Italian Renaissance Domes: Brunelleschi and Michelangelo
Graphic Spoilers
The graph represents two Italian Renaissance domes: the dome of the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Italian Quattrocento Florence (fifteenth century), created by Filippo Brunelleschi, and the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, belonging to the sixteenth-century Mannerist style, made by Michelangelo.
Italy began in the fifteenth century an explosion of artistic and intellectual activity known as the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a cultural phenomenon that took up the principles of classical antiquity and updated them through humanism. Humanism is thus the Renaissance intellectual movement that links contemporary culture with classical antiquity; it is the philosophical and cultural aspect of the Renaissance. We are therefore faced with a culture that seeks anthropocentric beauty based on measure, number, and proportion. Artists are no longer considered artisans; they are now noted for their intellectual and scientific training. Princes and the bourgeoisie now financed these artists; thus, patronage appears.
The Artistic Side
On the artistic side, the Renaissance is the use of architectural forms supported in classical antiquity. It is a rational architecture based on proportions and mathematics. Renaissance architecture marks a break with medieval architecture. It is organized around two principles: the use of constructive elements of antiquity, such as half domes, entablatures, round arches, columns, and pilasters with the classical orders, and the achievement of spatial unity. This refers to the building as a result of a mathematical calculation.
The artistic evolution that the Renaissance suffered is reflected in the two domes: from the Quattrocento (XV), represented by the classic style dome of Brunelleschi, to the rupture of the classical language from the third decade of the sixteenth century that depicts the dome by Michelangelo. Michelangelo was the first architect to break the classical language, subjecting the elements of classicism to a personal interpretation, which is reflected in the dome of St. Peter’s in the Vatican. In this period, known as Mannerism, the severity, clarity, and balance of classicism are abandoned. The rupture of classical language commands the use of giant curved pediments, unfinished rhythms, and breaks.
Brunelleschi’s Dome
Brunelleschi’s dome covers the octagon of the crossing of a Gothic church already constructed. Its technical difficulty was that it had to cover an ample space of 42 feet in diameter. The space was so great that durable wood could not be found for long formwork. Furthermore, the dome had to have a minimum lateral thrust, as the drum walls were slightly thicker. He invented a new technique to allow the dome to be self-sustained in the course of construction: the dome is sustained through two caps, one external and one internal, separated by a hollow space, which relieves the weight of the dome on the drum. They are actually two domes together: an inner hemispherical dome and an outer pointed one. The latter counteracts the thrust of the first. The dome is raised on an octagonal drum. Each of the cloths of the drum presents an oculus (from the classical language) and colored marble slabs. It is divided into eight marble fillings separated by nerves leaving the drum and converging on the lantern. The exterior color value is acquired by playing with white and green marble plates with the red brick of the fillings. The dome is topped with a lantern in the shape of a drum formed by circular windows and a beautiful, slender pyramidal top that shelters a small dome. Soberly used in the exterior decoration are galleries of arches, niches, and classical entablatures.
The Dome of St. Peter
The dome of St. Peter covers the intersection of a centralized Greek cross plan. The dome sits on a circular drum that presents pairs of twin columns. On the drum rises a second drum decorated with garlands, and on it, the pointed dome with nerves that converge toward the lantern. On this pointed dome sits the lantern, divided by nerves, which allows light to enter inside (the number of nerves is double that of Brunelleschi’s dome). The lantern is also decorated with pairs of columns. The dome, 42 meters in diameter, requires, in addition to buttressing, the support of four other smaller domes behind the pillars. It rises 120 meters from the ground and is supported by four massive pillars. The dome is decorated with mosaics.
On the outside, it shows all the expressive force of Michelangelo, which is reflected in the clear Mannerist language (rupture of the classical language). This is seen in the decoration of the windows with alternating circular and triangular pediments, in the decoration of the drum, in pairs of columns protruding from the plane of the dome, and in lunettes. A mass game of tensions and ruptures is appreciated. The dome of the Vatican, a symbol of Christianity, creates inside a space full of light.
Renaissance Sculpture in Italy
Renaissance sculpture, like architecture, was born from models supported by the classics. One can sense a taste for the nude, for the use of noble materials of old (marble and bronze), and an interest in the monumental and severe. A rational scheme of proportion and symmetry is applied, with a detailed anatomical study based on a taste for clothes. The theme is extended, and, in addition to religious themes, secular themes arise, manifested both through funerary sculpture and through portraiture (equestrian or bust). It exalts the individual, something of humanist ideology, and is gradually replacing the medieval religious narrative as art for the beauty of form and aesthetic pleasure. Man and nature will be the stars. The nude reappears, and religious issues are presented with pagan figural types. Renaissance sculpture is realistic and naturalistic, and uses compositions characterized by the curve and counter-curve. The materials used are varied: stone, marble, terracotta, wood, plaster, and bronze.
Important Figures within the Quattrocento (15th Century)
Ghiberti, as a good humanist, is an example of the new artist, unlike the medieval craftsman. He was an architect, sculptor, and painter. Among his works are the Gates of Paradise in bronze. In these doors, he achieved perspective in bronze by working as if they were painting: he uses high, medium, and low relief, thus obtaining depth.
Donatello is the most important sculptor of the Quattrocento. He cultivated goldsmithing and learned from architecture and painting. His sculpture ranges from the classic search for balance and beauty to the cultivation of a certain expressionism, of dramatic values.
Cinquecento (16th Century)
In the Cinquecento (sixteenth century), the classic sense of balance and harmony continues. But gradually, there arises a tendency to agitation in composition, a constant search for motion and monumentality until Mannerism. From the second decade of the sixteenth century, the trend will be to seek to balance stress off classical volumetry versus grace and expressiveness versus idealism. Restlessness, astonishment, and distress are compared to classical order.
The sixteenth century is marked by the figure of Michelangelo. He is the highest exponent of classicism and, at the same time, the originator of the Mannerist language. Michelangelo is the prototypical Renaissance man: architect, sculptor, and painter, and is considered one of the greatest geniuses of all time. His work is varied and complex, but where he stands out is in sculpture. He always used white Carrara marble, being for him the compact material that comes closest to Beauty. His strong personality is reflected in sculpture better than any other field. He gives the sculpture exceptional strength and resilience, achieved through mastery of technique. His characters are great.