15 Famous Architects From the Renaissance

15 Famous Architects From the Renaissance

During the Renaissance, architects were focused to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as an integrated system. An example of the first building that used Pilasters as an integrated system was the Old Sacristy which was constructed by Filippo Brunelleschi the forefather of the Renaissance.

Most Renaissance architects from Italy took inspiration from ancient Greco- Roman ruins and early structures including Pantheon and the Colosseum in Rome. Examples of these Renaissance include Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Andrea Palladio among many others.

1. Filippo Brunelleschi

Flippo also known as Pippo was born in 1377 and passed on 15th April 1446. He is considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture. He was an Italian architect, designer, sculptor, and goldsmith. He is recognized to be the first modern engineer, planner, and sole construction supervisor.

In 1421, he received a patent making him the first person to receive it in the Western world. He gained fame after designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral. Most of his architectural works are found in Florence.

He was so proud of his works that he would abandon his sculptor work and put more attention on architectural work. Most of his works include the Foundling Hospital, Basilica of San Lorenzo, Basilica of Santo Spirito, Gazzi Chapel, Santa Maria degli Angeli, and Florence Cathedral dome.

2. Andrea Palladio

Alessandro Maganza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Andrea Palladio was born on 30th November 1508 and passed on 19th August 1580. He was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. He was greatly influenced by Roman and Greek architecture and mostly Vitruvius who is greatly considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture.

Most of his architectural works were churches, palaces, country houses, and villas. The city of Vicenza has 23 of its buildings and 24 Palladian villas of the Veneto are listed by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage site named City Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Some of his buildings include Villa Barbaro, Villa Capra “La Rotonda”, Basilica Palladiana, and Teatro Olimpico

3. Leon Battista Alberti

G. Benaglia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Leon was born on 14th February 1404 and is an Italian Renaissance humanist author, architect, artist, philosopher, and cryptographer. His first major architectural work was in 1446 for the Rucellai Palace in Florence. He later was assigned by Sigismondo Malatesta to transform the Gothic church of San Francesco in Rimini into a memorial chapel called Tempio Malatestiano.

He is the man behind designing the upper parts of the façade for the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella. He was allowed to complete De re aedificatoria, treaties on architecture. Alberti was employed to design two churches in Mantua, san Sebastiano though he did not finish them.

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4. Donato Bramante

Donato was born in 1444 and passed on 11th April 1514. He was known to be an Italian architect and painter. He is the one who introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome where his plan for St. Peter’s Basilica formed the basis of the design executed by Michelangelo.

He is appointed to construct a sanctuary over the spot where Peter was martyred. His works include Santa Maria Presso San Satiro, The Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Santa Maria delle Pace, St Peter’s Basilica, and Cortile Del Belvedere.

5. Michelangelo

Michelangelo was born on 6th March 1475 and passed on 18th February 1564. He was an Italian architect, painter, sculptor, and poet of the High Renaissance. Most of his works were inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art.

He gained fame after two of his best-known works Pieta and David which he sculpted before he even turned 30 years. Some of his works include St Peter’s Basilica, a façade for Brunelleschi’s Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, he designed the Medici Chapel and the tombs of Giuliano and Lorenzo Medici.

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6. Giuliano da Sangallo

Piero di Cosimo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Giuliano was born in 1445- 1516. He was an Italian military engineer, Italian sculptor, and architect during the Italian Renaissance. He is regarded as the favored architect of Lorenzo de Medici, his patron. He is responsible for designing a villa for Lorenzo and a monastery for Augustinians and also a church where miracles are said to have taken place.

Guiliano influenced other Renaissance figures including Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and his sons Antonio da Sangallo and Francesco da Sangallo.  His major works include Medici Villa situated at Poggio a Caiano, Santa Maria delle Carceri, Reggia in Naples, and Church of San Gallo among many others.

7. Jacopo Sansovino

Jacopo Tintoretto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jacopo Sansovino was born on 2nd July 1486. He was an Italian Renaissance architect and sculptor. Most of his known and best works are in the Piazza San Marco in Venice. The works are very important in the history of Venetian Renaissance architecture.

In 1529, he was appointed the chief architect and superintendent of properties to the Procurators of San Marco thus making him one of the most influential artists in Venice.

8. Baldassare Peruzzi

Baldassare born on 7th March 1481 was an Italian architect and painter. For so many years he is said to have worked with other Renaissance gurus such as Bramante, Raphael, and Sangallo.

He constructed new fortifications for the city of Sienese and also designed a remarkable dam on the Bruna River near Giuncarico. His most notable works include the decoration of Villa Famesina Palazzo Massimo Alle Colonne also constructed a mosaic ceiling for the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

9. Sebastiano Serlio

print by Vincenzo Raggio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sebastiano was an Italian Mannerist architect who took part in the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Sebastiano modeled a church façade it was a regularized version cleaned up and made more classical of the innovative method of providing a façade to a church with a high vaulted nave flanked by low side aisles.

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10. Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio born on 30th July 1511 was an Italian Renaissance who worked as an Architect, engineer, writer, and historian who is best known for his works The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.

He learned most of the skills from the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. He renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce. While he was in Florence he built the long passage which is called Vasari Corridor.

11. Bartolomeo Ammannati

Bartolomea was born on 18th June 1511. He was an Italian architect and sculptor. He was a well-known successful architect. In 1569 he was appointed to construct the Ponte Santa Trinita a bridge over the Amo River.

He designed a prototypic mannerist sculptural ensemble in the fountain of Neptune. His works include the bronze Palazzo Vecchio, Villa Medici, Prado Museum in Madrid, and Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.

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12. Bernardo Buontalenti

Pietro Antonio Pazzi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bernardo was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, and military engineer. He is the one who invented Italian ice cream. Throughout his life as an architect, he was employed in the design of fortifications, villas, and gardens.

He was considered one of the important architects of the Mannerist period. His first job as an architect was at the Palazzo di Bianca Cappello in Florence. He was also commissioned to construct Medici Theater, and Grand Duke Francesco 1 Medici.

13. Vincenzo Scamozzi

Domenichino, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vincenzo was born on 2nd September 1548 in Vicenza and was an Italian architect who also wrote about architecture. Vincenzo designed the Procurative Nuove. It was built as a row of official housing for the Procuratorate of San Marco.

His other works include Palazzo Godi, Library of San Marco, Villa Capra “La Rotonda”, Rocca Pisana, and Villa of Francesco Priuli among many others.

14. Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

Giacomo was born on 1st October 1507 and was one of the greatest Italian architects of 16th-century Mannerism. His greatest and known masterpieces are the Villa Farnese located at Caprarola and the Jesuits’ Church of the Gesu in Rome. 

His other known works include the Basilica of San Petronio, Villa Giulia for Pope Julius 111, Basilica of Santa Maria degeli, and Church of Santa’ Andrea in Via Flaminia among many others.

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15. Francesco di Giorgio Martini

Giovanni Battista Cecchi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Francesco was born in 1439 and was an Italian architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and writer. He was known as a visionary architectural theorist. As an architecture and sculptor, he built approximately seventy fortifications for Federico da Montefeltro, Count of Urbino, Building city walls and early examples of star-shaped fortifications.