Donato Bramante

“ But no less useful to our age was Bramante, for, preserving the traces of Filippo and following in his footsteps, being also full of determination, power, genius, and knowledge, not theoretic only but extensively and thoroughly practical, he rendered the road to the acquirement of true science in architecture most secure and easy to all who followed after him. ”

“ And very fortunate was it, both for him and for us, that Bramante did meet with such a prince (for very rarely does such good fortune happen to men of great genius) , one at whose cost he was furnished with opportunities which rendered it possible for him to display the resources of the power with which he was endowed, and prove to the world that mastery over the difficulties of his art, the evidences of which are so much admired in his works. ”

“ As the flower of Bramante's life went by during his long stay in Upper Italy, it is there that his pictorial talents must be appreciated, and that his most numerous, if not his most famous fabrics, may be found. But when Lombardy became the battle-field of Italian independence, when art was there neglected and personal safety compromised, he bethought him of the monuments of antique genius still scattered over the capital of her classic times, and came to Rome in quest of improvement as well as employment. ”

“ His early training in Lombardy accustomed him to the adoption of clustered piers instead of single columns, to semicircular apses and niches, and to the free use of minor cupolas—elements of design introduced neither by Brunelleschi nor by Alberti into the Renaissance style of Florence, but which were destined to determine the future of architecture for all Italy. Nature had gifted Bramante with calm judgment and refined taste ”

“ While these matters were in progress, and the fame of Antonio was growing and spreading abroad, it happened that old age and various infirmities made Bramante a citizen of the other world; at which three architects were appointed straightway by Pope Leo for the building of S. Pietro—Raffaello da Urbino, Giuliano da San Gallo, the uncle of Antonio, and Fra Giocondo of Verona. ”

“ After his death in 1514 his design was much altered by the architects engaged to carry on the work, and in particular by, Michel Angelo. Competent judges are strongly of opinion that Bramante s designs, if carried out, would have had a much greater effect than
those which were finally adopted.
Bramante had a great influence in Italy. By his careful study of the ancient forms of art he became the real intro ducer of the so-called classical style. His own genius was bold and inventive, delighting in mass and breadth, but occasionally failing in the perfection of detail. ”

“ In the first cloister of San Pietro-a-Montorio, Bramante built a round temple constructed entirely of Travertine, than which nothing more perfectly conceived, more graceful, or more beautiful can be imagined, whether as regards arrangement, proportion, or variety: [28] and if the erection of the entire cloister, which is not finished, had been completed after a design by our architect, which may still be seen, the effect of the whole would have been much more noble than it now is. ”

“ Many interesting portraits are introduced-Bramante as the aged Archimedes, stooping over a geometrical diagram; a beautiful, fair-haired youth on the left is Francesco Maria della Rovere, duke of Urbino; and on the extreme right figures of Raphael himself and Sodoma are introduced (see fig. 5, below) . The stately building in which these groups are arranged is taken with modifications from Bramante's first design for St Peter's. ”

“ Bramante d'Urbino taught Bramantino architecture, and the pupil assisted the master in the execution of the interior of the church of San Satiro, Milan. In 1525 Bramantino was appointed architect to the court by Duke Francis (II.) Sforza, and his aid as an engineer in the defence of Milan brought him a. multitude of rewards. ”

“ On the accession of Julius II. his star rapidly rose to the zenith of his reputation. His Urbino extraction was a recommendation to the new Pontiff, which his talents fully justified, while the vast conceptions and daring energy of his Holiness found in Bramante a willing and apt minister. To raise a temple wherein the Christian world might worship the living God, was a project worthy of their united genius, and it was entertained in a manner befitting the enterprise. There, grandeur of design was seconded by resolute purpose ”

