BRUNELLESCHI, Filippo

Brunelleschi made this celebrated sculpture following a bet with Donatello. ( Donatello’s Crucifix can be found in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence.)

The Pazzi Chapel, attributed to Brunelleschi but completed after his death, contains the same umbrella-shaped cupola on pendentives with inset roundels as the cupola of the Old Sacristy.

View the ground plan and section of Cappella dei Pazzi, Santa Croce.

The Pazzi Chapel, attributed to Brunelleschi but completed after his death, contains the same umbrella-shaped cupola on pendentives with inset roundels as the cupola of the Old Sacristy.

View the ground plan and section of Cappella dei Pazzi, Santa Croce.

In 1418, when construction of the Florence Cathedral’s apse had been almost completed, a competition was announced for the erection of the dome; it was won, among criticism and some confusion, by Filippo Brunelleschi. He erected his revolutionary structure between 1420 and 1436, first adding to the beauty of the church’s proportions by constructing a tambour 15 m high at the base of the ovoid-shaped dome, which was designed in such a way as to avoid the need for reinforcement or scaffolding. The dome has double walls: between the inside wall and the roof outside are the stairs by which one ascends to the lantern at the top. The dome is 113 m high including the lantern and has a diameter of 44 m.

View the ground plan and section of the dome.

In 1418, when construction of the Florence Cathedral’s apse had been almost completed, a competition was announced for the erection of the dome; it was won, among criticism and some confusion, by Filippo Brunelleschi. He erected his revolutionary structure between 1420 and 1436, first adding to the beauty of the church’s proportions by constructing a tambour 15 m high at the base of the ovoid-shaped dome, which was designed in such a way as to avoid the need for reinforcement or scaffolding. The dome has double walls: between the inside wall and the roof outside are the stairs by which one ascends to the lantern at the top. The dome is 113 m high including the lantern and has a diameter of 44 m.

View the axonometric drawing of the dome.

In 1418, when construction of the Florence Cathedral’s apse had been almost completed, a competition was announced for the erection of the dome; it was won, among criticism and some confusion, by Filippo Brunelleschi. He erected his revolutionary structure between 1420 and 1436, first adding to the beauty of the church’s proportions by constructing a tambour 15 m high at the base of the ovoid-shaped dome, which was designed in such a way as to avoid the need for reinforcement or scaffolding. The dome has double walls: between the inside wall and the roof outside are the stairs by which one ascends to the lantern at the top. The dome is 113 m high including the lantern and has a diameter of 44 m.

The Old Sacristy shows the continuation of medieval building tradition in the main walls, which serve both bearing and weatherproofing functions, while the facing elements in pietra serena (the pilaster strips, capitals, trabeation, and arch frame) are innovative in their formal appearance, imitating structural functions while in reality they are merely ornamental. The structure of the umbrella dome, with its stone radial ribs and conoidal masonry webs, also harks back to medieval types.

This building, Brunelleschi’s only extant palazzo, was designed as the assembly hall for the Guelph party, built above a vaulted lower storey to the east of the original palazzo constructed in the years after 1422. Such buildings, like the institutions they served, were modelled on those of the Florentine republic: the Palazzo del Podestà (now the Bargello) and the Palazzo della Signoria (now Palazzo Vecchio). Accommodation was typically centred on a large council hall flanked by administrative offices, all at first-floor level above a vaulted ground floor and accessible by narrow stairs, wholly or partly external for reasons of security. At the height of Guelph power in the 13th century, modest headquarters had sufficed the party; as it declined in influence, however, a building programme was instituted to double the size of its building in a final bid for consolidation of its power.

Brunelleschi’s scheme for the assembly hall over the vaulted ground storey, to be joined to the original palazzo by a link block on the Via delle Terme, may have originally been made in the mid-1420s when the new connecting wing was being built. Work was interrupted during the wars with Milan and Lucca (1426–31) and the subsequent factional in-fighting. It was probably when work resumed in 1442 that Brunelleschi intervened with a project for a substantially larger hall in the new east wing, a project that meshed badly with the connecting wing and somewhat overwhelmed the ground-floor structure, but which assured much greater visibility (and hence prestige) for the building from the street.

