Filippo Brunelleschi

(b. Florence, Italy 1377; d. Florence, Italy 1446)

Filippo Brunelleschi was born in Florence in 1377. He began his training in Florence as an apprentice goldsmith, gaining status as a master in 1404. He was active as a sculptor for most of his life.

Brunelleschi began his architectural career in 1404 when he acted as an advisor for the Santa Maria Novella, but his involvement with the cupola for the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence marked his first foray as a practicing architect. He worked on this project off and on from 1417 until 1434. All of Brunelleschi's works indicate that he possessed inventiveness as both an engineer and as an architect.

Brunelleschi was the first architect to employ mathematical perspective to redefine Gothic and Romanesque space and to establish new rules of proportioning and symmetry. Although Brunelleschi was considered the main initiator of stylistic changes in Renaissance architecture, critics no longer consider him the "Father of the Renaissance".

Brunelleschi died in Florence in 1446.

Very little is known about the early life of Brunelleschi; the only sources are Antonio Manetti and Giorgio Vasari.[3] According to these sources, Filippo's father was Brunellesco di Lippo, a lawyer, and his mother was Giuliana Spini. Filippo was the middle of their three children. The young Filippo was given a literary and mathematical education intended to enable him to follow in the footsteps of his father, a civil servant. Being artistically inclined, however, Filippo enrolled in the Arte della Seta, the Silkmakers' Guild, which included goldsmiths, metalworkers, and bronze workers. He became a master goldsmith in 1398. It was thus not a coincidence that his first important commission, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, came from the same guild to which he belonged.[4]

In 1401, Brunelleschi entered a competition to design a new set of bronze doors for the baptistery in Florence. Along with another young goldsmith, Lorenzo Ghiberti, he produced a gilded bronze panel, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. His entry made reference to a classical statue, known as the 'thorn puller', whilst Ghiberti used a naked torso for his figure of Isaac. In 1403, Ghiberti was announced the victor, largely because of his superior technical skill: his panel showed a more sophisticated knowledge of bronze-casting; it was completed in one single piece. Brunelleschi's piece, by contrast, consisted of numerous pieces bolted to the back plate. Ghiberti went on to complete a second set of bronze doors for the baptistery, whose beauty Michelangelo extolled a hundred years later, saying "surely these must be the "Gates of Paradise".[5]

[edit] As an architect

There is little biographical information about Brunelleschi's life to explain his transition from goldsmith to builder and, no less importantly, from his training in the gothic or medieval manner to the new classicism in architecture and urbanism that we now loosely call the Renaissance and of which Brunelleschi is considered the seminal figure. By 1400 there emerged an interest in humanitas which contrasted with the formalism of the medieval period, but initially this new interest in Roman antiquity was restricted to a few scholars, writers and philosophers; it did not at first influence the visual arts. Apparently it was in this period (1402–1404) that Brunelleschi and his friend Donatello visited Rome to study the ancient Roman ruins. Donatello, like Brunelleschi, had received his training in a goldsmith's workshop, and had then worked in Ghiberti's studio. Although in previous decades the writers and philosophers had discussed the glories of ancient Rome, it seems that until Brunelleschi and Donatello made their journey, no-one had studied the physical fabric of these ruins in any great detail. They gained inspiration too from ancient Roman authors, especially Vitruvius whose De Architectura provided an intellectual framework for the standing structures still visible.

[edit] Commissions

Brunelleschi's first architectural commission was the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419–ca.1445), or Foundling Hospital. Its long loggia would have been a rare sight in the tight and curving streets of Florence, not to mention its impressive arches, each about 8 m high. The building was dignified and sober; there were no displays of fine marble and decorative inlays.[6] It was also the first building in Florence to make clear reference—in its columns and capitals—to classical antiquity.

Soon other commissions came, such as the Ridolfi Chapel in the church of San Jacopo sopr'Arno, now lost, and the Barbadori Chapel in Santa Trinita, also modified since its building. For both Brunelleschi devised elements already used in the Ospedale degli Innocenti, and which will also use in the Pazzi Chapel and the Sagrestia Vecchia; at the same time he used such smaller works as a sort of feasibility tests for his most famous work, the dome of the Cathedral of Florence.

Santa Maria del Fiore was the new cathedral of the city, and by 1418 the dome had yet to be defined. When the building was designed in the previous century, no one had any idea about how such a dome was to be built, given that it was to be even larger than the

Pantheon's dome in Rome and that no dome of that size had been built since antiquity. Because buttresses were forbidden by the city fathers, and clearly was impossible to obtain rafters for scaffolding long and strong enough (and in sufficient quantity) for the task, it was unclear how a dome of that size could be built, or just avoid collapse. It must be considered also that the stresses of compression were not clearly understood at the time, and the mortars used in the periods would only set after several days, keeping the strain on the scaffolding for a very long time.[7] In 1419, the Arte della Lana, the wool merchants' guild, held a competition to solve the problem. The two main competitors were Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, with Brunelleschi winning and receiving the commission.

The competition consisted of the great architects attempting to stand an egg upright on a piece of marble. None could do it but Brunelleschi, who, according to Vasari [8] :

...giving one end a blow on the flat piece of marble, made it stand upright...The architects protested that they could have done the same; but Filippo answered, laughing, that they could have made the dome, if they had seen his design.

The dome, the lantern (built 1446–ca.1461) and the exedrae (built 1439-1445) would occupy most of Brunelleschi’s life.[9] Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical and mathematical genius.[10] Brunelleschi used more than 4 million bricks in the construction of the dome. He invented a new hoisting machine for raising the masonry needed for the dome, a task no doubt inspired by republication of Vitrivius' De Architectura, which describes Roman machines used in the first century AD to build large structures such as the Pantheon and the Baths of Diocletian, structures still standing which he would have seen for himself. He also issued one of the first patents for the hoist in an attempt to prevent theft of his ideas. Brunelleschi was granted the first modern patent for his invention of a river transport vessel.[11]

Of the two churches that Brunelleschi designed, the Basilica of San Lorenzo, (1419-1480s) and Santo Spirito (1441–1481), both of which are considered landmarks in Renaissance architecture, the latter is seen as conforming most closely to his ideas.

[edit] Other work

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Brunelleschi's interests extended to mathematics and engineering and the study of ancient invented hydraulic machinery and elaborate clockwork, none of which survives.

Brunelleschi also designed fortifications used by Florence in its military struggles against Pisa and Siena. In 1424, he did work in Lastra a Signa, a village protecting the route to Pisa, and in 1431 he did work to the south, on the walls of the village of Staggia. The latter walls are still preserved, but whether these are specifically by Brunelleschi is uncertain.

He also had a brief appearance in the world of shipmaking, when, in 1427, he built a monstrous ship called Il Badalone to transport marble to Florence from Pisa up the Arno River. The ship sank on its first voyage, along with a sizable chunk of Brunelleschi's personal fortune.

Besides accomplishments in architecture, Brunelleschi is also credited with inventing one-point linear perspective which revolutionized painting and allowed for naturalistic styles to develop as the Renaissance digressed from the stylized figures of medieval art. In addition, he was somewhat involved in urban planning: he strategically positioned several of his buildings in relation to the nearby squares and streets for "maximum visibility". For example, demolitions in front of San Lorenzo were approved in 1433 in order to create a piazza facing the church. At Santo Spirito, he suggested that the façade be turned either towards the Arno so travelers would see it, or to the north, to face a large, prospective piazza.

[edit] Invention of linear perspective

The first known paintings in geometric optical linear perspective were made by Brunelleschi about 1425. His biographer, Antonio Manetti, described this famous experiment in which Brunelleschi painted two panels; the first of the Florentine Baptistery as viewed frontally from the western portal of the unfinished cathedral, and second the Palazzo Vecchio as seen obliquely from its northwest corner.

