Luciano Laurana and the “High Renaissance”

Abstract

THE importance of Luciano Laurana in the evolution of the Renaissance remains, in spite of many discussions, far from being fully and convincingly established. Celebrated in his day by Giovanni Santi as “l'architecto a tucti gli altri sopra,” neglected by the Florentine Vasari, and thus almost forgotten for three hundred years, recognized by Geymüller as the direct master of Bramante and Raphael,² he has since been put forward more than once³ as the true founder of the “High Renaissance” in architecture. For this last contention, one must. own, his palace at Urbino, hitherto advanced as the chief support, has justly been felt to provide an inadequate basis, and it gives, in any event, a scant idea of Bramante's and Raphael's debt to him. When, however, we take into account a group of works as yet insufficiently considered, ignored, or wholly unknown, then indeed we must accord Luciano a position of the greatest influence and significance.