Early Renaissance Architecture in Florence .....................................

Lecture 12

This city offers much in the way of Renaissance, and I want to give you

at least some indication of the richness of the architecture, particularly

at the beginning of the 15th century when Florence was taking shape as

the great Renaissance exemplar that it is.

W

e return to Florence to examine some spectacular and inÀ uential
architecture of the early 15th century. Looking closely at some of
these buildings, we discover how Renaissance architects solved
major construction dilemmas with new methods and inventions. The lecture
focuses on works by Brunelleschi and Alberti.

In this panorama of Florence, we see the Duomo (the Cathedral of Florence),
the tower of Town Hall, and the Guild Hall, among other buildings. In
this lecture, we will discuss some of the most important examples of
15 th-century architecture.

One famous example is Brunelleschi’s Hospital of the Innocents, an
orphanage designed in 1419 and begun in 1421. The building, although
elegant, may not seem impressive or epochal, probably because it is the
model for hundreds of later buildings and we have grown accustomed to it.
However, it played an important role in the urban development of Renaissance
Florence. Brunelleschi was commissioned to design the building, because
the orphanage was considered an integral part of the society. The hospital
was sited at a right angle to the Church of Santissima Annunziata (“Most
Holy Annunciation”), a major pilgrimage church in Florence.

A new street had just been constructed between the SS. Annunziata Church
and the Duomo, with an unobstructed view between them. There were also
two existing streets entering the space in front of the church from the side
where the hospital was built. By incorporating the passages from those two
streets into his façade (on the extreme ends), Brunelleschi uni¿ ed the piazza
and his building.