The rectangular hall is articulated on the long (east) wall by four tall, round-headed windows with profiled all’antica surrounds, each surmounted by a large circular window; two such units are also featured on the short (south) end. None of the internal d�cor was completed in Brunelleschi’s lifetime, but the intention was to support the ceiling (probably coffered) on a classical entablature borne on pilasters between the windows. The existing interior pilasters were executed before c. 1456 by Maso di Bartolommeo, an associate of Michelozzo.

The Chapter House for the monastery of Santa Croce was commissioned by the powerful Pazzi family and is known as the Pazzi Chapel. Although the structure may have been designed c. 1423-24, the construction did not start until 1442 and it was only finished c. 1465. The design of the fa�ade, still unfinished, is only partially based on Brunelleschi’s design. The plan and interior, however, represent an amplification and consolidation of the principles announced earlier in Brunelleschi’s Sacristy of San Lorenzo.

Santa Maria degli Angeli is an oratory built for the Camaldolese monastery in Florence. It was begun in 1434 and, for lack of funds, was left incomplete in 1437. The building reached a height of only about 5 meters in the three years of work, and remained in its unfinished state until the 1930s when it was completed in an unattractive and controversial manner, and was given to the university and thus its more modern name Rotonda degli Scolari (“Scholars’ Rotunda”).

In the 1930s, the oratory was completed, yet due to the loss of Brunelleschi’s original plans, the building cannot be regarded as an accurate product of his design. Brunelleschi’s plans for the structure are known only through a series of later drawings, mostly dating from the sixteenth century, as well as a written description of his plan, dating from 1579.

Unusual in form, Santa Maria degli Angeli was planned as a domed octagon with a sixteen-sided exterior; semicircular niches were cut into every other facet of the exterior wall. Inside, eight chapels with deeply recessed lateral apses opened off the sides of the octagon, and were linked by a narrow passageway that pierced the apses and served as an ambulatory around the octagon.

In Brunelleschi’s last works, Santo Spirito and the barely started Santa Maria degli Angeli, the planarity of his earlier works was replaced by a greater plasticity of forms, with the use of engaged columns instead of pilasters, and semicircular chapels. The major innovation at Santa Maria degli Angeli was the employment of a circular plan, influenced by the Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome. The centrally planned church became a significant development of the Renaissance, evolving throughout the 15th century and reaching maturity in the 16th.

The photo shows the rotunda.

View the ground plan and section of the building.

The Pazzi Chapel, attributed to Brunelleschi but completed after his death, contains the same umbrella-shaped cupola on pendentives with inset roundels as the cupola of the Old Sacristy.

View the ground plan and section of Cappella dei Pazzi, Santa Croce.

This building, Brunelleschi’s only extant palazzo, was designed as the assembly hall for the Guelph party, built above a vaulted lower storey to the east of the original palazzo constructed in the years after 1422. Such buildings, like the institutions they served, were modelled on those of the Florentine republic: the Palazzo del Podestà (now the Bargello) and the Palazzo della Signoria (now Palazzo Vecchio). Accommodation was typically centred on a large council hall flanked by administrative offices, all at first-floor level above a vaulted ground floor and accessible by narrow stairs, wholly or partly external for reasons of security. At the height of Guelph power in the 13th century, modest headquarters had sufficed the party; as it declined in influence, however, a building programme was instituted to double the size of its building in a final bid for consolidation of its power.

Brunelleschi’s scheme for the assembly hall over the vaulted ground storey, to be joined to the original palazzo by a link block on the Via delle Terme, may have originally been made in the mid-1420s when the new connecting wing was being built. Work was interrupted during the wars with Milan and Lucca (1426–31) and the subsequent factional in-fighting. It was probably when work resumed in 1442 that Brunelleschi intervened with a project for a substantially larger hall in the new east wing, a project that meshed badly with the connecting wing and somewhat overwhelmed the ground-floor structure, but which assured much greater visibility (and hence prestige) for the building from the street.

