Italian Renaissance Architecture:
Filippo Brunelleschi and Donato Bramante (Tara Olivero)
Classical
Roman architecture was the inspiration for much Italian architecture during the
Renaissance. In the middle ages, Roman styles had given way to more Germanic
designs, and later, a Gothic style of architecture that focused on lightness of
construction, exemplified in popular design elements such as pointed arches and
flying buttresses. However, people in the Renaissance - and especially in Italy
- believed that during the middle ages the quality of the arts and humanities
had declined. Their goal was to restore the arts to their previous level of
excellence by imitating and even emulating the work of earlier architects,
artists, and writers.
Architects
of the time also trained as humanists because their goal was to design
buildings that would appeal to both reason and emotion. They focused on
incorporating specific mathematical proportions as well as measurements that
harmonized with the human scale, based on the work of Vitruvius. These ideals
allowed Renaissance architecture to be simpler and clearer in terms of design
than the more complex Gothic style.
Filippo Brunelleschi
The
Renaissance style of architecture is agreed to have begun in Florence, Italy,
with the work of Filippo Brunelleschi, born in 1377. Although he was trained as
a goldsmith, his interest in architecture led him to study the ancient
structures of Rome. As a result, he was the first architect since ancient times
to use Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders in “a consistent and appropriate
manner,” according to The Met. It is worth noting that these orders are
originally Greek, though Brunelleschi assumed that they were of Roman origin.
Regardless, these classical orders significantly impacted Brunelleschi’s
architectural style.
Brunelleschi’s
structures were dependent on their system of proportion. Whatever unit of
measurement he chose would be repeated throughout the entire design of the
building in order to generate and underlying sense of harmony. Arguably, his
greatest accomplishment was engineering the dome of the Florence Cathedral,
also known as the Duomo of the Santa Maria del Fiore, which was to be the
largest dome in the world at the time of its design and construction. The
cathedral itself was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, who died in 1302, and was
mostly constructed by 1367, though the dome had not been built except for the
frame of the base.
The
Duomo offered particularly heightened architectural challenges. The dome atop
the cathedral would need to be 150 feet wide and 180 feet above the ground, a
feat which no one had attempted to engineer before. It would be possible to
achieve if they used Gothic elements such as flying buttresses, but as their
rival neighboring city Milan had used Gothic style in its own architecture,
they refused. The Opera del Duomo offered a public competition in 1418 for
submissions for the construction of the dome, with a grand prize of 200 gold
florins for the best design. Filippo Brunelleschi won the competition, with his
rival Lorenzo Ghiberti appointed as a co-superintendent.
Brunelleschi’s
design, based on the golden proportions (a 1:1.61 ratio), was special because
it allowed for a tall, open space in the octagonal dome rather than filling it
with structural scaffolding. This was done by using two shells for the dome
with space between: one inner shell made of lightweight materials intended to
provide the support for the structure, and an outer shell that would be made of
heavier, more weather-resistant materials. The support of the dome was a system
of ring and ribs constructed from oak timbers, on which the bricks sat. One
major building concern was the fear that the bricks used for the domes would
fall down during construction. Brunelleschi solved this problem by creating a
herringbone pattern with the bricks, which directed the weight of the bricks
along the curve and outwards towards the dome’s wooden supports instead of
driving the weight straight down to the ground. Brunelleschi also invented a
hoist system powered by a yoke of oxen in order to use pulleys and a series of
counterweights to lift loads of these heavy brick materials to the necessary
height.
Construction
began on the dome in August 1420, the cathedral was officially consecrated by
Pope Eugene IV in 1436, and the dome was mostly completed by Brunelleschi’s
death in 1446. The Duomo is significant in relation to Renaissance architecture
because it was a seemingly impossible feat made possible by rational,
mathematical, and harmonious design.
Donato Bramante
Donato
Bramante was born later than Brunelleschi, in 1444, but he, too, focused on the
beauty and the gravity of the architecture from Ancient Rome. He trained as a
painter and is known to have painted frescoes at the Palazzo del Podesta, in
Bergamo, before he became interested in architecture in Milan under the service
of Ludovico Sforza in 1479, where he worked alongside Leonardo da Vinci. Some
of Bramante’s architectural designs include Santa Maria presso San Satiro in
Milan and the cloisters of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome. Later in life, one
of his patrons was Pope Julius II, who commissioned him to help plan the
Vatican and Basilica of San Pietro.
One of
Bramante’s most famous architectural structures was the Tempietto (Italian for
“small temple”) he designed for the cloister of San Pietro in Montorio, in
Rome, around 1502. It was a “martyrium” commissioned by Cardinal Carvajal (on
behalf of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain) in order to commemorate
the spot of St. Peter’s martyrdom and serves as a commemorative tomb rather
than a traditional Catholic space of gathering or prayer, as it is less than
fifteen feet in diameter.
It is
built as a perfect circle, considered the most ideal of the architectural
forms, in order to honor St. Peter. The structure’s ratios are all 1:1 or 1:2,
paralleling the Renaissance belief in perfect proportions, and the symmetry of
the structure, which has no real “front,” embodies the Renaissance
preoccupation with centralized configurations. The Tempietto is domed and
surrounded by sixteen Tuscan columns with Doric designs. Vitruvius recommended
Doric columns as appropriate for heroic and masculine deities, and therefore
Bramante’s simplicity and masculinity of design was meant to evoke St. Peter’s
character. The circular composition is also emblematic of antique Roman
temples; Bramante uses architecture to appropriate Pagan designs for Christian
purposes. Sombre and beautiful, the Tempietto is considered the first great
building of the High Renaissance architectural period.
Presentation link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NpgyHwLGr0IKTDTdVixYN084X_beQftWXDYyIz-dD1Y/edit?usp=sharing
Sources:
Additional photo credits for the
presentation:
Thanks For Sharing his nice post.
ReplyDeletePorte blindate Palermo
Finestre Palermo
Click Now