succeeded DELORMEas architect to CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI,
for whom he executed work at the Chapelle des Valois and
the TUILERIESand drew up plans for the enlargement of the
châteaux of St.-Maur and CHENONCEAUXand for the Hôtel
de Soissons. He was also the author of a treatise on archi-
tecture, La Règle générale d’architecture, étude des cinq or-
dres de colonnes (1564), which became a textbook for
French architects.
Bullinger, Johann Heinrich (1504–1575) Swiss
reformer and theologian
The son of a parish priest, Bullinger studied in Germany
before returning to take up his father’s post in his native
Bremgarten. In 1531 Bullinger was appointed minister in
Zürich in succession to ZWINGLI; his resolute defence of
the church there preserved it through the many difficulties
that followed Zwingli’s death. In the Eucharistic contro-
versy Bullinger defended the Zwinglian position, but he
also associated himself with BUCERin attempts to recon-
cile the German and Swiss churches. In 1549 he and
CALVINmade the important ZÜRICH AGREEMENT(Consen-
sus Tigurinus), which defined a common sacramental
doctrine for the Zürich and Geneva churches. By this time
Bullinger enjoyed a considerable international influence,
largely through his enormous correspondence (12,000
surviving pieces). A prolific writer, he wrote sermons
(published as the Sermonorum decades quinque) that had
an enduring popularity, particularly in England where his
reputation rivaled that of Calvin. Bullinger was also the ar-
chitect of the Second HELVETIC CONFESSION(1566) and the
author of a history of the Reformation down to 1532.
Buon, Bartolommeo (Bartolommeo Bon) (c. 1374–
c. 1467) Italian architectural sculptor
Trained by his father Giovanni Buon, Bartolommeo is first
recorded collaborating with him on the facade of Sta.
Maria dell’ Orto in his native Venice (1392). They next ap-
pear in 1422 working, with others, on the Ca d’Oro (until
1437); the large well-head in its courtyard, adorned with
allegorical figures, is documented to Bartolommeo in
- From the late 1430s date a lunette over the entrance
to the Scuola di San Marco and the Porta della Carta of the
ducal palace, with its Lion of St. Mark, statue of Justice and
several Virtues, and many subsidiary ornaments. This is
Buon’s masterpiece. An important carving is the lunette of
the Madonna of Mercy (now Victoria and Albert Museum,
London) from the facade of the Misericordia, a charitable
brotherhood. Buon’s style, with its emphasis on luxuriant
foliage and heraldry, is still basically Gothic and has an at-
tractive boldness, owing to the relatively hard local stones
he used: Verona red marble and Istrian limestone.
Buonarroti, Michelangelo See MICHELANGELO BUONAR-
ROTI
Buondelmonti, Cristoforo (c. 1385–1430) Italian
traveler and monk
Buondelmonti received a sound humanist education,
learning Greek from GUARINO DA VERONA. After 1414,
when he abandoned his church duties in Florence, he
spent much of the rest of his life traveling in the Levant,
indulging his enthusiasm for the Greek classics, and col-
lecting books for Florentine friends and patrons. At least
one book he obtained in Crete is still in Florence’s Biblio-
theca Laurenziana. Basing himself on Rhodes, he criss-
crossed the eastern Mediterranean from Crete to
Constantinople. His manuscript Librum insularum archi-
pelagi, sent to Cardinal Giordano Orsini in 1422, is known
from later copies but remained unpublished until 1824.
His description of Mount Athos is the earliest Western ac-
count to describe details of the monastic routine there.Buoninsegna, Duccio di See DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNABuontalenti, Bernardo (c. 1536–1603) Italian architect,
engineer, painter, and sculptor
Buontalenti was born in Florence and when he was 11
years old, his parents were ruined as a result of flooding
and he was taken under the protection of COSIMO I DE’
MEDICI. The duke had Buontalenti trained in architecture,
painting, and sculpture and from 1567 employed him as a
river engineer. Buontalenti built the Casino Mediceo in
Rome in the early 1570s and the Casino di San Marco,
now the Palazzo dei Tribunali, in Florence in 1574 in an
exuberantly mannerist style (see MANNERISM). Parts of the
Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio are his, built in the 1580s. As a
theater architect and technician he was responsible for
spectacular court productions and created special effects,
costumes, and firework displays of a kind never seen be-
fore. He designed automata and waterworks for villa gar-
dens and he even arranged a naval battle inside the
Palazzo Pitti. He also worked on fortifications and wrote
two books on military engineering. His best-known paint-
ings are the miniatures he did for Francesco, son of
Cosimo I, and his self-portrait in the Uffizi.Bürgi, Jost (1552–1632) Swiss-born horologist and
mathematician
After serving as court clockmaker to WILLIAM IVof Hesse-
Kassel (from 1579), Bürgi moved in 1603 to a similar post
at the Prague court of Emperor RUDOLF II. One of the first
clockmakers to use second hands, Bürgi also introduced
into his designs the cross-beat escapement and the re-
montoire, an ingenious device providing the escapement
with a constant driving force. In mathematics Bürgi took
the fundamental step in the 1580s of working out a com-
prehensive system of logarithms, a quarter-century before
NAPIERpublished his own system. Bürgi’s work remained
unknown until 1620 when he published his Arithmetische
und Geometrische Progress-Tabulen. By this time the glory7766 BBuulllliinnggeerr,, JJoohhaannnn HHeeiinnrriicchh