Quattrocento: Architecture

Development of rationality in architecture

Brunelleschi Cathedral (1420-1436) Baptistery, campanile, church independent buildings Engineering marvel 140’ span Problems Church plan prevents buttressing Too wide for scaffolding Solutions Raised dome to pointed arch Greater stability Twenty-four ribs (8 primary ribs) Double shell (1 st in history) Reduced weight Anchored by lantern (oculus)

Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419) Orphanage Patrons – Silk & goldsmiths guild Loggia – covered walkway with Rigid rules of organization Defined by arcade bays Height = width = depth Whole number proportions

Santo Spirito (ca. 1436) Mature style Strict mathematical ratios Nave twice as high as it is wide Crisp lines, little room for decoration No detracting from mathematical harmony for viewer Compared to Rationality vs. soaring spirituality Reason over emotion

Pazzi (1440) Attached to Santa Croce Square and circle – favorite of Medieval church – overwhelm w/size: small in presence of God Chapel – meant to welcome, make comfortable: loving God Compared to Ste. Chapelle Devotional reliquary/gothic vs. personal family image/status

San Lorenzo di Bartolommeo Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (begun 1444) Open colonnaded courtyard Debt to Brunelleschi Appears progressively lighter with height Stories of decreasing height Smoother stone with height Heavy cornice reverses this effect Attention to classical models with modern variation

Leon Battista Alberti Palazzo Rucellai (ca. 1452 – 1470) Florence Application of classical elements Use of different orders Modeled on Colosseum

Santa Maria Novella façade (ca. 1458 – 1470) Florence Square façade Simple ratio organization 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 2:3, etc.

Sant’ Andrea (ca. 1470) Mantua, Façade Merges classical themes: triumphal arch with temple entrance Equal horizontal and vertical elements Despite the height of the church behind it Interior Large barrel vault Recalls Roman architecture