Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/471

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BKAKE. 415 BRAMBACH. the worst pests which the farmer has to contend with in the south of Brazil. Pleris esculcnta, a native of Xcw Zealand, Van Dicmcn's Land, etc., has a rhizome more nutritious than that of the common brake. 'i'«o s|)e(ies, Ptcris Crctica and serrulata, are common household plants. Fossil Forms. — Xo very ancient species of Ptcris are knowTi. Some species have been described from the Miocene beds of Western America and from the Tertiarics of Europe. BBAKELONDE, brak'lond, Jocelin de. See JOCELIX DE ISltAKELOXUE. BR All A (probably akin to bream; see Bk.ize). a genus of fishes of the family Cha;- todontidse. Brama rati is common in the Medi- terranean, and occasionally found on the British shores, where it is called sea-bream and gilt- head. The genus has the body very deep and compressed, the head rather obtusely terminated, a single elongated dorsal iin, and the anal fin with a very lengthened base. The tail is forked, its points" extremely divergent. This fish is sometimes more than two feet in length. Its flesh is of exquisite flavor. See SEA-BBEAii. BBAMAH, bra'ma, Joseph (1748-1814). A practical machinist, born at Stainborough, York- shire, England. Unable to work on his father's farm on account of lameness, he was apprenticed to a carpenter and joiner, and afterwards ob- tained employment with a cabinet-maker in London, where subsequently he established him- self in business and became distinguished for the number, value, and ingenuity of his mechanical inventions, such as safety-locks and improve- ments in pumps and fire-engines, in the construc- tion of boilers for steam-engines, in the processes of making paper, in the construction of main- pipes, wheel-carriages, printing-machines, and the beer-machine used at the bar of public-houses. In 179.5 he patented his most important con- tribution to mechanics, the hydraulic press known by his name. BKAMAH'S PRESS. See IlrDEArxic Pbess. BRAMANTE, bra-man'ta, Donato ( ?I444- 1514). An Italian architect. His place of birth is unknown, but it was probably at ilonte Asdru- aldo, near Urbino. He first practiced painting under Piero della Fr.ancesca and Mantegna, and executed works in Milan and Bergamo { 1472-77) ; but he soon devoted himself entirely to architec- ture. His career falls into two main divisions — ( 1 ) the twenty-eight years of early work in Milan, 1472-99; and (2) the fifteen years of work in Rome, 1499-1.514. Each period is marked by a style so distinct as to make it seem impossible that the same master should have created both. By his Milanese works he founded the Lombard Early Renaissance, which from him is called 'Bramantesque Style.' The most important are the transept, apse, and sacristy of San Satiro (e.1480-88) ; his masterpiece in decoration and composition, the choir and dome of Santa JIaria della Grazie, with its perfect union of brick- work with details in terra-cotta and marble, and besides these, parts of the Monastery of San Ambrogio and of the Ospedale Maggiore. Out- side of Milan are the simple but masterly com- position of a facade at Abbiategrasso and the octagonal Canei)anova Church in Pavia. He es- tablished a school, as is shown by such works as the Incoronati in Lodi, and long after his de- parture from Milan his influence remained su- preme in Lombardy, as is shown by churches in Legnano, Arsizio, Canobbio, etc. At the age of fifty-five Bramante went to Rome. Hitherto he had seen the antique through the interpretations of his Renaissance predeces- sors, from Brunellcschi (q.v.) to Era Giocondo (q.v.), through such masters as Alberti (q.v.) and Laurana (q.v.). He now went for the first time to the fountainhead. The influence of the Roman monuments was so overpowering as en- tirely to transform his style — a remarkable fact, considering his age. His new manner inaugu- rated the period of the Middle Renaissance, of which he became the leader. The patronage of the Popes gave him the opportunity. Alexander VI. and Julius II. employed him on im])ortant buildings. It is necessary, however, to correct the old error that the magnificent Cancelleria Palace in Rome was by him. It was by an earlier architect, and all its numerous derivatives are indei)endent of Bramante. Bramante brought to Rome his love of dome-construction, of en- gaged cohmms and pilasters, derived from medi-

eval art, as well as a thorough knowledge of

perspective and of the engineering and con- stnictive side of his art. His own genius and eye for beauty were the media that joined these elements to the simpler, broader, and more uni- form forais of Roman architecture. He also largely adopted stone in place of brick and terra- cotta, and this was not without influence on his style. He expressed himself almost immediately in an exquisite gem, the circular tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, famous "as the first building after a lapse of 1200 years built entirely in the ancient spirit and style." Soon after came the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace, also a classic, an exact reproduction of the order of the theatre of Marcellus. This also was revolu- tionary. Both buildings gave the tone for the pure, cold style of the Sixteenth Century. Bramante was then intrusted with the plan- ning of the greatest architectural labor of the Renaissance, the reconstruction of the Vatican Palace and of Saint Peter's. His masterly con- ception was never carried out. The Cortile di Santo Damaso alone shows part of his Vatican plan, and his scheme of a Greek cross with cen- tral dome was partly set aside. His death in 1514 put both these undertakings into other hands. But during his last years he had devel- oped his latest nuxnner, as is shown in his oti palace in Rome ('Raphael's house'), and in the Palazzo di San Biagio, where the rustic work on the lower story and the engaged colunm above, with gabled windows, furnished a type that was used by Raphael, Sanmicheli, Sansovino. Palladio, and other leading architects. Bra- mante"s plans for Saint Peter's, though only part- ly carried out, were known through drawingw to all architects, and exercised an enormous in- fluence, greater than that of any actually con- structed Iiuildiiig of the Renaissance. BRAMBACH, bramljiio, K.si'.R Joseph (18;i:{19U2) . A German composer. He was born in Bonn, and was a pupil of Kerdinand Hiller. He was first violinist of the opera orchestra in Bonn, from 1847 to 1850, and musical director in that city from 1801 to 1809. His works in- clude an opera, Ariadne, and the well-known cantatas. Das eleusische Fcst (op. 32) ; Trost