITO
•Basilican church
•Mature plan
S LORENZO
•Square sail vaulted aisle bays and semicircular side chapels continue
around the centralised crossing giving plan a modular unity •A cube with a hemispherical dome
supported on pendentives
•A smaller domed altar chapel with
PAZZI CHAPEL, S CROCE concave niches
•Perfect •Original grey & white articulation replaced
•Grey & white articulation of now
interior and teracotta roundels •The nave is brightly lit from clerestory
•The façade does not reflect his windows and oculi in the aisles and has
design his restraint in detail
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.
LEONE BATTISTA ALBERTI (1404 – 1472)
• Most of his works were in Rome, Mantua, Urbino

Architectural Principles:

• Approach to antiquity was archaeological

• He introduced specific ancient features such as the Triumphal Arch, Roman Temple front into his
churches

• In the use of Orders, he took care to combine arch with the pier and column with straight entablature in
the Roman manner

OTHER ARCHITECTS:

GUILIANO DA SANGALLO

FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO
 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
EARLY RENAISSANCE – 15th c.
WORKS OF LEONE BATTISTA ALBERTI (1404 – 1472)

S. FRANCESCO, TEMPIO RUCELLAI LOGGIA / FAÇADE OF PALAZZO RUCELLAI

MALATESTIANO, RIMINI (1447,1453-50)

FACADE OF SANTA MARIA NOVELLA,

FLORENCE S SEBASTIANO, MANTUA, S ANDREA, MANTUA,
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
HIGH RENAISSANCE AND MANNERISM– 16th c.
Emergence of 2 main themes in the 16th c:
1. A tendency to “Correctness” and the formulation of rules by Sangallo, Vignola etc. –
HIGH RENAISSANCE
2. An inventiveness verging on eccentricity – MANNERISM

DONATO BRAMANTE (1500 – 1514)

Marks the beginning of the High Renaissance period

Architectural principles:

1. MONUMENTALITY EVEN ON A SMALL SCALE

Eg. S PIETRO, ROME

2. EMULATION OF MASSIVE SPATIAL EFFECTS OF IMPERIAL ROMAN

ARCHITECTURE
Eg. CORTILE DEL BELVEDERE, VATICAN, ROME- gigantic enclosure
300m in length

3. VITRUVIAN USE OF LANGUAGE OF ORDERS

Eg. PALAZZO CAPRINI, ROME – use of Doric half columns with a Doric
frieze above the window in the first floor
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
HIGH RENAISSANCE– 16th c.
WORKS OF BRAMANTE (1500 – 1514)

TEMPIETTO in CLOISTER - S PIETRO, MONTORIO, ROME (1502)

•Small impressive building with a severity and antiquarianism new to
Renaissance architecture
•Circular domed chapel commemorating the site of martyrdom of S
Peter

•Perfectly proportioned
•A stern Doric colonnade with a correct Doric entablature encircling
the exterior modeled after the ancient Theater of Marcellus
•The exterior resembles a Roman peripteral temple
•Projecting drum and semicircular dome are Christian elements

•Restrained in ornament
•Wall surfaces are sculpturally treated all antica with arrangements of
pilasters and shell niches
•Bramante planned to set it in within a colonnaded courtyard, but this
plan was never executed.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
HIGH RENAISSANCE– 16th c.
WORKS OF BRAMANTE (1500 – 1514)
CORTILE DEL BELVEDERE, VATICAN, ROME (1505)
•Gigantic enclosure 300m in length connecting the papal church with the
belvedere of Innocent VIII and Julius II sculpture court which ascends in three
terraces
•He regularized the slope as a set of terraces, linked by rigorously symmetrical
stairs on the axis, to create a sequence of formal spaces that was unparalleled in
Europe, both in its scale and in its architectural unity
•A series of six narrow terraces at the base was traversed by a monumental
central stair leading to the wide middle terrace.
•The divided stair to the uppermost terrace, with flights running on either side
against the retaining wall to a landing and returning towards the center, was
another innovation by Bramante
•The upper terraces and gardens were approached from the large lower terrace
by a broad flight of steps and zigzag ramps
•At the far end a semicircular exedra was reached by a concave and convex
staircase
•Constant roofline
•Brick and stucco facades are articulated
•Triumphal arch rhythm of the upper court ARCADING DETAIL
•Pilasters in lower court from Doric to Corinthian
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
HIGH RENAISSANCE– 16th c.
WORKS OF BRAMANTE (1500 – 1514)

PALAZZO CAPRINI (1501)

•Revolutionary, influential palace façade of 16th c.
•An arcaded basement housing shops, paired half columns flank the
pedimented windows of the piano nobile with a Doric frieze
•A cluster of 3 half columns at the corner is prominent leading to the Vatican
palace
•Expressive differentiation between the rusticated base and the classically
ordered first floor which was adopted in domestic architecture to follow

SANTA MARIA DELLA PACE , ROME

•The main feature of the church is the Bramante cloister.
•Built in 1500-1504 for Cardinal Oliviero Carafa,
•It was the first work of Donato Bramante in the city.
• It has two floors, the first with arcades on pilasters, the second with
arcades on pilasters and columns

Bramante cloister in Santa Maria della Pace