The rectangular hall is articulated on the long (east) wall by four tall, round-headed windows with profiled all’antica surrounds, each surmounted by a large circular window; two such units are also featured on the short (south) end. None of the internal d�cor was completed in Brunelleschi’s lifetime, but the intention was to support the ceiling (probably coffered) on a classical entablature borne on pilasters between the windows. The existing interior pilasters were executed before c. 1456 by Maso di Bartolommeo, an associate of Michelozzo.

Designed by Brunelleschi in 1436, the lantern was only completed in 1470, when the cross was raised atop the golden ball. Brunelleschi died before the lantern was begun, and some details not seen in the surviving model may be due to Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, who finished the work.

Designed by Brunelleschi in 1436, the lantern was only completed in 1470, when the cross was raised atop the golden ball. Brunelleschi died before the lantern was begun, and some details not seen in the surviving model may be due to Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, who finished the work.

The building of the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo dates back to an endowment made by Giovanni Averardo de’Mdeici. The building, which was dedicated to St John, was decorated with episodes from his life, as he was Giovanni’s patron saint. In 1421 Brunelleschi took on the task of directing the construction work on San Lorenzo, the Medici family church. Possibly as early as 1419, and certainly not later than 1422, work was began according to his plans on the construction of the Old Sacristy. Built on a square ground plan, the main building is one of the earliest central plan buildings of the Renaissance. Between 1434 and 1437, Brunelleschi was to follow it up Florence with Santa Maria degli Angeli, the first free-standing and pure central plan building.

The Old Sacristy shows the continuation of medieval building tradition in the main walls, which serve both bearing and weatherproofing functions, while the facing elements in pietra serena (the pilaster strips, capitals, trabeation, and arch frame) are innovative in their formal appearance, imitating structural functions while in reality they are merely ornamental. The structure of the umbrella dome, with its stone radial ribs and conoidal masonry webs, also harks back to medieval types.

The Old Sacristy was decorated by Donatello.

View the section of Sagrestia Vecchia, San Lorenzo

The building of the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo dates back to an endowment made by Giovanni Averardo de’Mdeici. The building, which was dedicated to St John, was decorated with episodes from his life, as he was Giovanni’s patron saint. In 1421 Brunelleschi took on the task of directing the construction work on San Lorenzo, the Medici family church. Possibly as early as 1419, and certainly not later than 1422, work was began according to his plans on the construction of the Old Sacristy. Built on a square ground plan, the main building is one of the earliest central plan buildings of the Renaissance. Between 1434 and 1437, Brunelleschi was to follow it up Florence with Santa Maria degli Angeli, the first free-standing and pure central plan building.

The Old Sacristy shows the continuation of medieval building tradition in the main walls, which serve both bearing and weatherproofing functions, while the facing elements in pietra serena (the pilaster strips, capitals, trabeation, and arch frame) are innovative in their formal appearance, imitating structural functions while in reality they are merely ornamental. The structure of the umbrella dome, with its stone radial ribs and conoidal masonry webs, also harks back to medieval types.

The Old Sacristy was decorated by Donatello.

View the ground plan and section of Sagrestia Vecchia, San Lorenzo.

In summer 1426, Brunelleschi completed the loggia (porch) of the Foundlings Hospital, which cared for the city’s abandoned children from birth to apprenticeship or marriage. Recalling the vocabulary of Roman architecture, the symmetry of its round-headed arches imparted a visual clarity that was unprecedented in Florence.

An arcade with pilasters, or engaged columns attached to piers carrying an entablature, is known as a Roman arcade. During the late empire this was replaced by arches that rested on the capitals of a row of columns, a style that was standard in the Romanesque and Gothic periods and that was revived and widely used during the Renaissance. An example is Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence.

The Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents, or Foundling Hospital) as Bruneleschi’s his first major architectural commission. Although the portico of the hospital is composed of many novel features, morphologically it still is related to traditions of Italian Romanesque and late Gothic architecture. The truly revolutionary aspects of the building emanated from Brunelleschi’s intuitive sense of the formal principles of the classical art of antiquity. The Innocenti fa�ade offered a new look in Florentine architecture and a marked contrast to the medieval buildings that preceded it. Its lingering late-medieval echoes were subordinated to the new style that provided the fa�ade with its antique air: a wall delicately articulated with classical detail (such as Corinthian capitals, pilasters, tondi, and friezes), modular construction, geometric proportions, and symmetrical planning.

