Synopses & Reviews
An Independent Bestseller 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.
Review
"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." Merle Rubin, Los Angeles Times
Review
"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." Booknews
Review
"Those that are looking for a simple 'good read' in the mold of Dava Sobel's Longitude would do well to acquire this page turner." David Solt, Library Journal
Review
"Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing....Fascinating." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Ross King deftly lays a score of high Renaissance adventures into the brickwork
of the rising dome. As each novel feat of genius engineering flowers high
aboveground, details of scandals and pranks blow up from the city streets
to create an altogether enchanting tale." Dava Sobel
Synopsis
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.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1. A More Beautiful and Honourable Temple
2. The Goldsmith of San Giovanni
3. The Treasure Hunters
4. An Ass and a Babbler
5. The Rivals
6. Men without Name or Family
7. Some Unheard-of Machine
8. The Chain of Stone
9. The Tale of the Fat Carpenter
10. The Pointed Fifth
11. Bricks and Mortar
12. Circle by Circle
13. The Monster of the Arno
14. Debacle at Lucca
15. From Bad to Worse
16. Consecration
17. The Lantern
18. Magni Ingenii Viri Philippi Brunelleschi
19. The Nest of Delights
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index