ART 235: Pre-Modern Art History

The dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore, the great cathedral of Florence, is among the most enduring symbols of the Renaissance, an equal to the works of Leonardo and Michelangelo. Its designer was Filippo Brunelleschi, a temperamental architect and inventor who rediscovered the techniques of mathematical perspective. Yet the completion of the dome was not Brunelleschi's glory alone. He was forced to share the commission with his archrival, the canny and gifted sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. In this lush, imaginative history--a fascinating true story of artistic genius and personal triumph--Paul Robert Walker breathes life into these two talented, passionate artists and the competitive drive that united and divided them.

This two-part volume offers an innovative analysis and interpretation of Brunelleschi's masterpiece. Part One, which is richly illustrated with iconographic material, traces the design and construction phases of this magnificent building and explores its

A pioneer of Italian Renaissance architecture, Filippo Brunelleschi is most famous for his daring and original ideas, among them the magnificent dome of Florence's famed Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. This comprehensive book describes how he created the structure, construction concepts, and other inventions. 28 halftones, 18 line illustrations.

On August 19, 1418, a competition concerning Florence's magnificent new cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore was announced: "Whoever desires to make any model or design for the vaulting of the main Dome....shall do so before the end of the month of September." The proposed dome was regarded far and wide as all but impossible to build: not only would it be enormous, but its original and sacrosanct design shunned the flying buttresses that supported cathedrals all over Europe. Of the many plans submitted, one stood out--a daring and unorthodox solution to vaulting what is still the largest dome in the world. It was offered not by a master mason or carpenter, but by a goldsmith and clockmaker named Filippo Brunelleschi, then forty-one, who would dedicate the next twenty-eight years to solving the puzzles of the dome's construction. In the process, he reinvented the field of architecture. Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today.