View the ground plan of Ospedale degli Innocenti.

The enamelled terracotta medallions by Andrea della Robbia featuring infants wrapped in swaddling clothes are a reference to the “Innocents” killed by the order of Herod.

The first expression of Brunelleschi’s own architectural principles was the Foundling Hospital (Ospedale degli Innocenti) built between 1419 and 1424 in Florence. This, which was the first hospital for foundling children in the world was built at the expense of Brunelleschi’s own Guild, that of the Silk Merchants and Goldsmiths. From the point of view of architecture the important part of this building is the outside loggia, since the hospital itself was completed by Brunelleschi’s followers when he himself, in 1425, was far too busy with the dome of the Cathedral to attend to anything else.

The loggia consists of a series of round arches, with a horizontal element above them, and a vault, consisting of small domes carried on the columns of the loggia and on corbels on the surface of the hospital wall.

View the ground plan of Ospedale degli Innocenti.

The loggia that Brunelleschi designed for the hospital is not, in its basic form, unusual. This type of structure seems to have been used consistently in late medieval hospitals. Street loggias providing shelter for pedestrians were common in other Italian cities, particularly Bologna, Padua, and Venice.

The first expression of Brunelleschi’s own architectural principles was the Foundling Hospital (Ospedale degli Innocenti) built between 1419 and 1424 in Florence. This, which was the first hospital for foundling children in the world was built at the expense of Brunelleschi’s own Guild, that of the Silk Merchants and Goldsmiths. From the point of view of architecture the important part of this building is the outside loggia, since the hospital itself was completed by Brunelleschi’s followers when he himself, in 1425, was far too busy with the dome of the Cathedral to attend to anything else.

The loggia consists of a series of round arches, with a horizontal element above them, and a vault, consisting of small domes carried on the columns of the loggia and on corbels on the surface of the hospital wall.

View the ground plan of Ospedale degli Innocenti.

Placing a portico in front of a hospital was not Brunelleschi’s invention but the revival of an earlier, medieval type that had already been used in Florence for other hospitals. However, in designing the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Brunelleschi increased both the number and size of the spans over earlier models, and the elegance of the pillars and arches.

View the ground plan of Ospedale degli Innocenti.

The pulpit, commissioned by the Rucellai family in 1443, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and executed by his adopted son Buggiano (Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti). This pulpit has a particular historical significance, since it was from this pulpit that the first verbal attack was made on Galileo Galilei, leading eventually to his indictment.

In the background Masaccio’s Trinity, situated almost halfway along the left aisle, can be seen.

Throughout the fifteenth century the suspended pulpit devised by Donatello retained its popularity. It was adapted by Brunelleschi for Santa Maria Novella, in a beautiful design in which the pulpit proper is approached by a staircase encircling a pier of the nave, and by Benedetto da Maiano for Santa Croce, in a scheme in which access to the pulpit is gained through the pier. At Prato it was modified by Antonio Rossellino in the form of a circular basin balanced on a single central support.

Before his pulpit was completed Brunelleschi died, and his plan was realized by Buggiano, who supplied the upper part with four narrative reliefs.

The internal pulpit in Santa Maria Novella is attributed to Filippo Brunelleschi and Andrea Cavalcante di Lazzaro, called Il Buggiano, who was Brunelleschi’s natural son, adopted in 1419. The picture shows the Presentation in the Temple, one of the scenes of the pulpit.

This panel, together with that made by Lorenzo Ghiberti, both depicting the sacrifice of Isaac, have great artistic and historical importance. They are the famous trial pieces presented in a competition for the right to construct the door of the Baptistery. The lyrical elegance of Ghiberti’s version undoubtedly expresses more coherently the famous Biblical episode. Ghiberti won the competition.