“ The remarks of the old writers on Bramante must, I think, be taken with some allowance. Their bias against him is very marked. Thus Poleni quotes Condivi, a disciple of Michael Angelo, as saying, "Bramante being, as every one knows, given to every kind of pleasure, and a great spendthrift, not even the provision given by the Pope, however much it was, sufficed him, and seeking to expedite his work, he made the walls of bad materials, and of insufficient size and strength." [25]
A great deal has been said of the beauty of St. ”

“ He felt more at home with Bernini among sculptors and with Bramante among architects than with artists of a more archaic type. Shelley, we may remember, labored under a similar heresy; to each of these poets the attractiveness of individual character overpowered the languid flavor of the age in which the artist had flourished. Ibsen's admiration of a certain overpraised monument of Italian architecture would not be worth recording but for the odd vigor with which he adds that the man who made that might have made the moon in his leisure moments. ”

“ Just think for one moment who Montague Bramleigh was, what was his station and his fortune, and then remember the interval that separated him from the Italian painter—a man of a certain ability, doubtless. Is it the most likely thing in the world that if the young Englishman fell in love with the beautiful Italian, that he would have sacrificed his whole ambition in life to his passion? Is it not far more probable, in fact, that no marriage whatever united them? Come, come, Pracontal, this is not, now at least, a matter to grow sulky over ”

“ The Bramin is of so exalted a character that he will eat no food that a man of lower caste has touched, and even to allow the shadow of the latter to fall on him would be pollution. In Southern India it was formerly considered quite justifiable for a Bramin to strike dead a low-caste man who had touched him, whether accidentally or otherwise, and in the native states of India at the present time the people of low caste are under heavy disabilities. ”

“ He bullied, oppressed, and crushed the helpless and the weak, who were avenged as often as he cowered and sneaked beneath the look of the strong and the brave. The companions and friends of such creatures as Brammel, are generally selected from the lower grades of life. ”

“ But the good Bramin assured us, that he never made a traffick of the little wisdom he had to communicate, and that the most acceptable recompense we could make him, was, to bestow what we could prudently spare upon such real objects of charity as might afterwards fall in our way:—"For mercy and benevolence, said he, are the darling attributes of heaven, and those who are most distinguished for the practice of them, bear the nearest resemblance to their Maker, and will therefore receive the largest portion of his favour both in this world, and in that which is to come." ”

“ All these considerations went far to stultify the otherwise weak and feeble Mr Brammel; when, in addition, he endeavoured to arrange in his mind the terms on which he would request the favour of a temporary loan of only (!) twenty thousand pounds, a sensation of nausea completely overpowered him, and the table, the chairs, the iron chest, swam round him like so many ships at sea. To recover from his sickness, and to curse the banking-house, every member of the same, and his own respectable parent for linking him to it, was one and the same exertion. ”

“ Haven't I as much right to bring my wife to Paris as you have? Give and take, if you please"——
"No, bless-ed," sagely and sarcastically interposed Mrs Brammel, "I ain't so rich as Mrs Allcraft; I can't dress so fine; we ain't sich gentle-folks"——
"Mr Brammel, pray let us have no more recrimination. I have met you here by the merest chance. It is my duty to speak to you at once, and very seriously, on your position. You are mistaken if you suppose that my own pleasure has brought me here; business—important, weighty business—is the sole cause, I can assure you." ”

“ The sweet echoes rang through the lily-cups to the vibrations of its fragrant petals. Soft melody of innocent life mingled with the voice of the waters. The good spirits sent by Bramah soothed the child now sleeping, and fanned its cheek with their breath, like the smoke of the welcome incense to the divine one. No eye saw the frail burden save Bramah’s, and the holy Ganges, on whose faithful bosom it reposed. ”

“ The meagre information known about James Bramston's life has been ably summarized by F. P. Lock in his introduction to The Man of Taste (ARS 171) . For our present purposes, we need only add that Bramston seems to have been acquainted with Pope, who saw The Art of Politicks before it was printed and thought it "pretty". [A] Bramston quite likely met Pope through John Caryll, whose Sussex estate, Lady-Holt, was in the neighborhood of Bramston's parishes.
The Art of Politicks, Bramston's first English poem, was published anonymously in 1729 and advertised in the Monthly Chronicle of 8 December. ”

