Brunelleschi's Dome : How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

by King, Ross

• ISBN13: 9780142000151
• ISBN10: 0142000159
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Penguin Books

Summary

An Independent Bestseller By all accounts, Filippo Brunelleschi, goldsmith and clockmaker, was an unkempt, cantankerous, and suspicious man-even by the generous standards according to which artists were judged in fifteenth-century Florence. He also designed and erected a dome over the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore-a feat of architectural daring that we continue to marvel at today-thus securing himself a place among the most formidable geniuses of the Renaissance. At first denounced as a madman, Brunelleschi literally reinvented the field of architecture amid plagues, wars, and political feuds to raise seventy million pounds of metal, wood, and marble hundreds of feet in the air. Ross King's captivating narrative brings to life the personalities and intrigue surrounding the twenty-eight-year-long construction of the dome, opening a window onto Florentine life during one of history's most fascinating eras.

Author Biography

Ross King is the author of two novels He lives in England near Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
A More Beautiful and Honourable Temple	1	(11)
The Goldsmith of San Giovanni	12	(9)
The Treasure Hunters	21	(11)
An Ass and a Babbler	32	(11)
The Rivals	43	(6)
Men without Name or Family	49	(7)
Some Unheard-of Machine	56	(14)
The Chain of Stone	70	(6)
The Tale of the Fat Carpenter	76	(6)
The Pointed Fifth	82	(9)
Bricks and Mortar	91	(9)
Circle by Circle	100	(8)
The Monster of the Arno	108	(10)
Debacle at Lucca	118	(10)
From Bad to Worse	128	(9)
Consecration	137	(4)
The Lantern	141	(12)
Magni Ingenii Viri Philippi Brunelleschi	153	(7)
The Nest of Delights	160	(9)
Notes	169	(8)
Select Bibliography	177	(2)
Index	179