The ItalianRenaissanceThe first view of what renaissance was, how Europe becameunder the period. It is more to describe like the cultural change, creationsand how history reflects on great accomplishment from that era. Santa Maria Del Fiore– The cathedral of Florence As the locals call it The Duomo is one of themost prominent landmarks in Florence, not only about the beauty but it ashundreds of years’ worth of history, overall it took over 140 years to completethe church. Comparing the cities like Florence, Siena, Pisa everyone hada large cathedrals, looked like their intentions was to outdo each other, thebiggest & the best.
We can also understand that this was a typical scenarioduring the renaissance. Sienese attempted to rebuild their cathedral on acolossal scale, so vast that the existing cathedral, which is quite large, would have been no more than one transept of the building. This project, whichalways seemed optimistic, was brought to a consequently stand still because ofthe black death in 1348. The Florentines overreached themselves in their desirefor an impressive church since the problem of the dome was to remain unsolvedfor about a century and a quarter before the genius Brunelleschi was to find asolution to the apparently impossible problem of covering it. Murray, 1996, Thearchitecture of Italian renaissance(P. 31)Filippo Brunelleschi1377-1446One of the most influentialarchitects behind renaissance architecture, living his whole life in Florence. Other aspects of him that also was a mechanical engineer, the first kind in themodern times.
He also formulated the principles of linear perspective which governedpictorial depiction of space until late 19th century. He madeseveral trips to Rome, perhaps for research of different fundamental aspects, this was also the start of the journey about the linear perspective. Brunelleschi stands behind the crucifix of Santa Maria Novella. In 1414 he repairedthe Ponte a Mare in Pisa, also the master mind behind the dome of the SantaMaria Del Fiore a style of gothic cathedral.
He illustrated in two perspectivepanels one depicted the Florentine Baptistery as viewed from the Cathedralportal, and the other illustrated the Palazzo Vecchio. (Murray, 1996, p. 27)The church was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, enlarged theexisting religious structure and covered by coloured marbles like the earlybaptistery, except the facade remained unfinished until 19thcentury.
The project was also left unfinished at the dome due to, since in 1431only the “ polygonale base had been erected. There was to architects that won the competition of takingthe building further. Lorenzo Ghiberti (1368-1445) and Filippo Brunelleschi(1377-1446) although it was the latter that actually ended up building thedome, by showing great technical aspects of building design and architecture. Thisis the north side of the cathedral also known as Porta Della Mandorla, numerousartist collaborated with the design of the facade in the early decades of 15thcentury such as Donatello, Nanni di Banco and Jacopo Della Quercia. Nanni di Banco stood for figure of the virgin.
The name ofthis facade is based on that sculpture he created. The cathedrals interior preserves some of the great artworkssuch as on the left hand side you will find two detached frescoes painted byPaolo Uccello in 1436 and by Andrea del Costagno in 1456. Paolo Uccello alsocreated the clock inside the wall that shows 4 vogorous the “ Head of Saints”.
100 years or more it was decided that every inch of theexterior should be covered with marble as it says that marble can be accessedwith material of antiquity, the cathedral was one of the few that actuallybuilt with marble at that time in Florence. (King, 2001, p. 109) Giotto’s Bell Tower wasbuilt 1334-1359. The tower remains together with a huge dome, one of the moststriking views of town.
Giotto was actually a famous painter but actually alsothe architect behind the tower. He diedat 1337 therefore only the lower part of the tower remained finished, the workwas finished by Andrea Pisano and Fransesco Talenti. Thereliefs of the lower campanile known as the Italian bell tower relies on thebibles point of view between the creation of a man and woman, beginning ofhuman works such as sheep herding, wine making, metallurgy and music. The tower has some great features, not only by the paintingsbut also a body art of what Florence represent itself. The tower standsfinished at 84, 7 m tall and approx.
15m wide an eloquent example of the 14thcentury gothic architecture in Florence combining a strong vertical thrust withthe principle of sound solidity, its cover buttressed rising the full length ofthe tower to the projecting terrace at the top. (King, 2001, p. 121)Talenti is behind the large windows of the upper tier of the tower, to accessthe large terrace a climb of over 400 steps is needed to make the top.
Hereyou have some views of archtiectural planning of Giottos bell tower and Brunelleschisdrawing of Santa Maria del Fiore. Brunelleschis used 4 million bricks to createthe domeThedome could have been projected by Arnolfo or maybe not, had a drum. It was notclear if Arnolfo or Talenti gave it a serious thought by the major opening. Since the end of 14th century it came to a mind that some day itshould be done, number of architects wanted to readvice covering of the openingabout 140 ft across. Until now we know by the frescoes in the spanish chapel inSanta Maria Novella that at least one unofficial project was made about 1367, aslightly pointed dome that not appeared with a drum. The time scale of achapter has been concerned with italian gothic by the style that was developedwith it; amazing achievements of Gothic architects in Venice and Lombardy havebeen neglected because of the no relevance of the history about renaissancearchitectur Murray, 1996,(P. 30)Betweenwhats seen on the giottos bell tower and the dome and how Brunelleschi executedthe cathedral it will be tough to find critical aspects of the creation. Atthat time we could wonder how could they manage carrying heavy objects, structure pieces but Brunelleschi found his way by building a ox- hoist, it`sdriven by a horse.
At the bottom, the helical screw that raises and lowers thewheels is clearly depicted. (King, 2001, p. 59)The upper part wassubstituted with bricks to stone so it could be lighter on the top due tostability. The rest Bruneleschi creates a whole part of machinery that couldhelp him optimize the workload such as cranes that can handle the stoneblocks.
Murray, 1996,(P. 34)Thechoice was to apparantly build the dome in horizontal courses, each of themcontaining long thick elements bounded to its predecessor in a way that itcould carry its own weight until it was strong enough to support the load untilthe ring has been closed, meaning of to the next one. Thedome contains a wooden centering that supports the arch, he also created aoptical view instrument. It`s also a sort of a diagram he used to render theBaptistery in perspective. The painting is on the left, the mirror on theright.
Brunelleschi`s Dome (King, 2000, p. 36)Weare also here to see and understand the seperation between reneissance, purpaseand reuse also in in combination of gothic and romanesque style, meaning whenthe construction reaches a era. Her you have a sample of the plan drawing of Santa Maria delFiore. The numbers explains where each construction is placed and how theyapplied further on. Murrray, 1996,(P. 27)
