Donate Bramante's architecture has eclipsed his painting…

Donate Bramante's architecture has eclipsed his painting skills: he knew the painters Melozzo da Forlì and Piero della Francesca well, who were interested in the rules of perspective and illusionistic features in Mantegna's painting.

Bramante was born under the name Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio, or Donato Pascuccio d'Antonio, in Fermignano near Urbino: here, in 1467 Luciano Laurana had been adding to the Palazzo Ducale an arcaded courtyard and other Renaissance features to Federico da Montefeltro's ducal palace.

Around 1474, Bramante had moved to Milan, a city with a deep Gothic architectural tradition, and built several churches in the new Antique style.

The Duke, Ludovico Sforza, had made him virtually his court architect, beginning in 1476, with commissions that culminate in the famous trompe-l'oeil choir of the church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro, executed from 1482 to 1486.

Space is limited, and Bramante makes a theatrical apse in bas-relief, combining the painterly arts of perspective with Roman details.

There is an octagonal sacristy, surmounted by a dome.