Brunelleschi's Duomo
Brunelleschi’s Duomo
Brunelleschi, Filippo (Florence, 1377 – Florence, 1446)
1436. Stone, iron, wood, brick tile, and marble.
Construction on the Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy, was begun in 1296 by Italian architect Arnolfo di Cambio. For over a century, the cathedral was left without a dome, letting in rains and winds and damaging the interior. Cambio’s plans called for a dome with a diameter of almost 46 meters (150ft), beginning 55 meters (180ft) above the ground. However, no architect could be found with the technical ability, nor with the courage, to tackle such an immense task (Mueller). Town leaders chose to hold a design competition during which numerous architects proposed outlandish ways to build the dome (Mueller). The commission for such an important project went to Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith known for his unorthodox practices albeit with little record in architecture. Construction of the Duomo began in 1420 and ended in 1436, when it was consecrated by Pope Eugenius IV and a group of cardinals and bishops on March 25(Warren 92). Inspired by his liberal education, Brunelleschi was able to design a beautiful dome that has resisted the trials of time and still captures the viewer’s imagination with its breathtaking beauty.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore physically and spiritually dominates the skyline of Florence for the citizens of the city and tourists alike. Rising above the rooftops of surrounding buildings, the Cathedral is the focal point of the city and is located in the protected UNESCO World Heritage site covering the historic center of Florence. Nestled atop the Cathedral, Brunelleschi’s Duomo is beautiful and strong, a delicate mountain rising above the city. The shape of the dome is more pointed than traditional domes, giving the viewer the impression that the dome is a tulip about to burst into bloom at any moment (Mainstone 21). Fittingly, the name of the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore translates to Saint Mary of the Flower.
The eminent designer of such a marvel, Brunelleschi, was a master and collaborator across many disciplines, a testament to his strong liberal education. As a child, Brunelleschi “mastered drawing and painting, wood carving, sculpture in silver and bronze, stone setting, niello, and enamel work” (Mueller). Later in his career, he tackled optics, clock making, principles of physics and motion, and discovered the rules of linear perspective (Mueller). Although he had little architectural experience before drawing up plans for the world’s biggest dome, Brunelleschi applied the principles of his liberal education to design a breathtaking structure that continues to inspire us.
The dome is protected from “hoop stress,” outward pressure at the rim of the dome, by eight stone arches that frame it and direct our attention to the lantern at the top which bears a giant golden ball and a cross (Mueller). Brunelleschi’s marble lantern, crowning the dome, was designed to show an outwardly decorative and beautiful structure while also housing an oculus to let in natural light (Saalman 140). The frescoes on the interior of the dome, painted by Giorgio Vasari and Frederico Zuccari, depict scenes from the Last Judgment in massive form (Mueller). These frescoes were not in Brunelleschi’s original plans, rather the goldsmith had planned to cover the dome’s interior with gold. Zuccari began the frescoes in 1568 and they were finished in 1579, more than a century after the dome was finished. Given that the frescoes were painted by different artists so long after the completion of the dome, they should not be considered a component of the original dome. Brunelleschi’s original intention for the dome’s design was fostered in liberal education with the goal of diverging from traditional architectural style. Brunelleschi’s design was not constrained by any traditional aspect of architecture, rather it pursued ideals from numerous disciplines to achieve harmonious form.
One of the disciplines that inspired Brunelleschi was music, as can be observed by the interplay of the dome’s architecture and the style that composer Guillaume Dufay used to write a short piece of choral music, called a motet. Titled Nuper rosarum flores or “New Blossoms,” Dufay’s motet was written for the consecration of Santa Maria del Fiore, held on the Feast of Annunciation (Warren 92). Dufay was living and working in Florence during the later construction of the Duomo, and his piece demonstrates a brilliant interpretation of the architectural principles that guided Filippo Brunelleschi (Warren 93). Brunelleschi created his dimensions for the interior of the dome out of proportions based on a whole number ratio (a ratio that can be expressed as a single whole number) of 6:4:2:3, which were the same proportions used in Dufay’s motet (Warren 96). The musical dimensions of a motet are measured in breves, effectively double length whole notes. Further showing Dufay’s loyalty to Brunelleschi’s architectural genius, the dimensions of Nuper rosarum flores match exactly those of the interior of and dome of the cathedral (Warren 97). This example of cooperation and inspiration across disciplines is fundamental to the principles of liberal education that played such an integral role in the Renaissance. In fact, music and architecture are inextricably linked through the understanding of harmonic principles based on the Pythagorean relationship between sound and numbers (Baker 2).
Brunelleschi designed his innovative double shelled dome to be aesthetically pleasing rather than simply functional: he wished to vault his dome “‘in a more magnificent and swelling form’” than any previously achieved (Warren 98). Dufay parallels this with two tenors singing the cantus firmus (the basis for polyphonic composition) a fifth apart to amplify the sonority of the melody (Warren 98). Further parallels evidence the connections between Dufay’s motet and various aspects of the Dome such as its reinforcements, the ribs used to counteract hoop stress, and the mathematical proportions governing construction methods and materials.
Brunelleschi’s liberal education allowed him to apply skills he learned in his goldsmithing apprenticeship to design a beautiful and strong architectural structure without any formal architectural training. Brunelleschi’s Duomo represents the intersection of multiple disciplines to capture the essence of liberal education in Renaissance Europe.
List of Works Cited:
Baker, Geoffrey, and Tess Knighton. "The Resounding City." Music and Urban Society in Colonial Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011. 1-20. Print.
Mainstone, Rowland. “Brunelleschi's Dome Revisited”. Construction History 24 (2009): 19–30. Web. 4 Apr. 2016
Mueller, Tom. “Il Duomo.” Brunelleschi’s Dome. National Geographic, Feb. 2014. Web. 4 Apr. 2016
Saalman, Howard. Filippo Brunelleschi: The Cupola of Santa Maria Del Fiore. London: Zwemmer, 1980. Print.
Warren, Charles W. “Brunelleschi's Dome and Dufay's Motet”. The Musical Quarterly 59.1 (1973): 92–105. Web. 5 Apr. 2016