Rome - Papal Chancery Palazzo della Cancelleria

In the 15th century the leadership of Italy in the fields of art and culture was at first held by Florence under the Medici. Rome suffered during this period from the troubles in which the Papacy was involved (the Pope's exile at Avignon, the schism during which various Cardinals contested the Papal throne), and only gradually recovered its dominant position as the city of the Popes and the center of Christendom during the second half of the century - in spite of a further setback when the Eastern churches broke away from Papal control in 1452. The magnificent Palazzo della Cancelleria (originally the palace of Cardinal Riario, later the Papal Chancery and seat of the government of the Papal State) marked a major step in this development.

It was built between 1483 and 1513, partly with blocks of travertine from the Colosseum, for Cardinals Scarampo and Mezzarota and Raffaelle Riario. The architects were Andrea Bregno (Montecavallo) and Bramante. Fortune, however, turned against Cardinal Riario: having taken part in a conspiracy against Pope Leo X, he lost his property and the palace was confiscated. The external elevations of the palace are very characteristic of Renaissance architecture with their clean geometric lines and their uniformity of pattern; the stonework is plain and uncluttered, without superfluous ornament. The most notable feature of the interior is the large Sala Dei Cento Giorni (Hall of a Hundred Days), with paintings (1546) commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and completed by Vasari and a team of assistants in a hundred days - leading Michelangelo to make the sarcastic remark, "You can see that". The square inner courtyard, surrounded by three-storyed ranges of rooms, is also notable for the clarity and regularity of its structure.