CHAPTER IV

THE DOME OF ST. PETER’S

Bramante in Rome--His early training--Character of the Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio--Its likeness to a Roman temple of Vesta--Bramante’s project for St. Peter’s--Uncertainty as to his scheme for the whole building--His design for the great dome--Sources of his inspiration--Comparison of his dome with that of the Pantheon--Structural merits and defects--The architect’s probable intention to use a great order for the interior of the church--Michael Angelo’s appointment as architect--His scheme for the great dome--Its statical defects--Its supposed Gothic character--Comparison with the dome of Salamanca--Its illogical buttress system--Its ruptures and the alarm which they occasioned--Commission appointed to examine the fabric and report on its condition--Poleni’s opinion and his binding chains--The grandiose character of the dome--In following Brunelleschi, Michael Angelo went farther in a wrong direction--Such a scheme cannot be safely carried out without resort to extraneous means of support--The proper mode of constructing a dome settled by the ancient Roman and the Byzantine builders--Condition of the dome ignored by recent writers--The ruptures attributed by the early Italian writers to carelessness on the part of Bramante--The beauty of the dome exaggerated--Its violation of structural propriety incompatible with the highest architectural beauty 44