Editing Renaissance architecture (section)

==== Civil ====

Through humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. This led to the building of structures such as Brunelleschi's [[Ospedale degli Innocenti|Hospital of the Innocents]] with its elegant colonnade forming a link between the charitable building and the public square, and the [[Laurentian Library]] where the collection of books established by the Medici family could be consulted by scholars.<ref name= Gardner>[[Helen Gardner (art historian)|Helen Gardner]], ''Art Through the Ages'', 5th edition, Harcourt, Brace and World.</ref>

Some major ecclesiastical building works were also commissioned, not by the church, but by guilds representing the wealth and power of the city. Brunelleschi's dome at Florence Cathedral, more than any other building, belonged to the populace because the construction of each of the eight segments was achieved by a different quarter of the city.<ref name=BF /><ref name= Gardner />
[[File:Jacopo Pontormo 055.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Cosimo de' Medici the Elder]], head of the [[Medici Bank]], sponsored civic building programs. Posthumous portrait by [[Pontormo]].]]