Secular Architecture.—In the application of the leading features of classical architectural design to palaces and mansions, the Italians had a much easier field on which to exercise their originality, as the requirements were very different from those which obtained in the middle ages. Moreover, the classic style lent itself more readily to the horizontal lines given by string courses, cornices and ranges of windows, which naturally exist in dwelling-houses on account of the various storeys. As in ecclesiastical, so in secular architecture, the first introduction of the Revival takes place in Florence, which was then the principal art centre of Italy, and the earliest examples are in a sense transitional, in that they are based on the earlier medieval work. As in the Palazzo Vecchio (1298) in Florence, and the Ricciarelli palace at Volterra (c. 1320), the rusticated masonry which gives them so fine a character forms the chief characteristic of the Riccardi and Strozzi palaces, the only changes being the substitution of a classic cornice of considerable projection in the place of the machicolations of the Palazzo Vecchio, and the employment of circular arches in the windows in the place of the pointed and curved arches.
The earliest example, the Riccardi palace (1430), by Michelozzo (fig. 52), built for Cosimo de’ Medici, is certainly the finest, owing partly to its size but more especially to the magnificent bossed and rusticated masonry of the ground storey and the bold projecting cornice, which crowns so admirably the whole structure. The lower two storeys of the main front of the Pitti palace were built by Brunelleschi in 1435, the return wings and court not being carried out till after 1550 from the designs of Ammanati; compared with the other Tuscan palaces the cornice is extremely poor and the whole front too monotonous. The beautiful court of the Palazzo Vecchio was reconstructed and decorated by Michelozzo in 1434. The Strozzi palace (1489), by Benedetto da Maiano and S. Pollajuolo, (Cronaca), comes next to the Riccardi as regards general design, but in comparison with it the windows are too small, and the want of a much bolder rustication, as provided in the latter, is much felt. Other examples of the same type are the Gondi (1481) and the Antinori palaces, by G. di Sangallo, and the Casa Larderel, all in Florence; the Spanochi (1470) and the Piccolomini (1460) palaces in Siena, and the Piccolomini palace (1490) in Pienza. In the Guadagni palace at Florence, by S. Pollajuolo, there is a third storey, consisting of an open gallery, which gives the depth of shadow otherwise afforded by the projecting cornice. In the Ruccellai palace (1460), by Alberti, the design is spoilt by the introduction of the classic pilasters at regular intervals on each storey, which suggest no structural object and have too little projection to give any effect of light and shade, so that it is only on account of the purity of their details that they are worth notice. The Pandolphini palace, the design of which is attributed to Raphael, carried out after his death by Sangallo, is a simple and unpretentious building of fine proportions: the Pall Mall façade of Sir Charles Barry’s Travellers’ Club in London is a reproduction of this palace. The Bartolini palace (1520), by Baccio d’ Agnolo, is said to have been the first astylar example in which the Classic orders were employed only to decorate the entrance door and windows, but this had already been done in 1488 in the Scuola di San Marco in Venice.
Throughout the greater part of the 15th century, the Venetian Gothic style still held its own in the palaces of Venice, so that it is only towards the close of the century we find the first actual results of the Classic Revival. The earlier palaces may be looked upon as transitional work, in which Gothic principles rule the design while the details are borrowed from classic sources. The intimate acquaintance with the proportions of the Classic orders and their ornamental detail shows that the designers of the earliest Renaissance palaces must have acquired their knowledge outside Venice. Among these designers we find the names of members of the Lombardi family (which, as the name suggests, come from Lombardy), who for three or four generations, either as architects or sculptors, would seem to have been the chief founders of the Renaissance style in Venice. One of these, Pietro Lombardo, has already been referred to as the designer of the church of the Miracoli, and to him is due the Vendramini-Calerghi palace on the Grand Canal (Plate IV., fig. 71), built in 1481, which in some respects is the finest example in Venice. It should be observed that all these palaces on the Grand Canal have an architectural frontage only, the flanks being built in plain masonry or brick stuccoed over, and with very poor, if any, dressings to the windows. This is well exemplified in the Vendramini palace, where there are gardens on each side, showing the total want of correlation between the rich architectural front and the poverty of the flanks.
| From a photo by Almari. |
| Fig. 52.—Riccardi Palace, Florence. |
In a still earlier example, the Dario palace, one of the flanks borders on a side canal, so that its brick construction, partly covered with stucco, contrasts strangely with the rich marbles encrusting the main front. In the Dario palace the transition from Gothic to Renaissance is more clearly seen, as the only changes made are the substitution of circular window-heads for the Ogee Venetian arch, the projecting cornice with modillions, and more or less pure classic details. In the Vendramini palace the employment of the orders, to break up or subdivide the wall surface, has become a recognized treatment, based on the theatre of Marcellus and the Colosseum at Rome. On the ground storey there are panelled pilasters only, but on the first and second storeys three-quarter detached columns of the Corinthian order are employed, and the entablature is doubled in height with a bold projecting cornice, so as to crown properly the whole building.
