Belvedere Gardens

Little is known about Brambilla's life. Born in Milan, he was working in Rome as a printmaker and painter by 1575. Some of his most popular works were views of ancient and modern Rome. This view of the Belvedere Gardens and Courtyard at the Vatican is particularly important since it shows the courtyard as it was originally designed by Donato Bramante in 1505. Bramante's design offered an unobstructed prospect from the papal apartments (at left) through the length of the courtyard to the exedra, the semi-circular structure at the right of the image. This perspectival view was later blocked by the construction of a library for Pope Sixtus V in 1587-89.