Renaissance architecture
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Renaissance Architecture was a new concept in architecture which occurred between the 14th and the 16th Centuries when there was the stirrings of a new cultural movement which came to be known as the Renaissance, literally the “Rebirth”, because it revived and developed certain elements of Classical Greek and Roman thought and material culture. The cities of Italy in the early 1400s and Florence in particular were centres of the development of the burgeoning Humanist ideas. This period is also known in Italy as the Quattrocento.
In none of the arts more than architecture was this “rebirth” more apparent. The elements for the rediscovery of the Classical were visible in the many ancient buildings which over the centuries had been recycled and used as quarries for their materials.
The Renaissance brought a new emphasis on rational clarity and with it a conscious revival of Roman Architecture with its symmetry, its mathematical proportions, geometrically-perfect designs and regularity of parts. Orderly arrangements of columns and lintels, regularly divided surfaces, semicircular arches and hemispherical domes replaced the haphazard proportions and irregular gabled facades which preceded the new style. It was recognised by contemporaries in the term "all'Antica" translating as "in the Antique manner".
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[edit] Origins of Renaissance Architecture in Italy
The original Renaissance perspective of architecture is generally accredited to Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446) <ref>Cropplestone, Trewin (1963). World Architecture. Hamlyn. Page 243</ref> the underlying feature of the work of Brunelleschi and his contemporaries was "order". From this came a desire for symmetry and careful proportion, a feature which had not been evident in the preceding medieval and Gothic forms of architecture. This movement grew from a study of the anatomy of nature, in particular the human form, a science first studied by the Greeks.
Thus in Renaissance architecture for the first time one viewed the composition as a whole, each section in proportion to the next. This new architectural philosophy is best demonstrated in one of its earliest examples the church of "S. Spirito" in Florence. Designed by Brunelleschi in 1436 in the shape of a Latin cross, it has a modular plan, each portion being a multiple of the square bay of the aisle. This same formulae controlled also the vertical dimensions. Transepts and chancel are identical, while the nave is an extended version of these. In 1434 Brunelleschi designed the first Renaissance central plan at "Santa Maria degli Angioli", composed of a central octagon surrounded by a circuit of eight smaller chapels. From this date onwards numerous churches were built in variations of these designs. The style was embraced by the Medici for their palazzi and became firmly established. Renaissance architecture was further stylised by Alberti. This period is known as "the Early Renaissance".
In the late 15th century and 16th century under the guidance of such architects as Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante and Raphael, the style entered a period known as "High Renaissance". Later still it evolved into Mannerism with widely diverging tendencies in the work of Michelangelo and Giulio Romano and Andrea Palladio, that led to the Baroque style in which the same architectural vocabulary was used for very different rhetoric.
[edit] Spread of Renaissance Architecture
When the Renaissance spirit was finally exported into France, Spain, Portugal, England, the Low Countries, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Eastern Europe, the style made its appearance fully formed. However, it had to compromise with local traditions and climates, subsequently its phases are not so clearly distinguished in individual buildings.
In 1499 the French captured Milan causing Bramante to flee to Rome, where he studied ancient ruins, and with these in mind designed some of the most important buildings of the High Renaissance period <ref>Cropplestone, Trewin (1963). World Architecture. Hamlyn. Page 242</ref> During this period Renaissance architecture became more decorated and ornamental, statuary, domes and cupolas becoming very evident. Renaissance architecture further developed in France during the 16th century.
During the early years of the 16th century the French were involved in wars in northern Italy, bringing back to France not just the Renaissance art treasures as their war booty, but also stylistic ideas. In the Loire valley a wave of building was carried and nany Renaissance chateaux, the earliest example being the Château d'Amboise (c.1495) in which Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years, and the style became dominant under Francis I (1515-47). (See Châteaux of the Loire Valley). The Château de Chambord (1519-36) is a combination of Gothic structure and Italianate ornament the traditional French Gothic roof-scape is so heaped with Italian Renaissance ornament that it has been said "The delight with which the masons, heaped Italian ornament onto the elaborate roofscape belongs to the late gothic spirit of ornamental largesse" <ref>Cropplestone, Trewin (1963). World Architecture. Hamlyn. Page 254</ref>
The style progressed under architects such as Sebastiano Serlio, who was engaged after 1540 in work at the Château de Fontainebleau. At Fontainebleau Italian artists such as Rosso Fiorentino, Francesco Primaticcio, and Niccolo dell' Abbate formed the First School of Fontainebleau. Architects such as Philibert Delorme, Androuet du Cerceau, Giacomo Vignola, and Pierre Lescot, were inspired by the new ideas. The southwest interior facade of the Cour Carree of the Louvre in Paris was designed by Lescot and covered with exterior carvings by Jean Goujon. Architecture continued to thrive in the reigns of Henry II and Henry III.
Renaissance architecture arrived in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, having first spread through the Low countries where among other features it acquired versions of the Dutch gable, and Flemish strapwork in geometric designs adorning the walls. Both of these features can be seen on the towers of Wollaton Hall and again at Montacute House. It was also at this time that English houses adopted the Italian concept of a long gallery being the chief reception room<ref>Cropplestone, Trewin (1963). World Architecture. Hamlyn. Page 262</ref>. In England the Renaissance tended to manifest itself in large square tall houses such as Longleat House. Often these buildings had symmetrical towers which hint at the evolution from medieval fortified architecture. This is particularly evident at Hatfield House built between 1607 and 1611, where medieval towers jostle the eye with a large Italian cupola.
