Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

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Editorial reviews

Book 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.

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Amazon.com
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

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Customer reviews

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.

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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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review by: bob's your uncle date: 2008-01-08 rating:
Useful History: Short and Fun to Read
King's book is historical, but it reads like a novel as it weaves Italian history in with the fascinating account of Brunelleschi's rise from nowhere to become one of the greatest architects and engineers in history. Having toured the Florence Duomo and wondered "How did they build that with no heavy equipment," it is amazing to find out how they really did. This book is reasonably short; well written; and very informative. Highly recommended.

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review by: date: 2007-11-22 rating:
A must read before going to Florence
No need to get long winded here. It's simply a must read before exploring the dome. Read it in one evening and couldn't put it down. Added immeasurably to the experience.


review by: book junkie date: 2007-11-09 rating:
A Great Read, Especially If You Are Visiting Florence In the Near Future!
I picked this book up solely because I'm going to Florence in just under two months and I am trying to read as many fiction and non-fiction books that take place in Italy before I go!

Brunelleschi's Dome describes in detail the building of the Duomo. Not just the building of it, but from idea to conception, everything about it. The author provides you with great back story on the main campomaestro, Filippo, his life before the Duomo and during the Duomo as well as on Florence itself and what was happening in the city and the country during the time the Duomo was built.

My only complaint is that as a lay person, a lot of the engineering and architectural talk was a little bit over my head. I'm a very visual person so reading descriptions of how machines were built to carry heavy marble and how each machine worked, etc at times was difficult to follow and really picture.

I did come away with a complete appreciation of the magnitude of a project like this - how much materials were needed, how many people it took and the new techniques that were created just to build this magnificent building. I look forward to learning more when I arrive in Florence!

Definitely worth the read if you're visiting Florence soon, or if you are incredibly interested in building, architecture and engineering.

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