The Influence of Classical Antiquity On Italian Renaissance Architecture

 The Influence of Classical Antiquity on Italian Renaissance Architecture

The term 'Renaissance' (from the French renaissance, "rebirth") was coined in the nineteenth century to represent Italy's cultural and intellectual developments during the fifteenth century. The arrival of scholars escaping Constantinople who had maintained old classical learnings inspired the Italians to start rediscovering and examining Roman and Greek texts and buildings to reclaim what was lost to Europe in the Middle Ages and then to find ways of implementing this learning in their times. The ancient Romans attempted to develop architectural representations of their empire's glories by expanding on earlier orders of Greek architecture and surpassing them by adding domes, arches, arcades, and fluted columns to their architectural language. The paper explores the remarkable impact of classical antiquity on Renaissance architecture and interior by examining some notable architectural works through the key architectural elements and philosophical ideals that influenced architects throughout this time.

Renaissance pursued some philosophical theories in their practice. Renaissance humanism, originating in fourteenth-century Italy, was a significant cultural movement encompassing scholarly and literary pursuits inspired by classical antiquity. It profoundly impacted various aspects of the Renaissance, including philosophy, sciences, arts, literature, and even religious and political thought. Humanism assumed specific social and political requirements, such as the growth of cities, lay professions, and secular culture.

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man (Fig.01) played an immense role in Renaissance art and architecture. Vitruvius and Leonardo both explored the mathematical foundations of human beauty. Vitruvius calculated ideal proportional measurements for body parts. Leonardo drew the Vitruvian Man (1490), depicting a perfect man within a circle (sky) and square (earth) using the Golden Ratio. He adjusted Vitruvius's measurements, except for shorter feet. This drawing symbolized Humanism and the Renaissance, celebrating human agency and rationality over medieval submission to divinity. Leonardo's work epitomized the perfection of geometry and human proportion.

Fig.01 Vitruvian Man (c. 1492) by Leonardo da Vinc

The Renaissance architects were fascinated by and took inspiration from the Pantheon (Fig.02) The Pantheon's exterior design exhibits Greek influence, featuring a grand triangular pediment supported by sixteen colossal columns, each reaching a height of thirty-nine feet. These columns are adorned with Corinthian capitals. The Pantheon's architectural precision is remarkable, as it is a radial structure with geometric accuracy to fit a perfect sphere (Fig.04). The architect Hadrian employed geometric shapes like circles, rectangles, and squares. The inside of the dome showcases concentric rings of coffering that decrease in size and depth as they approach the oculus, creating a smooth, platelike surface around the opening.

Fig.02 Pantheon (125 AD) by Hadrian

                            

Fig.03 Details of the Pantheon

Fig.04 Symmetry and Proportion of the Pantheon

The Romans devised a system of interconnecting brick arches, vaults, and piers to support the massive dome, ensuring the even distribution of poured concrete and the dome's stability. The Pantheon's drum, a large cylindrical structure, effectively supports the dome's weight through clever design, including voids to reduce weight and curved vaults to guide stress toward the ground. This architectural marvel demonstrates meticulous planning and engineering prowess.

The Colosseum greatly influenced Renaissance architecture. The exterior facade of the fifty-three meters high Colosseum comprises four stories, with the lower three composing eighty arches. They make the immense size of the Colosseum possible and make the bulk structure seem lighter (Fig.05). Inspired by the Ancient Greeks, Romans stacked column orders in the Colosseum. The Tuscan style, a Roman adaptation of the austere Greek Doric form, was used on the ground floor. The second floor had slightly more elaborate Ionic columns. The third story was designed in the more complex and adorned Corinthian style (Fig.06). As a result, from bottom to top, the artistic intricacy of the Colosseum increased. Each half-column was the focal point of an arch. The vaulting within the arena was critical not just for the structural stability of the building but also for allowing spectators easy access and unrestricted circulation.

Fig.05 Partial section and elevation of the Colosseum

Fig.06 Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian orders

 

Classical antiquity inspired several notable architectural works. The enormous thirty-seven thousand-ton brick dome, Duomo (Fig.07), demonstrates that innovation and determination can overcome any challenge. Classical models and writings greatly influenced Brunelleschi. His research of ancient Roman architecture, particularly the Pantheon, informed the dome's design and construction. Humanism's focus on math and science was pivotal in Brunelleschi's dome construction, where advanced mathematical and engineering principles, including linear perspective and geometry, ensured stability and symmetry, reflecting humanistic ideals.

