Brama
a genus of spiny finned fishes belonging to Cuvier's family squamipennes, meaning scaly-finned fishes, now called chætodontidæ. It contains but one species, the brama raii, which is common in the Mediterranean. BRAMANTE D'URBINO (brä-man'té), (real name DONATO D'ANGELO), an Italian architect, born in 1444. Showing an early taste for drawing, he was brought up to the profession of a painter, but he quitted it to dedicate his talents to architecture, which he cultivated with uncommon success. He first designed and commenced in 1513, the erection of St. Peter's at Rome, carried on and finished by other architects after his death. Pope Julius II. made him superintendent of his buildings, and, under that pontiff, he formed the magnificent project of connecting the Belvidere Palace with the Vatican by means of two grand galleries carried across a valley. He built many churches, monasteries, and palaces at Rome, and in other Italian cities. He preferred the classic architecture of the Greeks, and was the instructor of Raphael in that art. Bramante painted portraits with ability, and he was skilled in music and poetry. He died in 1514.