The first Baptistery panel was constructed with a hole drilled through the centric vanishing point. Curiously, Brunelleschi intended that it only be observed by the viewer holding the unpainted back of the picture against his/her eye with one hand, and a mirror in the other hand facing and reflecting the painted side. In other words, Brunelleschi wanted his new perspective "realism" to be tested not by comparing the painted image to the actual Baptistery but to its reflection in a mirror according to the Euclidean laws of geometric

optics. This feat showed artists for the first time how they might paint their images, no longer merely as flat two-dimensional shapes, but looking more like three-dimensional volumes just as mirrors reflect them. Unfortunately, both panels have since been lost.[12]

Soon after, linear perspective as a novel artistic tool spread not only in Italy but throughout western Europe, and quickly became standard studio practice up to and including present time.

[edit] Theatrical machinery

Tomb

Another of Brunelleschi’s activities was the designing of the machinery in churches for theatrical, religious performances that re-enacted Biblical miracle stories. Contrivances were created by which characters and angels were made to fly through the air in the midst of spectacular explosions of lights and fireworks. These events took place during state and ecclesiastical visits. Though it is not known for certain how many of these Brunelleschi designed, but it seems that at least one, for the church of S. Felice, is confirmed in the records.[4]

[edit] Death

Brunelleschi's body lies in the crypt of the Cathedral of Florence.

[edit] Principal works

The principal buildings and works designed by Brunelleschi or which included his involvement:

Dome of the Cathedral of Florence, (1419–1436) Ospedale degli Innocenti , (1419–ca.1445) Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze , (1419–1480s) Palazzo di Parte Guelfa, (1420s–1445) Sagrestia Vecchia , or Old Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, (1421–1440) Santa Maria degli Angeli : unfinished, (begun 1434) The lantern of the Florence Cathedral, (1436–ca.1450) The exedrae of the Florence Cathedral, (1439–1445) Santo Spirito di Firenze , (1441–1481) Pazzi Chapel , (1441–1460s)

Florence CathedralFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Florence Cathedral

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church (Duomo) of Florence, Italy, begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival facade by Emilio De Fabris.

The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. The three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting the region of Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.

The cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, whose archbishop is currently Giuseppe Betori.

Contents

[hide]

1 History 2 Exterior

o 2.1 Plan and structure o 2.2 Dome o 2.3 Façade

3 Main portal 4 Interior 5 Crypt 6 Other burials 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

[edit] History

Main article: Santa Reparata, Florence

Florence Cathedral as it appears in a fresco by Andrea di Bonaiuto, painted in the 1390s, before the commencement of the dome

The Cathedral

Procession outside the cathedral during the 18th century

The Florence Cathedral and Baptistery of St. John from Piazza del Duomo

Giotto's bell tower (campanile)

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was built on the site of an earlier cathedral dedicated to Santa Reparata.[1][2] The ancient building, founded in the early 5th century, and having undergone many repairs, was crumbling with age as attested in the 14th century Nuova Cronica of Giovanni Villani,[3] and was no longer large enough to serve the growing population of the city.[3] Other major Tuscan cities had undertaken ambitious reconstructions of their cathedrals during the Late Medieval period, as seen at Pisa and particularly Siena where the enormous proposed extensions were never completed.

The new church was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and approved by city council in 1294. Arnolfo di Cambio was also architect of the church of Santa Croce and the Palazzo Vecchio. He designed three wide naves ending under the octagonal dome, with the middle nave covering the area of Santa Reparata. The first stone was laid on September 9, 1296 by Cardinal Valeriana, the first papal legate ever sent to Florence. The building of this vast project was to last 170 years, the collective efforts of several generations and Arnolfo's plan for the eastern end, although maintained in concept, was greatly expanded in size.

After Arnolfo died in 1302, work on the cathedral slowed for the following thirty years. The project obtained new impetus, when the relics of San Zenobius were discovered in 1330 in Santa Reparata. In 1331, the Arte della Lana (Guild of Wool Merchants) took over exclusive patronage for the construction of the cathedral and in 1334 appointed Giotto to oversee the work. Assisted by Andrea Pisano, Giotto continued along di Cambio's design. His major accomplishment was the building of the campanile. When Giotto died in 1337, Andrea Pisano continued the building until work was again halted due to the Black Plague in 1348.

In 1349 work resumed on the cathedral under a series of architects, commencing with Francesco Talenti, who finished the campanile and enlarged the overall project to include the apse and the side chapels. In 1359 Talenti was succeeded by Giovanni di Lapo Ghini (1360–1369) who divided the center nave in four square bays. Other architects were Alberto Arnoldi, Giovanni d'Ambrogio, Neri di Fioravante and Orcagna. By 1375 the old church Santa Reparata was pulled down. The nave was finished by 1380, and by 1418 only the dome remained incomplete.

In 1419, the Arte della Lana held a structural design competition for the dome. The two main competitors were Lorenzo Ghiberti (famous for his work on the "Gates of Paradise" doors at the Baptistery) and Filippo Brunelleschi who was supported by Cosimo de Medici, with Brunelleschi winning and receiving the commission.[4]

Ghiberti, appointed coadjutator, was drawing a salary equal to Brunelleschi's and would potentially earn equal credit, while spending most of his time on other projects. When Brunelleschi became ill, or feigned illness, the project was briefly in the hands of Ghiberti. But Ghiberti soon had to admit that the whole project was beyond him. In 1423 Brunelleschi was back in charge and took over sole responsibility.[5]

Work started on the dome in 1420 and was completed in 1436. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV on March 25, 1436 (the first day of the year according to the Florentine calendar). It was the first 'octagonal' dome in history to be built without a wooden supporting frame (The Roman Pantheon, a circular dome, was built in 117–128 A.D. with support structures). It was one of the most impressive projects of the Renaissance. During the consecration service in 1436, Guillaume Dufay's similarly unique motet Nuper rosarum flores was performed. The structure of this motet was strongly influenced by the structure of the dome.

The decoration of the exterior of the cathedral, begun in the 14th century, was not completed until 1887 when the polychrome marble facade was completed to the design of Emilio De Fabris. The floor of the church was laid in marble tiles in the 16th century.

The exterior walls are faced in alternate vertical and horizontal bands of polychrome marble from Carrara (white), Prato (green), Siena (red), Lavenza and a few other places. These marble bands had to repeat the already existing bands on the walls of the earlier adjacent baptistery the Battistero di San Giovanni and Giotto's Bell Tower. There are two lateral doors, the Doors of the Canonici (south side) and the Door of the Mandorla (north side) with works of art of Nanni di Banco, Donatello, and Jacopo della Quercia. The six lateral windows, notable for their delicate tracery and ornaments, are separated by pilasters. Only the four windows closest to the transept admit light; the other two are merely ornamental. The clerestory windows are round, a common feature in Italian Gothic.

During its long history, this cathedral has been the seat of the Council of Florence (1439), heard the preachings of Girolamo Savonarola and witnessed the murder of Giuliano di Piero de' Medici on Sunday, 26 April 1478 (with Lorenzo Il Magnifico barely escaping death) in the Pazzi conspiracy.

[edit] Exterior

Plan of the church with various extension phases

[edit] Plan and structure

Florence Cathedral is built as a basilica, having a wide central nave of four square bays, with an aisle on either side. The chancel and transepts are of identical polygonal plan, separated by two smaller polygonal chapels. The whole plan forms a Latin cross. The nave and aisles are separated by wide pointed Gothic arches resting on composite piers.

The dimensions of the building are enormous: length 153 metres (502 ft), width 38 metres (124 ft), width at the crossing 90 metres (295 ft). The height of the arches in the aisles is 23 metres (75 ft). The height from pavement to the opening of the lantern in the dome is also 90 metres (295 ft).

[edit] Dome

Section of the dome of Florence Cathedral

The dome

Dome seen from the Bell Tower

By the beginning of the fifteenth century, after a hundred years of construction, the structure was still missing its dome. The basic features of the dome had been designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. His brick model, 4.6 metres (15 ft) high 9.2 metres (30 ft)

long, was standing in a side isle of the unfinished building, and had long ago become sacrosanct.[6] It called for an octagonal dome higher and wider than any that had ever been built, with no external buttresses to keep it from spreading and falling under its own weight.

