Editing Pope Julius II (section)

===Patronage of the arts===

{{main|Art patronage of Julius II}}

In 1484 Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere had begun negotiations to persuade [[Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua|Marquis Francesco Gonzaga]] of Mantua to allow [[Andrea Mantegna]] to come to Rome, which finally bore fruit in 1488; Mantegna was given the commission to decorate the chapel of the Belvedere for [[Pope Innocent VIII]], on which he spent two years.<ref>{{harvnb|Pastor|1902|loc=V, p. 326}}. The chapel was destroyed under Pius VI to make way for the Braccio Nuovo.</ref>

Beyond Julius II's political and military achievements, he enjoys a title to honor in his patronage of art, architecture, and literature.<ref name="Baldwin">{{cite web
| last = Baldwin| first = Robert| title = Papal Politics and Raphael's Stanza Della Segnatura as Papal Golden Age| website = Social History of Art, by Robert Baldwin |date=2010 | url = http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ARTH206-3.4.4-Baldwin-Raphael’s-Stanza-della-Segnatura-and-Papal-Politics.pdf}}</ref> He did much to improve and beautify the city.

Early in his papacy, Julius decided to revive the plan for replacing the dilapidated [[Old St. Peter's Basilica|Constantinian basilica of St. Peter's]]. The idea was not his, but originally that of [[Pope Nicholas V]], who had commissioned designs from [[Bernardo Rossellino]]. Other more pressing problems distracted the attention of Nicholas and subsequent popes, but Julius was not the sort of person to be distracted once he had settled on an idea, in this case, for the greatest building on earth, for the glory of Saint Peter and himself. In the competition for a building plan, the design of Rossellino was immediately rejected as being out of date. A second design was submitted by [[Giuliano da Sangallo]], an old friend of Julius, who had worked on several projects for him before, including the palazzo at S. Pietro in Vincoli, and who had left Rome with Julius when he fled the wrath of Alexander VI in 1495. Through Cardinal della Rovere, Sangallo had presented Charles VIII a plan for a palace, and in 1496 he had made a tour of the architectural monuments of Provence,<ref>Eugène Müntz, "Giuliano da San Gallo et Les monuments antiques du midi de la France au XV<sup>e</sup> siècle," in: {{cite book|title=Mémoires de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZhnPdnGftYC|volume=45 |date=1884 |publisher=C. Klincksieck|location=Paris|language=fr|pages=188–199}}</ref> returning to his native Florence in 1497.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gustave Clausse|title=Les San Gallo: Giuliano et Antonio (l'ancien)|url=https://archive.org/details/lessangalloarch02claugoog |date=1900 |publisher=E. Leroux|location=Paris|language=fr|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lessangalloarch02claugoog/page/n270 199]–206}}</ref> His proposals for S. Peter's, however, were not accepted despite what he believed to be a promise, and he retired in anger to Florence.<ref>James Lees-Milne, ''Saint Peter's'' (Boston: Little Brown 1967), pp. 135–139.</ref>

On 18 April 1506 Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone of the new St. Peter's Basilica for the successful architect, [[Donato Bramante]]. However, he also began the demolition of the old St. Peter's Basilica, which had stood for more than 1,100 years. He was a friend and patron of Bramante and [[Raphael]], and a patron of [[Michelangelo]]. Several of Michelangelo's greatest works (including the painting of the ceiling of the [[Sistine Chapel]]) were commissioned by Julius. In the framework of Rome's urban renewal (''Renovatio Romae''), the pope commissioned to Bramante the creation of two new straight streets respectively on the left and right bank of the Tiber: the [[Via Giulia]] and the [[Via della Lungara]].{{sfn|Bruschi|1971|}}