window where the lantern was to rise, it now remained to Filippo (who
had made many models of clay and of wood for both the one and the other
in Rome and in Florence, without showing them) to make up his mind
finally which of these he would put into execution. Wherefore, having
determined to finish the gallery, he made diverse designs, which
remained after his death in the Office of Works; but they have since
been lost by reason of the negligence of those officials. In our own
day, to the end that the whole might be completed, a part of it was made
on one of the eight sides, but by the advice of Michelagnolo Buonarroti
it was abandoned and not carried further, because it clashed with the
original plan. Filippo also made with his own hand a model for the
lantern; this was octagonal, with proportions in harmony with those of
the cupola, and it turned out very beautiful in invention, variety, and
adornment. He made therein the staircase for ascending to the ball,
which was something divine, but, since Filippo had stopped up the
entrance with a piece of wood let in below, no one save himself knew of
this staircase. And although he was praised and had now overcome the
envy and the arrogance of many, he could not prevent all the other
masters who were in Florence from setting themselves, at the sight of
this model, to make other in various fashions, and finally a lady of the
house of Gaddi had the courage to compete with the one made by Filippo.
But he, meanwhile, kept laughing at their presumption, and when many of
his friends told him that he should not show his model to any
craftsmen, lest they should learn from it, he would answer that there
was but one true model and that the others were of no account. Some of
the other masters had used some of the parts of Filippo's model for
their own, and Filippo, on seeing these, would say, "The next model that
this man makes will be my very own." Filippo's model was infinitely
praised by all; only, not seeing therein the staircase for ascending to
the ball, they complained that it was defective. The Wardens determined,
none the less, to give him the commission for the said work, but on the
condition that he should show them the staircase. Whereupon Filippo,
removing the small piece of wood that there was at the foot of the
model, showed in a pilaster the staircase that is seen at the present
day, in the form of a hollow blow-pipe, having on one side a groove with
rungs of bronze, whereby one ascends to the top, putting one foot after
another. And because he could not live long enough, by reason of his old
age, to see the lantern finished, he left orders in his testament that
it should be built as it stood in the model and as he had directed in
writing; protesting that otherwise the structure would collapse, since
it was turned with the quarter-acute arch, so that it was necessary to
burden it with this weight in order to make it stronger. He was not able
to see this edifice finished before his death, but he raised it to the
height of several braccia, and caused almost all the marbles that were
going into it to be well wrought and prepared; and the people, on seeing
them prepared, were amazed that it should be possible for him to propose
to lay so great a weight on that vaulting. It was the opinion of many
ingenious men that it would not bear the weight, and it appeared to them
great good-fortune that he had carried it so far, and a tempting of
Providence to burden it so heavily. Filippo, ever laughing to himself,
and having prepared all the machines and all the instruments that were
to be used in building it, spent all his time and thought in foreseeing,
anticipating, and providing for every detail, even to the point of
guarding against the chipping of the dressed marbles as they were drawn
up, insomuch that the arches of the tabernacles were built with wooden
protections; while for the rest, as it has been said, there were written
directions and models.
How beautiful is this building it demonstrates by itself. From the level
of the ground to the base of the lantern it is one hundred and
fifty-four braccia in height; the body of the lantern is thirty-six
braccia; the copper ball, four braccia; the cross, eight braccia; and
the whole is two hundred and two braccia. And it can be said with
confidence that the ancients never went so high with their buildings,
and never exposed themselves to so great a risk as to try to challenge
the heavens, even as this structure truly appears to challenge them,
seeing that it rises to such a height that the mountains round Florence
appear no higher. And it seems, in truth, that the heavens are envious
of it, since the lightning keeps on striking it every day. The while
that this work was in progress, Filippo made many other buildings, which
we will enumerate below in their order.
