PALAZZO FARNESEAnother architectural project Michelan-
gelo took over at the request of Paul III was the construction of the
lavish private palace the pope had commissioned when he was still
Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. The future pope had selected Antonio
da Sangallo the Younger(1483–1546) to design the Palazzo Far-
nese (FIG. 22-27) in Rome. (At Antonio’s death in 1546, Michelan-
gelo assumed control of the building’s completion.) Antonio, the
youngest of a family of architects, went to Rome around 1503 and be-
came Bramante’s draftsman and assistant. He is the perfect example
of the professional architect. Indeed, his family constituted an archi-
tectural firm, often planning and drafting for other architects.
The broad, majestic front of the Palazzo Farnese asserts to the
public the exalted station of a great family. This impressive facade
encapsulates the aristocratic epoch that followed the stifling of the
nascent middle-class democracy ofEuropean cities (especially the
Italian cities) by powerful rulers heading centralized states. It is thus
significant that Paul chose to enlarge greatly the original rather
modest palace to its present form after his accession to the papacy in
1534, reflecting his ambitions both for his family and for the papacy.
Facing a spacious paved square, the facade is the very essence of
princely dignity in architecture. The quoins (rusticated building cor-
ners) and cornice firmly anchor the rectangle of the smooth front,and lines of windows (the central row with alternating triangular
and segmental pediments, in Bramante’s fashion) mark a majestic
beat across it. The window frames are not flush with the wall, as in
the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (FIG. 21-36), but project from its sur-
face, so instead of being a flat, thin plane, the facade is a spatially ac-
tive three-dimensional mass. The rusticated doorway and second-
story balcony, surmounted by the Farnese coat of arms, emphasize
the central axis and bring the design’s horizontal and vertical forces
into harmony. This centralizing feature, absent from the palaces of
Michelozzo (FIG. 21-36) and Alberti (FIG. 21-38), is the external
opening of a central corridor axis that runs through the entire build-
ing and continues in the garden beyond. Around this axis, Antonio
arranged the rooms with strict regularity.
The interior courtyard (FIG. 22-28) displays stately column-
enframed arches on the first two levels, as in the Roman Colosseum
(FIG. 10-1). On the third level, Michelangelo incorporated his
sophisticated variation on that theme (based in part on the Colos-
seum’s fourth-story Corinthian pilasters), with overlapping pilasters
replacing the weighty columns of Antonio’s design. The Palazzo Far-
nese set the standard for Italian Renaissance palaces and fully ex-
presses the classical order, regularity, simplicity, and dignity of the
High Renaissance.High and Late Renaissance 60122-28Antonio da Sangallo
the Younger,courtyard of the
Palazzo Farnese, Rome, Italy,
ca. 1517–1546. Third story and attic
by Michelangelo Buonarroti,
1546–1550.
The interior courtyard of the Palazzo
Farnese set the standard for later
Italian palaces. It fully expresses the
classical order, regularity, simplicity,
and dignity of the High Renaissance
style in architecture.22-27Antonio da Sangallo the
Yo u n g e r,Palazzo Farnese (looking
southeast), Rome, Italy, 1517–1546;
completed by Michelangelo
Buonarroti,1546–1550.
Pope Paul III’s decision to construct a
lavish private palace in Rome reflects
his ambitions for his papacy. The
facade features a rusticated central
doorway and alternating triangular
and segmental pediments.22-27A
MICHELANGELO,
Campidoglio,
Rome,
1538–1564.