Santa Maria delle Grazie

Detail of pilaster base; The prestigious project for a new eastern end (tribuna) to the church of S Maria delle Grazie, Milan, was commissioned by the Duke [Ludovico Sforza] as a mausoleum; work began on 29 March 1492. The basic design, attached to Guiniforte Solari's Late Gothic nave (1463), seems to have been Bramante's, although this has not been proved conclusively; if so, he must again have been working in conjunction with Amadeo and Dolcebuono, who are documented. The layout consists of an enormous square crossing crowned with a hemispherical dome, vast apses to left and right and a square chancel covered by a remarkable umbrella vault and with a further apse beyond. Bramante's fascination with apsidal design, which characterizes virtually all his church designs from Pavia Cathedral onwards, may here have had specific funerary associations. At S Maria delle Grazie the design was adapted to truly monumental proportions. The overall coherence of the interior, which was executed largely in terracotta and stucco, nevertheless points to Bramante as the designer, as does the handling of such details as the raising of the pilasters on to pedestals and the placing of panels in the frieze, both of which recall the rear façade of S Maria presso S Satiro. The less coherent and more ornamental exterior, which was conceived as a series of superimposed storeys, seems much less characteristic of Bramante, and he may have played little part in its design. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 1/31/2008