ch rarely happens to men of great genius), at
whose expense he might be able to display the worth of his
intellect, and that mastery over difficulties which he showed in
architecture. His ability was so universal in the buildings that he
erected, that the outlines of the cornices, the shafts of the
columns, the graceful capitals, the bases, the consoles and corners,
the vaults, the staircases, the projections, and every detail of
every Order of architecture, contrived from the counsel or model of
this craftsman, never failed to astonish all who saw them. Wherefore
it appears to me that the everlasting gratitude which is due to the
ancients from the intellects that study their works, is also due
from them to the labours of Bramante; for if the Greeks were the
inventors of architecture, and the Romans their imitators, Bramante
not only imitated what he saw, with new invention, and taught it to
us, but also added very great beauty and elaboration to the art,
which we see embellished by him at the present day.

He was born at Castel Durante, in the State of Urbino, of poor but
honest parentage. In his boyhood, besides reading and writing, he
gave much attention to arithmetic; but his father, who had need that
he should earn money, perceiving that he delighted much in drawing,
applied him, when still a mere boy, to the art of painting;
whereupon Bramante gave much study to the works of Fra Bartolommeo,
otherwise called Fra Carnovale da Urbino, who painted the
panel-picture of S. Maria della Bella at Urbino. But since he always
delighted in architecture and perspective, he departed from Castel
Durante, and made his way to Lombardy, where he went now to one
city, and now to another, working as best he could, but not on
things of great cost or much credit, having as yet neither name nor
reputation. For this reason he determined at least to see some
noteworthy work, and betook himself to Milan, in order to see the
Duomo. In that city there was then living one Cesare Cesariano,
reputed to be a good geometrician and an able architect, who wrote a
commentary on Vitruvius, and, out of despair at not having received
for this the remuneration that he had expected, became so strange
that he would work no more; and, having grown almost savage, he died
more like a beast than like a human being. There was also one
Bernardino da Trevio, a Milanese, engineer and architect for the
Duomo, and an excellent draughtsman, who was held by Leonard