principal chapel, that wherein is the great tribune namelj, causing the chapel, called that of the king of France, to be also put in progress at the same time.
For this work Bramante invented the method of constructing the vaulted ceilings by means of a framework of strong beams, in which the friezes and decorations of foliage were carved, and afterwards covered with castings in stucco. In the arches of the edifice he also showed the manner in which they may be turned with moveable scaffolds, a method afterwards pursued by Antonio da San Gallo. In that portion of the work which was completed by Bramante, the cornice which surrounds the interior is seen to have been conducted with so much ability, that nothing more elegant or more graceful than is the design of this cornice, in its every part, could have been produced by any hand whatever. In the capitals of this edifice also, which in the interior are formed of olive leaves, as indeed in all the external work, which is of the Doric order, and of inexpressible beauty; in all these things, I say, we perceive the extraordinary boldness of Bramante’s genius; nay, we have many clear proofs that, if he had possessed means of action equivalent to his powers of conception, he would have performed works never before heard of or even imagined.
But the work we are here alluding to was conducted after a much altered fashion on his death and by succeeding architects; nay, to so great an extent was this the case, that with the exception of the four piers by which the cupola is supported, we may safely affirm that nothing of what was originally intended by Bramante now remains.[1] For in the first place, Raffaello da Urbino and Giuliano da San Gallo, who were appointed after the death of Julius II., to continue the work, with the assistance of Fra Giocondo of Verona, began at once to make alterations in the plans; and on the death of these masters, Baldassare Peruzzi also effected
- ↑ The reader who shall desire such details as cannot here find place, is referred to Duppa’s Life of Michael Angelo; Bonanni, Templi Vatic. Historia; Quatreinere de Quincy Vies des plus cilebres Archiiectes; and Milizia, Memorie degl'Architetti; see also D’Agincourt, Les Arts decrits d'ajnes les Monumens; with Platner and Bunsen, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom. There are besides, many other writers, who have ably treated the subject in all its details.
