Filippo Brunelleschi

Book excerpt: "A definitive modern study of Filippo Brunelleschi's buildings, based on detailed archaeological investigation of the monuments and new exhaustive studies in the Florentine archives, has long been needed. This sequel to the author's Filippo Brunelleschi: The Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore (1980) answers that need. It makes a major contribution to our understanding of the creation of Renaissance architecture and of fifteenth-century patronage. In Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings Professor Saalman not only gives new insights into the physical fabric of Brunelleschi's projects, but reinterprets every one of his buildings on the basis of previously unpublished archival evidence and in the light of modern historical research on Early Renaissance Florence. The result is a monograph that reassesses Brunelleschi's architectural work in the context of the political, economic and religious environment of early fifteenth-century Florence. The author reexamines Brunelleschi's personal style of designing details and of managing the quantity and disposition of light in his metrically and geometrically proportioned spaces. Major chapters deal with the role of leading patrons, the Barbadori in their chapel in Santa Felicita, Cosimo de' Medici at San Lorenzo, Andrea Pazzi at the chapter house of the Pazzi in the convent of Santa Croce and the Scolari at the Angeli rotunda. An extensive selection of documents is provided in addition to the short excerpts quoted in the main text. The picture of Brunelleschi that emerges confirms earlier views of him as a traditionalist with an all'antica language. But the reader will find here a new dimension of historical precision in the definition of this much studied architect. Clear lines of demarcation are drawn between the work of Filippo and that of major contemporaries such as Michelozzo de Bartolommeo and, in particular, Leon Battista Alberti. We return at the end of the twentieth century to Filippo Brunelleschi's buildings to learn fundamental lessons about the craft and the profession. There is a universal element in his work: integrity - integrity of design, integrity of structure, integrity of detail. There are no false notes, no easy solutions, no slip-shod details. His buildings do not shout for attention: they command it silently through flawless execution and understated monumentality. They do not lend themselves to facile appreciation, but demand careful study and rigorous thought to be fully understood and enjoyed. A man throughly of his time and place, Filippo - like Mes van der Rohe - strove for simplicity, clarity, perfection. It is what makes him relevant to architects today." --