Filippo Brunelleschi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediawildehistory.weebly.com/uploads/.../0/16706304/filippo_brunelleschi...Filippo Brunelleschi ... and mathematical education intended

Filippo Brunelleschi

Presumed depiction in Resurrection of the Son ofTheophilus, Masaccio

Born Filippo di ser Brunellesco diLippo Lapi[1]

1377Florence, Italy

Died April 15, 1446 (aged 68–69)unknown

Nationality Italian

Known for Architecture, Sculpture,Mechanical engineering

Notable work Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore

Movement Early Renaissance

Filippo BrunelleschiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filippo Brunelleschi (Italian: [fiˈlippo brunelˈleski];1377 – April 15, 1446) was one of the foremostarchitects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance.[2]

He is perhaps most famous for his development oflinear perspective and for engineering the dome of theFlorence Cathedral, but his accomplishments alsoinclude other architectural works, sculpture,mathematics, engineering and even ship design. Hisprincipal surviving works are to be found in Florence,Italy.

Little is known about the early life of Brunelleschi,the only sources being Antonio Manetti and GiorgioVasari.[3] According to these sources, Filippo's fatherwas Brunellesco di Lippo, a lawyer, and his motherwas Giuliana Spini. Filippo was the middle of theirthree children. The young Filippo was given a literaryand mathematical education intended to enable him tofollow in the footsteps of his father, a civil servant.Being artistically inclined, however, Filippo enrolledin the Arte della Seta, the silk merchants' Guild,which also included goldsmiths, metalworkers, andbronze workers. He became a master goldsmith in1398. It was thus not a coincidence that his firstimportant building commission, the Ospedale degliInnocenti, came from the guild to which hebelonged.[4]

In 1401, Brunelleschi entered a competition to designa new set of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery.Seven competitors each produced a gilded bronzepanel, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. Brunelleschi'sentry, which, with that of Lorenzo Ghiberti, is one ofonly two to have survived, made reference to theGreco-Roman Boy with Thorn, whilst Ghiberti used anaked torso in the Classical style 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 ofbronze-casting being cast as a single piece. Brunelleschi's panel, by contrast, consisted of several piecesbolted 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 ofParadise".[5]

Filippo Brunelleschi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Brunelleschi

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Brunelleschi's dome for the Duomoof Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore

Section of the dome

Contents

1 As an architect1.1 Commissions1.2 Florence Cathedral

2 Other work2.1 Invention of linear perspective2.2 Theatrical machinery2.3 Death

3 Principal works4 See also5 References6 Further reading7 External links

As an architectThere is little biographical information about Brunelleschi's life toexplain his transition from goldsmith to architect and, no lessimportantly, from his training in the gothic or medieval manner to thenew classicism in architecture and urbanism that we now loosely callthe Renaissance and of which Brunelleschi is considered the seminalfigure. By 1400 there emerged an interest in humanitas whichcontrasted with the formalism of the medieval period, but initially thisnew 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 hisfriend Donatello visited Rome to study the ancient Roman ruins.Donatello, like Brunelleschi, had received his training in a goldsmith'sworkshop, and had then worked in Ghiberti's studio. Although inprevious decades the writers and philosophers had discussed the glories of ancient Rome, it seems thatuntil Brunelleschi and Donatello made their journey, no-one had studied the physical fabric of theseruins in any great detail. They gained inspiration too from ancient Roman authors, especially Vitruviuswhose De Architectura provided an intellectual framework for the standing structures still visible.

Commissions

Brunelleschi's first architectural commission was the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419–ca.1445), or


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Nave of the Santo Spirito, 1441–1481

Chapel of the Pazzi family, one of hislast works

Foundling Hospital. Its long loggia would have been a rare sightin the tight and curving streets of Florence, not to mention itsimpressive arches, each about 8 meters high. The building wasdignified and sober; there were no displays of fine marble ordecorative inlays.[6] It was also the first building in Florence tomake clear reference—in its columns and capitals—to classicalantiquity.

