Around 1474, Bramante moved toMilan, a city with a deep Gothic architectural tradition, and built several churches in the new Antique style. The Duke,Ludovico Sforza, made him virtually his court architect, beginning in 1476, with commissions that culminated in the famoustrompe-l'œil choir of the church ofSanta Maria presso San Satiro (1482–1486).[citation needed] Space was limited, and Bramante made a theatricalapse inbas-relief, combining the painterly arts of perspective with Roman details. There is an octagonal sacristy, surmounted by adome. In Milan, Bramante also built the tribune ofSanta Maria delle Grazie (1492–99); other early works include theCloisters of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan (1497–1498), and some other constructions inPavia (where he worked on theCathedral, setting the design and creating the crypt and part of the apse[8]) and possiblyLegnano. However, in 1499, with his Sforza patron driven from Milan by an invading French army, Bramante made his way to Rome, where he was already known to the powerfulCardinal Riario.[citation needed]
In Rome, he was soon recognised byCardinal Della Rovere, shortly to becomePope Julius II. For Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile or possibly Julius II, Bramante designed one of the most harmonious buildings of the Renaissance: theTempietto (1502) ofSan Pietro in Montorio on theJaniculum.[9] Despite its small scale, the construction has all the rigorous proportions and symmetry of Classical structures, surrounded by slender Doric columns, surmounted by a dome. According to a later engraving bySebastiano Serlio, Bramante planned to set it within a colonnaded courtyard. In November 1503, Julius engaged Bramante for the construction of the grandest European architectural commission of the 16th century, the complete rebuilding ofSt Peter's Basilica. During this time, he created the plans for a vast outdoor courtyard connecting the surrounding buildings called,Cortile del Belvedere.[10] The cornerstone of the first of the great piers of thecrossing was laid with ceremony on 17 April 1506. Very few drawings by Bramante survive, though some by his assistants do, demonstrating the extent of the team which had been assembled. Bramante's vision for St Peter's, a centralized Greek cross plan that symbolized sublime perfection for him and his generation (compareSanta Maria della Consolazione atTodi, influenced by Bramante's work) was fundamentally altered by the extension of thenave after his death in 1514. Bramante's plan envisaged four great chapels filling the corner spaces between the equaltransepts, each one capped with a smaller dome surrounding the great dome over the crossing. So Bramante's original plan was very much more Romano-Byzantine in its forms than the basilica that was actually built. (SeeSt Peter's Basilica for further details.)[citation needed]
Bramante also worked on several other commissions. Among his earliest works in Rome, before the Basilica's construction was underway, is the cloister (1500–1504) ofSanta Maria della Pace nearPiazza Navona.[citation needed]
Plans for St Peter's Basilica
A draft for St Peter's superimposed over a plan of the ancient basilica
Bramante's presentation plan, as a Greek cross design; as reconstructed by Geymüller
.jpg)
