Menetti, who set aside Brunellesco’s counsel both in regard to the interior and exterior. Until lately, the construction of the exquisite abbey of Fiesole has been attributed to Brunellesco; it seems now to have been proved that he had no part in it.
Brunellesco’s name is also associated with two of the most beautiful Florentine palaces, the Pitti and the Quaratesi. The Pitti, which is the most imposing palace in Florence, was
begun by him in 1440 by order of Luca Pitti; but the Pitti of to-day is not that of Brunellesco. M. Conti, in a recently published pamphlet (“Il Palazzo Pitti e la sua Primitiva Construzione, ” Firenze, 1887), has shown that Filippo’s plans had seven windows in each of the upper stories, and three doors and four windows on the ground-floor 1 (Figure 3).
It is not known where Leon Battista Alberti, the forerunner of Leonardo di Vinci, made his debut as an architect. We first hear of him in this capacity at Rimini, directing, under the orders of Sigismondo Malatesta, the reconstruction of the Church of Saint Francis, executed between 1447 and 1450, with the exception of the façade, which, according to documentary evidence, was still unfinished in 1454. Later we find him at Mantua, engaged on the small but elegant Church of
San Sebastiano, begun in 1459; that is, twelve years earlier than the Church of Sant’ Andrea. The latter, which, like the former, was erected by Luca Fancelli (1430-1494? ), was after designs made by Alberti in 1470, two years before work was begun on the construction; but it was in large part altered by the later addition of the cupola. For the sake of exactness, it should be stated that, before furnishing the plans of Sant’ Andrea, Alberti had already executed a few works and made a few designs for Rome (the former for hoisting the great ship of Trajan from Lake Nemorante, the latter for rebuilding Saint
Peter’s, the Vatican, etc. ) In some of these he had as a collaborator Bernardo Fambarelli, commonly known under the name of Rosselino (1409 † 1464); he had also completed (about 1470), the façade of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, which had been commenced by Turino Baldesi. This last work was entrusted to Alberti by Giovanni di Paul Rucellai, to whom is
also due the famous Rucellai Palace, constructed mainly, it is probable, between 1451 and 1455 (Figure 4). The palace has been attributed to Rosselino because of its likeness to the façade of the Piccolomini Palace at Pienza, built after the plans of Rosselino and Francesco di Giorgio Martino (1459 † 1502), and so closely resembling the Rucellai façade that it seems like a copy of it.
The influence exerted by Alberti was not confined to the practice of his art. He was also one of the most exact of scholars: by his treatise on architecture (“De re œdificatoria”) and other writings, he promulgated the principles of the revived style. It is for this reason that the name of Alberti is inseparably joined to that of Brunellesco.
The mission of Michelozzo was
chiefly one of propagandism. We find him at Venice, at Milan; we find him having relations with the court of Naples, where — and very probably also at Venice — he was especially active in disseminating the teachings of the Tuscan Renaissance, of which he was one of the staunchest representatives. He was the architect of the marvellous palace of the Medici, built about 1450 by Cosimo, who chose this plan in preference to another proposed by Brunellesco; the latter, according to Vasari, being “too sumptuous and magnificent” (Figure 5). This structure bears the virile Tuscan stamp in its rustic work. The opus rusticum, making its way across the traditions of the Middle Ages (Palazzo Vecchio and Bargello), exhibits the ancient Etruscan strength, vigor and solidity in the Pitti,
1 See also an engraving picturing Florence at the end of the fifteenth century, preserved in the cabinet of Berlin (only copy), and published by M. Muntz in the “Histoire de l’Art pendant la Renaissance, ” Vol. I, Italie, between pages 50 and 51.
Fig. 2. Pazzi Chapel, Florence.
Fig. 3. Pitti Palace, Florence.
Fig. 4. Rucellai Palace, Florence.
Fig. 4a. Guadagni Palace, Florence.
Brunellesco’s name is also associated with two of the most beautiful Florentine palaces, the Pitti and the Quaratesi. The Pitti, which is the most imposing palace in Florence, was
begun by him in 1440 by order of Luca Pitti; but the Pitti of to-day is not that of Brunellesco. M. Conti, in a recently published pamphlet (“Il Palazzo Pitti e la sua Primitiva Construzione, ” Firenze, 1887), has shown that Filippo’s plans had seven windows in each of the upper stories, and three doors and four windows on the ground-floor 1 (Figure 3).
It is not known where Leon Battista Alberti, the forerunner of Leonardo di Vinci, made his debut as an architect. We first hear of him in this capacity at Rimini, directing, under the orders of Sigismondo Malatesta, the reconstruction of the Church of Saint Francis, executed between 1447 and 1450, with the exception of the façade, which, according to documentary evidence, was still unfinished in 1454. Later we find him at Mantua, engaged on the small but elegant Church of
San Sebastiano, begun in 1459; that is, twelve years earlier than the Church of Sant’ Andrea. The latter, which, like the former, was erected by Luca Fancelli (1430-1494? ), was after designs made by Alberti in 1470, two years before work was begun on the construction; but it was in large part altered by the later addition of the cupola. For the sake of exactness, it should be stated that, before furnishing the plans of Sant’ Andrea, Alberti had already executed a few works and made a few designs for Rome (the former for hoisting the great ship of Trajan from Lake Nemorante, the latter for rebuilding Saint
Peter’s, the Vatican, etc. ) In some of these he had as a collaborator Bernardo Fambarelli, commonly known under the name of Rosselino (1409 † 1464); he had also completed (about 1470), the façade of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, which had been commenced by Turino Baldesi. This last work was entrusted to Alberti by Giovanni di Paul Rucellai, to whom is
also due the famous Rucellai Palace, constructed mainly, it is probable, between 1451 and 1455 (Figure 4). The palace has been attributed to Rosselino because of its likeness to the façade of the Piccolomini Palace at Pienza, built after the plans of Rosselino and Francesco di Giorgio Martino (1459 † 1502), and so closely resembling the Rucellai façade that it seems like a copy of it.
The influence exerted by Alberti was not confined to the practice of his art. He was also one of the most exact of scholars: by his treatise on architecture (“De re œdificatoria”) and other writings, he promulgated the principles of the revived style. It is for this reason that the name of Alberti is inseparably joined to that of Brunellesco.
The mission of Michelozzo was
chiefly one of propagandism. We find him at Venice, at Milan; we find him having relations with the court of Naples, where — and very probably also at Venice — he was especially active in disseminating the teachings of the Tuscan Renaissance, of which he was one of the staunchest representatives. He was the architect of the marvellous palace of the Medici, built about 1450 by Cosimo, who chose this plan in preference to another proposed by Brunellesco; the latter, according to Vasari, being “too sumptuous and magnificent” (Figure 5). This structure bears the virile Tuscan stamp in its rustic work. The opus rusticum, making its way across the traditions of the Middle Ages (Palazzo Vecchio and Bargello), exhibits the ancient Etruscan strength, vigor and solidity in the Pitti,
1 See also an engraving picturing Florence at the end of the fifteenth century, preserved in the cabinet of Berlin (only copy), and published by M. Muntz in the “Histoire de l’Art pendant la Renaissance, ” Vol. I, Italie, between pages 50 and 51.
Fig. 2. Pazzi Chapel, Florence.
Fig. 3. Pitti Palace, Florence.
Fig. 4. Rucellai Palace, Florence.
Fig. 4a. Guadagni Palace, Florence.