| The Cupola of Brunelleschi |
|
 When, in 1420, Filippo Brunelleschi was nominated
superintendent of the construction of the cupola of the
Florentine cathedral of Santa
Maria del Fiore, the lines along which the construction was
to be carried out had already been determined by what had been
done previously (Arnolfo, Talenti). The diameter of the inner
span (m. 41.50) is close to the maximum limit for any kind of
masonry dome. From the times of the Pantheon there had been no
examples of cupolas of such size. Faith in these structures had
been seriously undermined by the collapse, in 1346, of the dome
of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. In 1400 the Florentines had
had to reinforce the structures of the Baptistery which had shown signs
of giving way.
Instead of recuperating precedent techniques, Brunelleschi
invented a technique based on his knowledge of the "way of
building" of the Romans as well as medieval (eastern)
examples which he put at the service of a new concept and new
kinds of technical, cultural, aesthetic problems, involved in the
realization of the cupola. Basically the construction of the dome
depended on the use of a building technique capable of avoiding
any dangerous discontinuity in the masonry (27,000 tons) and
which would be able to circumvent the enormous problems involved
in constructing a traditional wooden armature of the necessary
dimensions. Brunelleschi's structure of bricks laid in
herringbone courses consisted of raising the wall in rings, each
containing vertical elements for bonding the successive ring. The
cupola was thus built as a self supporting growing form.
The dome is
surprisingly modern: in this double shell, the lighter exterior
cupola protects the inner cupola from the elements, while the two
work together thanks to the powerful connecting ribs. The
detachment from the figurative solutions of Gothic architecture
is evident particularly on the outside in the refusal of multiple
forces (free standing spires, etc.), in the rigor with which the
convergence of the forces upwards is pursued, entrusting the
formal solution to a formidable synthesis of continuous lines and
accessory surfaces resulting in unity and free from any need to
adapt to the more articulated and minute design of the structure
underneath.
The first powerful expression of a conscious synthesis of two
cultural worlds, Greek and Gothic, the cupola can in the end be
defined as a sensitive diaphragm stretched between an external
and an internal space, a diaphragm between one space and another.
In their internal tension, the thrust and dynamic form (pointed
arch and elliptical sector) engender a calculated equilibrium, a
cupola that hovers and is suspended over the city, the result of
the balance of all the forces. The city is no longer a framework
marked by the emergence of vertical points of reference (towers
and campanili): the cupola, in its size and form, stands out and
dominates everything else. The towers and the campanili
(including Giotto's) all now relate to each other as a result of
their relationship to the cupola which hovers between rooftops
and sky at the center of the urban system and automatically
become subordinate elements in a general plan.
The full meaning of this urban masterpiece, the cupola is
beautifully expressed in Leon Battista Alberti's splendid,
synthetic definition in the context of the dedication of his
treatise Della Pittura to Brunelleschi: "rising above the
skies, ample to cover with its shadow all the Tuscan
people". "Rising above" on the one hand expresses
the meaning of the tension in the generating line chosen for the
ribs, on the other the fact that the cupola is not dominated by
the universal space but creates a space of its own which
establishes all rapports and measures with respect to itself.
"Ample" expresses the fundamental qualification of
distension and circularity of the hovering cupola, while on the
other hand with "ample to" it immediately leads to the
concept in which the size of this urban structure is seen in
relation to the territory. Moreover, the contrast established
between the two terms ("rising above" - "ample
to") expresses with marvelous conciseness the solution of
all the forces, all the structures, all the equilibriums, of all
the proportions both within itself and in relationship to the
city, all the technical and structural problems, in the absolute
abstraction and in the tension of the line of its cross section,
etc. Lastly, Alberti's words stress the fact that the new formal
dimensions also correspond to the new political dimension of the
city.
The cupola is large but the sense of size differs from that of
the Gothic cathedral which from close up "ravishes",
aspires, and from far off becomes an atmospheric mass and blends
with nature. It is an exact dynamic form which from close up
implicates and collects the forces and the viewpoints which
converge on and depart from it; and from a distance, thanks to
its outline and the solution of the relationship of white ribs -
red webs, it maintains its capacity of measure and continuously
constitutes a figure that can be perfectly identified and
verified thus establishing a sense of proportion between the
various elements seen. As long as the cupola is visible, whatever
the distance may be: it reproposes the same exact figure
definited by lines and surfaces.
