Michael Murphy - Roman Art & Architecture in the Age of Ignatius

The influence of classicism that had already begun to show through in Medieval Roman art would come to dominate art and architecture throughout all of Italy in the Renaissance. A fervent interest in classical art and scholarship brought about a new approach to the arts centered around naturalism, classism, and mathematics. Renaissance architects drew inspiration from the great public works of classical antiquity, such as the vast dome of the Pantheon, and made extensive use of Greek columns and Roman arches. Among the great architectural projects of the Renaissance is Saint Peter’s Basilica, which though adorned with a Baroque façade and decorated with distinctly Bernini’s distinctly Baroque furnishings, is at its core a Renaissance church. The first Saint Peter’s Basilica, known as “Old St. Peter’s,” was built under Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire. This church gradually became the center of the Roman Church until the sixteenth century, when it had become dilapidated due to neglect. Pope Julius II, initially seeking to restore the old basilica, eventually proposed that Old St. Peter’s be torn down and rebuilt.

A view of Michelangelo's portion of St. Peter's Basilica, looking down from the base of the dome

This task was eventually undertaken by Donato Bramante, who designed the new church with a symmetrical plan in the style of a Greek cross, that is, one where both arms are of equal length. This focus on symmetry broke from the typical basilica-plan of most churches in favor of the Renaissance notions of mathematical beauty. After Bramante’s death, however, a completely new design was drawn up by Raphael, featuring a more traditional nave, which gave the basilica the appearance of the now standard Latin cross. This design would later be scrapped when Michelangelo took over as architect, again in favor of a symmetrical Greek cross based directly on Bramante’s design. Ultimately, a nave would be added onto Michelangelo’s section of the church – albeit one shorter than in Raphael’s designs – and a new façade, both designed by Carlo Maderno.

The most spectacular feature of Saint Peter’s Basilica, however, is its distinctive dome and cupola. Designed by Michelangelo, the ovoid dome is made of two brick shells, the outer most exterior shell rising higher than the interior; the entire dome is topped by a lantern cupola. The whole structure is supported only by four piers, a holdover from Bramante’s original design. The drum of the dome is ringed by sixteen pairs of Corinthian columns, each pair corresponding to a stone rib stretching along the exterior of the dome. Between the two layers of the dome exist a series of stairways, leading up to a small walkway encircling the cupola from which all one can look out and see the entirety of the Vatican City, a striking view nearly unrivaled by any other.

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica seen from the roof of Maderno's nave

            The lavish Baroque interior of St. Peter’s contrasts greatly with the Renaissance decor of the Villa Farnesina, which consists predominantly of frescoes rather than elaborate sculpture and marble tile. The villa was originally built for Agostino Chigi, a wealthy banker from Siena and treasurer to Pope Julius II; the building’s current name derives from its acquisition by the Farnese family in the late sixteenth century. The ground floor prominently features fresco work by Raphael, including the extravagantly decorated ceiling of the Loggia di Amore e Psiche. The frescoes, as the room’s name suggests, depicts scenes from the myth of Cupid and Psyche, with the tale’s conclusion playing out across two false tapestries painted along the center of the room’s vaulted ceiling. Each of the classically modeled figures is engaged in some form of movement, further emphasized by the flowing drapery in which many are clothed, imbuing the tableau with an elegant vitality typical of Renaissance works and especially to those of Raphael.

Raphael's false tapestries depicting The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche and The Council of the Gods flanking the papal stemma of Pope Julius II

            Directly above the Psyche Loggia sits the salone, decorated with magnificent frescoes by Baldassarre Peruzzi, who also designed the villa itself. Peruzzi’s frescoes exemplify a defining characteristic of Renaissance painting: the treatment of a painting as a window. Peruzzi uses perspective, a mathematical tool developed in the Renaissance to create the illusion of depth, to create tromp l’oeil frescoes that, when the viewer is positioned at a certain point in the room, transform the enclosed salone into an open

The salone of the Villa Farnesina showing Peruzzi's trompe l'oeil loggia

 loggia looking out onto the city of Rome. Fictive marble columns and niches occupied by statues robed in classicizing drapery fill out the illusory balconies; the painted marble floors match the actual marble floor of the salone. The fresco wraps around the whole room and features faux-marble walls, enhancing the illusion by providing a seamless transition from the interior space to the false exterior. The detail which Peruzzi puts into his painted marble almost flawlessly blends with the room’s marble doorways and ornamentation, to the point where it becomes hard to tell at a distance whether a given surface is frescoed or actual marble. Peruzzi’s work in the salone takes the idea of a painting as a window and expands it, not only letting the viewer look upon a fictive world but pulling them into it.