The Renaissance architecture that found its way to Scandinavia was (like the English) influenced by the Flemish architecture, and included high gables and a castle air as demonstrated in the architecture of Frederiksborg Palace. Consequently much of the Neo-Renaissance to be found in the Scandinavian countries is derived from this source.
[edit] Renaissance Architecture in the Kingdom of Hungary
One of the earliest places to be influenced by the Renaissance style of architecture was Hungary. The style appeared following the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus and Beatrix of Naples in 1476. Matthias was 15 when he was elected King of Hungary. He was educated in Italian, and his fascination with the achievements of the Italian Renaissance led to the promotion of Mediterranean cultural influences in Hungary. Many Italian artists, craftsmen and masons arrived at Buda with the new queen. One of whom, Aristotile Fioravanti, travelled from Hungary to Moscow where he built the Cathedral of the Dormition. The most important work of Hungarian Renaissance ecclesiastical architecture is the Bakócz Chapel <ref>Image of Bakócz Chapel (1506-08) </ref> the in the, now rebuilt and mostly nineteenth century, Esztergom Basilica.
Buda Castle was enlarged and modernized in Renaissance style. King Matthias also built a sumptuous summer palace in Visegrád. His successor, King Ulászló II built an Italianate hunting lodge in Budanyék. These monuments were largely destroyed in the Ottoman wars but the remains of the Visegrád Palace were partially reconstructed around 2000 <ref>image of reconstructed Visegrád Palace</ref>.
The Ottoman conquest of Hungary in 1526 put an abrupt end to the short-lived Hungarian Renaissance. The royal court ceased to exist but Hungarian landowner families in the Royal Hungary built a lot of provincial Renaissance castles in the 16-17th centuries. The most important of them was the Rákóczi Castle in Sárospatak.
Many significant Renaissance castles were built in Transylvania, that time an independent principality. The palace of Gabriel Bethlen in Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia, Romania) was designed by Italian architects. The Transylvanian Renaissance lasted well until the first half of the 18th century because of the aesthetical conservatism of the country. The vernacular architecture of Transylvania preserved Renaissance details especially long.
[edit] Renaissance Architecture in Spain
In Spain, Renaissance began to be grafted to Gothic forms in the last decades of the 15th century. The style started to spread made mainly by local architects: that is the cause of the creation of a specifically Spanish Renaissance, that brought the influence of South Italian architecture, sometimes from illuminated books and paintings, mixed with gothic tradition and local idiosyncrasy. The new style is called Plateresque, because of the extremely decorated facades, that brought to the mind the decorative motifs of the intricately detailed work of silversmiths, the “Plateros”. Classical orders and candelabra motifs (a candelieri) combined freely into symmetrical wholes.
As decades passed, the gothic influence disappeared and the research of an orthodox classicism reached high levels. Although Plateresco is a commonly used term to define most of the architectural production of the late XV and first half of XVI, some architects acquired a more sober personal style, like Diego Siloe and Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón. Examples include the facades of the University of Salamanca and of the Convent of San Marcos in León.
From the mid-sixteenth century, under such architects as Pedro Machuca, Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera there was a closer adherence to the art of ancient Rome, sometimes anticipating Manierism, examples of which include the palace of Charles V in Granada and the Escorial.
[edit] Renaissance Architecture in England
In England the first great exponent of Renaissance architecture was Inigo Jones (1573–1652), who had studied architecture in Italy where the influence of Palladio was very strong. Jones returned to England full of enthusiasm for the new movement and immediately began to design such buildings as the Queen's House at Greenwich in 1616 and the Banqueting House at Whitehall three years later. These works, with their clean lines, and symmetry were revolutionary in a country still enamoured with mullion windows, crenelations and turrets.
Hatfield House built in its entirety by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, between 1607 and 1611, is a perfect example of the transition period from the gabled turreted style of the previous era. One can clearly see the turreted Tudor style wings at each end with their mullioned windows, however, the whole is achieving a symmetry and the two wings are linked by an Italianate Renaissance facade. This central facade, originally an open loggia, has been attributed to Inigo Jones himself, however, the central porch carries a heavier Jacobean influence than Jones would have used, so the attribution is probably false. Inside the house the elaborately carved staircase demonstrates the Italian renaissance impression on English ornament.
Jones's work was followed later by such master architects as Christopher Wren with his designs for St. Paul's Cathedral and many other public buildings and churches in London following the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Great Fire created an opportunity for the new generation of architects to promote the classical traditions on a scale probably unequalled in one city anywhere else in the world. However, the original renaissance style imported by Inigo Jones was now merging with the baroque.
Later architects such as the Venetian Giacomo Leoni in the following century adapted and modified the style to suit the English landscape and the tastes of his country-loving clients, while still remaining true to the Italian influence of design. Lyme Hall in Cheshire is a superb example of this.
[edit] Renaissance Architecture in Portugal
In Portugal, the Manueline style married Renaissance elements to Gothic structures. Later examples of Renaissance architecture in Portugal include the cathedrals of Leiria and Portalegre, the Jesuit college at Évora and the church of São Roque in Lisbon. Image:Genova-palazzodoria01.jpg
[edit] Legacy of Renaissance architecture
Many ideas in Renaissance architecture can be traced through subsequent architectural movements- from Renaissance to High-Renaissance, to Mannerism, to Baroque (or Rococo), to Neo-Classicism, to Eclecticism, to Modernism, and to Post-Modernism. The influence of Renaissance architecture can still be seen in many of the modern styles and rules of architecture today. During the 19th century there was a large Renaissance revival movement across Europe and North America.
[edit] See also
List of notable Renaissance structures
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
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