THE GARDENS OF PAPAL ROME 
his fortunes elsewhere. Early in 15 00 he found his 
way to Rome, where he devoted the next few years to 
the careful study of classical remains. Soon his 
talents brought him into notice at the Papal Court. 
He was engaged, according to Bottari, to design the 
fountains on the Piazza of St. Peter’s, and in 1502 
built the famous Tempietto in the Franciscan convent 
on the Janiculan Hill for the “ Catholic kings,’ 
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The erection of 
this beautiful little shrine, which shows how entirely 
Bramante had assimilated the principles of classical art, 
marked a new epoch in the history of architecture and 
ensured the Urbino master’s recognition as the most 
original builder of the age. No sooner had Julius the 
Second assumed the Papal tiara than Bramante was 
summoned to carry out the new Pope’s lofty dreams 
and ordered to rebuild St. Peter’s and restore the old 
Vatican palace. Nothing daunted by the magnitude 
of these undertakings, the master, who was already 
sixty years of age, threw himself with ardour into his 
new task. On the one hand, he laid the foundations 
of the new Basilica, while on the other he prepared 
a magnificent design for the transformation of the 
Vatican. 
Before Bramante’s time little attention had been 
paid to the treatment of gardens on architectural lines, 
or the laying out of vast spaces as an harmonious 
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