Filippo Brunelleschi's design for the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence remains one of the most towering achievements of Renaissance architecture. Completed in 1436, the dome remains a remarkable feat of design and engineering. Its span of more than 140 feet exceeds St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome, and even outdoes the Capitol in Washington, D.C., making it the largest dome ever constructed using bricks and mortar. The story of its creation and its brilliant but "hot-tempered" creator is told in Ross King's delightful Brunelleschi's Dome.

Both dome and architect offer King plenty of rich material. The story of the dome goes back to 1296, when work began on the cathedral, but it was only in 1420, when Brunelleschi won a competition over his bitter rival Lorenzo Ghiberti to design the daunting cupola, that work began in earnest. King weaves an engrossing tale from the political intrigue, personal jealousies, dramatic setbacks, and sheer inventive brilliance that led to the paranoid Filippo, "who was so proud of his inventions and so fearful of plagiarism," finally seeing his dome completed only months before his death. King argues that it was Brunelleschi's improvised brilliance in solving the problem of suspending the enormous cupola in bricks and mortar (painstakingly detailed with precise illustrations) that led him to "succeed in performing an engineering feat whose structural daring was without parallel." He tells a compelling, informed story, ranging from discussions of the construction of the bricks, mortar, and marble that made up the dome, to its subsequent use as a scientific instrument by the Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk


From Publishers Weekly
Walker was the hardcover publisher of Dava Sobel's sleeper smash, Longitude, and Mark Kurlansky's steady-seller Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. This brief, secondary source-based account is clearly aimed at the same lay science-cum-adventure readership. British novelist King (previously unpublished in the U.S.) compiles an elementary introduction to the story of how and why Renaissance Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) designed and oversaw the construction of the enormous dome of Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore cathedralAdesigning its curves so that they needed no supporting framework during construction: a major Renaissance architectural innovation. Illustrated with 26 b&w period prints, the book contains 19 chapters, some very brief. Although the result is fast moving and accessible, King overdoes the simplicity to the point that the book appears unwittingly as if it was intended for young adults. (Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo, for example, "took a dim view of marriage and women.") This book feels miles away from its actual characters, lacking the kind of dramatic flourish that would bring it fully to life. Despite direct quotes from letters and period accounts, the "would have," "may have" and "must have" sentences pile up. Still, the focus on the dome, its attendant social and architectural problems, and the solutions improvised by Brunelleschi provide enough inherent tension to carry readers along. (Oct. 23) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Like the poetry of Petrarch or the artistry of Giotto, the architecture of Filippo Brunelleschi radiates the talent of a Renaissance genius. King illuminates the mysterious sources of inspiration and the secretive methods of this architectural genius in a fascinating chronicle of the building of his masterwork, the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. Unsurpassed by St. Peter's in Rome or St. Paul's in London, Filippo's sublime dome required an imaginative leap in its conception and a stubborn relentlessness in its execution. King details how Filippo waged and won his 28-year battle to raise the magnificent structure, surmounting every technical, political, and artistic obstacle. And just as his dome created a visual focus for the city of Florence, his exploits in building it wove together numerous strands of municipal history--war, disease, intrigue, commerce--making one glorious narrative cord. King demonstrates a remarkable range, explaining everything from how Filippo engineered the hoists for raising stone to why the masons working on the dome drank diluted wine, but he always brings us back to the one incandescent mind performing the one matchless feat that would forever transform architecture from a mechanical craft into a creative art. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius designed and built an architectural wonder: the great dome over the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Considered impossible to build, the dome had baffled architects for more than 100 years, and Brunelleschi's solution was so daring that he was denounced as a madman when he proposed it. Yet build it he did, between 1418 and 1436, as plagues, wars, political feuds and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence swirled around him - events Ross King weaves into the story to great effect. From Brunelleschi's bitter, ongoing rivalry with the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, to the near capture of Florence by the Duke of Milan, to the daily routine of the artisans laboring hundreds of feet above the ground as the dome grew ever higher, Brunelleschi's Dome offers a wealth of detail and a memorable story.


