Palazzo Caprini: Façade

A noteworthy design by Bramante was that of the Palazzo Caprini in the Borgo, Rome, which became the model for many 16th-century palaces. This palazzo was later acquired by Raphael (called House of Raphael; later destroyed). According to Vasari, Bramante, about 1509, had designed the architectural background for the School of Athens by Raphael, and in return, Raphael represented Bramante in the fresco in the guise of Euclid.

The appearance of the main façade is known from an etching by Antonio Lafreri and a partial sketch attributed to Andrea Palladio.

The palace had a façade with five bays and two levels, with rustication (using stucco) on the lower floor which, as often in Rome, was let out to shops. The upper floor had windows divided by double Doric columns, surmounted by a complete entablature. It was highly influential, providing a standard model for the integration of the rusticated ground floor with arched openings, characteristic of 15th-century Florentine palaces alla antica such as the Pitti Palace, with the classical orders. The decorative inclusion of large rusticated voussoirs and keystone instead of a lintel over the flat top of the lower rectangular openings in the end shop fronts was also a device with a long future.

The many buildings providing variations of the design include Somerset House in London.