Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance architecture revived the forms, proportions, and theory of classical antiquity, beginning in fifteenth-century Florence with Brunelleschi and Alberti.
Definition
The study of the classically inspired architecture of the European Renaissance, centered in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy.
Scope
This topic covers the rebirth of classical architecture in Italy and its spread across Europe, including the work of Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, Michelangelo, and Palladio; the recovery of Vitruvius; theories of harmonic proportion; the centrally planned church; and the palazzo and villa. It examines architecture as a learned, theory-driven art tied to humanism.
Core questions
- How did Renaissance architects revive classical antiquity?
- What role did proportion and theory play in design?
- Why was the centrally planned church so important?
- How did Renaissance architecture spread beyond Italy?
Key theories
- Harmonic proportion
- Rudolf Wittkower's demonstration that Renaissance architects designed according to systems of harmonic and often musical proportion, expressing a belief in a divinely ordered cosmos.
- Architecture as a humanist art
- Alberti's theory, in De re aedificatoria, of architecture as a rational, learned discipline governed by concinnitas—the harmonious fitting-together of parts—and rooted in classical precedent.
History
Brunelleschi's dome for Florence Cathedral and his Ospedale degli Innocenti inaugurated Renaissance architecture; Alberti gave it theoretical foundation; Bramante and Michelangelo brought it to High Renaissance grandeur in Rome at St. Peter's; and the style spread across Europe through treatises and travelling architects in the sixteenth century.
Debates
- Theory versus practice
- Scholars debate how closely Renaissance buildings actually followed the proportional theories set out in treatises, and how much was pragmatic adaptation on the ground.
Key figures
- Filippo Brunelleschi
- Leon Battista Alberti
- Donato Bramante
- Rudolf Wittkower
Related topics
Seminal works
- wittkower1949
- alberti1988
- kostof1995
Frequently asked questions
- Who began Renaissance architecture?
- Filippo Brunelleschi is usually credited with launching Renaissance architecture in early fifteenth-century Florence, notably with the dome of Florence Cathedral.
- Why were central plans favored?
- Renaissance theorists saw the circle and centrally planned church as the most perfect forms, reflecting ideals of divine harmony and geometric perfection.