From the Publisher
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FROM OUR EDITORS

When the call went out for ideas for vaulting the massive dome of what would become the new cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore in 15th-century Florence, no one expected that it would be an unknown goldsmith and clockmaker, Filippo Brunelleschi, who would hatch the amazing plan. Derided as a madman, he would be forced to weather feuds, plagues, and bitter jealousy. Ross King brings the reader a colorful and engaging tale of an obscure Renaissance creator and his courage in the face of great adversity.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

By all accounts, Filippo Brunelleschi, goldsmith and clockmaker, was an unkempt, cantankerous, and suspicious man-even by the generous standards according to which artists were judged in fifteenth-century Florence. He also designed and erected a dome over the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore-a feat of architectural daring that we continue to marvel at today-thus securing himself a place among the most formidable geniuses of the Renaissance. At first denounced as a madman, Brunelleschi literally reinvented the field of architecture amid plagues, wars, and political feuds to raise seventy million pounds of metal, wood, and marble hundreds of feet in the air. Ross King's captivating narrative brings to life the personalities and intrigue surrounding the twenty-eight-year-long construction of the dome, opening a window onto Florentine life during one of history's most fascinating eras.

SYNOPSIS

Describes how a fifteenth-century goldsmith and clockmaker, Filippo Brunelleschi, came up with a unique design for the dome to crown Florence's magnificent new cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore.

FROM THE CRITICS

Merle Rubin - Los Angeles Times

There's an art to writing about how things work, and, in the tradition of Henry Petroski and Tracy Kidder, Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing. In addition to his fascinating descriptions of Brunelleschi's inventions and methods, King fills in the equally fascinating biographical and historical background. We get a good sense of Brunelleschi's peppery personality (he enjoyed devising elaborate, rather spiteful, practical jokes), his rivalry with the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti and the exciting, tumultuous world of the quattrocento Florentine republic.

Publishers Weekly

Walker was the hardcover publisher of Dava Sobel's sleeper smash, Longitude, and Mark Kurlansky's steady-seller Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. This brief, secondary source-based account is clearly aimed at the same lay science-cum-adventure readership. British novelist King (previously unpublished in the U.S.) compiles an elementary introduction to the story of how and why Renaissance Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) designed and oversaw the construction of the enormous dome of Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral--designing its curves so that they needed no supporting framework during construction: a major Renaissance architectural innovation. Illustrated with 26 b&w period prints, the book contains 19 chapters, some very brief. Although the result is fast moving and accessible, King overdoes the simplicity to the point that the book appears unwittingly as if it was intended for young adults. (Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo, for example, "took a dim view of marriage and women.") This book feels miles away from its actual characters, lacking the kind of dramatic flourish that would bring it fully to life. Despite direct quotes from letters and period accounts, the "would have," "may have" and "must have" sentences pile up. Still, the focus on the dome, its attendant social and architectural problems, and the solutions improvised by Brunelleschi provide enough inherent tension to carry readers along. (Oct. 23) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

British historical novelist King (Domino, Minerva; Ex Libris) brings his talent for colorful period re-creation to the story of the world's largest masonry dome, that of the cathedral in Florence, Italy. Filippo Brunelleschi's ingenious solution for erecting the enormous dome ranks among the outstanding accomplishments of the early Renaissance, stimulating among his contemporaries a new appreciation of classical architecture as well as inspiring a spirit of innovation. For King, the dome's story is a tumultuous saga of rich and poor, geniuses and journeymen, soldiers and ecclesiastics, all of whom bring to life the vivid tapestry of daily life in the first half of the 1400s. King has done his research, but where the historical record is vague he doesn't hesitate to deploy the speculative imagination of the novelist. Regarding the cathedral itself, he dwells on engineering minutiae, paying scant attention to design and aesthetics. Omitted is mention of Filippo's important designs for the cathedral's exedrae, perhaps because this episode lacks drama. For reference, public libraries need Peter Murray's Architecture of the Italian Renaissance (1975, o.p.) or Ludwig Heydenreich's Architecture in Italy, 1400-1500 (Yale Univ., 1995). Those that are looking for a simple "good read" in the mold of Dava Sobel's Longitude (LJ 8/96) would do well to acquire this page turner.--David Solt sz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Novelist Ross King offers an account of the remarkable design and construction of the largest dome in the world (even today): the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. Reading with the excitement of a good novel, the book focuses on the innovative techniques used and the social and political context in which its architect worked. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Internet Book Watch

The focus of Brunelleschi's Dome is on Renaissance genius Brunelleschi, whose 1400 design revolutionized architecture, tells of a madman determined to achieve his controversial plan. Chapters paint a lively portrait of the man, his times, and the architectural design which would change the world. Leisure readers will find Brunelleschi's Dome as inviting as students of architecture, with a lively tone to the presentation which assumes no prior knowledge of either Renaissance times or architectural history. Read all 6 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

An altogether enchanting tale. — Dava Sobel