From Publishers Weekly
Brunelleschi (1377-1446), a pioneer of the early Renaissance--the architect credited with "overcoming the Gothic"--himself followed the Florentine Gothic tradition, according to this challenging monograph. Supposedly the rediscoverer of classical antiquity, this Florentine builder-engineer used virtually no marble, a material beloved of the Greeks. Instead he built with sandstone and covered his walls with plaster. In this amply illustrated study, originally a postdoctoral thesis, Klotz ( 20th Century Architecture ) shows how Brunelleschi evolved an elegant, transparent style by synthesizing classical, medieval, Gothic and Romanesque elements. Among the projects analyzed with the aid of documentary photographs and plans are Brunelleschi's lofty, gently curving dome for Florence Cathedral--predecessor of Michelangelo's cupola for St. Peter's--plus the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo and the Barbadori Chapel in Florence.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In this translation of an apparently unrevised post-doctoral thesis submitted in 1968, we are given both a technical reading of critical aspects of Brunelleschi's style and a useful consideration of his probable medieval sources. Klotz freshens our perception of Brunelleschi's genius by more insistently embedding it within a tradition of Romanesque protoclassicism and Gothic architectonic practice. Particularly interesting are the chapters that describe the medieval structures that probably influenced the designs of the Cathedral of Florence dome and the Foundling Hospital and the suggestive apercu of the proto-Renaissance aspects of Paduan culture and its possible connections with Brunelleschi's works. While convincing in his analysis of the columnar and mural aspects of the architect's structures, Klotz does not adequately treat the more elusive but nonetheless critical aspects of proportion, light, and space and their medieval antecedents. Specialized libraries will require this volume; general collections will be better served by Eugenio Battisti's more up-to-date synthesis, Filippo Brunelleschi: The Complete Work (LJ 2/15/82).
- Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, N.Y.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, N.Y.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