This panel, together with that made by Lorenzo Ghiberti, both depicting the sacrifice of Isaac, have great artistic and historical importance. They are the famous trial pieces presented in a competition for the right to construct the door of the Baptistery. The lyrical elegance of Ghiberti’s version undoubtedly expresses more coherently the famous Biblical episode. Ghiberti won the competition.

Brunelleschi built two large basilical church in Florence, both completed after his death but showing the development of his style in his later years, and both of them became patterns of the Latin cross type church. The two churches were the San Lorenzo and the Santo Spirito.

In 1516, a public competition for the marble fa�ade of San Lorenzo was set up by the Medici pope Leo X. Jacopo Sansovino, Raphael, and Michelangelo designed three-dimensional models of the fa�ade. However, Leo X changed his mind and, in a papal bull of 1520 canceled his 1518 contract for the erection of the fa�ade.

View the section and ground plan of San Lorenzo.

The picture shows a view toward the altar.

View the ground plan of San Lorenzo.

This church was commissioned by Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici and Cosimo de’ Medici. The building of the church was funded by a gift of 40.000 florins from Cosimo, in exchange for an agreement that he could be buried in front of the high altar and that the Medici arms would be the only arms to appear in the transept or choir. Work on the choir and the transept began c. 1425, the nave was designed in 1435 and constructed from 1442 to 1470s.

Brunelleschi was responsible for a revolution in the plan of church interiors and in the relation between church buildings and the urban complexes surrounding them. He was commissioned to build two of the major churches of Florence, Santo Spirito and San Lorenzo, and in each case he also submitted a design for an adjacent piazza. Although he never saw either church completed, and his projects for their piazze were not followed, Brunelleschi’s new ideas for church interiors and his vision of harmonious urban design remained influential for centuries.

View the ground plan of San Lorenzo.

The picture shows a view toward the altar.

View the ground plan of San Lorenzo.

Brunelleschi built two large basilical churches in Florence, both completed after his death but showing the development of his style in his later years, and both of them became patterns of the Latin cross type of plan. The earlier of the two is San Lorenzo, the parish church of the Medici family. This was begun in 1419, when a plan was drawn up for rebuilding a much older church on the site. Many chapels were necessary since it was a monastic foundation, and Brunelleschi therefore adapted the type which had been established in the last years of the thirteenth century at Santa Croce.

The later basilical church by Brunelleschi was the Santo Spirito, which is basically very similar to San Lorenzo, and the two churches between them became exemplars of the Brunelleschian style.

The picture shows a view from the altar.

View the section and ground plan of San Lorenzo.

Brunelleschi died in 1446, and only the foundation and part of the outer walls had been built. He was succeeded by several builders who made changes to some parts of his design. Brunelleschi’s facade was never built and left blank.

Brunelleschi built two large basilical churches in Florence, both completed after his death but showing the development of his style in his later years, and both of them became patterns of the Latin cross type of plan. The earlier of the two is San Lorenzo, the later was the Santo Spirito, which is basically very similar to San Lorenzo, and the two churches between them became exemplars of the Brunelleschian style.

Brunelleschi built two large basilical churches in Florence, both completed after his death but showing the development of his style in his later years, and both of them became patterns of the Latin cross type of plan. The earlier of the two is San Lorenzo, the later was the Santo Spirito, which is basically very similar to San Lorenzo, and the two churches between them became exemplars of the Brunelleschian style.

Brunelleschi built two large basilical churches in Florence, both completed after his death but showing the development of his style in his later years, and both of them became patterns of the Latin cross type of plan. The earlier of the two is San Lorenzo, the later was the Santo Spirito, which is basically very similar to San Lorenzo, and the two churches between them became exemplars of the Brunelleschian style.

A church is known to have existed on the site of Santo Spirito since about 1250. Brunelleschi’s design for rebuilding was approved by a commission in 1434, the foundation stone was laid in 1436. Very little, however, was done; and when Brunelleschi died ten years later the first column was on the site, but the church was not finished until 1482, after some alterations to the original design. Brunelleschi’s fa�ade was never built and left blank.

