In the Renaissance palaces of Rome classic details were more closely copied than in Florence, pilasters and arcades forming, in almost every case, the chief decorations of the exteriors. Notable examples are the so-called Venetian Palaces, the Cancellaria designed by Bramante, the Sacchetti by Antonio San Gallo, and, above all, the Farnese, the grandest in the capital, begun by San Gallo and completed by Michael Angelo, with portions of the Vatican, including the Hall of the Belvedere, designed by Bramante.
In Venice, where the Renaissance style was necessarily modified by the peculiar conditions of the lagoon city, good examples of it are the Churches S. Maria dei Miracoli, S. Zaccaria, and S. Maria della Salute, with the palaces of Vendramini, Calergo, Trevisano, and Cornaro, all, however, excelled by the beautiful Palazzo Grimani designed by San Michele and the Library of S. Mark of Sansovino.
At Vicenza the famous architect Palladio erected many noble Renaissance churches, including the Redentore, enclosed the ancient Basilica in grand classic arcades, and designed a great number of fine palaces. In Milan the finest Renaissance structures are the sacristy of S. Maria Presso S. Sabino, the apse of S. Maria della Grazie and the arcaded court of the great Hospital, all designed by Bramante. Near Pavia is the fine Certosa, the façade of which is the work of Ambrogio Borgognoni; Genoa is rich in effective groups of Renaissance palaces after the designs of Alessio, and owns a late Renaissance church ascribed to Puget, and at Verona is the typical Palazzo del Conseglio, built by Fra Giocondo.
It was not until the beginning of the 16th century that the Renaissance style gained a footing in France, and even for some time after that French architects, whilst adopting its main features, clung to certain characteristic Gothic details. This is very notably the case in some of the royal chateaux on the Loire, justly considered the finest secular Renaissance buildings in the country, especially in that of Chambord, which, with a typical Renaissance façade, has a highly pitched roof with soaring pinnacles and pointed-headed dormer windows.
Other fine Early Renaissance French buildings are the wing added by Frances I to the old castle of Blois, famous for its beautiful external spiral staircase, the chateaux of Chenonceaux, Chateaudun, and Azay-le-Rideau, the Hôtel de Ville at Beaugency, the Church of S. Eustache, the Hôtel des Invalides, the western portion of the Louvre, and the Luxembourg, all in Paris. To the latest phase of what eventually became almost a national style, belong the Pantheon, the Palais Royal, the College and Church of the Sorbonne, all in Paris; the relics of the noble Chateau built for Richelieu on the site of the great minister's native village by Lemercier, the Chateau of Ballery in Normandy, the additions to the castle of Blois, the Chateau des Maisons near, and the Church of Val de Grace in Paris, all by François Mansard, whose name is associated with a picturesque form of roof invented by him.
In the chateau of Versailles, designed by Jules Mansard, a distant connection of the greater François, the first note of the decadence of the Renaissance style was sounded, for well-built and richly decorated though it is, the huge structure is lacking in the dignified grandeur, so distinctive of the buildings enumerated above.
Although it was in Italy and France that European Renaissance architecture achieved its greatest triumphs, some few fine examples of it remain in other countries, including in Spain the great Monastery and Palace of the Escurial near Madrid, the central church of which is especially fine, the Cathedrals of Burgos, Malaga, and Granada, the town halls of Saragossa and Seville, and portions of the Alcazar of Toledo, the convent of Mafra in Portugal, the Town Hall of Antwerp, the Council Halls of Leipzig and Rothenburg, the Cloth Hall of Brunswick, the Castle of Schallenburg, and the Hall of the Belvedere at Prague.
It is unnecessary to refer in detail to the many buildings in Europe in what is known as the Rococo style, of which grotesque and meaningless ornamentation is the chief characteristic, but it must be added that in the early 19th century something like a new classic revival took place on the Continent. The Church of La Madeleine and the Opera House in Paris, the Arco della Pace at Milan, the Royal Theatre at Berlin, the Glyptothex and Pinacothex of Munich, the Walhalla at Ratisbon, the Museum of Dresden, and the Church of S. Isaac at St. Petersburg being notable instances of the skilful way in which Greek details of structure were combined by the best architects with modern requirements.