Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (pdf to ebook reader .TXT) 📕

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