Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

175 Pages·2000·1.51 MB·English

by  Ross King

B ’
RUNELLESCHI S
D
OME
WALKER & COMPANY New York

Copyright © 2000 by Ross King All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the Publisher.
First published in Great Britain in 2000 by Chatto & Windu
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA;
first published in the United States of America in 2000 by
Walker Publishing Company, Inc.
Title page art is a section drawing of Santa Maria del Fiore by Giovanni Battista Nelli.
Brunelleschi’s dome: how a Renaissance genius reinvented architecture / Ross King.
ISBN 0-8027-9855-1
FOR MARK ASQUITH
AND
ANNE-MARIE RIGARD
C
ONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
1 A More Beautiful and Honourable Temple
2 The Goldsmith of San Giovanni
3 The Treasure Hunters
4 An Ass and a Babbler
5 The Rivals
6 Men without Name or Family
7 Some Unheard-of Machine
8 The Chain of Stone
9 The Tale of the Fat Carpenter
10 The Pointed Fifth
11 Bricks and Mortar
12 Circle by Circle
13 The Monster of the Arno
14 Debacle at Lucca
15 From Bad to Worse
16 Consecration
17 The Lantern
18 Ingenii Viri Philippi Brunelleschi
19 The Nest of Delights
NOTES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
I
LLUSTRATIONS

Giovanni Battista Nelli: Section drawing of Santa Maria del Fiore.
Bernardo Sansone Sgrilli: Ground plan of Piazza di S. M. del Fiore.
Giovanni Battista Clemente Nelli: Baptistery of San Giovanni.
J. Bühlmann: Interior of Pantheon, Rome. (AKG)
Taccola: Brunelleschi’s ox-hoist, Biblioteca Nationale Centrale, Florence.
Buonaccorso Ghiberti: Brunelleschi’s ox-hoist, Biblioteca Nationale Centrale,
Florence.
Anonymous: Drawing of a spring operated clock, British Library.
Buonaccorso Ghiberti: Vertical screw with triple turnbuckle and lewis bolt inset,
Biblioteca Nationale Centrale, Florence.
Leonardo da Vinci: Drawing of Brunelleschi’s “castello,” Biblioteca
Ambrosiana.
Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio: Drawing of herringbone brickwork, Gabinetto
Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi.
Biagio d’Antonio: Archangels in a Tuscan Landscape, Bartolini-Salimbeni
Collection. (Alinari)
Girolamo Benivieni: Illustration of Dante’s Hell from Dialogo di Antonio
Manetti cittadino fiorentino circa al sito, forme e misure dello “Inferno” di
Dante Alighieri poeta excellentissimo, Florence, 1506.
Taccola: Drawing of a column being shipped from a quarry, Biblioteca
Nationale Centrale, Florence.
Francesco di Giorgio: Drawing of a paddle-boat, British Museum Library.
Buonaccorso Ghiberti: Brunelleschi’s lantern hoist, Biblioteca Nationale
Centrale, Florence.
Brunelleschi’s Death Mask, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. (© E. Battisti)
Drawing of the dome being struck by lightning. (© Howard Saalman)
Gherardo Mechini: Scaffolding for the lantern of S. M. del Fiore, Gabinetto
Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi.
View of the dome. (AKG)
The author and publisher are grateful for permission to reproduce illustrations in
this book, and to Sarah Challis and Eugenio Battisti for their diagrams.
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks to everyone who assisted with the research and writing of this book. I
am indebted to Alta Macadam for reading the manuscript and sharing with me
her encyclopedic knowledge of Florence, and to Sir Jack Zunz for his expertise
in structural engineering and his understanding of the finer points of
Brunelleschi’s technological achievement. A number of other people also read
the manuscript in draft form and offered valuable advice: Mark Asquith, Ronald
Jonkers, Sophie Oxenham, Anne-Marie Rigard, and Amir Ramezani. For help
with translations I am grateful to Cristiana Papi and to my sister Maureen King.
Thanks also to Maureen for tracking down a number of important periodical
articles that would otherwise have been inaccessible to me. Sarah Challis
executed diagrams for the text, while Margaret Duffy and Richard Mabey
provided information in response to my queries. During the course of my
research I was assisted on numerous occasions by the staffs of the British
Library, the Bodleian Library, the London Library, and the Oxford University
Engineering Science Library.
I also wish to thank my editors, Rebecca Carter and Roger Cazalet, both of
whom saved me from errors in presentation and infelicities of style; my agent,
Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, whose steadfast support for the project was vital
at every stage; and my German editor, Karl-Heinz Bittel, whose support has
likewise kept the book afloat. Finally, I must record my thanks to the two people
to whom the book is dedicated, Mark Asquith and Anne-Marie Rigard. I will
always be grateful for their hospitality in London and companionship in
Florence, but above all for their constant friendship.