The Cathedral viewed from the cliffs over looking Florence

The commitment to reject traditional Gothic buttresses had been made when Neri di Fioravante's model was chosen over a competing one by Giovanni di Lapo Ghini.[7] That architectural choice, in 1367, was one of the first events of the Italian Renaissance, marking a break with the Medieval Gothic style and a return to the classic Mediterranean dome. Italian architects regarded Gothic flying buttresses as ugly makeshifts, in addition to being a style favored by central Italy's traditional enemies to the north.[8] Neri's model depicted a massive inner dome, open at the top to admit light, like Rome's Pantheon, but enclosed in a thinner outer shell, partly supported by the inner dome, to keep out the weather. It was to stand on an unbuttressed octagonal drum. Neri's dome would need an internal defense against spreading (hoop stress), but none had yet been designed.

The building of such a masonry dome posed many technical problems. Brunelleschi looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for which had long since been forgotten. A wooden form had held the Pantheon dome aloft while its concrete set, but for the height and breadth of the dome designed by Neri, starting 52 metres (171 ft) above the floor and spanning 44 metres (144 ft), there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build the scaffolding and forms.[9] Brunelleschi chose to follow such design and employed a double shell, made of sandstone and marble. Brunelleschi would have to build the dome out of bricks, due to its light weight compared to stone and easier to form, and with nothing under it during construction. To illustrate his proposed structural plan, he constructed a wooden and brick model with the help of Donatello and Nanni di Banco and still displayed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The model served as a guide for the craftsmen, but was intentionally incomplete, so as to ensure Brunelleschi's control over the construction.

Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious. The spreading problem was solved by a set of four internal horizontal stone and iron chains, serving as barrel hoops, embedded within the inner dome: one each at the top and bottom, with the remaining two evenly spaced between them. A fifth chain, made of wood, was placed between the first and second of the stone chains. Since the dome was octagonal rather than round, a simple chain, squeezing the dome like a barrel hoop, would have put all its pressure on the eight corners of the dome. The chains needed to be rigid octagons, stiff enough to hold their shape, so as not to deform the dome as they held it together.

Each of Brunelleschi's stone chains was built like an octagonal railroad track with parallel rails and cross ties, all made of sandstone beams 43 centimetres (17 in) in diameter and no more than 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) long. The rails were connected end-to-end with lead-glazed iron splices. The cross ties and rails were notched together and then covered with the bricks and mortar of the inner dome. The cross ties of the bottom chain can be seen protruding from the drum at the base of the dome. The others are hidden. Each stone chain was supposed to be reinforced with a standard iron chain made of interlocking links, but a magnetic survey conducted in the 1970s failed to detect any evidence of iron chains, which if they exist are deeply embedded in the thick masonry walls. He was also able to accomplish this by setting vertical "ribs" on the corners of the octagon curving towards the center point. The ribs had slits, where platforms could be erected out of and work could progressively continue as they worked up,a system for scaffolding. [10]

A circular masonry dome, such as that of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul can be built without supports, called centering, because each course of bricks is a horizontal arch that resists compression. In Florence, the octagonal inner dome was thick enough for an imaginary circle to be embedded in it at each level, a feature that would hold the dome up eventually, but could not hold the bricks in place while the mortar was still wet. Brunelleschi used a herringbone brick pattern to transfer the weight of the freshly laid bricks to the nearest vertical ribs of the non-circular dome.[11]

The outer dome was not thick enough to contain embedded horizontal circles, being only 60 centimetres (2 ft) thick at the base and 30 centimetres (1 ft) thick at the top. To create such circles, Brunelleschi thickened the outer dome at the inside of its corners at nine different elevations, creating nine masonry rings, which can be observed today from the space between the two domes. To counteract hoop stress, the outer dome relies entirely on its attachment to the inner dome at its base; it has no embedded chains.[12]

A modern understanding of physical laws and the mathematical tools for calculating stresses was centuries into the future. Brunelleschi, like all cathedral builders, had to rely on intuition and whatever he could learn from the large scale models he built. To lift 37,000 tons of material, including over 4 million bricks, he invented hoisting machines and lewissons for hoisting large stones. These specially designed machines and his structural innovations were Brunelleschi's chief contribution to architecture. Although he was executing an aesthetic plan made half a century earlier, it is his name, rather than Neri's, that is commonly associated with the dome.

Brunelleschi's ability to crown the dome with a lantern was questioned and he had to undergo another competition. He was declared the winner over his competitors Lorenzo Ghiberti and Antonio Ciaccheri. His design was for an octagonal lantern with eight radiating buttresses and eight high arched windows (now on display in the Museum Opera del Duomo). Construction of the lantern was begun a few months before his death in 1446. Then, for 15 years, little progress was possible, due to alterations by several architects. The lantern was finally completed by Brunelleschi's friend Michelozzo in 1461. The conical roof was crowned with a gilt copper ball and cross, containing holy relics, by Verrocchio in 1469. This brings the total height of the dome and lantern to 114.5 metres (375 ft). This copper ball was struck by lightning on 17 July 1600 and fell down. It was replaced by an even larger one two years later.

The commission for this bronze ball [atop the lantern] went to the sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio, in whose workshop there was at this time a young apprentice named Leonardo da Vinci. Fascinated by Filippo's [Brunelleschi's] machines, which Verrocchio used to hoist the ball, Leonardo made a series of sketches of them and, as a result, is often given credit for their invention.[13]

Leonardo might have also participated in the design of the bronze ball, as stated in the G manuscript of Paris "Remember the way we soldered the ball of Santa Maria del Fiore".[14]

The decorations of the drum gallery by Baccio d'Agnolo were never finished after being disapproved by no one less than Michelangelo.

A huge statue of Brunelleschi now sits outside the Palazzo dei Canonici in the Piazza del Duomo, looking thoughtfully up towards his greatest achievement, the dome that would forever dominate the panorama of Florence. It is still the largest masonry dome in the world.[15]

Further information: List of largest domes in the world

The building of the cathedral had started in 1296 with the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was completed in 1469 with the placing of Verrochio's copper ball atop the lantern. But the façade was still unfinished and would remain so until the nineteenth century.

Ospedale degli InnocentiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence

The Ospedale degli Innocenti ('Hospital of the Innocents', also known in Italian as Lo Spedale degli Innocenti), was a children's orphanage in Florence, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi [1] [2] , who received the commission in 1419. It is regarded as a notable example of early Italian Renaissance architecture. The hospital, which features a nine bay loggia facing the Piazza SS. Annunziata, was built and managed by the "Arte della Seta" or Silk Guild of Florence.[3] That guild was one of the wealthiest in the city and, like most guilds, took upon itself philanthropic duties.

The façade is made up of nine semicircular arches springing from columns of the Composite order. The semicircular windows brings the building down, earthbound and is a revival of the classical style, no longer a pointed arch. In the spandrels of the arches there are glazed blue terracotta roundels with reliefs of babies suggesting the function of the building. There is an emphasis on the horizontal because the building is longer than it is tall. Above each semicircular arch is a tabernacle window (a rectangular window with a triangular pediment on the top).

The clean and clear sense of proportion is reflected in the building. The height of the columns is the same width of the intercolumniation and the width of the arcade is equal to the height of the column, making each bay a cube. The simple proportions of the building reflect a new age, of secular education and a sense of great order and clarity. Also half the height of the column is the height of the entablature, which is appropriate for a clear minded society.

Children were sometimes abandoned in a basin which was located at the front portico. However, this basin was removed in 1660 and replaced by a wheel for secret refuge.[3] There was a door with a special rotating horizontal wheel that brought the baby into the building without the parent being seen. This allowed people to leave their babies, anonymously, to be cared for by the orphanage. This system was in operation until the hospital's closure in 1875.[3] Today the building houses a small museum of Renaissance art.

