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Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

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Author : Ross King
Binding : Paperback
EAN : 9780142000151
ISBN : 0142000159
Label : Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer : Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number of pages : 208
Publication date : 2001-11-01
Publisher : Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release date : 2001-10-30
Title : Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Studio : Penguin (Non-Classics)

Editorial reviews

Product Description
Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing. . . . Fascinating." (Los Angeles Times)

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. 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. 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. 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.

Amazon.com Review
Filippo Brunelleschi's design for the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence remains one of the most towering achievements of Renaissance architecture. Completed in 1436, the dome remains a remarkable feat of design and engineering. Its span of more than 140 feet exceeds St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome, and even outdoes the Capitol in Washington, D.C., making it the largest dome ever constructed using bricks and mortar. The story of its creation and its brilliant but "hot-tempered" creator is told in Ross King's delightful Brunelleschi's Dome.

Both dome and architect offer King plenty of rich material. 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 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. King argues that it was Brunelleschi's improvised brilliance in solving the problem of suspending the enormous cupola in bricks and mortar (painstakingly detailed with precise illustrations) that led him to "succeed in performing an engineering feat whose structural daring was without parallel." He tells a compelling, informed story, ranging from discussions of the construction of the bricks, mortar, and marble that made up the dome, to its subsequent use as a scientific instrument by the Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-12-21 rating:

A very nice read before visiting Florence
There must have been something in the water in Florence, Italy during the 13, 14, and 1500's... the amount of genius that city has produced continues to stagger the imagination: Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonerotti, ... and now (I discover) Brunelleschi. There's no denying the simple beauty of the cathedral's Rennaissance "five-point" dome, shelled in brilliant terra cotta, and topped with a distinctive "lantern" -whose origins are also covered in the book. What is not so widely appreciated is how revolutionary construction of the cathedral's dome was. Prior to Brunelleschi, domes were built over a scaffold frame to support the masonry until it dried. Brunelleschi's dome, however, is so large that its weight precluded such methods. How Brunelleschi overcame the technical challenges (while maneuvering through several political and interpersonal intrigues) to give the world this iconic dome makes for an edifying read, particulary for anybody traveling to Florence.
So why not five stars? - I guess I would have liked to hear some more of the architectural/engineering principles that underlie Brunelleschi's design, and more comparisons to the contemporary designs of Brunelleschi's day. Overall, I would recommend this book to anybody interested in art history, architecture, or who is about to visit Florence.

review by: date: 2008-09-13 rating:

So sorry I didn't climb the dome on my recent trip to florence....
I travel a ton and I am so sorry I didn't climb Brunelleschi's Dome. After reading this book, I want to go back, just to climb and see all the details I just read about. At times the book got slow and technical, but it was overall fascinating.....Stands the test of time....

review by: date: 2008-08-30 rating:

A short well written story about building a Renaissance church
The story of Brunelleschi's Dome is about a unique architectural accomplishment, one that has not been surpassed in the hundreds of years since it was built. The story is not just about the Dome, but about Brunelleschi and his competitors. It even gives us a glimpse of the era in which it takes place.

The book is short, only 167 pages. It is somewhat superficial; it does not delve too deeply into any one aspect of the Dome, the people or the time in which it was built. Readers with specialist knowledge or interest in any of those areas might be disappointed. Some of the descriptions of the building technics used and of the engineering of the Dome left me confused. More diagrams would have helped.

While this book does not have enough information in any one area to interest specialists, I thought it was a great read. It was an well written narrative on an interesting topic I would not have known much about otherwise.

review by: date: 2008-04-20 rating:

A must-read before visiting Florence
No, this isn't a book about an Italian guy with a big head, although Filippo Brunelleschi certainly had a massive ego. Brunelleschi's Dome is about the city of Florence generally during one of the greatest periods of genius and creativity in human history. It is also, specifically, about the life of Filippo Brunelleschi, a classic genius of the Italian Renaissance, and his magnificent dome which dominates the skyline of Florence to this day. Like so many of his contemporaries, Brunelleschi had a high level of expertise in a variety of fields. He was an artist, an engineer, a craftsman, a philologist, and an overall solver of impossible problems. He was also a bit of a whack-job whose failures were nearly as spectacular as his successes.

With this book, Ross King has penned an engrossing popular biography of Brunelleschi, as well as a history of the construction of his famous dome. While the book goes into some detail regarding the engineering behind the construction of the dome, the prose is never heavy and is written so that the layman, such as myself, never gets bored or lost.

My wife and I visited Italy in 2000 and climbing to the top of the Duomo was one of the high points (literally!) of the trip. I wish I had read this book beforehand! I therefore highly recommend it to anyone who is planning a visit to Florence. It will give you that much more appreciation for the amount of work--and genius--that went into the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

review by: date: 2008-04-17 rating:

A dome for eternity
The dual papacy had been resolved in favor of Rome (1416). Florence was the interim home for the Pope while permanent quarters were being readied in Rome (1420). Florence considered itself the new Athens of the western world, and on August 19, 1418 Filippo Brunelleschi submitted his design for the dome of the city's new cathedral. His design pushed the technology of bricklaying to never seen before sophistication, producing a dome 143 feet in diameter; a dome which is still the largest masonry dome in the world. His radical design and construction techniques for the double-walled dome required no temporary central scaffolding and support.

The work was interrupted by disease, war and political upheavals. Finally, the octagonal dome was completed in 1436 and the lantern on top of the dome was completed in 1461, fifteen years after Filippo's death. Ross King weaves a wonderful story about this technological feat. This book should appeal to all art, architecture and history buffs.

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