ANTONIO DA SANGALLO

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484 – 1546), was one of the leaders of the Roman Renaissance.

Arriving in Rome when he was not yet twenty years old, learned to work with his uncle Giuliano, who introduced him to Donato Bramante, who became his master.

His first Roman work is the church of Santa Maria di Loreto, begun in 1507.

Santa Maria di Loreto - click to enlarge

This church in addition to being beautiful shows a brilliant originality, the base is a cube on which rests a large octagonal drum, holding the ribbed dome. The lantern, known in Rome as the "Cage of Crickets", was built at the end of '500 by Giacomo del Duca .

Around 1514 Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III, appointed him to the construction of the family palace, to which Antonio worked until his death.

For the harmony and proportions Palazzo Farnese is considered the most beautiful of Roman palaces. The courtyard reflects the style of the Colosseum, consisting of arches on pillars of the different orders: Doric, Ionic and Composite, as Bramante had reworked in the courtyard of Santa Maria della Pace.

While working at the Palazzo Farnese, Pope Leo X de 'Medici appointed him coadjutor of Raphael in the Fabbric of San Pietro. In those same years (1516 ), he built for the jurist Melchiorre Baldassini the eponymous and famous palace.

Palazzo Baldassini - click to enlarge

When Raphael came to death, he was appointed chief architect of St. Peter's Fabric and had as coadjutor Baldassarre Peruzzi. Faithful to the Raphael design, based on a Latin cross plan, for aesthetic reasons he raised the floor, below which there were obtained the " Vatican Grottoes", while the lower level is the Vatican necropolis with the tomb of Peter.
Foreseeing that he could not see the end of the work, Antonio leaved a large wooden model of the basilica as well as he had planned.

His other Roman works are: the façade of the Old Mint, the interior of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, later built by Giacomo della Porta, the church of Santa Maria in Monserrato, the Chapel of the Choir in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Santo Spirito in Sassia and Palazzo Sacchetti.

The façade of the Old Mint - click to enlarge

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