Sangallo, Antonio da, the Younger

Sangallo, Antonio da, the Younger (1484–1546). Also known as Antonio Cordiani, he was born in Florence and became one of the most distinguished architects of the High Renaissance in Rome in the second quarter of C16 after the death of Raphael. He received his early training with his uncles Giuliano and Antonio the Elder before entering the studio of Bramante, where he worked on St Peter's. He also assisted Raphael at St Peter's and at the Villa Madama (1517–18). He became architect to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1468–1549—later Pope Paul III (1534–49)), designing his monumental palazzo in Rome from c.1514, a vast block with astylar external façades and noble cortile with an assemblage of Orders based on Antique prototypes. The palazzo was completed (1546) by Michelangelo and della Porta, and was influential, especially during the vogue for C19 Italianate architecture begun by Charles Barry. Among his other secular works the Palazzi Baldassini (c.1515–22) and Sacchetti (1542–6), both in Rome, deserve notice.

When Raphael died in 1520 da Sangallo shared responsibility for St Peter's with Peruzzi, becoming sole architect in 1536. His ideas for the building are clear from the model of 1538–43, with a rather busy multistorey façade flanked by tall towers, not executed. There is no doubt that it was aesthetically unsatisfactory, and lacked the sense of Roman grandeur implicit in the Bramante and later Michelangelo schemes. He carried out many works for fortifications in the Roman region, much ecclesiastical design (e.g. the Cesi Chapel, Santa Maria della Pace, Rome (1530)), and various schemes for the Vatican (e.g. the Pauline Chapel (1540–6)).

Bibliography

C. Frommel & N. Adams (eds.) (1994);
C. Frommel (1973);
Giovannoni (1959);
Heydenreich (1996);
Lotz (1977);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Spagnesi (ed.) (1986);
Jane Turner (1996)