Contents

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1 Building History 2 Design 3 The Tondi 4 Piazza Santissima Annunziata 5 Vincenzio Borghini as Administrator of the Ospedale degli Innocenti 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Building History

The Foundling Hospital was constructed in several phases and only the first phase (1419-1427) was under Brunelleschi’s direct supervision[3]. Later phases added the attic story (1439), but omitted the pilasters that Brunelleschi seems to have envisioned, and expanded the building by one bay to the south (1430). The vaulted passageway in the bay to the left of the loggia was also added later. Since the loggia was started before the hospital was begun, the hospital was not formally opened until 1445.[4]

[edit] Design

Brunelleschi's design was based on Classical Roman, Italian Romanesque and late Gothic architecture.[2] The loggia was a well known building type, such as the Loggia dei Lanzi. But the use of round columns with classically correct capitals, in this case of the Composite Order, in conjunction with a dosserets (or impost blocks) was novel. So too, the circular arches and the segmented spherical domes behind them.[5] The architectural elements were also all articulated in grey stone and set off against the white of the walls. This motif came to be known as pietra serena (Italian: dark stone). Also novel was the proportional logic. The heights of the columns, for example, was not arbitrary. If a horizontal line is drawn along the tops of the columns, a square is created out of the height of the column and the distance from one column to the next. This desire for regularity and geometric order was to become an important element in Renaissance architecture.[6]

[edit] The Tondi

Above each column is a ceramic tondo. These were originally meant by Brunelleschi to be blank concavities, but ca. 1490, Andrea della Robbia was commissioned to fill them in.[7] The design features a baby in swaddling clothes on a blue wheel, indicative of the horizontal wheel in the wall where babies could be rotated into the interior. A few of the tondi are still the original ones, but some are nineteenth century copies.

The insignia of the American Academy of Pediatrics is based on one of the tondi.[3]

[edit] Piazza Santissima Annunziata

The Foundling Hospital defines the eastern side of the Piazza Santissima Annunziata, the other two principle facades of which were built later to imitate the Brunelleschi’s loggia. The piazza was not designed by Brunelleschi, as is sometimes reported in guide books. The west façade, the Loggia dei Servi di Maria, was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder in the 1520s. It was built for the mendicant order, the Servi di Maria, but is today a hotel. The north side of the piazza is defined by the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, the Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation. Though the building is much older, the facade was added in 1601 by the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini. The equestrian statue of Ferdinand I of Tuscany was made by the noted sculptor, Giambologna (pseudonym for Jean de Boulogne) and placed there in 1608. The fountain was added in 1640.

[edit] Vincenzio Borghini as Administrator of the Ospedale degli Innocenti

The Ospedale degli Innocenti was a charity institution that was responsible for the welfare of abandoned children. It represented social and humanistic views of Florence during the early Renaissance. However, it can also explain how investors used Florence’s charitable institutions as savings banks. A relationship between charity and Italian city-states can be depicted by using the Innocenti as a case study. Furthermore, the hospital still remains as a significant place with a statement of compassion and care besides its unpleasant downfalls.

In 1552, Don Vincenzio Borghini was appointed spedalingo, or superintendent, of the Innocenti. He was employed by Cosimo de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany. Borghini’s education as a Benedictine monk molded the lives of children in the hospital.

The Innocenti was responsible for the care of abandoned children and provided them with the ability to rejoin society. The first infant abandoned was on February 5, 1445, ten days after opening.[3] Babies were received, wet nursed and weaned. Masters were hired to teach reading and writing to boys. Boys were taught various skills according to their abilities. Girls were considered to be the weaker sex, fragile and most vulnerable. They were sent to mistresses who taught them how to sew, cook and other occupations expected for women. The hospital provided dowries for the girls and they had the option of getting married or become nuns. In the late 1520s, an extension was built to the south along the Via de’Fibbiai. This was intentionally for women who did not marry or become a nun. [8]

Borghini, after five months of becoming superintendent, wanted to get hold of the hospital’s operai to eliminate wet nurses who defrauded the hospital.[8] One of the main issues was that wet nursing increased the number of pregnancy. Some would resort to feeding the infants with cow or goat’s milk. Mothers would sometimes abandon their own children to feed a child from the hospital. Others would even abandon their own children at the Innocenti, get hired as a wet nurse and end up feeding their own child with pay. There was also continuation of salary from the hospital after the death of an infant.

There were three major years of great famine, 1556-57, 67 and 1569-70.[8] This was due to an imbalance between population and agricultural capacity. It was very difficult to reduce cost while balancing high admissions. During the sixteenth century, an increase in population impacted the Innocenti as well as high wheat prices. In 1557, there were also problems with maintaining supplies of grain since flooding occurred in the Innocenti's storehouse.[8]

The hospital suffered from financial debt. The main problem was trying to balance expenses and revenues. Cosimo and Francesco had an unstable organization between private charity and finance and constantly over withdrew money. They had used the Innocenti as their personal charitable institution savings banks. The hospital’s debt increased from three hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand lire however, its annual operating expenses were minimal (one hundred thousand lire).[8] Seventy-five percent of the hospital’s debts were amounts owed to investors.[8]

The consequences of the hospital’s debt led to the dismissal of girls and boys. Borghini requested that the children be given to high status people of good reputation. Boys were dismissed at the age of eighteen. Girls were tried to be placed in noble families with increased dowries for those who wanted to marry. Women who did not become nuns nor married were trained for trade and manual labor. However, due to overcrowding, some were turned out from the hospital forcing them to become prostitutes. Additional problems such as domestic violence and abusive relationships also occurred.

Basilica of San Lorenzo, FlorenceFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Basilica

Interior looking towards the high altar.

The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence; when it was consecrated in 393 [1] it stood outside the city walls. For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to Santa Reparata. San Lorenzo was also the parish church of the Medici family. In 1419, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to finance a new church to replace the eleventh-century Romanesque rebuilding. Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance architect of the first half of the fifteenth century, was commissioned to design it, but the building, with alterations, was not completed until after his death. The church is part of a larger monastic complex that contains other important architectural works: the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi; the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo; the New Sacristy based on Michelangelo's designs; and the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti.

Contents

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1 History 2 The building in Renaissance architecture 3 Outer and inner facades 4 Old Sacristy 5 New Sacristy 6 Cappelle Medicee 7 Works of art 8 Funerary monuments 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit] History

Though considered a milestone in the development of Renaissance architecture, S. Lorenzo has a complicated building history. Even though it was built – at least partially - under the direction of Filippo Brunelleschi, it is not purely of his design. The project was begun around 1419, but lack of funding slowed down the construction and forced changes to the original design. By the early 1440s, only the sacristy (now called the Old Sacristy) had been worked on as that and not the church was being paid for by the Medici. In 1442, the Medici stepped in to take over financial responsibility of the church as well. Brunelleschi died, however, in 1446 and the job was handed over either to Antonio Manetti or to Michelozzo; scholars are not certain. Though the building was “completed” in 1459 in time for a visit to Florence by Pius II, the chapels along the right-hand aisles were still being built in the 1480s and 90s.

By the time the building was done, many aspects of its layout, not to mention detailing, no longer corresponded to the original plan. The principal difference is that Brunelleschi had envisioned the chapels along the side aisles to be deeper, and to be much like the chapels in the transept, the only part of the building that is known to have been designed by Brunelleschi.[2]

[edit] The building in Renaissance architecture

Despite its history, the building is seen as one of the great examples of the new style. Its more notable features include:

the attempt to create a proportional relationship between nave and aisle (aisle bays are square whereas nave bays are 2X1. the articulation of the structure in pietra serena (Italian: “dark stone”). the use of an integrated system of column, arches, entablatures. a clear relationship between column and pilaster, the latter meant to be read as a type of embedded pier. the use of proper proportions for the height of the columns the use of spherical segments in the vaults of the side aisles.

There are significant problems in the design, most, however, occur at the level of detail. Already Giorgio Vasari thought that the columns along the nave should have been elevated on plinths.[3] That the pilasters along the wall of the side aisles rest on a floor that is three steps higher than the nave, is also considered an error.

S. Lorenzo is often compared with Santo Spirito, also in Florence. Santo Spirito, which Brunelleschi began somewhat later, is considered to have been constructed more or less in conformance with his ideas, even though Brunelleschi died before most of it was built.

