The Doric capital in the architecture of Giuliano da Sangallo
The attraction for the variety of forms deployed in the ancient monuments plays an important role in
the progressive development of the system of the architectural orders between the 15th and the 16th
centuries. Giuliano da Sangallo, refined observer of Roman antiquities, shows, in his research and in his
works, a passionate interest in the varietas witnessed by the ruins and the finds of classical architecture. In
particular he appears attracted by the «capitula mixta lineamentis», capitals which revealed the vitality and
the complexity of the ancient world, and legitimized a similar freedom and happiness of invention. Before
the revival of the Doric order introduced by Bramante with his Roman works, Giuliano, on the basis of
the suggestions taken from the monuments but also from the innumerable fragments, unfolds a repertoire
of possible forms, often eriched with exuberant ornamentation.