Fig.07 Florence Cathedral (1436 AD) by Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi faced a formidable challenge in constructing the dome of Florence's cathedral without traditional wooden centring or exterior buttresses. The Roman concrete craft was long-forgotten, but the city council called for a dome as wide as the Pantheon's. Brunelleschi ingeniously devised a system that minimized the use of wooden scaffolding: he employed a brick rib-lattice structure with a herringbone pattern to ensure cohesion, with a metal chain at the dome's base to counter outward expansion. Notably, his design eliminated the need for support during the initial construction phases, relying on each vertical extension to cohere with what was below. A centring platform was introduced in the final stage, suspended from the partially completed dome. The dome concluded with a large oculus and a heavy lantern, adding compression for coherence. This ingenious design incorporated a double-shell hollow dome, reducing material usage and thus making it lighter (Fig.08). The dome exhibited great sense of proportion (Fig.09 and Fig.10).

                                       a                                                                             b

Fig.08 a)Inner and outer shell are held together by giant brick arches and

b) interlocking rings of stone and wood.

Fig.09 Symmetry and Proportion of the Florence Duomo

Fig.10 plan and section of points at the midpoint of the two ribs including the verification with the theoretical circumference

In 1450, Florence's skyline was towered by Brunelleschi's iconic dome, which exemplified the Renaissance's Humanistic philosophy in church architecture. However, a parallel Renaissance style for private residences emerged in 1446. Leon Battista Alberti, renowned for his texts On Painting and On Architecture, unveiled the Palazzo Rucellai (Fig.11), marking a quintessential Renaissance departure from medieval design. His commitment to harmonious and visually pleasing design draws inspiration from Roman architecture and Humanistic principles.

The façade featured three tiers separated by horizontal entablatures known as the 'trabeated' architecture. Each level decreased in height. Alberti drew inspiration from the Roman Colosseum he observed during his 1430s travels. Throughout his strategy, Alberti emphasized geometric proportion, grace, and order (Fig.12 and Fig.13). Both structures featured decorative architectural elements without structural purpose (like the pilasters on the Rucellai façade). The criss-cross masonry pattern on the façade's base resembled opus reticulatum, an ancient Roman stonework technique. Pyramidal stones were inserted diagonally into wet concrete, serving decorative and stabilizing functions.

Fig.11 Palazzo Recullai (1451 AD) by Leon Battista Alberti

 As in the Colosseum, the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders are in the order from lowest to highest tiers. The windows' rounded arches, a defining characteristic of Roman architecture, add to the sensation of lightness that Alberti created by using smaller stones on the second and third tiers. The Palazzo Rucellai comprised four floors: the first for business, the second (piano nobile) for guests, the third for the family's private apartments, and a hidden fourth floor for servants concealed from the street. The hierarchy of the levels is the opposite of that seen in the Colosseum, where the ranks of the people decrease as the level rises. 

Fig.12 Symmetry and Proportion of Palazzo Recullai

Fig

Fig.13 Symmetry and Proportion of Palazzo Recullai

The Pazzi Chapel (Fig.14) is a product of Renaissance humanist ideals, harkening back to ancient Greece and Rome. Brunelleschi made the plan, typically based on the simple geometric forms, the circle, square and rectangles. Renaissance architects favoured the central plan based on the circle within a square, a nod to fundamental geometry and divine design principles. The architects working on the Pazzi Chapel studied classical architecture and how to use domes, arches and columns and used these features to create a rational harmony. 

Fig.14 Pazzi Chapel (1443 AD) by Filippo Brunelleschi

Fig.15 Floor plan Pazzi Chapeli

The interior perfectly executes harmonic proportion. Its standout feature is the hemispherical dome with an oculus at the centre and twelve windows between its ribs, supported by pendants, a design reminiscent of the Pantheon (Fig.16). Fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals and roundels echo Roman features such as the Arch of Constantine. The arches extend into shallow barrel vaults, creating an almost two-dimensional, architectural drawing-like effect(Fig.17). The exterior showcases smooth Tuscan columns with Corinthian capitals, maintaining a classical balance, and notable is Brunelleschi's use of more classical elements in the Chapel compared to his famous Florence Duomo.

Fig.16 Dome of the Pazzi Chapel and the Pantheon

Fig.17 Arches of the Pazzi Chapel and the Pantheon

The Renaissance witnessed a remarkable resurgence of classical antiquity in architecture, as architects and drew inspiration from the ancient Greeks and Romans. From the revival of classical orders to the development of new architectural forms and styles, the influence of classical antiquity on Renaissance architecture is undeniable. In addtion, different philosophical theories inspired or from the classical antiquity have shaped the architectural works of the Renaissance period. Moreover, the patronage of both the Church and secular elites played a pivotal role in shaping the architectural landscape of the period.

The enduring legacy of Renaissance architecture can still be seen today in the many well-preserved buildings and cityscapes across Europe and beyond. It served as a bridge between the ancient world and the modern era, and its impact on subsequent architectural movements cannot be overstated.

The works of architects like Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti exemplify the successful synthesis of classical and Renaissance architectural traditions. This resurgence of classical antiquity not only transformed the architectural landscape of the Renaissance but also laid the groundwork for the evolution of architectural styles in the subsequent centuries