Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (best ebook reader under 100 TXT) 📖
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was the inventor of the compound pulley, and probably of the endless
screw which bears his name. He invented many surprising engines and
machines. Some suppose that he visited Egypt, and raised the sites of
the towns and villages of Egypt, and begun those mounds of earth by
means of which communication was kept up from town to town, during the
inundations of the Nile. When Marcellus, the Roman consul, besieged
Syracuse, he devoted all his talents to the defense of his native
country. He constructed machines which suddenly raised up in the air the
ships of the enemy in the bay before the city, and then let them fall
with such violence into the water that they sunk; he also set them on
fire with his burning glasses. Polybius, Livy, and Plutarch speak in
detail, with wonder and admiration, of the machines with which he
repelled the attacks of the Romans. When the town was taken and given up
to pillage, the Roman general gave strict orders to his soldiers not to
hurt Archimedes, and even offered a reward to him who should bring him
alive and safe to his presence. All these precautions proved useless,
for the philosopher was so deeply engaged at the time in solving a
problem, that he was even ignorant that the enemy were in possession of
the city, and when a soldier entered his apartment, and commanded him to
follow him, he exclaimed, according to some, "Disturb not my circle!"
and to others, he begged the soldier not to "kill him till he had solved
his problem"; but the rough warrior, ignorant of the august person
before him, little heeded his request, and struck him down. This
happened B.C. 212, so that Archimedes, at his death, must have been
about 75 years old. Marcellus raised a monument over him, and placed
upon it a cylinder and a sphere, thereby to immortalize his discovery of
their mutual relations, on which he set a particular value; but it
remained long neglected and unknown, till Cicero, during his questorship
of Sicily, found it near one of the gates of Syracuse, and had it
repaired. The story of his burning glasses had always appeared fabulous
to some of the moderns, till the experiments of Buffon demonstrated its
truth and practicability. These celebrated glasses are supposed to have
been reflectors made of metal, and capable of producing their effect at
the distance of a bow-shot.
THE TRIALS OF GENIUS.
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI.
This eminent architect was one of those illustrious men, who, having
conceived and matured a grand design, proceed, cool, calm, and
indefatigable, to put it in execution, undismayed by obstacles that seem
insuperable, by poverty, want, and what is worse, the jeers of men whose
capacities are too limited to comprehend their sublime conceptions. The
world is apt to term such men enthusiasts, madmen, or fools, till their
glorious achievements stamp them almost divinely inspired.
Brunelleschi was nobly descended on his mother's side, she being a
member of the Spini family, which, according to Bottari, became extinct
towards the middle of the last century. His ancestors on his father's
side were also learned and distinguished men--his father was a notary,
his grandfather "a very learned man," and his great-grandfather "a
famous physician in those times." Filippo's father, though poor,
educated him for the legal or medical profession; but such was his
passion for art and mechanics, that his father, greatly against his
will, was compelled to allow him to follow the bent of his genius: he
accordingly placed him, at a proper age, in the Guild of the Goldsmiths,
that he might acquire the art of design. Filippo soon became a
proficient in the setting of precious stones, which he did much better
than any old artists in the vocation. He also wrought in niello, and
executed several figures which were highly commended, particularly two
figures of Prophets, for an altar in the Cathedral of Pistoja. Filippo
next turned his attention to sculpture, and executed works in
basso-relievo, which showed an extraordinary genius. Subsequently,
having made the acquaintance of several learned men, he began to turn
his attention to the computation of the divisions of time, the
adjustment of weights, the movement of wheels, etc. He next bent his
thoughts to the study of perspective, to which, before his time, so
little attention was paid by artists, that the figures often appeared to
be slipping off the canvas, and the buildings had not a true point of
view. He was one of the first who revived the Greek practice of
rendering the precepts of geometry subservient to the painter; for this
purpose, he studied with the famous geometrician Toscanelli, who was
also the instructor, friend, and counsellor of Columbus. Filippo pursued
his investigations until he brought perspective to great perfection; he
was the first who discovered a perfectly correct method of taking the
ground plan and sections of buildings, by means of intersecting
lines--"a truly ingenious thing," says Vasari, "and of great utility to
the arts of design." Filippo freely communicated his discoveries to his
brother artists. He was imitated in mosaic by Benedetto da Macano, and
in painting by Masaccio, who were his pupils. Vasari says Brunelleschi
was a man of such exalted genius, that "we may truly declare him to have
been given to us by Heaven, for the purpose of imparting a new spirit to
architecture, which for hundreds of years had been lost; for the men of
those times had badly expended great treasures in the erection of
buildings without order, constructed in a most wretched manner, after
deplorable designs, with fantastic inventions, labored graces, and worse
decorations. But it then pleased Heaven, the earth having been for so
many years destitute of any distinguished mind and divine genius, that
Filippo Brunelleschi should leave to the world, the most noble, vast,
and beautiful edifice that had ever been constructed in modern times, or
even in those of the ancients; giving proof that the talent of the
Tuscan artists, although lost for a time, was not extinguished. He was,
moreover, adorned by the most excellent qualities, among which was that
of kindliness, insomuch that there never was a man of more benign and
amicable disposition; in judgment he was calm and dispassionate, and
laid aside all thought of his own interest and even that of his friends,
whenever he perceived the merits and talents of others to demand that he
should do so. He knew himself, instructed many from the stores of his
genius, and was ever ready to succor his neighbor in all his
necessities; he declared himself the confirmed enemy of all vice, and
the friend of those who labored in the cause of virtue. Never did he
spend his moments vainly, but, although constantly occupied in his own
works, in assisting those of others, or administering to their
necessities, he had yet always time to bestow on his friends, for whom
his aid was ever ready."
