The Renaissance Begins: Architecture I

Question 1

Dome of Florence by Fillipo Brunelleschi

Answer 1

1420-36 in Florence

• Arnolfo di Cambio was the original architect of the dome but never finished
• Fillipo was hired by the Opera del Duomo to restart building the dome
• Michelozzo di Bartolommeo was the one who finished the dome after Fillipo’s death
• It was the largest dome constructed since the Roman Pantheon
• The dome is self-buttressed and did not need freestanding scaffolding

Question 2

Ospedale degli Innocenti by Fillipo Brunnelleschi

Answer 2

1421-44 in Florence

• Commissioned by the Silk and Goldsmith Guild
• Ospedale is an orphanage for abandoned children and Fillipo was raised there
• Andrea della Robbia designed the structures of infants wrapped in clothes on the front of the orphanage
• The infant structures are a reference to the babies killed by the order of Herod the Great
• Fillipo incorparated loggia, columns on the porsch, into the building

Question 3

Basilica of San Lorenzo by Fillipo Brunnelleschi

Answer 3

1421-28 in Florence

• The facade of San Lorenzo was never finished
• Michelozzo di Bartolommeo finished San Lorenzo after Fillipo’s death
• San Lorenzo and Fillipo’s sacristy was commissioned by Giovanni di Bicci de Medici
• Fillipo’s sacristy is called Old Sacristy to distinguish it from the second sacristy, by Michelangelo, built in the church
• San Lorenzo was built along side the Basilica of Santo Spirito

Question 4

The Medici Palace by Michelozzi di Bartolommeo

Answer 4

1446 in Florence

• Commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici
• The two upper floors of the palace were built with drafted masonry, a more refined masonry
• Like large medieval palaces, the palace was built around a courtyard
• The rough cut stones of the ground floor resemble ancient Roman monuments like the Forum of Augustus