[edit] Outer and inner facades

The Medici pope Leo X gave Michelangelo the commission to design a façade in white Carrara marble in 1518. Michelangelo made a wooden model, which shows how he adjusted the classical proportions of the facade, drawn to scale, after the ideal proportions of the human body, to the greater height of the nave. The work remained unbuilt. Michelangelo did, however, design and build the internal facade, seen from the nave looking back toward the entrances. It comprises three doors between two pilasters with garlands of oak and laurel and a balcony on two Corinthian columns.

In recent years, the association of “Friends of the Elettrice Palatina” and the Comune of Florence re-visited the question of completing the outer facade according to Michelangelo's designs. To assist with the public debate, a computerized reconstruction was projected onto the plain brick facade in February 2007. As yet, no decision has been made on the project.[4]

The campanile dates from 1740.

[edit] Old Sacristy

Opening off the north transept is the square, domed space, the Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy, that was designed by Brunelleschi and that is the oldest part of the present church and the only part completed in Brunelleschi's lifetime; it contains the tombs of several members of the Medici family. It was composed of a sphere on top of a cube; the cube acting as the human world and the sphere the heavens.

[edit] New Sacristy

Opposite it in the south transept is the Sagrestia Nuova (New Sacristy), begun in 1520 by Michelangelo, who also designed the Medici tombs within. The new sacristy was composed of three registers, the topmost topped by a coffered pendantive dome. The articulation of the interior walls can be described as early examples of Renaissance Mannerism, see Michelangelo's Ricetto in the Laurentian Library. The combination of pietra serena pillasters on the lower register is carried through to the second facade; however, in Mannerist fashion, architectural elements 'seem impossible,' creating suspense and tension that is evident in this example. Michelangelo's sculptural elements, to be used on the tombs themselves, was left undone. A difficult person to work with, Michelangelo refused to direct the completion of the new sacristy.

[edit] Cappelle Medicee

Main article: Medici Chapel

The cruciform basilica with the vast domed apsidal Medici Chapel; in the cloister is the Laurentian Library.

The most celebrated and grandest part of San Lorenzo are the Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels) in the apse. The Medici were still paying for it when the last member of the family, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, died in 1743. Almost fifty lesser members of the family are buried in the crypt. The final design (1603-1604) was by Bernardo Buontalenti, based on models of Alessandro Pieroni and Matteo Nigetti. Above is the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes), a great but awkwardly domed octagonal hall where the grand dukes themselves are buried. The style shows Mannerist eccentricities in its unusual shape, broken cornices, and asymmetrically sized windows. In the interior, the ambitious decoration with colored marbles overwhelms the attempts at novel design (Wittkower, R. p. 126). At its centre was supposed to be the Holy Sepulchre itself, although attempts to buy and then steal it from Jerusalem failed.

[edit] Works of art

Rosso Fiorentino, Marriage of the Virgin.

Bronzino (fresco of The Martyrdom of St Lawrence in the north aisle) Desiderio da Settignano (Pala del Sacramento, tabernacle in the south aisle) Donatello (two bronze pulpits, his last works; frieze, reliefs, tondi and bronze doors in the Sagrestia Vecchia) Antonio del Pollaiuolo (wooden crucifix in the south transept chapel) Fra Filippo Lippi (altarpiece of the Annunciation in the north transept chapel) Rosso Fiorentino (Marriage of the Virgin in one of the south aisle chapels) Verrocchio (tomb of Giovanni and Piero de Medici in the Sagrestia Vecchia)

[edit] Funerary monuments

Bernardo Cennini (goldsmith and printer) (south transept) Donatello (north transept) Francesco Landini (south aisle) Niccolò Martelli (north transept) Cosimo de' Medici (in front of the high altar) Cosimo I de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi) Cosimo II de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi) Cosimo III de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi) Ferdinando I de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi) Ferdinando II de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi) Ferdinando III de' Medici (crypt) Francesco I de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi) Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (Sagrestia Vecchia) Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici (Sagrestia Vecchia) Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova) Giuliano di Piero de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova) Lorenzo I de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova) Lorenzo II de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova) Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (Sagrestia Vecchia) Nicolas Steno John Hunter

[edit] References

Sagrestia VecchiaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Interior

The Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy, is a Christian buildings in Florence, Italy, one of the most important monuments of the early Italian Renaissance architecture. It is accessed from the inside of San Lorenzo [1] off the left transept. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and paid for by the Medici family[2], who also used it for their tombs, it set the tone for the development of a new style of architecture that was built around proportion, the unity of elements, and the use of the classical orders. The space came to be called the “Old Sacristy” after a new one was begun in 1510 on the other side of S. Lorenzo’s transept.[2]

Contents

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1 History 2 Design 3 Tombs 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

The structure was begun 1421 and largely complete in 1440.[2] When finished, it was, however, quite isolated, the reason being that construction for the new building for San Lorenzo, the design for which Brunelleschi was also responsible, was not far along. It was only in the years after 1459 that the Old Sacristy was unified with San Lorenzo.[3]

[edit] Design

The plan is a perfect square with a smaller square scarsella or altar on the south side. The scarsella is axially positioned in the wall, and connected to the main space by an arched opening. The interior of the main space is articulated by a rhythmic system of pilasters,

arches that emphasize the space’s geometric unity. The pilasters are for purely visual purposes, and it was this break between real structure and the appearance of structure that constituted one of the important novelties of Brunelleschi’s work. The pilasters support an entablature, the only purpose of which is to divide the space into two equal horizontal zones. The upper zone features pendentives under the dome, another relative novelty, more typical of Byzantine architecture. The dome is actually an umbrella dome, composed of twelve vaults joined together at the center.[4] It was not an uncommon design and Brunelleschi may have learned the technique from a visit to Milan or other places where such domes existed. What was new was the way in which the dome was integrated into the proportion of the space below. The use of color is restricted to grey for the stone and white for the wall. The correct use of the Corinthian order for the capitals was also new and a testament to Brunelleschi’s studies of ancient Roman architecture.

The decorative details are by Donatello, who designed the tondoes in the pendentives, the lunettes, the reliefs above the doors and the doors themselves.[5]

Santa Maria degli Angeli, FlorenceFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Rotunda of the church

Santa Maria degli Angeli (St. Mary of the Angels) is the former church of a monastery in Florence, Italy. It belonged to the Camaldolese order, which was a reformed branch of the Benedictines. The congregation was founded in 1012 by the hermit St. Romuald at Camaldoli, near Arezzo, hence the name. Very little of the medieval building exists today.

The monastery was a major center of studies in the early Renaissance and its scriptorium was a noted producer of manuscripts of high quality. Many of the illustrations from its work are found in museum collections around the world.[1] The late Gothic painter Lorenzo Monaco was a monk here, and executed a series of artworks for Santa Maria degli Angeli and other Camaldolese institutions.

The so-called Rotonda degli Scolari, partially built by Filippo Brunelleschi, is part of the complex. The church once housed a series of artworks now located elsewhere, such as the Coronation of the Virgin by Lorenzo Monaco.

[edit] The Rotunda

In 1434, Filippo Brunelleschi was commissioned by the Medici family to design an oratory for the monastery. It was located at the corner of the property, along the outer wall. Though construction was rapid, it was halted due to funding problems in 1437. In 1503, the shell was given a simple wooden roof, but the structure deteriorated rapidly. The building, which was used for various purposes, was patched up and given its modern appearance in the 1930s. It was given to the university and thus its more modern name Rotonda degli Scolari ("Scholars' Rotunda").

Copies of original plans and descriptions give us a good indication of Brunelleschi’s intentions. The building was to have an octagonal, domed space at its core, surrounded by eight ancillary spaces.[2] Though the outside - as it was restored - has little similarity with what Brunelleschi intended, on the inside one can see how some of the original spaces were arranged

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Santo Spirito, FlorenceFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Main façade.

The Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito ("St. Mary of the Holy Spirit") is a church in Florence, Italy. Usually referred to simply as Santo Spirito, it is located in the Oltrarno quarter, facing the square with the same name. The building on the interior is one of the pre-eminent examples of Renaissance architecture.

