THE ARCHITECTURE OF MICHELANGELO

THE ARCHITECTURE OF MICHELANGELO

THE ARCHITECTURE OF MICHELANGELO

IN the early years of the sixteenth century the extraordinary power, wealth, and imagination of
the Pope, Juhus II della Rovere made Rome the artistic centre of Italy and of Europe and attracted there the most distinguished artists ofhis age. Chiefly for poHtical
reasons,the rise of Rome coincided with the decline of great centres of fifteenth- century Itahan culture: lorence,
Milan, and Urbino. The new "capital" had no eminent
painters, sculptors, or architects of its own, so it had to
import them; and they hardly could afford to stay at
home. This sudden change in the balance of ItaHan
culture had a revolutionary effect on the arts; while the fffteenth-century courts and city-states had produced
"schools" of distinct regional characteristics, the
new Rome tended to encourage not so much a Roman as an ItaHan art. No creative Renaissance artist could
fail to be inspired and profoundly affected by the experience of encountering simultaneously the works of ancient architects and sculptors - not only in the
ever-present ruins but in dozens of newly founded
museums and collections - (1503-1513) and those of his
greatest contem-poraries. Like Paris at the beginning
of the present century, Rome proivided the uniquely
favourable conditions for the evolution of new modes of perception and expression.

JAMES S. ACKERMAN