Of the many transformations that architecture has undergone throughout history, none is more important to the Renaissance than Filippo Brunelleschi's dome design for the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence. Few books have introduced Renaissance architecture to the uninitiated as successfully as
Ross King's accessible and entertaining account.
Brunelleschi's Dome hit the bestseller lists of the
New York Times, the
Boston Globe, and the
San Francisco Chronicle shortly after its release in 2000 and Book Sense concurrently named it Nonfiction Book of the Year, making the Canadian-born author who currently resides in England seem like an overnight success to American readers. (King's earlier British-released novels
Domino and
Ex Libris had already enjoyed considerable attention abroad.)
With a style similar to Dava Sobel's in Longitude and Kurlansky's in Cod, King places the dome in appropriate biographical and historical context. Personal histories, social politics, war, commerce, and plague are discussed throughout the book. King also includes detailed illustrations of the tools and plans Brunelleschi employed and explains each engineering and architectural feat in clear, easy-to-read terms, giving the masonry's absence of conventionally supporting framework due emphasis. Readers who love this swift and lucid narrative will likely do two things: search feverishly for the tomes listed in King's Brunelleschi bibliography, and reach for King's subsequent successful endeavor, Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.