Soon other commissions came, such as the Ridolfi Chapel in thechurch of San Jacopo sopr'Arno, now lost, and the BarbadoriChapel in Santa Trinita, also modified since its building. For bothBrunelleschi devised elements already used in the Ospedale degliInnocenti, and which would also be used in the Pazzi Chapel andthe Sagrestia Vecchia. At the same time he was using suchsmaller works as a sort of feasibility study for his most famouswork, the dome of the Cathedral of Florence.

Florence Cathedral

Santa Maria del Fiore was the new cathedral of the city, and by1418 the dome had yet to be defined. When the building wasdesigned in the previous century, no one had any idea about howsuch a dome was to be built, given that it was to be even largerthan the Pantheon's dome in Rome and that no dome of that sizehad been built since antiquity. Because buttresses were forbiddenby the city fathers, and because it was impossible to obtainrafters for scaffolding long and strong enough (and in sufficientquantity) for the task, it was unclear how a dome of that size could be constructed without it collapsingunder its own weight in the process. Also, the stresses of compression were not clearly understood at thetime, and the mortars used in the period would only set after several days, keeping the strain on thescaffolding for a very long time.[7]

In 1418, the Arte della Lana, the wool merchants' guild, held a competition to solve the problem. Thetwo main competitors were Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, with Brunelleschi winning and receiving thecommission. The competition consisted of the great architects attempting to stand an egg upright on apiece of marble. None could do it but Brunelleschi, who, according to Vasari:[8] "... giving one end ablow on the flat piece of marble, made it stand upright ...The architects protested that they could havedone the same; but Filippo answered, laughing, that they could have made the dome, if they had seen hisdesign." (This solution was also attributed to Columbus; see Egg of Columbus.)

The dome, the lantern (built 1446–ca.1461) and the exedra (built 1439-1445) would occupy most ofBrunelleschi’s life.[9] Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical andmathematical 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 doubtinspired by republication of Vitruvius' De Architectura, which describes Roman machines used in the


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Sculpture of Brunelleschi looking athis cathedral dome

first century AD to build large structures such as the Pantheonand the Baths of Diocletian, structures still standing which hewould have seen for himself. He also issued one of the firstpatents for the hoist in an attempt to prevent others from reusinghis idea. Brunelleschi was granted the first modern patent for hisinvention of a river transport vessel.[11]

Brunelleschi kept his workers up in the building during theirbreaks and brought food and diluted wine, similar to that givento pregnant women at the time, up to them. He felt the trip upand down the hundreds of stairs would exhaust them and reducetheir productivity.[12]

Other workBrunelleschi's interests extended to mathematics and engineeringand the study of ancient monuments. He invented hydraulicmachinery and elaborate clockwork, none of which survives.

Brunelleschi also designed fortifications used by Florence in itsmilitary struggles against Pisa and Siena. In 1424, he wasworking in Lastra a Signa, a village protecting the route to Pisa,and in 1431 in the south of Italy on the walls of the village ofStaggia. These walls are still preserved, but whether they are specifically by Brunelleschi is uncertain.

He also was active briefly in the world of shipmaking, when, in 1427, he built an enormous ship namedIl Badalone to transport marble to Florence from Pisa up the Arno River. The ship sank on its maidenvoyage, along with a sizable chunk of Brunelleschi's personal fortune. [13] Besides his accomplishmentsin architecture, Brunelleschi is also credited with inventing one-point linear perspective whichrevolutionized painting and paved the way for naturalistic styles to develop as the Renaissance digressedfrom the stylized figures of medieval art. In addition, he was somewhat involved in urban planning: hestrategically 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 orderto create a piazza facing the church. At Santo Spirito, he suggested that the façade be turned eithertowards the Arno so travelers would see it, or to the north, to face a large, prospective piazza.

