Contrasting Characteristics of Gothic and Renaissance Architecture

1. What are the key characteristics of Gothic Architecture? What are some terms that are particularly important? Who are some “key” figures who influenced the development of Gothic Architecture? What are the most significant Gothic buildings? What are the key characteristics of Renaissance Architecture? What are some terms that are particularly important? Who are some “key” figures who influenced the development of Renaissance Architecture? What are the most significant Renaissance buildings?

2. Thinking About Renaissance Ideas

3. What distinguishes Brunelleschi as an architect? What is the most marked characteristic of his artistic/architectural style?

5. The Spedale degli Innocenti was a foundling children’s orphanage established in 1419 and designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. This Foundling Hospital is regarded as a prime example of early Italian Renissance architecture.Why? What do you see?

7. Each bay of the arcade encloses a cube of space defined by the 10-braccia (20 foot) height of the columns and the diameter of the arches. • Hemispherical pendentive domes half as high as the columns cover the cubes

9. The Guild of the Silk Manufacturers and Goldsmiths in Florence established this orphanage. Why does this building have a portico?

10. What type of capital is on this column? What craftsman made the medallion? Out of what medium?

11. The nocentini, or “little innocents”, were left at the doors of the hospital in the hopes that they would be able to sustain a better life in a time of severe economic destitution and social hardships. A unique rotating wheel system allowed parents to leave their children at the doors of the hospital without being seen. Parents could depend on this hospital to care for their newborns on either a permanent or a temporary basis.

12. Many parents, though reluctant to give over their child, knew that they would be properly cared for at the hospital and hoped that one day they would be reunited. This anticipation of reunion can be seen in the many different types of jewelry that were broken in half, one piece left with the mother and the other given to her child, in the hopes that the two separated pieces would one day be whole again.

13. What distinguishes Brunelleschi as an architect? What is the most marked characteristic of his artistic/architectural style? Rationality Mathematical Resolution Proportion Extreme Formalism and Balance--in other words: Classical Form

15. Filippo Brunelleschi Dome of Florence Cathedral 1417-36

19. Leon Battista Alberti Sant’Andrea, Mantua

20. façade and interior of Church of Sant’AndreaLeon Battista Alberti

21. façade of Church of Sant’AndreaLeon Battista Alberti

22. Reconstruction of the Basilica of Maxentius Interior of Sant’Andrea

23. Donato Bramante Tempietto 1502-1510 Built to mark and protect the site of the martyrdom of St. Peter.

24. BerniniBaldacchino 1624-1633 Built to mark the site of the tomb of St. Peter.

25. Temple of Vesta at Tivoli early 1st century BCE

26. St. Paul’s Cathedral Christopher Wren 1675-1710 London English Baroque

27. The Pantheon Jacques-Germain Soufflot1755-1792

28. The Pantheon Jacques-Germain Soufflot1755-1792 • the portico is modeled directly on Roman temples • the dome is inspired by Wren’s dome in London (St. Paul’s) • the central-plan Greek cross was inspired by Chiswick House

29. Palladio and Jefferson and Boyle

30. Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice 1565-80

32. Palladio Villa Rotunda

33. Andrea Palladio • He pursued mathematical clarity in both plan and elevation, stemming from the Renaissance belief that beauty could be attained through the use of geometry and measurement. • His buildings were largely intended as reconstructions of antique architecture, based on his reading of Vitruvius’ De Architectura. • His villas, the most influential part of his work, use the temple front, because Palladio believed that this was also a feature of antique domestic architecture. • Palladio conceived of architecture as something rational, which obeyed rules: if a work is created according to rules, it can be imitated and taught, assuming that the same basic precepts are imparted. • Expect geometrical symmetry

36. Monticello

37. Chiswick House 1724-1729Richard Boyle, the third earl of BurlingtonEast London, England

38. Chiswick House 1724-1729Richard Boyle, the third earl of BurlingtonEast London, England