With his own hand he made the model of the Chapter-house of S. Croce in
Florence, a varied and very beautiful work, for the family of the Pazzi;
and the model of the house of the Busini, for the habitation of two
families; and also the model of the house and loggia of the Innocenti,
the vaulting of which was executed without framework, a method that is
still followed by all in our own day. It is said that Filippo was
summoned to Milan in order to make the model of a fortress for Duke
Filippo Maria, and that he left this building of the Innocenti in charge
of Francesco della Luna, who was very much his friend. This Francesco
made an architrave-ornament running downward from above, which is wrong
according to the rules of architecture. Wherefore Filippo, on returning,
reproved him for having done such a thing, and he answered that he
copied it from the Church of S. Giovanni, which is ancient. "There is
one sole error," said Filippo, "in that edifice, and thou hast followed
it." The model of this building, by the hand of Filippo, was for many
years in the hands of the Guild of Por Santa Maria, being held in great
account because a part of the fabric was still unfinished; but it is now
lost. He made the model of the Abbey of the Canons-Regular of Fiesole,
for Cosimo de' Medici, the architecture being ornate, commodious,
fanciful, and, in short, truly magnificent. The church is lofty, with
the vaulting barrel-shaped, and the sacristy, like all the rest of the
monastery, has its proper conveniences. But what is most important and
most worthy of consideration is that, having to place that edifice on
the downward slope of that mountain and yet on the level, he availed
himself of the part below with great judgment, making therein cellars,
wash-houses, bread-ovens, stables, kitchens, rooms for storing firewood,
and so many other conveniences, that it is not possible to see anything
better; and thus he laid the base of the edifice on the level. Wherefore
he was afterwards able to make the loggie, the refectory, the infirmary,
the noviciate, the dormitory, and the library, with the other principal
rooms proper to a monastery, on one plane. All this was carried out by
the Magnificent Cosimo de' Medici at his own expense, partly through the
piety that he showed in all matters in connection with the Christian
faith, and partly through the affection that he bore to Don Timoteo da
Verona, a most excellent preacher of that Order, whose conversation he
was so anxious to enjoy that he also built many rooms for himself in
that monastery and lived there at his own convenience. On this edifice
Cosimo spent one hundred thousand crowns, as may be seen in an
inscription. Filippo also designed the model for the fortress of Vico
Pisano; and he designed the old Citadel of Pisa, and fortified the Ponte
a Mare, and also gave the design for the new Citadel, closing the bridge
with the two towers. In like manner, he made the model for the fortress
of the port of Pesaro. Returning to Milan, he made many designs for the
Duke, and some for the masters of the Duomo of that city.
The Church of S. Lorenzo had been begun in Florence at this time by
order of the people of that quarter, who had made the Prior
superintendent of that building. This person made profession of much
knowledge in architecture, and was ever amusing himself therewith by way
of pastime. And they had already begun the building by making piers of
brick, when Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, who had promised the people of
that quarter and the Prior to have the sacristy and a chapel made at his
own expense, invited Filippo one morning to dine with him, and after
much discourse asked him what he thought of the beginning of S. Lorenzo.
