The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance

How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World

Paul Robert Walker

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780380807925
• eBook ISBN:
  9780061743559
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia dell'architettura

"Walker here pairs off proto-architect Filippo Brunelleschi and doormaker Lorenzo Ghiberti in an often engaging version of Quattrocento Smackdown." — Library Journal
Joining the bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, this is a lively and intriguing tale of two artists whose competitive spirit brought to life one of the world's most magnificent structures and ignited the Renaissance.
The dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore, the great cathedral of Florence, is among the most enduring symbols of the Renaissance, an equal to the works of Leonardo and Michelangelo. Its designer was Filippo Brunelleschi, a temperamental architect and inventor who rediscovered the techniques of mathematical perspective. Yet the completion of the dome was not Brunelleschi's glory alone. He was forced to share the commission with his archrival, the canny and gifted sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti.
In this lush, imaginative history—a fascinating true story of artistic genius and personal triumph—Paul Robert Walker breathes life into these two talented, passionate artists and the competitive drive that united and dived them. As it illuminates fascinating individuals from Donatello and Masaccio to Cosimo de'Medici and Leon Battista Alberti, The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance offers a glorious tour of 15th-century Florence, a bustling city on the verge of greatness in a time of flourishing creativity, rivalry, and genius.
"A convincing account of one of the defining moments in art and history . . . He presents the two key figures in this drama in true human proportions . . . a skillful and engrossing story." — Kirkus Reviews
"A monstrously detailed account of a fascinating period in art and architecture." — AudioFile

Searchable Terms

Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

Abbaco, Giovanni dell’, 94, 137

Abraham (Ghiberti), 201, 202

Adoration of the Magi (Ghiberti), 51–52

Aesculapius, 77

Alberti, Leon Battista, 109, 141, 150, 181, 188, 196, 201

background of, 184–85

Brunelleschi-Ghiberti rivalry and, 186–87

cathedral dome as described by, 185

Ghiberti and, 185–86

Masaccio and, 185

all’antica style, xiii, 27, 77, 79, 82, 191

alla Romana style, xiii, 27

Andrea del Castagno, 148

Angelico, Fra, 215

Annunciation (Ghiberti), 50–51

Antonino (theologian), 86–87

Antonio di Banco, 53

Arnolfo di Cambio, 36, 84, 132, 188

Arte de Seta, see Seta, the (silk guild) Assumption (Ghiberti), 44, 52

Badalone, Il, 117–18, 135, 136

failure of, 162–65

Baldinucci, Filippo, 145

Baptism of Christ (Ghiberti), 52

Baptistery, see San Giovanni Baptistery Barbadori, Niccolò, 153

Bargello, 22

Bartolo, Lorenzo di, see Ghiberti, Lorenzo Bartolo di Michele, 12, 19–20, 37–38, 39, 40, 46–47, 48, 49, 156, 204, 205, 206, 208

Battista d’Antonio, 99, 104, 110, 123, 137, 183, 220, 221

Brunelleschi’s working relationship with, 173, 182, 195, 199

Beardless Prophet (Donatello), 82

Bertino of Settignano, 165

Bianchi (Whites) religious movement, 1, 2–3, 31, 100

Bicci di Lorenzo, 142

Billi, Andrea, 168

Black Death, 3, 12, 72, 128

see also plague

Boniface IX, Pope, 31, 32

Book of the Second and Third Door, 37, 124v

Botticelli, Sandro, 148, 225

Bracciolini, Poggio, 32, 87

Brancacci, Antonio, 145

Brancacci, Felice, 147, 167, 177

Brunelleschi, Filippo:

Andrea di Cavalcante adopted by, 92

architectural models of, 89–90

architectural projects of, 188–93

arrest and imprisonment of, 175–76, 206–7

background of, 4–6

Badalone design of, 117–18, 135, 136, 162–65

in Baptistery doors competition, xii–xv, 17–19, 22–25

Buggiano’s theft and flight from, 178–79

catasto tax system and, 158–59, 165, 196–97

classical languages and, 59–60

Cosimo de’ Medici and, 174

cosmological concerns of, 60–61

critics of, 133–35

crucifix designed by, 76–77, 103

death of, 197–98

Donatell...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface
• One: Plague Of The Bianchi
• Two: Competition For The Doors
• Three: Beautiful Works
• Four: The Committee
• Five: Two Fathers
• Six: The Fat Woodworker
• Seven: Speaking Statues
• Eight: Ingenious Man
• Nine: Competition For The Dome
• Ten: The Art Of Building
• Eleven: Excellent Master
• Twelve: Sonnet Wars
• Thirteen: Big Thomas
• Fourteen: The Catasto
• Fifteen: Flood Of Lucca
• Sixteen: Bad Acts
• Seventeen: All Of Tuscany
• Eighteen: Filippo Architetto
• Nineteen: At The Mirror
• Twenty: I, Lorenzo
• Epilogue
• Author’s Note
• Source Notes
• Bibliography
• Searchable Terms
• About the Author
• Praise
• Other Books by Paul Robert Walker
• Copyright
• About the Publisher