Renaissance master, working in a Mannerist mode, disposed will-
fully and abruptly of classical architecture. Moreover, in the vast,
flowing stairway (the latest element of the vestibule) that protrudes
tonguelike into the room from the “mouth” of the doorway to the li-
brary, Michelangelo foreshadowed the dramatic movement of Ba-
roque architecture (see Chapter 24). With his customary trailblazing
independence of spirit, Michelangelo created an interior space that
conveyed all the strains and tensions found in his statuary and in his
painted figures. Michelangelo’s art began in the style of the 15th cen-
tury, developed into the epitome of High Renaissance art, and, at the
end, moved toward Mannerism. He was 89 when he died in 1564,
still hard at work on Saint Peter’s and other projects. Few artists,
then or since, could escape his influence.Mannerism 62122-54Michelangelo
Buonarroti,vestibule of
the Laurentian Library,
Florence, Italy, 1524–1534;
staircase, 1558–1559.
With his customary
independence of spirit,
Michelangelo, working in
a Mannerist mode in the
vestibule of the Laurentian
Library, disposed willfully
of almost all the rules of
classical architecture.the reading room) determined the narrow verticality of the ves-
tibule’s elevation and proportions. Much taller than it is wide, the
vestibule gives the impression of a vertically compressed, shaftlike
space. Anyone schooled exclusively in the classical architecture of
Bramante and the High Renaissance would have been appalled by
Michelangelo’s indifference here to classical norms in the use of the
orders and in proportion. He used columns in pairs and sank them
into the walls, where they perform no supporting function. He also
split columns in halves around corners. Elsewhere, he placed scroll
corbels on the walls beneath columns. They seem to hang from the
moldings, holding up nothing. He arbitrarily broke through pedi-
ments as well as through cornices and stringcourses. He sculpted pi-
lasters that taper downward instead of upward. In short, the High