ART
263 / MAN 263 The Business of Art
ART
263 / MAN 263
Important artisits during the Renaissance:
Michelangelo (1546-1585)
Giocomo Della Porta (1585)
Carlo Maderno (1602)
In the 16th century strong popes made Rome, 
once
again, a center of culture and wealth. Donato Bramante (1444-1514) drew
up plans in 1505, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, for a new St.
Peter’s basilica. Pope Julius was a great warrior who desired to make Papal
Rome more splendid than the Rome of the caesars. Bramante planned a cross-shaped
building with arms of equal length with a huge dome on top. The building
of the piers and the walls of the choir were begun when Bramante died .
Various architects worked on St. Peter’s until Michelangelo (1475-1569)
became chief architect. Michelangelo designed the great dome and lengthened
the nave. Giacomo della Porta (c. 1537-1602) executed the dome which
is pictured to the right. Vignola, considered to be the first professional
architect, became chief architect after Michelangelo (note: Vignola was
not a good businessman; and made much less money than many of his less
gifted contemporaries. He was a perfectionist who would not delegate work.
He did not work well with partners, clients, superiors or peers.)
During
the Renaissance, the Vatican Palace was also aggrandized. Michelangelo
painted the Sistine Chapel Ceiling between 1508-1512 and the Last Judgment
- between 1534-1541. Raphael painted the Vatican Stanze, including Stanza
della Segnatura (see picture upper left). Michelangelo’s beautiful
statue, the Pieta, was eventually moved to St. Peter’s to adorn the first
chapel on the right (see picture right). The greatest artists of the Renaissance
— Michelangelo, Raphael, Bramante — were involved for much of their careers
in the building of St. Peter’s. No expense was spared. Michelangelo also
worked on a monumental tomb for Julius II which, due to other demands by
popes, was never completed to the satisfaction of Michelangelo. The Moses
is one of the figures from that grand but unrealized scheme (see picture
lower left). The discovery of the New World brought gold, silver, and diamonds
to the coffers of princes and popes in the Renaissance. Pope Julius and
other popes of the time were not just church leaders, but leaders of armies
and the head of the Vatican, a principality. In 1586 an obelisk, which
was brought to Rome in AD 37 from Egypt, was moved from nearby grounds
to the center of the square in front of St. Peter’s (see picture lower
right). Eighty feet tall and a million pounds, it took a great effort to
move, but added to the grandeur of the largest church in the world, at
what was the seat of Western Christianity. (The obelisk came from a circus,
it was believed, where St. Peter and other multitudes of Christians were
executed.)
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