BRUNELLESCHI. -(1377,1446.)

As an architect Filippo di ser Brunelleschi deserves a place apart among the artists of his day, for he unquestionably comes first of the reformers who, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, substituted in place of Gothic architecture the ancient forms adapted to modern requirements. But it need hardly be said that so important a movement, destined to effect a complete revolution in its way, could not be the work of one man. A whole generation of thinkers and artists concurred to carry it through when once the idea was " in the air," to use a modern phrase, and when everything was tending towards its development. Dante himself was one of the pioneers, and Giotto, Orcagna, Arnolfo di Lapo, and John of Pisa almost unknown almost unknown to themselves, travelling in the same direction. Their style was more chaste than that of their predecessors ; they had a clearer perception of their purpose and ideas, and having the courage to be simple in their designs at a time when the grotesque was still in fashion, they extricated, in their architectural conceptions, the shape and the line from among the mass of parasitical decoration which concealed the trunk and the branches of the majestic tree.

Brunelleschi still further accentuated the transition, while Ghiberti, Masaccio, Donatello, Mino da Fiesole, and Alberti, following in the same track, completed the transformation. The human countenance, still enveloped in the conventional primness, which was not without a grace of its own, gradually became more animated, the figure lost its stiffness, the body ceased to be motionless, and the eyes, hitherto closed to the, light, flashed with all the warmth of passion and of life. The victory over marble was, in other words, won. These innovators in architecture, after having endeavored to adopt a middle course between their aspirations and the respect which they felt for their predecessors, eventually put their veto upon the original style, and instead of allowing the cathedrals to be enveloped in gloom, as they were in the Middle Ages, when sinister symbols and mysterious devices were all the fashion, they let in floods of light through their spacious porticos. The new style of architecture expressed at once strength, nobility, and simplicity, a new system being created out of the elements of the old.

Simple, logical, and grand without effort, based solely upon the law of propositions and the mutual relation of different parts with each other, the new architecture, though evidently inspired by antiquity, had its individual grace and elegance, while its originality consisted in its being appropriated to the requirements of the country without any concession which was not compatible with the climate, the nature of the materials, and the customs of the time. Ornamentation occupied merely a secondary, almost an accessory position, being only employed in the new system to indicate the various members and the main divisions. At no time, it may safely be asserted, were the waters which issued from this source, and which gradually formed a torrent of genius spreading throughout Italy, more pure and wholesome than at the fountain-head. Lombardi, Leopardi, Bramante, and Fra Giocondo showed themselves to be gifted with elegance in detail, as they were full of force and grace in their conception. But they never recovered that chaste grandeur, characteristic of the beginning of the fifteenth century, which so commands our admiration as to prevent our doing full justice to the sixteenth century, rich as that also was in every branch of intellectual industry.

It is interesting to trace the process which led Brunelleschi, the successor of Giotto, Arnolfo di Lapo, and Taddeo Gaddi, all devoted to Gothic art, to break openly with these tendencies and to strike out in a new direction, and this can best be done by describing briefly the circumstances of his life. He was born at Florence in 1377, and the date is an important one to remember, for it marked the passing away of the Middle Ages and the germ of the Renaissance. He arrived at manhood as the fifteenth century, of which he was destined to become one of the bright lights, was just dawning.

When one-and-twenty years of age Brunelleschi, who had objected to following the profession of notary, had already given striking proof of his capacity in mechanical constructions of every kind, and all further attempt to make him adopt any other career was abandoned. He entered the Goldsmiths' College, and was, like most great artists, enrolled among the adepts of this profession. The goldsmith's art was a very good school of training, requiring as it did inventive powers, elegance, a great dexterity of touch, and some knowledge of all kinds of drawing; while the qualities of the designer are called forth in the general composition, those of the sculptor in the execution of the figures, and those of the painter in the harmonization of all the colored parts.

His earliest and most intimate friend was Donatello, in whose society he passed all his youth, afterwards making a long stay with him at Rome, and travelling long with him both at home and abroad. After having executed several works of sculpture he made his debut as an architect, and became engaged in various undertakings in and around Florence. It was during this first part of his life that he devoted his attention to the science of perspective with sufficient detail to be able to draw up all the rules, and make of them a guide for the instruction of his pupils and friends. It is even said that Masaccio derived his knowledge of this art from Brunelleschi. He did not, however, give up sculpture, and between the years 1398 and 1404 he carved that figure of Christ in Santa Maria Novella, which has become famous as having given rise to the misunderstanding between him and Donatello, whom he reproached with having given too material an expression to the Divine countenance.

In the beginning of the century the celebrated competition for the execution of the Baptistery gates was opened, the competitors being Lorenzo Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia, Simone da Colle, Francesco di Valdambrina, and Niccolo d'Arezzo.

There is a story told by Vasari, and it has never been controverted, that Ghiberti and Brunelleschi having been called upon to treat the same subject (the Sacrifice of Abraham), the latter spontaneously adjudged the prize to the former, a mark of generosity adjudged very characteristic of him. It is quite certain that, whether the story is true or not, Ghiberti was awarded the prize, and that he carved the gates, but it is interesting to compare the two designs in bronze, which may be seen in the Bargello.

It was after this competition that Brunelleschi went to Rome with Donatello. On arriving there he withdrew from all external affairs, and with the proceeds of the sale of a small property at Settignano devoted himself to the study of her monuments. It is easy to conceive what ancient Rome was like in 1405, and with what transports of admiration it must have inspired two such artists as Brunelleschi and Donatello. They seem to have lived in a continual fever, making drawings, being present at all the excavations, and conducting some on their own account ; spending whole days among the ruins, measuring palaces, temples, and baths, and endeavoring to discover the secret of their splendor. Brunelleschi gradually came to comprehend the principle of each of the orders of architecture employed by the architects of antiquity, reasoning out the use of the various forms, and restoring those parts which had been destroyed by time. Thus it was that he conceived the idea of discarding the contorted and complicated forms of the degenerate Gothic architecture of the day, and of adapting to the requirements of his own times those which had been employed by the ancients, though a man of so much taste and imagination was naturally desirous to make the various parts of his work harmonize, and to combine the new forms which he was anxious to employ with those adopted by his predecessors.

It was in the seclusion of the Eternal City that he elaborated his plan for the completion of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo of Florence, which had been left unfinished since the death of Arnolfo di Cambio. It is quite certain that he had made a special study of the vaulted roofs of Therm and Pantheons, with the firm intention of immortalizing his name by finishing the cupola of Santa Maria.

Donatello having left him at Rome in order to carry out the many works which he had undertaken at Florence, Brunelleschi continued his studies with redoubled ardor, but having been attacked with fever, he also left Rome and returned to his native city. This was the time when the completion of the Duomo was being pressed forward, but the task of bridging over the immense space seemed an impossibility to most of the architects and engineers who were called in. The most ludicrous suggestions were made, and after a general meeting of the committee, Brunelleschi, thinking that his opinion was not received ,with sufficient deference, went back to Rome. The committee, however, induced him to return and give them the benefit of his advice.