A critical biography of the quietly inventive Renaissance architect.
A critical biography of the quietly inventive Renaissance architect.
Filippo Brunelleschi is at once the most famous and most misunderstood architect of the Renaissance. The founding architect of the movement that led the way to modernity, his originality was not expressed in words or theory but rather in the materials he used, the scenography of space he engineered, the ingenuity of his designs, the exquisite workmanship of his detailing and the strikingly creative reworking of classical elements that make up his buildings. Marvin Trachtenberg oers a new view of Brunelleschi's brilliant career as well as his life, guiding the reader through his most iconic works in Florence. In the process, this book sheds light on the driven, competitive culture of Renaissance Italy. This is an original, lively account of a key Renaissance figure.
Marvin Trachtenberg takes us walking through everyday Renaissance Florence as he enters into dialogue with Brunelleschi’s design genius, capturing the drama of invention with the insights of an expert and the bravura of a master storyteller. Trachtenberg debunks myths crafted by the architect’s early biographers, as he opens our eyes to seeing the most famous of monuments in a whole new light. From the invention of a dome for the monumental cathedral to the crafting of a whole new architectural language, the Florentine Renaissance is in a very real sense born before our eyes in this scholarly page-turner. Barry Bergdoll, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History, Columbia University
What more might be said about Brunelleschi after centuries of scholarship on him? Yet Trachtenberg offers a fresh, often surprising and challenging reading on a subject that seemed long exhausted. A lesson in asking unasked (and leading) questions and in looking hard at the works that yields a masterful artistic biography by one of the foremost scholars of Renaissance architecture. Alina Payne, Alexander P. Misheff Professor of History of Art and Architecture, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
Marvin Trachtenberg is Edith Kitzmiller Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where he taught Gothic and Renaissance architecture for over fi fty years. His books include Building-in-Time: From Giotto to Alberti and Modern Oblivion (2010) . He lives in Bellport, New York.
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