THE RENAISSANCE

The Renaissance began in Italy, where there was always a residue of clas­sical feeling in art.

Knowledge of the classical style in architecture was derived during the Renaissance from two sources: the ancient classical buildings, particularly in Italy but also in France and Spain and the treatise De architectura by the Roman architect Vitruvius. For classical antiquity and, therefore, for the Renaissance, the basic element of architectural design was the order, which was a system of traditional architectural units. During the Renais­sance five orders were used, the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite, with various ones prevalent in different periods. For example, the ornate, decorative quality of the Corinthian order was embraced dur­ing the early Renaissance, while the masculine simplicity and strength of the Doric was preferred during the Italian High Renaissance.

On the authority of Vitruvius, the Renaissance architects found a har­mony between the proportions of the human body and those of their ar­chitecture. There was even a relationship between architectural proportions and the Renaissance pictorial device of perspective.

The concern of these architects for proportion caused that clear, mea­sured expression and definition of architectural space and mass that dif- ferentiates the Renaissance style from the Gothic and encourages in the spectator an immediate and full comprehension of the building.

In the early 15th century an Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi for­mulated linear perspective, which was to become a basic element of Re­naissance art. At the same time, Brunelleschi investigated ancient Roman architecture and acquired the knowledge of classical architecture and or­nament that he used as a foundation for Renaissance architecture.

His brilliant vork, the loggia of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419— 51) was the first building in the Renaissance manner; a very graceful ar­cade was designed with Composite columns, and windows with classical pediments were regularly spaced above each of the arches.

Donato Bramante's Tempietto San Pietro in Montorio (1502) symbol­ized the beginning of the High Renaissance style in Rome. Erected on the supposed site of the martyrdom of St. Peter, the Tempietto is circular in plan, with a colonnade of 16 columns surrounding a small cella, or enclosed in­terior sanctuary.

In 1505 Pope Julius II decided to rebuild St. Peter's, which was in a very poor condition. Bramante prepared plans for a monumental church and in 1506 the foundation stone was laid.

St. Peter's Cathedral is the largest church in the Christian world. It has 29 altars in addition to the high altar, interior length, 187m.,width at front, 26,5 m., length of transept, 137 m. The dome (diameter, 42 m., height, 123 m. to the top of the lantern) was built by Michelangelo.

In Russia the Renaissance is represented by the works of Italian mas­ters (the Moscow Kremlin, the 15th — 16th cc.) The cathedral of the As­sumption was built in 1475—1479 by Aristotile Fioravante on the site of an old church dating back to the reign of Ivan Kalita. By combining the char­acteristic features of the Vladimir-Suzdal and early-Moscow style with Ital­ian Renaissance decoration and construction methods Fioravante produced a masterpiece of lasting beauty. Another example is the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, designed by Alevisio Novi in 1505-1508.

The Granovitaya Palata Faceted Pulace (1487—91) was built by Russian craftsmen according to the design of Italian architects Marco Ruffo, Aloisio da Carcano, and Pietro Antonio Solari. Its eastern facade is faced with faceted white stones, hence the name.

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