The cruel criticism of Sangallo may therefore have been quite devoid of malice; and if it was as well founded as the criticism of that builder's plan for S.
Peter's, then Michelangelo stands acquitted.

Sangallo's model exists; it is so large that you can walk inside it, and compare your own impressions with the following judgment:-- "It cannot be denied that Bramante's talent as an architect was equal to that of any one from the times of the ancients until now.

He laid the first plan of S.Peter, not confused, but clear and simple, full of light and detached from surrounding buildings, so that it interfered with no part of the palace.

It was considered a very fine design, and indeed any one can see now that it is so.

All the architects who departed from Bramante's scheme, as Sangallo has done, have departed from the truth; and those who have unprejudiced eyes can observe this in his model.