In the meantime, Brunelleschi had studied architecture, and made such
progress that he had already conceived two grand projects--the one was
the revival of the good manner of ancient architecture, which was then
extinct, and the other was to discover a method for constructing the
cupola of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Florence, the
difficulties of which were so great that, after the death of Arnolfo di
Lapi, no architect had been found of sufficient courage and capacity to
attempt the vaulting of that cupola.[1] If he could accomplish one or
both of these designs, he believed that he would not only immortalize
his own name, but confer a lasting benefit on mankind. Filippo, having
resolved to devote himself entirely to architecture in future, set out
for Rome in company with his friend Donatello, without imparting his
purpose to any one. Here his mind became so absorbed that he labored
incessantly, scarcely allowing himself the rest which nature required.
He examined, measured, and made careful drawings of all the edifices,
ruins, arches, and vaults of antiquity; to these he devoted perpetual
study, and if by chance he found fragments of capitals, columns,
cornices, or basements of buildings, partly buried in the earth, he set
laborers at work to lay them open to view. One day, Filippo and
Donatello found an earthen vase full of ancient coins, which caused a
report to be spread about Rome that the artists were _treasure-seekers_,
and this name they often heard, as they passed along the streets,
negligently clothed, the people believing them to be men who studied
geomancy, for the discovery of treasures. Donatello soon returned to
Florence, but Filippo pursued his studies with unremitting diligence.
Having exhausted his means, although he lived in the most frugal manner,
he contrived to supply his wants, says Milizia, by pawning his jewels,
but Vasari with greater probability, by setting precious stones for the
goldsmiths, who were his friends. "Nor did he rest," says Vasari, "until
he had drawn every description of fabric--temples, round, square, or
octagon; basilicas, aqueducts, baths, arches, the Colosseum,
amphitheatres, and every church built of bricks, of which he examined
all the modes of binding and clamping, as well as the turning of the
vaults and arches; he took note, likewise, of all the methods used for
uniting the stones, as well as of the means used for securing the
equilibrium and close conjunction of all the parts; and having found
that in all the larger stones there was a hole, formed exactly in the
centre of each on the under side, he discovered that this was for the
insertion of the iron instrument with which the stones are drawn up, and
which is called by us the mason's clamps (_la ulivella_), an invention,
the use of which he restored, and ever afterwards put in practice. The
different orders were next divided by his cares, each order, the Doric,
Ionic, or Corinthian being placed apart; and such was the effect of his
zeal in that study, that he became capable of entirely reconstructing
the city in his imagination, and of beholding Rome as she had been
before she was ruined. But in the year 1407 the air of the place caused
Filippo some slight indisposition, when he was advised by his friends to
try change of air. He consequently returned to Florence, where many
buildings had suffered by his absence, and for these he made many
drawings and gave numerous counsels on his return.
"In the same year an assemblage of architects and engineers was gathered
in Florence, by the Superintendents of the works of Santa Maria del
Fiore, and by the Syndics of the Guild of wool-workers, to consult on
the means by which the cupola might be raised. Among these appeared
Filippo, who gave it as his opinion that the edifice above the roof must
be constructed, not after the design of Arnolfo, but that a frieze,
fifteen braccia high, must be erected, with a large window in each of
its sides: since not only would this take the weight off the piers of
the tribune, but would also permit the cupola itself to be more easily
raised."
The obstacles appeared so insuperable to the Superintendents and the
Syndics, that they delayed the execution of the cupola for several
years. In the meantime, Filippo secretly made models and designs for his
cupola, which perpetually occupied his thoughts. He boldly asserted that
the project was not only practicable, but that it could be done with
much less difficulty and at less expense than was believed. At length,
his boldness, genius, and powerful arguments, brought many of the
citizens to his opinion, though he refused to show his models, because
he knew the powerful opposition and influences he would have to
encounter, and the almost certain loss of the honor of building the
cupola, which he coveted above everything else. Vasari thus continues
his admirable history: "But one morning the fancy took him, hearing that
there was some talk of providing engineers for the construction of the
cupola, of returning to Rome, thinking that he would have more
reputation and be more sought for from abroad, than if he remained in
Florence. When Filippo had returned to Rome accordingly, the acuteness
of his genius and his readiness of resource were taken into
consideration, when it was remembered that in his discourses he had
showed a confidence and courage that had not been found in any of the
other architects, who stood confounded, together with the builders,
having lost all power of proceeding; for they were convinced that no
method of constructing the cupola would ever be found, nor any beams
that would make a scaffold strong enough to support the framework and
weight of so vast an edifice. The Superintendents were therefore
resolved to have an end of the matter, and wrote to Filippo in Rome,
entreating him to repair to Florence, when he, who desired nothing
better, returned very readily. The wardens of Santa Maria del Fiore and
the syndics of the Guild of Woolworkers, having assembled
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