Architecture of the Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance theories and examples were based off of Roman example. The renewal of the Roman era was viable in architecture but just as much so in literature as well. 

Clearly one cannot just become an architect and this profession was critical to the Renaissance. People had to be trained for hours on end in order to learn techniques, skills, and even different styles of architecture.

  A pilgrimage

to Rome to study the ancient buildings and ruins, especially the Colosseum and Pantheon, was considered essential to an architect’s training. Classical orders and architectural elements such as columns, pilasters, pediments, entablatures, arches, and domes form the vocabulary of Renaissance buildings. Vitruvius’s writings on architecture also influenced the Renaissance definition of beauty in architecture. As in the Classical world, Renaissance architecture is characterized by harmonious form, mathematical proportion, and a unit of measurement based on the human scale.

Not only did the architecture throughout the Renaissance give way to some of the most beautiful buildings but it transformed the construction of buildings from an occupation to and art form. This was in part because the architects trained as skilled humanists.

During the Renaissance, architects trained as humanists helped raise the status of their profession from skilled laborer to artist. They hoped to create structures that would appeal to both emotion and reason. Three key figures in Renaissance architecture were Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Andrea Palladio.

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