Filippo was constrained by the entreaties of Giovanni to say what he
thought, and being compelled to speak the truth, he criticized it in
many respects, as something designed by a person who had perchance more
learning than experience of buildings of that sort. Whereupon Giovanni
asked Filippo if something better and more beautiful could be made: to
which Filippo replied, "Without a doubt, and I marvel that you, being
the chief in the enterprise, do not devote a few thousand crowns to
building a body of a church with all its parts worthy of the place and
of so many noble owners of tombs, who, seeing it begun, will proceed
with their chapels to the best of their power; above all, because there
remains no memorial of us save walls, which bear testimony for hundreds
and thousands of years to those who built them." Giovanni, encouraged by
the words of Filippo, determined to build the sacristy and the principal
chapel, together with the whole body of the church, although only seven
families were willing to co-operate, since the others had not the means:
these seven were the Rondinelli, Ginori, Dalla Stufa, Neroni, Ciai,
Marignolli, Martelli, and Marco di Luca, and these chapels were to be
made in the cross. The sacristy was the first part to be undertaken, and
afterwards the church, little by little. The other chapels along the
length of the church came to be granted afterwards, one by one, to other
citizens of the quarter. The roofing of the sacristy was not finished
when Giovanni de' Medici passed to the other life, leaving behind him
his son Cosimo, who, having a greater spirit than his father and
delighting in memorials, caused this one to be carried on. It was the
first edifice that he erected, and he took so great delight therein that
from that time onwards up to his death he was for ever building. Cosimo
pressed this work forward with greater ardour, and while one part was
being begun, he would have another finished. Looking on the work as a
pastime, he was almost always there, and it was his solicitude that
caused Filippo to finish the sacristy, and Donato to make the
stucco-work, with the stone ornaments for those little doors and the
doors of bronze. In the middle of the sacristy, where the priests don
their vestments, he had a tomb made for his father Giovanni, under a
great slab of marble supported by four little columns; and in the same
place he made a tomb for his own family, separating that of the women
from that of the men. In one of the two little rooms that are on either
side of the altar in the said sacristy he made a well in one corner,
with a place for a lavatory. In short, everything in this fabric is
seen to have been built with much judgment. Giovanni and the others had
arranged to make the choir in the middle, below the tribune; but Cosimo
changed this at the wish of Filippo, who made the principal
chapel--which had been designed at first as a smaller recess--so much
greater, that he was able to make the choir therein, as it is at
present. This being finished, there remained to be made the central
tribune and the rest of the church; but this tribune, with the rest, was
not vaulted until after the death of Filippo. This church is one hundred
and forty-four braccia in length, and many errors are seen therein, one
being that the columns are placed on the level of the ground instead of
being raised on a dado, which should have been as high as the level of
the bases of the pilasters which stand on the steps, so that, as one
sees the pilasters shorter than the columns, the whole of that work
appears badly proportioned. All this was caused by the counsels of his
successors, who were jealous of his name and had made models in
opposition to his during his lifetime. For these they had been put to
shame with sonnets written by Filippo, and after his death they took
vengeance on him in this manner, not only in this work but in all those
that remained to be carried out by them. He left the model for the
presbytery of the priests of S. Lorenzo, and part of the building
finished, wherein he made the cloister one hundred and forty-four
braccia in length.
The while that this edifice was building, Cosimo de' Medici determined
to have a palace made for himself, and therefore revealed his intention
to Filippo, who, putting aside every other care, made him a great and
very beautiful model for the said palace, which he wished to place
opposite to S. Lorenzo, on the Piazza, entirely isolated on every side.
In this the art of Filippo had achieved so much that Cosimo, thinking it
too sumptuous and great a fabric, refrained from putting it into
execution, more to avoid envy than by reason of the cost. While the
model was making, Filippo used to say that he thanked his fortune for
such an opportunity, seeing that he had such a house to build as he had
desired for many years, and because he had come across a man who had the
wish and the means to have it built. But, on learning afterwards the
determination of Cosimo not to put this project into execution, in
disdain he broke the design into a thousand pieces. Deeply did Cosimo
repent, after he had made that other palace, that he had not adopted the
design of Filippo; and this Cosimo was wont to say that he had never
spoken to a man of greater intelligence and spirit than Filippo. He also
made the model of the most bizarre Temple of the Angeli, for the family
of the Scolari; but it remained unfinished and in the condition wherein
it is now to be seen, because the Florentines spent the money which lay
in the Monte for this purpose on certain requirements of their city, or,
as some say, in the war that they waged formerly against the people of
Lucca, wherein they also spent the money that had been left in like
manner by Niccolo da Uzzano for building the Sapienza, as it has been
related at length in another place. And in truth, if this Temple of the
Angeli had been finished according to the model of Brunellesco, it would
have been one of the rarest things in Italy, for the reason that what is
seen of it cannot be sufficiently extolled. The drawings by the hand of
Filippo for the ground-plan and for the completion of this octagonal
temple are in our book, with other designs by the same man.