Contents

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1 History 2 Chapel frescoes

o 2.1 Chapels of Santo Spirito [2] 3 Michelangelo's Crucifix 4 The cloisters and the Cenacolo 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

Interior of the basilica.

The current church was constructed over the pre-existing ruins of an Augustinian convent from the 13th century, destroyed by a fire. Filippo Brunelleschi began designs for the new building as early as 1428. After his death in 1446, the works were carried on by his followers Antonio Manetti, Giovanni da Gaiole, and Salvi d'Andrea; the latter was also responsible for the construction of the cupola.

Unlike S. Lorenzo, where Brunelleschi’s ideas were thwarted, here, his ideas were carried through with some degree of fidelity, at least in the ground plan and up to the level of the arcades.[1] The Latin cross plan is so designed to maximize the legibility of the grid. The contrast between nave and transept that caused such difficulty at S. Lorenzo was here also avoided. The side chapels, in the form of niches all the same size (forty in all), run along the entire perimeter of the space.

Brunelleschi's facade was never built and left blank. In 1489, a columned vestibule and octagonal sacristy, designed by Simone del Pollaiolo, known as Il Cronaca, and Giuliano da Sangallo respectively, were built to the left of the building. A door was opened up in a chapel to make the connection to the church.

A Baroque baldachin with polychrome marbles was added by Giovanni Battista Caccini and Gherardo Silvani over the high altar, in 1601. The church remained undecorated until the 18th century, when the walls were plastered. The inner façade is by Salvi d'Andrea, and has still the original glass window with the Pentecost designed by Pietro Perugino. The bell tower (1503) was designed by Baccio d'Agnolo.

The exterior of the building was restored in 1977-78.

[edit] Chapel frescoes

The church has 38 side chapels (two chapels having been given over to doors), which contain a noteworthy amount of artworks. The most significant is the Bini-Capponi Chapel, housing the St. Monica Establishing the Rule of the Augustinian Nuns painting by Francesco Botticini. The Corbinelli chapels works are by Andrea Sansovino, Cosimo Rosselli and Donnino and Agnolo del Mazziere.

In the chapels of the transept are frescoes by Filippino Lippi. Also in the transept is a choir from which the Frescobaldi Marquisses could participate to the rites without being seen by the crowd.

The sacristy, accessed through a doorway in what would have been the left sixth chapel preceded by a monumental vestibule by Simone del Pollaiolo, was designed by Giuliano da Sangallo in 1489, and has an octagonal plan. It is home to a devotional painting of St. Fiacre curing the sick (1597) by Alessandro Allori (1596) commissioned by Christine of Lorraine, Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici's wife.

Pazzi ChapelFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Coordinates: 43°46′4.82″N 11°15′46.76″E / 43.7680056°N 11.2629889°E

Pazzi Chapel and the cloister

Interior of the Pazzi Chapel

dome in the porch

The Pazzi Chapel (Italian: Cappella dei Pazzi) is a religious building in Florence, central Italy, considered to be one of the masterpieces of Renaissance architecture. It is located in the "first cloister" of the Basilica di Santa Croce. Though funds for the chapel were assembled in 1429 by Andrea Pazzi, head of the Pazzi family, whose wealth was second only to the Medici, construction did not begin until about 1441. The chapel was completed in the 1460s.

Once thought to be a work of Filippo Brunelleschi, it now seems that he most probably was responsible for the plan, which is based on simple geometrical forms,[1] the square and the circle, but not for the building's execution and detailing. A façade that he had begun, and of which only the lower register can be seen, was partially obscured by the addition of a porch.

The size of the chapel was predetermined by existing walls, creating an unusual situation, however, where the space was not square as in the Old Sacristy, which was the model for this building, but rectangular and transept-like[2] and thus in contradistinction to the square, axially-placed altar. Despite this, and its complex history, the building gives us insight into the ambitions of Renaissance architects in their struggle to bring coherence to the architectural language of columns, pilasters, arches and vaults. Between the pilasters in the transept there are tall, blank, round headed panels and, above them, roundels, common Renaissance decorative motifs. The architectural elements of the interior are all in pietra serena (English: "serene stone").

As to the architect, scholars argue that it could have been either the work of Giuliano da Maiano or Michelozzo.[3][4]

The rondi of the seated Apostles are by Luca della Robbia, who also did the terracotta decorations in the cupola of the porch.[5] It has been suggested that the roundels of the Evangelists may have been the work of Donatello.

The Medieval world into which Filippo Brunelleschi was born held the sacred belief that only God viewed the world and only the Church could tell man what it was God saw. In the early years of the Quattrocento, as the Humanist movement grew out of the rediscovered wisdom of Rome and Greece, this view was challenged; Man was not just along for the ride, but was meant to take a vital and active role in the world around him. Brunelleschi embraced this new avenue of thought and applied it to practical matters like no other of his time.

BeginningsBorn in 1377, the son of the respected Notary Ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, Brunelleschi was expected to follow in his father's footsteps. But as the young Brunelleschi took to his studies, his father saw in him an innate talent for art . Brunelleschi's biographer, Antonio di Tuccio Manetti wrote; 'From childhood he had a natural interest in drawing and painting and his work was charming. For that reason he elected to become a goldsmith when his father, as was the custom, apprenticed him to a trade. Noting his aptitude, his father, who was a wise man, gave his consent.' Ser Brunellesco must indeed had been a man of wisdom for Brunelleschi no doubt demonstrated his headstrong nature early in life, and his father realized that his son would only rebel if forced into the family business.

Early YearsBelieved to have apprenticed under the goldsmith Benincasa Lotti, Brunelleschi's name first appears in a contract dated December 31, 1399 to render figures for the altar of Saint James in the cathedral of Saint Zeno in Pistoia. Of the four pieces sculpted by Brunelleschi in his first commission, it is the full length statue of Saint Augustine that would indicate his unique view of the melding of the spiritual and physical work. Brunelleschi's Saint Augustine stands holding a book in his left hand and a pen grasped in the fingertips of his right. The saint is bent backward from the waist, his head turned unnaturally to the sky. The statement is plain; Here is a man who listens to the word of God and conveys it to mankind. In counterpoint to the unnatural and almost painful pose,

Brunelleschi's statue is carefully detailed with naturalism right down to the network of veins on the saint's hands.

As evidence to his good family name and his status as a loyal Parte Guelph member, Brunelleschi's work on the commission was interrupted twice when he was called by to Florence to serve a term on the Consiglio del Popolo and later the Consiglio del Commune, two representative bodies who voted on the laws proposed by the Signoria. Though not well known as a Humanist, Brunelleschi took his civic responsibilities seriously.

DonatelloIt was while finishing his contract in Pistoia in early 1401 after his political terms concluded that Brunelleschi met the impassioned young artist who would become his apprentice. The fourteen year old Donati di Niccolò di Betto Bardi - Donatello - had been arrested in Pistoia for striking a German youth with a stick and drawing blood. It is possible that Donatello's father, Niccolò di Betto Bardi may have introduced the two - the elder Bardi also being a Parte Guelph member - in an effort to steer his son away from being a street fighter. Whatever the method of their meeting, the two struck up a friendship that would last a lifetime. It is believed that the young Donatello assisted Brunelleschi in rendering the figures of the Pistoian cathedral.

The Baptistery DoorsIt was an ironic twist that the three men who would lead the artistic revolution of the Renascimento, were all working outside of Florence when the Calimala - the wealthy Merchant's Guild - announced the competition to create new doors for the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Since the 12th century, the Calimala had led the way in guild patronage and public art by taking the responsibility for the maintenance and decoration of the Baptistery.

In an act of thanksgiving for the passing of the Black Death spread by the Prosessioner dei Bianchi in 1399 and to elevate civic pride after the financial depression of the latter half of the previous century, the Calimala decided to commission the making of two new bronze doors for the Baptistery of Florence's patron saint and formed an Opera to judge the competition. The Baptistery of San Giovanni was the centerpiece of life in Florence at the time. On the evening before San Giovanni's feast day each year men walked through decorated streets to offer gifts of wax candles to the Baptistery. The Baptistery was also the venue for the swearing in of magistrates and crowning of poets, of blessing departing soldiers and triumphantly welcoming them back from war. It was the official church of the Republic.