“ Bramble appears to be mildly dictatorial, or gently critical, or sadly reproachful, you will understand that it is habit with him, and not the captiousness of old age. It was his custom to shake his head reprovingly, or to frown in a pained sort of way, or to purse his lips, or even to verbally take Mr. Trotter to task when that young man deviated,—not always accidentally,—from certain rules of deportment laid down for him to follow in his earliest efforts to be a "little gentleman." ”

“ A stormy atmosphere prevailed during the day in the house of the hospitable ladies, who were not only unused to visits from men, but could never have imagined that the ideal artist would commit himself to such extravagances. I was severely censured by grandmother and aunts as the harebrained youth who had led the honoured guest astray. Brahms left the next day, not having been very warmly pressed to prolong his visit! He had, however, given such satisfaction in high quarters that his return in the autumn for a long stay in Detmold was definitely arranged. ”

“ You see, the house is quite isolated, and no one ever by any chance passes the door."
"It must be very lonely for Miss Layard," Bramwell said, forgetting in his sympathy for the girl his own two years of absolute seclusion.
"She says, and I believe her, that she does not feel the want of company; but after to-day she will, I am afraid, dread the place. Of course, I must get some person to stay with her all the time I am out of the house. Could any one have been more helpless than she was to-day?" ”

“ We must protect ourselves. His profligacy must be checked; at all events, we must have no connexion with it. Hitherto we have honoured his drafts, and kept your name and his free from [pg 52] disgrace. I can do so no longer. We have paid his last cheque this very day. To-morrow I shall advertise publicly our determination, to honour his demands no more."
"No—no, no, Mr Allcraft," interposed old Brammel anxiously, taking every word for granted, "that must not be done—I cannot allow it; for the poor boy's sake, that determination must not be made at present. I am sure he will reform at last. ”

“ He assented moodily, so we went to the casino and played the game my way, but not entirely my way, for at the very worst possible moments Dunford would introduce variations of his own, with the inevitable consequence that in half-an-hour he was as penniless as I was.
"I wish to Peter that I had never met you," he remarked ill-temperedly as we went out. "I had kept back enough to carry me to Newmarket. What on earth are we going to do now?"
The man was boorish, but I passed it with a glancing jest; after all, it had been his money. ”

“ By a volition, an act of the will, Brahm imagines a universe, and it exists, not in fact, be it remembered, but in the imagination of Brahm. This imagination is the universe. Brahm, by the power of his will, realizes his idea; yet it is not real: it is ideal, illusory, non-existent. The individuals of this illusory universe, unconscious of the truth that they are ideal creations of this volition, suppose themselves to be separate existences. This is folly, darkness, and deception. To discover that all separate and material existence is maya—illusion—is true wisdom. ”

“ Leave me, and try some younger, less disillusionised man."
"There is no other man who will serve my purpose." Sir John stared hard, as well he might: others had not been in the habit of appealing to him to serve their purposes. "You are the natural leader of our classes. You alone can inspire them; you alone have the authority to call them to any effort."
"I have been invited to lead a hundred forlorn hopes," replied Sir John. "A dozen years—nine years—aye, perhaps even six years ago any one of them might have been sufficient. Now—I have my earwigs. Good night, Mr Salt." ”

“ Everything was just beginning to get into shape. I had just bought a cinema for the men; our gunners were working better every day; there was a chance of my becoming a general, and Dundas was teaching me jazz. And then the politicians poke their noses in and go and make peace, and Clemenceau demobs Aurelle! Life's just one damned thing after another!"
"Wee, Messiou," sighed General Bramble, "it's a pity to see you leaving us. Can't you stay another week?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm to be demobbed with the third batch, and I've got my warrant in my pocket. ”