[Illustration: THE OLD SACRISTY OF S. LORENZO
(_After_ Filippo Brunelleschi. _Florence_)
_Alinari_]
Filippo also designed a rich and magnificent palace for Messer Luca
Pitti at a place called Ruciano, without the Porta a San Niccolo in
Florence, but this failed by a great measure to equal the one that he
began in Florence for the same man, carrying it to the second range of
windows, with such grandeur and magnificence that nothing more rare or
more magnificent has yet been seen in the Tuscan manner. The doors of
this palace are double, with the opening sixteen braccia in length and
eight in breadth; the windows both of the first and second range are in
every way similar to these doors, and the vaultings double; and the
whole edifice is so masterly in design, that any more beautiful or more
magnificent architecture cannot be imagined. The builder of this palace
was Luca Fancelli, an architect of Florence, who erected many buildings
for Filippo, and one for Leon Batista Alberti, namely, the principal
chapel of the Nunziata in Florence, by order of Lodovico Gonzaga, who
took him to Mantua, where he made many works and married a wife and
lived and died, leaving heirs who are still called the Luchi from his
name. This palace was bought not many years ago by the most Illustrious
Lady Leonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence, on the advice of the most
Illustrious Lord Duke Cosimo, her consort; and she increased the grounds
all round it so greatly that she made a very large garden, partly on the
plain, partly on the top of the hill, and partly on the slope, filling
it with all the sorts of trees both of the garden and of the forest,
most beautifully laid out, and making most delightful little groves with
innumerable sorts of evergreens, which flourish in every season; to say
nothing of the waters, the fountains, the conduits, the fishponds, the
fowling-places, the espaliers, and an infinity of other things worthy of
a magnanimous prince, about which I will be silent, because it is not
possible, without seeing them, ever to imagine their grandeur and their
beauty. And in truth Duke Cosimo could have chanced upon nothing more
worthy of the power and greatness of his mind than this palace, which
might truly appear to have been erected by Messer Luca Pitti, from the
design of Brunellesco, for his most Illustrious Excellency. Messer Luca
left it unfinished by reason of his cares in connection with the State,
and his heirs, having no means wherewith to complete it, and being
unwilling to let it go to ruin, were content to make it over to the
Duchess, who was ever spending money on it as long as she lived, but not
so much as to give hope that it would be soon finished. It is true,
indeed, according to what I once heard, that she was minded to spend
40,000 ducats in one year alone, if she lived, in order to see it, if
not finished, at least well on the way to completion. And because the
model of Filippo has not been found, his Excellency has caused
Bartolommeo Ammanati, an excellent sculptor and architect, to make
another, according to which the work is being carried on; and a great
part of the courtyard is already completed in rustic work, similar to
the exterior. And in truth, if one considers the grandeur of this work,
one marvels how the mind of Filippo could conceive so great an edifice,
which is truly magnificent not only in the external facade, but also in
the distribution of all the apartments. I say nothing of the view, which
is most beautiful, and of the kind of theatre formed by the most lovely
hills that rise round the palace in the direction of the walls, because,
as I have said, it would take too long to try to describe them in full,
nor could anyone, without seeing this palace, imagine how greatly
superior it is to any other royal edifice whatsoever.
It is also said that the machinery for the "Paradise" of S. Felice in
Piazza, in the said city, was invented by Filippo in order to hold the
Representation, or rather, the Festival of the Annunciation, in the
manner wherein the Florentines were wont to hold it in that place in
olden times. This was truly something marvellous, demonstrating the
genius and the industry of him who was its inventor, for the reason that
there was seen on high a Heaven full of living figures in motion, with
an infinity of lights appearing and disappearing almost in a flash. Now
I do not wish to grudge the labour of giving an exact description of the
machinery of that engine, seeing that it has all disappeared and that
the men who could speak of it from personal knowledge are dead, so that
there is no hope of its being reconstructed, that place being inhabited
no longer by the Monks of Camaldoli, but by the Nuns of S. Pier Martire;
and above all since the one in the Carmine has been destroyed, because
it was pulling down the rafters that support the roof.