FIG. 165.—VENDRAMINI PALACE, VENICE.
PALACES. The great Court of the Doge’s Palace, begun 1483 by Ant. Rizzio, belongs only in part to the first period. It shows, however, the lack of constructive principle and of largeness of composition just mentioned, but its decorative effect and picturesque variety elicit almost universal admiration. Like the neighboring façade of St. Mark’s, it violates nearly every principle of correct composition, and yet in a measure atones for this capital defect by its charm of detail. Far more satisfactory from the purely architectural point of view is the façade of the P. Vendramini (Vendramin-Calergi), by Pietro Lombardo (1481). The simple, stately lines of its composition, the dignity of its broad arched and mullioned windows, separated by engaged columns—the earliest example in Venice of this feature, and one of the earliest in Italy—its well-proportioned basement and upper stories, crowned by an adequate but somewhat heavy entablature, make this one of the finest palaces in Italy (Fig. 165) It established a type of large-windowed, vigorously modelled façades which later architects developed, but hardly surpassed. In the smaller contemporary, P. Dario, another type appears, better suited for small buildings, depending for effect mainly upon well-ordered openings and incrusted panelling of colored marble.
ROME. Internal disorders and the long exile of the popes had by the end of the fourteenth century reduced Rome to utter insignificance. Not until the second half of the fifteenth century did returning prosperity and wealth afford the Renaissance its opportunity in the Eternal City. Pope Nicholas V. had, indeed, begun the rebuilding of St. Peter’s from designs by B. Rossellini, in 1450, but the project lapsed shortly after with the death of the pope. The earliest Renaissance building in Rome was the P. di Venezia, begun in 1455, together with the adjoining porch of S. Marco. In this palace and the adjoining unfinished Palazzetto we find the influence of the old Roman monuments clearly manifested in the court arcades, built like those of the Colosseum, with superposed stages of massive piers and engaged columns carrying entablatures. The proportions are awkward, the details coarse; but the spirit of Roman classicism is here seen in the germ. The exterior of this palace is, however, still Gothic in spirit. The architects are unknown; Giuliano da Majano (1452–90), Giacomo di Pietrasanta, and Meo del Caprino (1430–1501) are known to have worked upon it, but it is not certain in what capacity.
The new style, reaching, and in time overcoming, the conservatism of the Church, overthrew the old basilican traditions. In S. Agostino (1479–83), by Pietrasanta, and S. M. del Popolo, by Pintelli (?), piers with pilasters or half-columns and massive arches separate the aisles, and the crossing is crowned with a dome. To the same period belong the Sistine chapel and parts of the Vatican palace, but the interest of these lies rather in their later decorations than in their somewhat scanty architectural merit.
The architectural renewal of Rome, thus begun, reached its culmination in the following period.
OTHER MONUMENTS. The complete enumeration of even the most important Early Renaissance monuments of Italy is impossible within our limits. Two or three only can here be singled out as suggesting types. Among town halls of this period the first place belongs to the P. del Consiglio at Verona, by Fra Giocondo (1435–1515). In this beautiful edifice the façade consists of a light and graceful arcade supporting a wall pierced with four windows, and covered with elaborate frescoed arabesques (recently restored). Its unfortunate division by pilasters into four bays, with a pier in the centre, is a blemish avoided in the contemporary P. del Consiglio at Padua. The Ducal Palace at Urbino, by Luciano da Laurano (1468), is noteworthy for its fine arcaded court, and was highly famed in its day. At Brescia S. M. dei Miracoli is a remarkable example of a cruciform domical church dating from the close of this period, and is especially celebrated for the exuberant decoration of its porch and its elaborate detail. Few campaniles were built in this period; the best of them are at Venice. Naples possesses several interesting Early Renaissance monuments, chief among which are the Porta Capuana (1484), by Giul. da Majano, the triumphal Arch of Alphonso of Arragon, by Pietro di Martino, and the P. Gravina, by Gab. d’Agnolo. Naples is also very rich in minor works of the early Renaissance, in which it ranks with Florence, Venice, and Rome.