Andrea Cavalcanti-Filippo Brunelleschi, zur
Kuppel des Domes hinaufblickend, Statue vor
der Kathedrale in Florenz
1446 Cavalcanti=Schüler und Adoptivsohn von B.
Südseite aussen
1377-1446
Beeline : Both Giotto and Brunelleschi were involved in the Duomo di Firence, the cathedral of
Florence (the "seat” of the bishop). It was begun 1296 in Islam-imitating Gothic but completed with a
majestic octagonal Renaissance cupola in antiquity’s style, depicting the epochal fashion change that
was also to ring in science. At its completion in 1436 the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was the
world’s largest church, able to house 30 000 worshippers (The astounding capacity of Rome’s St
Peter (1506-1626), supposedly of 60 000 standing within 15 000square meter would accommodate
just about all of the ancestors living in the year 1600 for a meeting of a person born around 1975. By
contrast, Santa Maria del Fiore would be much too small to accomplish this feat for that person’s
ancestry in 1436).
The brick dome remains the largest ever constructed, bridging even the challenge of fitting an
octagonal base with a cupola. To augment his limited learning, Brunelleschi had traveled to study
Roman antiquities to gain empirical knowledge (building was still mainly empirical and Milan
Cathedral was simply built by doubling the number that came up first when thinking of designing for
strength. Many buildings collapsed as a result).
The cathedral is basically a grand brick building for which a new mathematical knowledge was
important (the exterior is of polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink, bordered
by white, hiding the bricks). Repeatedly we will see the call for a higher order of professionals such as
Giotto and Brunelleschi to design these ambitious new programs. Science relates to this new required
professionalism. Architects have been a stable creative force over millennia and their mathematical
knowhow appears to have drawn the interest of wealthy people who eventually wanted to contribute
themselves in the artisanry, say of machine building, as we have seen with Boyle.
Giotto was supposedly buried beneath the floor of the church that the Duomo was initially built around
like a mantel. In the 1970s, bones were discovered that could be Giotto’s. Forensic evidence
indicated that they could be the ones of a painter, as the bones contained copious amounts of metals
from pigments. Tooth wear was in line with somebody routinely holding painting utensils in his mouth.
The bones were of a very short man, little over four feet tall but with a big head (a critic pronounced
that they are probably "the bones of some fat butcher"). The small stature would be in line with stories
that a dwarf in one of the frescoes at the Church of Santa Croce is a self-portrait of Giotto. Perhaps
that dwarf liberated us from stiff presentation and became a godfather figure also to science
Renaissance? Isn’t it interesting how relatively anonymous some of these prepares of our times
stayed? It is detective work to find out about them.
Marmorboden der Kathedrale Santa
Maria del Fiore in Florenz. 13.-15. Jh
von Arnolfo di Cambio
Brunelleschi - Kuppel des Doms von Florenz (von S, li. Campanile von Giotto)
Der Bau der 107 Meter hohen Kuppel mit einem Durchmesser von 45 Metern dauerte 16 Jahre (1418 bis 1434).
Von Anfang an trug die aus zwei Schalen bestehende Konstruktion sich selbst und wurde ohne Lehrgerüst errichtet.
Aufgrund ihrer Einzigartigkeit wird sie noch heute als Höhepunkt der Renaissance gesehen.
Florenz : Dom und Campanile (Giotto) aufgenommen vermutlich mit Tele vom Forte di Belvedere
Lorenzo di Medici (il Magnifico) regiert 1469-92, the most powerful and enthusiastic patron
of Renaissance culture in Italy, fördert Botticelli, Michelangelo; 1478 Pazzi Verschwörung (Salviati,
Bankkonkurrent) gebilligt von Papst Sixtus IV, scheitert aber, während des Hochamts im Dom
verschanzte, er sich, während sein Bruder und Mitregent Giuliano der Pazzi Verschwörung zum Opfer fiel
und am Boden verblutete. Hatte nicht weit ? After a modest funeral, Giuliano was buried in his father's
tomb in the Church of San Lorenzo, but later, with his brother Lorenzo, was reinterred in the Medici
Chapel of the same church, in a tomb surmounted by a statue of the Madonna and Child (Michelangelo)
Bereitet Söhne Piero II und Giovanni (zukünftiger Papst Leo X) vor, Tochter Maddalena muss Sohn von
Papst Innocent VIII.heiraten; Niedergang der Bank, Canossagang zu König Ferdinand I. von Aragon in
Neapel, um eine Invasion der mit Sixtus IV. Verbündeten zu verhindern (Bild Vasari). Mit Erfolg. Tod von
Lorenzo de’ Medici bedeutete vorerst das Ende der glänzenden Epoche florentinischer Kunst und den
Beginn von sozialen und kirchlichen Unruhen.
Piero II inkompetent, verantwortlich für Verbannung der Medici von 1494–1512 (von Savonarolas
Gottesstaat) wegen Bündnis mit Mailand das zum Einmarsch der Franzosen (Karl VIII mit Sforza) wegen
Neapel führt. Profitieren von Alaunvorkommen in Tolfa (Tuchfärbung, Flammenlöschung, Deodorant),
Niedergang der Bank.
Pferdenarr; Nase gestaucht; nicht hübsch, buried in the Medici Chapel
Lorenzo de’ Medici 1449-1492
Lorenzo by Rubens , Museum
Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp
Lorenzo il Magnifico
1449-1492
Michelangelo - Madonna
mit Kind Neue Sakristei
(sagrestia nuova)
Medici
