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| Ospedale degli Innocenti |
Filippo Brunelleschi, April 15, 1377 – 1446 (69 years) was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral. His accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture (churches and chapels, fortifications, a hospital, etc), mathematics, engineering (hydraulic machinery, clockwork mechanisms, theatrical machinery, etc) and even ship design. His principal surviving works are to be found in Florence, Italy.
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| Sculpture of Brunelleschi looking at his cathedral dome |
The principal buildings and works designed by Brunelleschi or which included his involvement:
Santa Maria del Fiore: The Florence Cathedral
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.[6] 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:
...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.[8] Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical and mathematical genius.[9] 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 Vitruvius' 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.
Brunelleschi kept his workers up in the building during their breaks and brought food and wine up to them. He felt the trip up and down the hundreds of stairs would exhaust them and reduce their productivity. In a further attempt to motivate the workers, he gave them diluted wine, similar to that given to pregnant women at the time.
Dome of the Cathedral of Florence, (1419–1436)
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)
Santa Maria del Fiore: The Florence Cathedral
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.[6] 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:
...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.[8] Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical and mathematical genius.[9] 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 Vitruvius' 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.
Brunelleschi kept his workers up in the building during their breaks and brought food and wine up to them. He felt the trip up and down the hundreds of stairs would exhaust them and reduce their productivity. In a further attempt to motivate the workers, he gave them diluted wine, similar to that given to pregnant women at the time.
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| Brunelleschi's dome for the Duomo of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore |
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