It is the pleasure-loving Italian of the fifteenth century, not the proud, world-ruling Roman, that we now encounter. There is of the ecclesi astical spirit only so much as is necessary to satisfy ecclesiastical demands and to give the pretext for a building which must be used as a place of devotion; all besides breathes of free, joyous life and worldly pleasure. The portico of the foundling. hospital near the Annunziata at Florence is a work of the same master; here the arches rise from stout Corinthian col limns without an entablature, while the spandrels are adorned with medal lions containing figures of infants. An upper storey has small windows surmounted by gablets.
Pala33o magnificent Palazzo Pitti, erected by Brunelleschi, has the severe castellated character of the medieval Italian palaces, with out any reminiscences of military art. It has attained this result through the severity of its proportions—its great wall-masses and their treatment with bosses of unhewn stone. During the Middle Ages many works whose severe significance excluded decoration—or, at least, made it super fluous—had their masonry carefully worked upon the angles only, while the surfaces were left as they came from the quarry, or, at most, were superficially dressed, by which means the severity of aspect was consider ably increased. Brunelleschi, wishing to profit by this impression, by regular workmanship formed this mode of treatment into an artistic sys tem. Thus the Pitti Palace rises almost without adornment; the ground floor has, besides the grand portals, only small rectangular windows, placed high up, while the two upper storeys have windows metres (II feet) in width and 6 metres (20 feet) in height. Subsequently two lower side wings were built; the court was added by Bart°lommeo Ammanati almost one hundred years later.
Palaz:,o the Palazzo Quaratesi, Brunelleschi has di vided his arched windows by a central column and two small arches, and has adorned the spandrel under the great arch with medallions; he has thus shown that he did not disdain medixyal motif.i- when they seemed appropriate to produce the designed artistic impression. How ever great a technician he may have been, he yet aimed at outward effect in his structures; but the constructive element asserts itself more exter nally than in the Gothic decorative structures of Italy, and the adoption of antique decorative forms contributed not unessentially to this end, since they, as lie employed them, enlivened the masses, but were nowhere so prominent as to dominate the character of the building.
He also knew how in the most delicate manner to dispose the dimen sions and proportions of the decorations to the entire edifice, to moderate the heaviness prevalent in the period of the Roman Empire, and partic ularly to give delicacy and refinement to the ornament.
Brunellesclii School cf formed in Flor ence a school to which we are indebted for a number of palaces, porticos, cloisters, and chapels. A chief characteristic of this school is the treat ment of the Corinthian capitals, which are adorned with dolphins above the acanthus-leaves in place of the volutes, the rolled-up tails supporting the angles of the abacus. Other masters took up and disseminated the new style; thus, in 1443, the Milanese Pietro di Martino employed it in the construction of the triumphal Arch of King Alfonso at Naples.
If'orks of Brunelleschi's death the next worker in his style at Florence was Leon Battista Alberti. He restored the Gothic inte rior of S. Francesco at Rimini in 1447-1450, rebuilt the end of the choir of Sta. `Annunziata at Florence in 1451, and in 146o erected the Palazzo Rucellai, having three storeys decorated with pilasters, between which there are rusticated wall-surfaces, while the arched windows of the two upper storeys are divided by columns with remains of Gothic tracery above them.
The Influence of the Florentine School extended beyond the walls of the city and filled all Tuscany. In 146o, Francesco di Giorgio began at Siena the Palazzo Piccolomini, one of the most splendid to be found in Tuscany, that land so rich in palaces; the Piccolomini is nearly allied to the newer Palazzo Strozzi at Florence, soon to be mentioned. About the same period a series of buildings were erected by Florentine masters at Pieuza, which was founded by Pope Pius II. in 146o. Among these were the cathedral—a Hallenkirche with three equal aisles and vaults resting on clustered pillars, a polygonal choir-end, and a gable-facade, completely according to ancient ecclesiastical architectural traditions—the Palazzo Pubblieo, and the Palazzo Pieeolomini, built for the pope himself, and closely related to the pattern of the Palazzo Rucellai at Florence.