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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 3
Lesson 2: Sculpture and architecture in central Italy- Brunelleschi & Ghiberti, the Sacrifice of Isaac
- Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac (quiz)
- Ghiberti, "Gates of Paradise," east doors of the Florence Baptistery
- Brunelleschi, Old Sacristy
- Brunelleschi, Dome of the Cathedral of Florence.
- Brunelleschi, Dome (quiz)
- Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel
- Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel
- Brunelleschi, Santo Spirito
- Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints
- Orsanmichele and Donatello's Saint Mark
- Donatello, Saint Mark
- Donatello, St. Mark (quiz)
- A soldier saint in Renaissance Florence: Donatello's St George
- Donatello, Feast of Herod
- Donatello, Madonna of the Clouds
- Donatello, David
- Donatello, David
- Donatello, David (quiz)
- Donatello, The Miracle of the Mule
- Donatello, Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata
- Donatello, Mary Magdalene
- Andrea della Robbia’s bambini at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence
- Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai
- Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai
- Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai
- Alberti, Façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence
- Alberti, Sant'Andrea in Mantua
- Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici
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Brunelleschi, Santo Spirito
Filippo Brunelleschi's Santo Spirito, Florence, 1428-81 Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- What does Pietra Serena translate in English?(10 votes)
- Literally it means "clear stone", 'pietra' meaning stone and 'serena' meaning untarnished, clear, unclouded. It's a type of plain grey sandstone.(21 votes)
- why does the church look like its in mexico?(3 votes)
- You are referring toand again at the end of the video. This styling is often seen in the Spanish Missions in California. 00:24(4 votes)
- Inwe see a picture of the ceiling of the basillica, what is the name of the vault/ type of ceiling used by Brunelleschi? Is it classical and is it seen in other buildings in Florence in the Renaissance? 3:26(3 votes)
- This is a coffered ceiling. Brunelleschi used it in San Lorenzo as well. This during the time when Brunelleschi is working to bring the classical order which is central to renaissance architecture a rebirth of the classical order. However the medieval architecture is still lingering such as the arch that springs from the column. The coffers are seen in roman architecture like the pantheon.(4 votes)
- would this be considered modular scheme?(1 vote)
- Yes, and this is one of the contributions that Brunelleschi made to the Renaissance style of architecture. It is in that sense of repetition of form and spatial modules that we are able to read or understand the mathematical basis for the building.(3 votes)
- What is the purpose of adding all these classical features? Do they indicate power? Wealth? Are they supposed to indicate a feeling of sorts, for example the ethereal feeling the rose window gives in Chartes Cathedral?(1 vote)
- The Renaissance have seen the Antiquity, that what is Classical, as the incarnation of perfection. They were trying to revive it (which the term etymologically means) and include as much of the classical elements as possible. They also had to sometimes find their own solutions, especially if they didn't know the technique which was used in some buildings well.(1 vote)
- What is the contribution of this church to the period of Renaissance?(1 vote)
- Can you provide a plan of this Church?(1 vote)
Video transcript
(piano music) Steven: We've in Santo Spirito, one of Brunelleschi's last churches; in fact, I believe only
one column was raised by the time he passed away. Beth: And we see a lot of
the same things that we see in the Old Sacristy or in the
Pazzi Chapel by Brunelleschi. The use of this dark
grayish green pietra serena that creates the columns and the mouldings and the cornices. Just yesterday we were in
the Laurentian Library, designed by Michelangelo, which is also these white
walls and the pietra serena and also very muscular, energetic space, and when we're here
today in Santo Spirito, I can really see that Michelangelo was building on what Brunelleschi did. Steven: There is a kind
of willingness to allow what would formally have
been the trim of the wall to become a visual force in itself. Beth: The church is a
basilica in its plan, with a dome over the crossing, but Brunelleschi, in his
typical interest in geometry, used the square that forms the crossing as the basic unit of measurement
throughout the church. Steven: There's also a relationship between those widths and
the elevation of the church. Rigorous continuity in
the geometry throughout. Beth: A sense of circles and semicircles and squares and rectangles that all relate to one another. Steven: Brunelleschi has
created a mathematical system that is so self-evident
and makes so much sense that there aren't other options. Beth: The mathematics determine the space, and I think that that idea of beauty residing in the relationships between the parts of the church, not in any one feature, but in those proportional relationships, is something that is very
important to Brunelleschi, and is also something that Brunelleschi is deriving from his study of
ancient Roman architecture. Steven: This is a
building that feels to me about the relationship also between the line of the pietra serena and the plain of the stucco in between, but unlike some of
Brunelleschi's earlier work, the pietro serena has expanded; it's become more muscular. Beth: You can see the
pietra serena expanding, almost as if it's growing over the arches, so it almost reaches the stringcourse molding
below the cornice. Steven: There seems to be that expansion of the pietra serena in
the stringcourses above; in the extra cornices that exist above each of the capitals
of each of the columns, and even at the bases of the column, the pietra serena seems to expand outward into the paving itself until the pietra serena
is no longer functioning, really, as line against plain, but becoming a kind of sculptural form. In fact it gives the entire church a kind of visual density. Beth: It's a space that has a tension between energy in the pietra serena and the simplicity of
the spatial elements. I think it's also really
important to talk about how classic this looks;
we really have a sense of being in an ancient Roman building, but there is a kind of severity here. We don't see fluting in the
columns or in the pilasters. Steven: And the pietra serena's tone is a serious tone. This church is one of
the great expressions of early Renaissance architecture. It's sometimes seen as a summation of the vocabulary that
Brunelleschi created over his lifetime,
which was revolutionary. (piano music)