two ranges, one over the other, the first being an extremely beautiful Loggia of the Doric order, resembling the Colosseum of the Savelli;[1] but in place of the half-columns he substituted pilasters building the whole edifice of Travertine. Over this came a second range of the Ionic order, and the walls of that portion of the building being continuous, it was furnished with windows; the level was that of the first floor of the Papal palace, but it reached to the rooms on the ground-floor only in the Belvedere. A Loggia of more than four hundred paces long Was thus obtained on the side looking towards Rome, with a second of equal extent towards the wood; between these was enclosed the before mentioned valley, to the lowest point of which all the water from the Belvedere was to be conducted, and there a magnificent fountain was to be built.
Such was the plan, and after designs prepared in accordance with it, Bramante constructed the first corridor, which proceeds from tlie palace and j-oins the Belvedere on the side towards Rome,[2] the last part of the Loggia which was to ascend the acclivity and occupy the higher level excepted: of the opposite part, that towards the wood namely, he could only lay the foundations, but could not finish it, the death of Julius interrupting the work, and that of the architect himselt also taking place before it had proceeded further. The invention of this fabric was considered so fine that all declared nothing better had been seen in Rome since the time of the
- ↑ The theatre of Marcellas that is to say, used as a fortress in the middle ages by the Pierleoni family, to whom the Savelli succeeded. It was changed by Baldassare Peruzzi into a dwelling for the Massimi family, from whose possession it came into that of the Orsini, Dukes of Gravina, to whom it still belongs.
- ↑ The court formed by the Corridors here described had one-third of its extent higher than the other two-thirds, a circumstance resulting from the formation of the little valley in which it was erected, wherefore Bramante constructed a double staircase, beautifully turned, which formed the means of ascent from the lower floor to the upper. But across this noble court Sixtus V. built a large hall, now the Library of the Vatican, so that, instead of the most magnificent court in the world, we have now two and a garden, altogether unconnected. Other changes have also been made. The Nuovo Braccio, for example, has been erected, in a line parallel to that of the Library, for the reception of the Museo Chiaramonti: thus has the grand idea of Bramante been lost, and his work, in many parts, entirely spoiled.—Bottari and Milizia.
