Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi (* in Florence in 1377, † April 15, 1446 ibid ) was a leading Italian architect and sculptor of the early Renaissance.

Life

As the son of a wealthy Florentine notary Brunelleschi received a good general education. He was trained as a goldsmith, then worked as a sculptor, and took part in the 1402 competition for the second bronze door of the Baptistery of Florence.

Work as an architect and builder

In 1377, Filippo Brunelleschi was born in Florence. He began an apprenticeship as a silversmith and goldsmith, in which he finished successfully. In 1402, he traveled for the first time to Rome to study the ancient builders. Likewise, he was interested in the sculptures. Brunelleschi dealt then in the next years with the architecture.

When in Florence the contract for the construction of the gates of the baptistery should be forgiven, Brunelleschi handed in his first draft. Brunelleschi's design was rejected and the contract was awarded to a competitor: Lorenzo Ghiberti, art theorist, painter and sculptor. Ghiberti and Brunelleschi but later worked together on projects.

Brunelleschi in 1418 received, along with Ghiberti, the order for the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. During the work Brunelleschi took over the sole management of the project and Ghiberti faded into the background.

1436 was the dome of the cathedral, which was built as an octagonal Doppelschalbau, completed. Brunelleschi used it a completely new concept. The dome has the style nor the Gothic way, crucial for the form, however, was the construction. Structurally seen the dome had exceeded the limits of the Gothic and reached the Renaissance. Filippo Brunelleschi took already the next public works contracts during the planning and the work on the dome in Florence. 1418 - 1428 Construction of the church of San Lorenzo, 1421 - 1455 the Foundling Hospital and the Pazzi Chapel. Characterized are all these buildings. Due to their geometric architectural style, in which the elements that were used for decoration were dropped,

The buildings of ancient Rome and the Tuscan Romanesque were the models and Brunelleschi placed great emphasis on technical / functional forms. Filippo Brunelleschi's style took place in Florence many followers, who imitated his style. Brunelleschi undertook later, another study trip to Rome. The gained insights he moved later in other buildings, mainly for churches, with a. The church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, built in 1434, has a central octagonal space surrounded by chapels. Santa Maria degli Angeli is considered the first Renaissance church. In 1436 construction began on the church of Santo Spirito. Brunelleschi provided the church with the plan of a basilica in the form of a Latin cross.

Filippo Brunelleschi used mathematics and science, thus creating the space perspective. He is also the same as the discoverer of central perspective. Structures could now be represented spatially. It thus became possible to record drawings with the effect of a room and so to control sketches and drafts. Brunelleschi laid the foundation for the Renaissance - buildings.

On April 15, 1446 in Florence Filippo Brunelleschi dies and is buried in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore.

Work as an inventor and engineer

Brunelleschi was also an engineer and inventor of machinery and equipment. So he invented during the domed building on Florence Cathedral for the large timber crane, which transported the building materials up a gear change, that the re-clamping of work animals made ​​redundant. Until then, the lift was driven by a capstan, where the animals had to be re -tensioned always time-consuming for the up and down movements of the basket here. This Brunelleschi could shorten the construction period on the dome significantly.

In 1421 Brunelleschi was granted the exclusive right to manufacture a vessel with a lifting device for transporting marble for three years. He received the first patent for an industrial invention.

Discovery of mathematically constructible perspective

Due to its trompe-l'œil in 1410 panels of the Piazza S. Giovanni and Piazza della Signoria, Brunelleschi is also considered the discoverer of the constructible mathematical perspective and its laws, which he also immediately his Florentine artist Masaccio influenced colleagues.

In the period following the construction of perspective is a tool for controlling the ratio of the depth of the room to the surroundings. Not coincidentally, the technological research and the drafting of a new metric - proportional system based on classical orders of beginning topics to be explored by Brunelleschi simultaneously with scientific experimental art.

Death in Florence

Brunelleschi was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore. His grave, which remained unknown for centuries, has been rediscovered in July 1972.

Literature (selection )

  • Filippo Baldinucci: Vita di Filippo di ser Brunellesco architetto fiorentino, Presso Niccolo Carli, Firenze 1812.
  • Cornelius of Fabriczy: Filippo Brunelleschi: his life and works, Cotta, Stuttgart 1892.
  • Leader Scott: Filippo di Ser Brunelleschi, George Bell & Sons, London, 1901.
  • Eugenio Battisti: Filippo Brunelleschi, Electa Editrice, Milan 1976.
  • Giovanni Fanelli: Brunelleschi, Karl Robert Langewiesche Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-7845-6162-4
  • Heinrich Klotz: Filippo Brunelleschi: his early works and the medieval tradition, DVA, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-421-02989- X
  • Attilio Pizzigoni: Filippo Brunelleschi (Studio Paperback), Publisher for Architecture, Zurich, Munich, 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8127-0
  • Peter J. Gardener: Filippo Brunelleschi 1377-1446, Könemann 2001, ISBN 3-8290-0683-7
  • Uta Schedler: Filippo Brunelleschi, Imhof Petersberg 2004, ISBN 3-937251-85-5
  • Ross King: Brunelleschi 's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence, Pimlico 2005, ISBN 1-84413-827-5
  • Hyman: BRUNELLESCHI, Filippo. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (ed.): Biografico Dizionario degli Italiani (DBI ). Volume 14 ( Branchi - Buffetti ), Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1972 ( Italian).
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