Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.17 (715 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0142000159 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 194 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-08-01 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
An Independent Bestseller By all accounts, Filippo Brunelleschi, goldsmith and clockmaker, was an unkempt, cantankerous, and suspicious man-even by the generous standards according to which artists were judged in fifteenth-century Florence. Ross King's captivating narrative brings to life the personalities and intrigue surrounding the twenty-eight-year-long construction of the dome, opening a window onto Florentine life during one of history's most fascinating eras.. At first denounced as a madman, Brunelleschi literally reinvented the field of architecture amid plagues, wars, and political feuds to raise seventy million pounds of metal, wood, and marble hundreds of feet in the air. He also designed and erected a dome over the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore-a feat of architectural daring that we continue to marvel at today-thus securing himself a place among the most formidable geniuses of the Renaissance
King weaves an engrossing tale from the political intrigue, personal jealousies, dramatic setbacks, and sheer inventive brilliance that led to the paranoid Filippo, "who was so proud of his inventions and so fearful of plagiarism," finally seeing his dome completed only months before his death. --Jerry Brotton, . Completed in 1436, the dome remains a remarkable feat of design and engineering. The story of the dome goes back to 1296, when work began on the cathedral, but it was only in 1420, when Brunelleschi won a competition over his bitter rival Lorenzo Ghiberti to design the daunting cupola, that work began in earnest. King argues that it was Brunelleschi's improvised brilliance in solving the problem of suspending the enormous cupola in bricks and mortar
I LOVED IT E. Piper I loved this book. Perhaps because I love Florence, have stood spellbound looking up at the dome of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore or perhaps because the story of how a man's dream of building a dome without buttresses or wooden centering (wooden support posts) actually came to pass. Whatever the reason, I found the book both beautiful and. "the economics the rivalries and the competition that drove the great works of this era" according to Bernard H Ballou. I am not accustomed to writing book reviews. I will say simply that this text is a revelation. I have traveled to Florence and have visited the dome. I simply did not understand the time, the people, the culture, the politics,the economics the rivalries and the competition that drove the great works of this era. I had no real concept of the eno. Very good read on architecture for the general reader. This is my second book by this author, and I was very happy to read the book. Having been fortunate to have visited Florence twice and having been to admire the incredible dome, this book was a terrific explanation of this Medieval wonder.King brings together the time and place of Florence in the Middle Ages. The feel of the times, and wonder o