The semicircular-headed windows of the palace are filled with moulded tracery carried on columns in the centre of each, which must be looked upon as the classic version of the arcade of the Ducal palace. This feature is found in other early Renaissance work in Venice, as in the Scuola de San Rocco (1517), and the Cornaro Spinelli palace (1480). In the latter, probably also by Pietro Lombardo, there are pilasters only on the groins of the main front, and the window-heads are enclosed in square-headed frames. In the Scuola de San Marco (1488), by Lombardo, we find another type of window, single and lofty, with pilaster strips each side carrying an entablature with pediment. The same window decoration is found on the south and west fronts of the court of the Ducal palace and the external south front, and also in the Camerlenghi palace (1525), by Bergamasco and in other examples of early 16th-century work. In the Scuola de San Rocco the columnar decoration assumes much greater importance, and, in imitation of the triumphal arches of Septimus Severus and Constantine in Rome, the column is completely detached, with a wall-respond behind. Among other examples to be noted are the Cornaro-della-Grande palace (1532), by Sansovino, which is very inferior to his other work in Venice; the Grimani palace (1554), by San Michele (who also designed the fortifications of the Lido); the Zecca or mint (1537), the small loggetta (1540) at the foot of the campanile of St Mark’s and now destroyed, and the Procuratie Nuove (completed by Scamozzi in 1584), all by Sansovino; the Balbi palace (1582), by Vittoria; and the Ponte Rialto (1588), by Antonio da Ponte. Sansovino’s greatest work in Venice was the library of St Mark’s, which was commenced in 1531; in this he has shown not only remarkable powers of design but great boldness in the projection of his columns, cornices and other architectural features. The upper frieze has been increased in height, so as to admit of the introduction of small windows to light an upper storey, and this gives much greater importance and dignity to the entablature crowning the whole structure. Two of the most imposing palaces on the Grand Canal, but of later date, are the Pesaro (1679) and the Rezzonico (1680), both by Longhena, the architect of the Salute church. The former is too much overcharged with ornament, but it has one advantage, the classic superimposed orders of the main front being repeated on the flank overlooking the side canal, with pilasters substituted for the detached columns of the main front. The Rezzonico palace is much quieter in design, and finer in its proportions, but even there the cherubs in the spandrils are too pronounced in their relief.
In Rome there are no important examples of the 15th century, with the exception of the so-called “Venetian palace,” which still retains externally the features of the feudal castle, such as machicolations, small windows and rusticated masonry. This was owing probably to the comparative poverty of the city, which had to recover from the disasters of the 14th century. The earliest example of the Renaissance is that of the Cancellaria palace (1495-1505), by Bramante, the architect of the church at Todi; this was followed by a second and less important example, the Giraud or Torlonia palace (1506). The former is an immense block, 300 ft. long and 76 ft. high, in three storeys, with coursed masonry and slightly bevelled joints, the upper two storeys decorated with Corinthian pilasters of slight projection and crowned with a poor cornice, so that its general effect is very monotonous, and the design is only relieved by the purity of its details, such as those of the window and balcony on the return flank. In 1506 Bramante was instructed to carry out the court of the Vatican, of which the great hemicycle at one end, designed in imitation of similar features in the Roman thermae, is an extremely fine example; to what extent he was responsible for the court of the Loggie, decorated by Raphael, is not known. The Villa Farnesina (1506), best known for its fresco decorations by Raphael and his pupils; the Ossoli palace (1525); and the Massimi palace (1532-1536), with magnificent interiors, were all built by Baldassare Peruzzi. The finest example in Rome is the Farnese palace, commenced in 1530 from the designs of Antonio di Sangallo; the design is astylar, as the employment of the orders is confined to the window dressings, the angles of the front having rusticated quoins; the upper storey, with the magnificent cornice which crowns the whole building, was designed by Michelangelo, and in the upper storey he introduced a feature borrowed from the Roman thermae, brackets supporting the three-quarter detached columns flanking the windows. The brilliance of the design is not confined to the exterior, and the entrance vestibule and the great central court are the finest examples in Rome. Here the upper storey added by Michelangelo is inferior to the two lower storeys by Sangallo.
The museum in the Capitol at Rome, by Michelangelo (1546), is one of those examples in which the principles of design are violated by the suppression of the horizontal divisions of the storeys which it should have been an object to emphasize. By carrying immense Corinthian pilasters, through the ground and first storeys, Michelangelo, it is true, obtained the entablature of the order as the chief crowning feature, and so far the result is a success, but in other hands it led to the decadence of the style. Among other examples in Rome which should be mentioned are the Villa Madama by Giulio Romano (1524); the Nicolini palace (1526) by Giacomo Sansovino; the Villa Medici (1540) by Annibale Lippi; the Chigi palace (1562) by G. de la Porta; the Spada palace (1564) by Mazzoni; the Quirinal palace (1574) by Fontana (the architect who raised the obelisk in the Piazza di San Pietro); and the Borghese palace (1590) by Martino Lunghi.
We now return to about the middle of the 16th century, to the period when the great architects Barozzi da Vignola and Andrea Palladio of Vicenza commenced their career, and by their works and publications exercised a great and important influence on European architecture.