e;
magnificent and truly full of fine invention, also so wisely
constructed that certain portions have been adopted by subsequent
builders." He reverted to Bramante's main conception of the Greek
cross, but altered the details in so many important points, both by
thickening the piers and walls, and also by complicating the internal
disposition of the chapels, that the effect would have been quite
different. The ground-plan, which is all I know of Peruzzi's project,
has always seemed to me by far the most beautiful and interesting of
those laid down for S. Peter's. It is richer, more imaginative and
suggestive, than Bramante's. The style of Bramante, in spite of its
serene simplicity, had something which might be described as shallow
clearness. In comparison with Peruzzi's style, it is what Gluck's
melody is to Mozart's. The course of public events prevented this
scheme from being carried out. First came the pontificate of Adrian
VI., so sluggish in art-industry; then the pontificate of Clement
VII., so disastrous for Italy and Rome. Many years elapsed before art
and literature recovered from the terror and the torpor of 1527.
Peruzzi indeed returned to his office at S. Peter's in 1535, but his
death followed in 1537, when Antonio da Sangallo remained master of
the situation.

Sangallo had the good sense to preserve many of Peruzzi's constructive
features, especially in the apses of the choir and transepts; but he
added a vast vestibule, which gave the church a length equal to that
of Raffaello's plan. Externally, he designed a lofty central cupola
and two flanking spires, curiously combining the Gothic spirit with
Classical elements of style. In order to fill in the huge spaces of
this edifice, he superimposed tiers of orders one above the other.
Church, cupola, and spires are built up by a succession of Vitruvian
temples, ascending from the ground into the air. The total impression
produced by the mass, as we behold it now in the great wooden model at
S. Peter's, is one of bewildering complexity. Of architectural repose
it possesses little, except what belongs to a very original and vast
conception on a colossal scale. The extent of the structure is
frittered by its multiplicity of parts. Internally, as Michelangelo
pointed out, the church would have been dark, inconvenient, and
dangerous to public morals.

VII

Whatever we may think of Michelangelo's failings as an architect,
there is no doubt that at this peri