View the ground plan of Santo Spirito, Florence.

Brunelleschi built two large basilical churches in Florence, both completed after his death but showing the development of his style in his later years, and both of them became patterns of the Latin cross type of plan. The earlier of the two is San Lorenzo, the later was the Santo Spirito, which is basically very similar to San Lorenzo, and the two churches between them became exemplars of the Brunelleschian style.

A church is known to have existed on the site of Santo Spirito since about 1250. Brunelleschi’s design for rebuilding was approved by a commission in 1434, the foundation stone was laid in 1436. Very little, however, was done; and when Brunelleschi died ten years later the first column was on the site, but the church was not finished until 1482, after some alterations to the original design.Brunelleschi’s fa�ade was never built and left blank.

View the ground plan of Santo Spirito, Florence.

The Barbadori Chapel (now known as the Capponi Chapel) is attributed to Brunelleschi by Manetti, who said he designed and executed it for the Barbadori family; late 20th-century research confirms that it was built between 1419 and 1423 by members of that family, and its origins go back to Bartolommeo di Gherardo Barbadori (d. 1400 of plague). It is the first chapel on the right inside this aisleless church and is thus open in two directions with the help of a corner pier, which is faced with Corinthian pilasters. These support an entablature and flank a minor order of engaged Ionic columns carrying arches. A portico effect is thus created, recalling the loggia setting sometimes shown in depictions of the Annunciation. The interior of the chapel is roofed by a dome (now truncated) on pendentives with roundels, while the mathematical imperatives of the new system of articulation defined by Brunelleschi are evident in the way that the pilasters in the internal corners are reduced almost to extinction.

The picture shows a view of the external “triconch” structure of the apsidal part of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo, as the articulated podium for Brunelleschi’s dome.

The Chapter House for the monastery of Santa Croce was commissioned by the powerful Pazzi family and is known as the Pazzi Chapel. Although the structure may have been designed c. 1423-24, the construction did not start until 1442 and it was only finished c. 1465. The design of the fa�ade, still unfinished, is only partially based on Brunelleschi’s design. The plan and interior, however, represent an amplification and consolidation of the principles announced earlier in Brunelleschi’s Sacristy of San Lorenzo.

View the ground plan and section of Cappella dei Pazzi, Santa Croce.

The Chapter House for the monastery of Santa Croce was commissioned by the powerful Pazzi family and is known as the Pazzi Chapel. Although the structure may have been designed c. 1423-24, the construction did not start until 1442 and it was only finished c. 1465. The design of the fa�ade, still unfinished, is only partially based on Brunelleschi’s design. The plan and interior, however, represent an amplification and consolidation of the principles announced earlier in Brunelleschi’s Sacristy of San Lorenzo.

View the ground plan and section of Cappella dei Pazzi, Santa Croce.

Brunelleschi’s design for the chapter house in the cloister of Santa Croce was part of an extensive scheme of rebuilding following a dormitory fire in 1423. Patronage was assumed in 1429 by Andrea di Guglielmo Pazzi (1372–1445), whose family tombs were to be located in a crypt beneath the altar room; the building, generally known as the Pazzi Chapel, was intended to emulate the Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo. It has many features in common with the Sacristy, including the character of the articulation, although the basic shape of the chamber is rectangular rather than square. There is, in fact, a square here, formed by the central bay of the building beneath a twelve-part umbrella dome, and it is flanked by narrow ‘transeptal’ bays marked off by Corinthian pilasters.

The dome is supported on pendentives with roundels, like that in the Sacristy, resulting in deep curves in the upper parts of the walls and narrow, coffered barrel vaults over the flanking bays. As at the Sacristy, the east wall is opened up in the centre to reveal a square altar room roofed by a frescoed dome and lit by a large stained-glass window in its far wall. The chapter hall itself is evenly lit by small round windows at the base of the dome, by its lantern-covered oculus and by four tall arched windows in the entrance wall; the latter are echoed in corresponding round-headed panels on the bays of the walls inside.

Some experts assume that the model was made by Brunelleschi himself at a moment close to the beginning of the dome’s construction.