Invention of linear perspective

Brunelleschi is famous for two panel paintings illustrating geometric optical linear perspective made inthe early 1400s. His biographer, Antonio Manetti, described this famous experiment in whichBrunelleschi painted two panels: the first being the Florentine Baptistery as viewed frontally from thewestern portal of the unfinished cathedral, the other one is the Palazzo Vecchio seen obliquely from itsnorthwest corner. These were not, however, the first paintings with accurate linear perspective, whichmay be attributed to Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Annunciation, 1344).


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diagram of Brunelleschi's experiment

Brunelleschi's tomb

The first Baptistery panel was constructed with a hole drilledthrough the centric vanishing point. Curiously, Brunelleschiintended that it only be observed by the viewer facing theBaptistery, looking through the hole in the panel, from theunpainted backside. As a mirror was moved into and out of view,the observer saw the striking similarity between the actual viewof the Baptistery, and the reflected view of the painted Baptisteryimage. Brunelleschi wanted his new perspective "realism" to betested not by comparing the painted image to the actualBaptistery but to its reflection in a mirror according to theEuclidean laws of geometric optics. This feat showed artistsvividly how they might paint their images, not merely as flat

two-dimensional shapes, but looking more like three-dimensional structures just as mirrors reflect them.Unfortunately, both panels have since been lost.[14]

Around this time linear perspective, as a novel artistic tool, spread not only in Italy but throughoutWestern Europe. It quickly became, and remains, standard studio practice.

Theatrical machinery

Brunelleschi also designed machinery for use in churches duringtheatrical religious performances that re-enacted Biblical miraclestories. Contrivances were created by which characters andangels were made to fly through the air in the midst ofspectacular explosions of light and fireworks. These events tookplace during state and ecclesiastical visits. It is not known forcertain how many of these Brunelleschi designed, but at leastone, for the church of San Felice, is confirmed in the records.[4]

Death

Brunelleschi's body lies in the crypt of the Cathedral of Florence.As explained by Antonio Manetti, who knew Brunelleschi and who wrote his biography, Brunelleschi"was granted such honors as to be buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and with a marblebust, which they say was carved from life, and placed there in perpetual memory with such a splendidepitaph."[15] Inside the cathedral entrance is this epitaph: "Both the magnificent dome of this famouschurch 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 himhere in the soil below."

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

Dome of the Cathedral of Florence, (1419–1436)


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Ospedale degli Innocenti, (1419–ca.1445)Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze, (1419–1480s)Meeting Hall of the 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)

See also

Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli

References

^ Walker, Paul Robert (2003). The Feud ThatSparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi andGhiberti Changed the Art World. HarperCollins.p. 5. ISBN 0-380-97787-7.

1.

^ "English Writers" Page 1, 1891(http://www.mocavo.com/English-Writers-an-Attempt-Towards-a-History-of-English-Literature-Volume-7-4/107373/20)

2.

^ For an English version of Vasari's descriptionof the life and work of Brunelleschi, see:http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vasari/vasari5.htm

3.

^ a b Battisti, Eugenio (1981). FilippoBrunelleschi. New York: Rizzoli.ISBN 0-8478-5015-3.

4.

^ Walker, Paul Robert (2002). The Feud thatSparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi andGhiberti Changed the Art World. New York:William Morrow. ISBN 0-380-97787-7.

5.

^ Klotz, Heinrich (1990). Filippo Brunelleschi:the Early Works and the Medieval Tradition.Translated by Hugh Keith. London: AcademyEditions. ISBN 0-85670-986-7.

6.

^ King, Ross (2001). Brunelleschi's Dome: TheStory of the great Cathedral of Florence. NewYork: Penguin. ISBN 0-8027-1366-1.

7.

^ From Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,Sculptors, and Architects, published 1500.Quoted from 'Italian Renaissance', Martin Robertsfor Longman, 1992

8.

^ Saalman, Howard (1980). Filippo Brunelleschi:The Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore. London: A.Zwemmer. ISBN 0-302-02784-X.

9.

^ Prager, Frank (1970). Brunelleschi: Studies ofhis Technology and Inventions(https://books.google.com/books?id=nfnDAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover). Cambridge: The MIT Press.ISBN 0-262-16031-5.

