Synopses & Reviews
A lively and intriguing tale of the competition between two artists, culminating in the construction of the Duomo in Florence, this is also the story of a city on the verge of greatness, and the dawn of the Renaissance, when everything artistic would change.
Florence′s Duomo - the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral - is one of the most enduring symbols of the Italian Renaissance, an equal in influence and fame to Leonardo and Michaelangelo′s works. It was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, the temperamental architect who rediscovered the techniques of mathematical perspective. He was the dome′s ′inventor′, whose secret methods for building remain a mystery as compelling to architects as Fermat′s Last Theorem once was to mathematicians. Yet Brunelleschi didn′t direct the construction of the dome alone. He was forced to share the commission with his arch-rival, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, whose ′Paradise Doors′ are also masterworks. This is the story of these two men - a tale of artistic genius and individual triumph.
Review
"Walker here pairs off proto-architect Filippo Brunelleschi and doormaker Lorenzo Ghiberti in an often engaging version of Quattrocento Smackdown. Pitting the two masters against each other in the competition for the sculpted bronze doors of the baptistery, Walker re-creates the intrigues of 15th-century Florence." Library Journal
Review
"[A] skillful and engrossing story of one of the watershed events in Western civilization." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"With this book, Walker...widens his reputation for versatility. His newest work is sure to bring such sheer pleasure to people interested in history, architecture and art that many of them will regard the book itself as a work of art." BookPage
Synopsis
The two brilliant young Florentine artists, Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, first competed to design a set of bronze doors for the Church of St. John the Baptist. The victory went to Ghiberti, who spent fifty years creating the magnificent doors and who cast a second set so exquisite that Michelangelo deemed them worthy to stand at the Gates of Paradise.
Brunelleschi took a different path, redefining himself as an architect, rediscovering the techniques of mathematical perspective, and solving the greatest construction problem of his time: the magnificent dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. Yet the dome was not Brunelleschi's glory alone; he was forced to share the commission with his old archrival Ghiberti, who seemed to haunt his every move.
In The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance, Paul Robert Walker breathes life into these two talented, passionate artists, and offers a glorious tour of fifteenth-century Florence, a bustling city on the verge of greatness in a time of flourishing creativity, rivalry, and genius.
Synopsis
Joining the bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, 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.
About the Author
Paul Robert Walker has written twenty books on subjects ranging from the Italian Renaissance and the American West to folklore, baseball, and miracles. A former teacher and journalist, he lives in Escondido, California, with his wife and two children.