To win the competition would be the opportunity of a lifetime for any artist, so it was no surprise that Brunelleschi leapt at the opportunity and brought his unique talents to the task at hand. Competitors for the commission were to sculpt a single sample door panel in wax and have it cast in bronze. The subject for the panels was Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac and they had one year to submit their entry.

In addition to Brunelleschi, other entrants were Simon da Colle, Niccolò d' Arezzo, Jacopo della Quercia, Francesco Valdambrino, and Niccolò Lamberti. But Brunelleschi's strongest competition was Lorenzo Ghiberti - a fellow Florentine and talented artist in his own right. In the Vita di Brunelleschi, Antonio Manetti records that Brunelleschi worked quickly 'as he had a powerful command of the art' and once his entry was finished would not speak of it to others. But Ghiberti learned of the beauty of Brunelleschi's panel, and so sought out the advice and counsel of the men who would be doing the actual judging. By ingratiating himself to the judges, Ghiberti - according to Manetti - also won their praises which were voiced openly prior to the competition's conclusion. But when the Opera saw Brunelleschi's panel, they recognized in him a unique talent that in some ways surpassed Ghiberti's but could not go back on the praise they had publicly made.

Manetti's Vita is naturally biased toward Brunelleschi, but his claim is strengthened by the fact that the Calimala commanded the Opera judges to issue their decision in writing, and that the entire Guild was required to ratify their choice. Manetti also claimed that the judges had offered the commission to both men, but it was Brunelleschi who refused to share the commission with Ghiberti. If he did not have complete control of the project then he wanted no part of it. A significant piece of evidence that backs up Manetti's claims is that the only two surviving panels still in existence are Brunelleschi's and Ghiberti's - the rest having been melted down for the metal. It must be remembered that at the time of the competition, both Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were young and fairly unknown artists - for the Calimala to preserve both panels is a testament to the favour they showed to each of the submissions.

Ghiberti's panelBrunelleschi's panel

Comparing the two panels, one can see that Ghiberti played it safe whereas Brunelleschi brought his unique and - to some - disturbing vision into play in the convergence of the divine and the mortal.

Ghiberti's panel, though showing a talented eye for balance and an artistic competence that would blossom to unsurpassed mastery of spatially expansive figures , is pedestrian. Ghiberti's Isaac is a classic nude. His Abraham is graceful in long flowing robes, posed in classic form with knife raised as though he hesitates before striking. The angel of the Lord hovers above, gesturing with serenity. The panel is balanced by a flowing landscape and other figures.

In contrast, Brunelleschi's panel is dynamic. It features a frail Isaac grasped at the throat by a powerful, looming Abraham. Brunelleschi's Abraham is not frozen in hesitation, but instead is plunging the knife downward toward his son's breast, determined in the act of sacrifice. Brunelleschi's angel does not hover gently above - instead it has swept down and grasps Abraham's arm - making a direct and jarring connection between heaven and earth. The other figures in the panel do not just occupy space; their postures reflect the energy of the activity on the altar above.

Contrary to Ghiberti's later claims, the decision to award him the commission for the Baptistery doors was not immediately unanimous nor clear-cut. Public opinion was split (and is still argued in Florence to this day); Brunelleschi's panel elicited strong emotions both pro and con, but other factors where said to have guided the final decision; Ghiberti's panel was hollow cast where Brunelleschi's was a solid piece and would have made the completed doors far heavier than they needed to be; Brunelleschi - even at his young age - was headstrong and this may have worked against him when the Opera made their final decision. But no matter the reasons behind it, the defeat caused Brunelleschi much angst and the twenty-five year old artist set out from Florence to redefine himself. His quest was to study the past in order to aid him to shape the future.

Ancient RomeFrom the Vita di Brunelleschi; 'Thus left out, Filippo seemed to say: my knowledge was not sufficient for them to entrust me with the whole undertaking; it would be a good thing to go where there is fine sculpture to observe. So he went to Rome where at that time one could see beautiful works in public places.'

With Donatello as his constant companion, Brunelleschi journeyed to Rome to seek the roots of classic sculpture and architecture. There the two found employment as goldsmiths to fund their studies.

While studying classic art in Rome, Brunelleschi the artist rediscovered the concept of perspective which he refined and demonstrated by a system employing cutouts of buildings, a mirror and a fixed point of view. He demonstrated the artistic application of perspective in paintings that unfortunately did not survive, but the science of perspective that he created gave birth to the new style of painting marked by the Renascimento and has been employed by artists since that time. (An interesting sidebar to Brunelleschi's philosophy on

perspective and his imagination is the story of the Fat Woodworker)

At first concentrating on classic sculptures, Brunelleschi quickly turned his attention to the broken buildings of the one time centre of the ancient empire. He was drawn to the harmony and proportions of the ruins and fascinated by the skilled construction methods employed by the ancient Romans. Brunelleschi and Donatello made careful drawings of almost every building in Rome and others in the country side. Brunelleschi made endless notes about heights, angles and elevations in a code that only he understood. He even climbed to the roof of the Pantheon and pried off roof panels to see how the interior of the dome was constructed.

The Roman citizens who observed these two Florentines mockingly referred to them as 'the treasure hunters' believing that they were secretly digging for buried gold from the Roman empire. But as Manetti wrote in the Vita; 'He saw ruins ... which had been vaulted in various ways.  He considered the methods of centering the vaults and other systems of support, how they could be dispensed with and what method had to be used, and when - because of the size of the vault or for other reasons - armatures could not be used ...  By his genius, through tests and experiments, with time and with great effort and careful thought, he became a complete master of these matters in secret, while pretending to be doing something else ...'

Indeed, while continuing his studies in Rome, Brunelleschi approached the problems of building large structures from his background as a goldsmith. Having built clocks, he was vary familiar with gears, springs, levers and linking devices. So it was a natural progression for him to conceptualize and design machines that could lift, move and place large pieces of stone.

Brunelleschi lived in Rome until 1417, traveling back and forth to Florence to consult on various minor building projects, growing his reputation as a budding architect. By nature, Brunelleschi was drawn to challenges, and the biggest challenge to any architect was looming above the skyline of Florence.

BrunelleschiThe mad genius of Florence ~ Part II by Sevrin de Savage [Aaron D. McClelland]

The DuomoIn 1293 a notary named Ser Mino de Cantoribus suggested that the church of Santa Reparata be replaced by a much larger and magnificent cathedral to set Florence apart ... "so that the industry and power of man are unable to invent or ever attain again anything that is larger or more beautiful". The project was to build the greatest cathedral of its time; the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. To accomplish this, a death tax was applied to all last wills and testaments to go directly toward the costs of the building project. The design of the project was awarded to Arnolfo di Cambio, the brilliant and leading architect of his time. Cambio had already revolutionized the Franciscan basilica of Santa Croce and later in 1298 designed the Palazzo della Signoria. On September 8, 1296, Cambio laid the first stone and the project to build the grandest cathedral in the world began.

Cambio had designed the cathedral with three side naves that would meet in the vast chancel where the high altar would stand. From above this configuration would appear as a trefoil - a three petaled "flower". The cupola [dome] to cover this convergence was planned to have a diameter of 45.5 meters - the same size as the footprint of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Despite his brilliance as an architect, Cambio failed to propose how this cupola could be constructed, nor how it would be centered [supported] while it was built. Further exacerbating the problem, Francesco Talenti - who took over the project in 1349, expanded the original design of the trefoil.

