Brunelleschi’s Dome & Renaissance Architecture
Filippo Brunelleschi’s Architectural Marvels
1. Santa Maria del Fiore’s Dome
Rating: Dome of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence. Italian Quattrocento (fifteenth century), created by Filippo Brunelleschi.
Historical Introduction:
Architectural Context: Renaissance architecture revives the principles of classical Greek and Roman architecture. It is a rationalist style based on proportion and mathematics. This dome is inspired by Roman architecture, specifically the Pantheon’s great dome, but its construction is significantly different.
Commentary: The dome covers the octagonal crossing of a Gothic church. Its technical challenge was to span a vast space of 42 feet in diameter. The area was so large that finding wood long and strong enough for traditional scaffolding (cimbra) was impossible. Furthermore, the dome had to exert minimal lateral thrust, as the drum’s walls were relatively thin.
Brunelleschi invented a new technique to allow the dome to support itself during construction: a double-shell design. The dome is supported by two caps, one external and one internal, separated by a hollow space, reducing the weight on the drum. It’s essentially two domes in one: an inner hemispherical dome and an outer, pointed dome. The latter counteracts the thrust of the former.
The dome rises on an octagonal drum. Each face of the drum features an oculus (a classical element) and colored marble panels.
The dome is divided into eight sections by marble ribs that extend from the drum and converge at the lantern. The exterior’s color scheme plays with the white and green of the drum’s marble slabs against the red brick of the infill panels. The dome is topped with a lantern featuring circular windows and a slender, pyramid-shaped spire housing a small dome. The exterior decoration soberly uses round arches, niches, and classical entablatures.
2. Pitti Palace
Rating: Pitti Palace by Brunelleschi, Italian Quattrocento (15th century).
Historical Introduction:
Architectural Context:
Art Review: The palace symbolizes a new society, serving as the mansion of the triumphant merchant class, the bourgeoisie. It’s not a fortified house but a building open to the city and integrated into its urban planning.
Brunelleschi established the model for Renaissance palaces:
- Cube-shaped appearance with predominantly horizontal lines.
- Application of classical orders on the façade.
- Rusticated masonry that gives a solid appearance.
It consists of three floors, differentiated by their stonework. The first floor features rustic stones, contrasting with the more finely carved stones of the upper floors. The windows have strongly marked keystones, and the whole structure is surmounted by a classical entablature. The predominance of horizontal lines over vertical ones clearly reflects classical influence.
3. St. Peter’s Basilica Dome
The dome of St. Peter’s covers the crossing of a centralized, Greek-cross plan.
The dome sits on a drum featuring pairs of circular, twin columns. Above the drum is a second drum decorated with garlands, leading to the pointed dome with ribs converging towards the lantern. This pointed dome, divided by ribs, supports the lantern, which allows light to enter the interior (the number of ribs is double that of Brunelleschi’s dome). This lantern is also decorated with pairs of columns.
The 42-meter diameter dome also requires support, countered by four smaller domes behind the pillars. It rises 120 meters from the floor and is supported by four massive pillars. The dome’s interior is decorated with mosaics.
On the exterior, Michelangelo’s expressive power is evident, reflected in a Mannerist style (a departure from classical language). This is seen in the window decoration with alternating circular and triangular pediments, the drum’s decoration with pairs of columns projecting from the dome’s plane, and lunettes. A play of mass, tension, and breaks is apparent. The Vatican dome, a symbol of Christianity, creates an interior space filled with light.