My computer keeps eating some of my photographs.
Another day in Florence wiped out.
Fortunately, we visited the Duomo on two separate occasions so I will try to piece it
together. I used this picture from the web to show this very famous church.
Some call it the Florence Duomo, others the Santa Maria Basilica.
Either way it is truly spectacular!
During our studies before we arrived, we became extremely interested in two
parts of the building, the dome itself and the doors on the baptistry.
In the early 15th century, Florence had a problem. They had a huge hole in the roof
of their cathedral. The original plan when the church was built in 1296 was to add a
dome, but one problem continue to vex them - no one had ever built a dome so large as
to cover the 150 feet in diameter. The problem was even more difficult now as it had to be
built on existing walls beginning 180 feet in the air.
The leaders of the day announced a competition. All the leading architects from around the
country raced to Florence to present their ideas. There was an unexpected entry from a
man who was more a goldsmith and an artist than an architect.
His name was Fillipo Brunelleschi.
The boys loved the story of how he presented his dome and was scoffed at by the other
architects. In reply, he pulled out an egg, passed it around the table, and asked each person, in turn,
to stand the egg on its end. Each tried and failed. "Impossible," they said.
When the egg made it back to Brunelleschi he simply smashed the end on the table and the egg stood.
"But we could have done that," they cried. "That's exactly what you'll say when I finish
my dome," replied Brunelleschi - and he didn't tell them how would accomplish it.
He won the bid and the work began.
His brilliant idea to build a dome within a dome with tension rings of stone, iron, and wood
between them had never before been attempted, but it worked!
The dome from the inside - also remarkable - is entitled, The Last Judgement.
It was painted by Vasari and Zuccari.
The other account that drew the boys interest was the creation of the Gates of Paradise,
the doors on the baptistry that sits next to the Duomo.
Once again, a competition was announced.
The winning design would grace the north doors of the baptistry.
Two well-known artists who were also best friends, entered the contest, Brunelleschi and Donatello.
It is recorded that these two bet dinner over who win the competition.
A total of seven entries were received and publicly displayed.
When the best friends went to view all the entries - they immediately came to the conclusion
that everyone else came to - they had both lost.
An artist named Ghiberti had designed his doors with such depth, perspective, and movement,
they outshone all other entries. Ghiberti was later commissioned to do another set of doors.
The two became his life's work as he spent almost 30 years completing and installing them.
Fifty years later, Michelangelo stood in front of Ghiberti's doors and exclaimed,
"they are worthy to be the gates of paradise" - and they have been called that ever since.
No comments:
Post a Comment