10.


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^ The origins of the industrial property right. See:http://www.european-patent-office.org/wbt/pi-tour/tour.php Step 3.

11.

^ "Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance"(http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/). February18, 2004. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/. Retrieved October 2, 2011.

12.

^ Brunelleschi's Monster Patent: Il Badalone(http://www.cpaglobal.com/newlegalreview/widgets/notes_quotes/more/2002/brunelleschis_monster_patent_il_badalone)

13.

^ For proposed reconstructions of Brunelleschi'sdemonstration, see Edgerton, Samuel Y. (2009).The Mirror, the Window & the Telescope: HowRenaissance Linear Perspective Changed OurVision of the Universe. Ithaca, NY: CornellUniversity Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4758-7. AndIstván Orosz, http://www.gallery-diabolus.com/gallery/artist.php?image=1612&id=utisz&page=214

14.

^ Manetti, Antonio (1970). The Life ofBrunelleschi. English translation of the Italiantext by Catherine Enggass. University Park:Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN 0-271-00075-9.

15.

Further reading

Argan, Giulio Carlo; Robb, Nesca A (1946). "The Architecture of Brunelleschi and the Origins ofPerspective Theory in the Fifteenth Century". J. Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 9: 96–121.doi:10.2307/750311 (https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F750311). JSTOR 750311(https://www.jstor.org/stable/750311).Fanelli, Giovanni (2004). Brunelleschi’s Cupola: Past and Present of an ArchitecturalMasterpiece. Florence: Mandragora.Heydenreich, Ludwig H. (1996). Architecture in Italy, 1400-1500. New Haven/London: YaleUniversity Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06467-4.Hyman, Isabelle (1974). Brunelleschi in perspective. Prentice-Hall.Kemp, Martin (1978). "Science, Non-science and Nonsense: The Interpretation of Brunelleschi'sPerspective". Art History 1 (2): 134–161.Prager, F. D. (1950). "Brunelleschi's Inventions and the 'Renewal of Roman Masonry Work' ".Osiris 9: 457–554. doi:10.1086/368537 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1086%2F368537).Millon, Henry A.; Lampugnani, Vittorio Magnago, eds. (1994). The Renaissance fromBrunelleschi to Michelangelo: the Representation of Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson.Trachtenberg, Marvin (1988). What Brunelleschi Saw: Monument and Site at the Palazzo Vecchioin Florence. New York.King, Ross (2000). Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture(https://books.google.com/books?id=JfcMAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover). New York: Walker.


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Wikisource has the text ofthe 1911 EncyclopædiaBritannica articleBrunelleschi, Filippo.

ISBN 0-8027-1366-1.Devémy, Jean-François (2013). Sur les traces de Filippo Brunelleschi, l'invention de la coupole deSanta Maria del Fiore à Florence. Suresnes: Les Editions du Net. ISBN 978-2-312-01329-9. (inline presentation (http://coupoledebrunellesch.wix.com/santamariadelfiore))Saalman, Howard (1993). Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings (https://books.google.com/books?id=sIQAtNlm2zwC&printsec=frontcover). Penn State Press.Vereycken, Karel, "The Secrets of the Florentine Dome" (http://schillerinstitute.org/educ/pedagogy/2013/vereycken-dome-1.html), Schiller Institute, 2013. (Translation from theFrench, "Les secrets du dôme de Florence" (http://www.solidariteetprogres.org/documents-de-fond-7/culture/les-secrets-du-dome-de-florence), la revue Fusion, n° 96, Mai, Juin 2003)"The Great Cathedral Mystery" (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/great-cathedral-mystery.html), PBS Nova TV documentary, February 12, 2014

External links

Media related to Filippo Brunelleschi at WikimediaCommonsFree audio guide of Brunelleschi's Dome(http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/the_dome_of_brunelleschi.htm)O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Filippo Brunelleschi" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Brunelleschi.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive,University of St Andrews.

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