The various phases of this extraordinary experience come alive in
Manetti's biography, presented with an intensity that goes beyond
the author's desire to create a myth, all the more significant in
a writer who does all he can to define all biographical aspects
in terms of humanistic canons: Brunelleschi is in Florence
(1417); he is called in by the Operai dell'Opera and explains his
ideas for vaulting the cupola, arouses interest, but also many
doubts; he then asks permission to leave Florence and returns to
Rome and once more sets about studying the ways of vaulting of
the ancients without bothering about expense "having always
in mind the building of the above-named church in Florence";
in 1419 he is in Florence and is called in to take part in the
Council for the cupola; he is the only one to maintain that it
can be vaulted without centering and the discussion lasts several
days; the Operai, faced with his obstination in upholding an idea
that seems absurd, have him taken out bodily several times, as if
he were reasoning foolishly and his words were laughable; he
builds the Ridolfi chapel in S. Jacopo sopr'Arno to prove his
technical thesis; he prepares a program for the construction; he
is nominated capomastro; he accepts lower pay and the limit of
the level of fourteen braccia (cubits) as trial just to put an
end to the discussion and the opposition; he accepts dividing the
commission with Lorenzo Ghiberti; he makes a wooden model of the
cupola; he is called "ghovernatore della cupola
magiore" like Ghiberti; he alone is called
"inventore"; vaulting is begun under his direction;
fears and opposition increase; then feigning illness he displays
the incompetence of Lorenzo and that his presence is
indispensable; in this way he obtains a division of tasks between
himself and Ghiberti; he builds new models; he is always
surrounded by onlookers and he complains, they play tricks on
him; when the construction arrives at seven braccia he is
commissioned to complete the entire cupola including the lantern;
he is asked that his each of the eight faces of the cupola be
assigned to a "maestro di cazzuola"; he ends the strike
of the workman who refuse to be completely subordinate to him by
showing that he is capable of continuing with new workers trained
and directed by him; he invents various "provedimenti e
industrie" for various problems in the construction (winds,
earthquakes, the weight itself); he continuously makes models of
details with wet earth, with wax, with wood, or with large
turnips cut with a knife and shows them to the workers; he takes
care of the danger involved for the workers, "not so much
the dangers but the fears and terrors of the masons and their
helpers", and "that there were venders of wine and
bread and cooks" on the cupola in construction to gain time;
he personally chooses and controls all the materials and every
detail; the organization is by now perfect and the work is
accomplished. Even this synthetic chronicle of how the cupola was
made clearly reveals that Brunelleschi was no longer the
architect delegated by or representative of the community but
rather the interpreter who gives expression to the collective
moment in his own personal vision.
The Cupola was inaugurated on March 25, 1436, to the four-voice
motet Nuper rosarum flores by Guillaume Du Fay, who had come
expressly from France for the occasion.
While Brunelleschi was working on that extraordinary undertaking,
other great early fifteenth- century artists were doing their
part in bringing the cathedral square to completion, in line with
the fourteenth-century concept of the piazza in which a series of
symbolic decorative cycles were to visualize their rich culture
for the people: themes from the Old and New Testaments on the
doors of the Baptistery, in
the niches of the bell tower and on Arnolfo's facade of the
cathedral; reliefs with the Arts and Trades on the first tier of
the Campanile. Donatello, Nanni di Banco, Nanni di Bartolo,
Niccolò Lamberti all played a role in completing and
enhancing the complex. Ghiberti worked for more than a quarter of
a century (1425-1452) on the doors of the Baptistery which
Michelangelo says "were so beautiful that they would be
fitting for the gates of Paradise". In 1425 Masaccio
frescoed the Crucifixion on the left wall in Santa Maria Novella, a mural in
which the collaboration of Brunelleschi has been hypothesized in
designing the architectural perspective. "But the most
beautiful thing, apart from the figures", wrote Vasari,
"is the barrel vaulted ceiling drawn in perspective, and
divided into square compartments containing rosettes
foreshortened and made to recede so skilfully that the wall seems
to be hollowed out".
|
