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