In 1409 the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore - guiding committee for the construction of the cathedral - began to investigate how to go about constructing the cupola atop the walls of the trefoil. One of the men consulted was Filippo Brunelleschi another was Lorenzo Ghiberti. Brunelleschi had the solution already worked out - to evenly distribute the massive weight of the future cupola, an eight sided tambour [drum] needed to be constructed atop the walls. To bring light into the area beneath the cupola but not compromise the tambour's ability to transfer the load evenly, Brunelleschi designed the tambour with one round window per face. But the fact that the Opera also consulted Ghiberti irked Brunelleschi; Ghiberti, in Brunelleschi's opinion, though a fine artist, was no architect and therefore had no business being consulted on the project. Brunelleschi, and many others, saw the Opera's catering to Ghiberti as misguided patronage of the artist simply because he won the competition for the Baptistery doors.

Over the next eight years as Brunelleschi's tambour was being constructed and the time approached to begin raising the cupola, architects calculated that if every tree in Tuscany were cut down, the resulting lumber would not be sufficient to center the dome during construction. The Opera cast about for solutions to the problem. One unique and monumental suggestion was that the church itself be filled with soil and seeded with gold coins. The needed scaffolding could then be erected on top of the tamped soil and the cupola built. Once the cupola was completed, all that was required was to announce that all who hauled away the soil could keep any gold coins they found.

Returning to Florence in 1417 and again in 1419, Brunelleschi joined the Opera and took great delight in pointing out the

impossibility of every plan suggested. He claimed that only he knew how the dome could be constructed - and he could do it without centering. When asked how he could accomplish the task, Brunelleschi challenged the members of the Opera to balance an egg on its end. When they could not, Brunelleschi took the egg and struck it on the table so it broke, leaving a cupola shape sitting perfectly balanced on the table. The Opera scoffed at this simple solution, and demanded that Brunelleschi produce details on how the actual cupola would be constructed. Brunelleschi refused, still feeling the sting of being asked to share the stage in the Baptistery door commission - He suspected that if he revealed his knowledge, the Opera would include their favoured Ghiberti in the project. Brunelleschi was summarily thrown out of the meeting and ridiculed by the Opera as a mad man.

But in 1420, after exhausting all other avenues and responding to public opinion and lobbying by Cosimo de' Medici, the Opera called once more on Brunelleschi. After submitting a written proposal and showing the Opera a scale model, Brunelleschi was reluctantly given the position of provinsore - supervisor of the build. But to save face and continue to promote their favoured artist, the Opera also installed Ghiberti in an equal position. Then as an afterthought, they also installed Battista d' Antonio also as a provinsore. All were paid three Florin per month, with Battista being paid an extra twenty Soldi per day as recompense for his duties as a daily supervisor whereas Brunelleschi and Ghiberti could come and go as they pleased.

Despite having to share credit with an obvious political appointee as Ghiberti, Brunelleschi went to work on the cupola. Sharing his knowledge and genius with Battista, Brunelleschi oversaw the slow raising of the dome. Brunelleschi himself approved each shipment of bricks, oversaw their placement, trained the master craftsmen on new techniques. To reduce labour, he designed an ingenious lifting device that could raise massive weights with the power of one ox, and was geared to lift or lower with the ox only required to move in one direction. Brunelleschi also had the craftsmen's midday meal delivered to the rooftop to lessen time wasted and prevent fatigue from having them make the long descent and climb during the middle of the day. Brunelleschi also supplied the workers with watered wine to prevent drunkenness and injury.

Ghiberti meanwhile did nothing but boast of his equality to Brunelleschi on the project.

There came a time when the sides of the cupola had reached a height that they required two things to progress; The first was a series of cantilevered platforms would have to be designed and built so the masons could safely continue their work; The second was a series of chains had to be constructed and placed to support the inward curving sides of the cupola sections so they would not fall into the open tambour. Brunelleschi chose this moment to expose Ghiberti as the architectural fraud he believed him to be - He did this by staying home.

Sending word that he was ill, Brunelleschi relayed his regrets that he could not supervise and suggested Ghiberti to take over from him - he was a fellow provinsore after all. Ghiberti was panicked - He had taken no interest in learning the very real sciences of architecture and hadn't even made the climb to the roof top. Though he was a top notch artist when it came to casting and chasing bronze sculptures, when it came to the duomo, he was merely a figurehead. Ghiberti sent word to Brunelleschi, pleading with him to come back but Brunelleschi held out. Progress on the cupola ground to a halt.

Most Florentines were delighted by this drama being played out, and the supporters of both men became embroiled in heated debate. A master of not only architecture and perspective but also of human nature, Brunelleschi let the controversy build to a crescendo. On a day when the entire city was aware of the drama and interest was at its peak, he made his way to the cathedral, feigning weakness from his recent "illness". There he addressed the workers and craftsmen, the Opera members, the gathered public, his fellow provinsores - Ghiberti and Battista. He voiced his fear that his "illness" could return at any time - it could even strike down Ghiberti or Battista. From the Vita - "He proposed that for the good of the building, and inasmuch as the salary was divided, the day-to-day problems should also be divided so the work could go forward without interruption and damage.  The principal and immediate requirements were the scaffolding and the program of building, and a chain to encircle the [inner] cupola....  Lorenzo could take charge and oversee whichever one of these he wished and he would take charge of the other.  Therefore Lorenzo was forced to agree to this division.  He chose to make the chain, hoping to do it correctly on the basis of the one in San Giovanni, since he had no knowledge of scaffolding:  he did not know what had to be done or the extraordinary way in which it had to be constructed.  When he said he wanted to take charge of the chain [Brunelleschi] exclaimed:  Very well!  And I will take charge of the scaffolding and the masonry work." Brunelleschi's trap was set - all of Florence would be watching the outcome.

Brunelleschi supervised and directed the building of the new scaffolding which satisfied the safety concerns of the craftsmen and workers and so the building of the cupola resumed. On the day Ghiberti's chain was completed and set in place, Brunelleschi and his men inspected it. All agreed that it was faulty and would not support the inward leaning dome as was intended. It would have to be removed, and a redesigned chain would have to be made to replace it. Brunelleschi took these findings to the Opera and proposed that the costs incurred for the useless chain made by Ghiberti could be offset by the salary of 36 Florin per year Ghiberti was receiving for doing nothing but slowing the progress of the cupola. The Opera challenged Brunelleschi to prove his claim that he could build the chain properly which he did immediately. The Opera them commissioned Brunelleschi to complete the cupola and all other aspects of the cathedral's construction alone. Brunelleschi was vindicated for the bronze door commission.

An interesting occurrence followed Brunelleschi's gambit; Taking a cue from Brunelleschi himself, the eight master bricklayers unionized and went on strike for higher wages believing that the cupola could not be built without their skills. Brunelleschi met with

them and said; "For your own advantage and to the harm of the enterprise you have joined together, thinking that without you it could not be built.  However, it cannot succeed except by the correct method.  Consequently as I cannot have you, I will have it built by eight Lombards." True to his word, Brunelleschi hired and trained the eight Lombards in his techniques. The eight Florentine masons came to their senses and returned to the job.

On March 25, 1436, sixteen years after Brunelleschi began work on the cupola, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was inaugurated. All told the cupola weighed 27,000 tons, and was constructed using 4 million red bricks laid out in a running herringbone pattern between seven marble ribs. Brunelleschi had built a structure unrivaled anywhere in the world - to the glory of God and Florence.

Brunelleschi's architectural accomplishments were astounding and many remain to this day as monuments to the Renascimento;• Church of San Lorenzo• Church of San Spirito• Pazzi Chapel• Santa Maria degli Angeli• Pitti Palace• Palazzo Quaratesi• Loggia at San Pero a Grada (near Pisa)• Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore• Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital for Orphans)

On April 16, 1446, at the age of 69 years, Filippo Brunelleschi, father of perspective, inventor, sculptor, mathematician, architect, and mentor, passed from this world. Florence mourned deeply the loss of this genius they once labeled a mad man. He was buried in his beloved Cathedral and the following inscription can still be found inside its entrance ...

Both the magnificent dome of thisfamous church and many other devices,

invented by Filippo the architect,bear witness to his superb skill.

Therefore, in tribute to his exceptional talents,a grateful country that will always remember

buries him here in the soil below.

Sevrin de SavageApril 27, Anno Societatis XXXIX