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Title: Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King ISBN: 0-14-200015-9 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (46 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The man who made the view of Florence
Comment: If you have an interest in architecture, building, ancient Italy, or Florence, this book is definitely for you. I first purchased it for a friend who was going on a trip to Italy. He had never been to Italy, but I thought with his construction background the book would provide a nice tie to the beautiful Duomo in Florence. Was I ever right!
It took me a while to pick up another copy, but I am very glad I did. This book is great. I had spent a semester in Florence over a decade ago. During that time I became quite familiar with the city, the Duomo, and the competition for its construction. However, the details outlined in this book far outstripped anything I had learned.
The author does a great job of setting the scene in quattrocento Italy. The crumbling of the Roman Empire, the plague, militarism, politics, and scientific rivalry are all covered. Great artists and thinkers of the time: Ghiberti, Donatello, Da Vinci, and Brunelleschi. Research has been thoroughly conducted on the building project and prime players referencing (sometimes dispelling) past works by Vasari and other biographers.
Anyhow, get the book. It's great and has made my appreciation of the city and the magnificant accomplishment of the Duomo's construction even greater.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting
Comment: I loved the little know tidbits that were included in the book. I particularly liked the ongoing rivalry between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti.
I like another reader would have appreciated either more diagrams (even if not of the period) to go along with the written description of some of the machines and techniques. They were rather hard for me to visualize.
Rating: 5
Summary: The maker of machines
Comment: In 1418 Filippo Brunelleschi was 41 years old. He had an uncanny ability to solve mechanical problems. He was a goldsmith.
He traveled to Rome and was able to observe the vaulting of the Pantheon. Filippo returned to Florence. He was a life-long batchelor. He took no heed of his dress. He developed theories about perspective.
He became involved in the construction of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence's cathedral. Models for the dome were sought. People laughed at Filippo's. He had a revolutionary design.
Filippo was given a role in the construction of the cupola. Leon Battista Alberti was one of Filippo's ablest disciples. He wrote a book on architecture.
Filippo worked on a hoist powered by oxen. By 1421 the hoist was ready. Filippo's ox hoist was remarkable. It was both complex and powerful. Certain perils were inherent in its operation. The hoist raised on average fifty loads a day.
The hoist only moved things up and down. A means to move things laterally was required. The wardens selected Filippo's design for a crane. Leonardo Da Vinci later saw Filippo's machines and made sketches of them.
As many as four million bricks were used for the dome. Some were specially made for the project. Filippo also took a personal interest in the quality of the mortar. Mortar was always mixed on the site.
A dome is built on the principle of an arch. Filippo used herringbone bricks. The herringbone pattern was part of Filippo's technique to do away with the need for elaborate centering.
Buildings of large dimensions have always presented moral problems. Observers said the dome was built circle by circle. Domes have always been a conventional symbol of heaven. Filippo was a scholar of Dante.
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Title: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King ISBN: 0802713955 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall by Christopher Hibbert ISBN: 0688053394 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 02 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance : How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World by Paul Robert Walker ISBN: 0380977877 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 26 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Stones Of Florence (Illustrated Ed): Illustrated Edition by Mary McCarthy ISBN: 0156850818 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 16 September, 1987 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone ISBN: 0451171357 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: December, 1996 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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