BRAMANTE, bra-nifin'ti'l. DONATO 1 ?1444 1514). An Italian architect. His place of birth is unknown, but it was probably at Monte Asdru aldo. near Urbino. He first practiced painting under Piero della Francesca and Mantegna. and executed works in Milan and Bergamo (1472-77) ; but he soon devoted himself entirely to architec ture. His career falls into two main divisions— (I )the twenty-eight years of early work in .Milan, 1472-99; and (2) the fifteen years of work in Rome, 1499-151f. Each period is marked by a style so distinct as to make it seem impossible that the same master should have created both. By his :Milanese works he founded the Lombard Early Renaissance, which from him is called `Bramantesque Style.' The most important are the transept, apse, and sacristy of San Satiro ( c.1480-S8 ) ; his masterpiece in decoration and composition, the choir and dome of Santa Maria della Grazie, with its perfect union of brick work with details in terra-cotta and marble, and besides these, parts of the Monastery of San Ambrogio and of the Ospedale Maggiore. Out side of Milan are the simple but masterly com position of a faeade at Abbiategrasso and the octagonal Canepanova Church in Pavia. He es tablished a school, as is shown by such works as the Incoronati in Lodi, and long after his de parture from Milan his influence remained su preme in Lombardy, as is shown by churches in Legnano, Arsizio, Canobbio, etc.
At the age of liftv-tive Bramante went to Rome. Hitherto he had seen the antique through the interpretations of his Renaissance predems sors, from Brunelleschi (q.v.) to Fra (q.v.), through such masters as Alberti (q.v.) and Lanrana (q.v.). He now went for the first time to the fountainhead. The influenve of the Roman monuments was so overpowering as en tirely to transform his style—a rentarkable fact, considering his age. Pis new manner rated the period of the Middle Renaissance, of which be became the leader. The patronage of the Popes gave him the opportunity. Alexander VI. and Julius II. employed hint on important buildings. It is necessary, however, to correct the old error that the magnificent Cancelleria.
Palace in Nome was by him. lt was by an earlier architect, and all its numerous derivatives are independent of Bramante. Bramante brought to Roma his love of dome-construction, of en gaged columns and pilasters, derived from medi ipval art, as well as a thorough knowledge of perspective and of the engineering and con structive side of his art. His own genius and eye for beauty were the media that joined these elements to the simpler, broader, and more uni form forms of Roman architecture. Ile also largely adopted stone in place of brick and terra cotta, and this was not without influence on his style. He expressed himself almost immediately in an exquisite gem, the circular tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, famous "as the first building after a lapse of 1200 years built entirely in the ancient spirit and style." Soon after came the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace, also a classic, an exact reproduction of the order of the theatre of Marcellus. This also was revolu tionary. Both buildings gave the tone for the pure, cold style of the Sixteenth Century.
Bramante was then intrusted with the plan ning of the greatest architectural labor of the Renaissance, the reconstruction of *the Vatican Palace and of Saint Peter's. His masterly con ception was never carried out. The Cortile di Santo Damaso alone shows part of his Vatican plan, and his scheme of a Greek cross with cen tral dome was partly set aside. His death in 1514 put both these undertakings into other hands. But during his last years he had devel oped his latest manner, as is shown in his own palace in Rome VIZaphael's house'), and in the Palazzo di San Biagio. where the rustic work on the lower story and the engaged column above. with gabled windows, furnished a type that was used by Raphael, Samnicheli, Sansovino• Palladio, and other leading architects. Bra mallic's plans for Saint Peter's, only part lv carried out. were known through drawinr . to all architects. and exercised an enormous in fluence, greater than that of any actually con structed building of the llenaissawe.