Il capitello dorico nell'architettura di Giuliano da Sangallo

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.