Grammar and expression in early Renaissance architecture Essay Example For Students

Grammar and expression in early Renaissance architecture Essay Leon Battrsta Alberti (1404-1472) exempli tie!, the shift Irom the artisan to the learned artist creator. So writes the eminent Alberti scholar Cecil Grayson, and there are perhaps few who would disagree.1 But Graysons seemingly unremarkable assertion implies the acceptance of a single standard and content ot learning, evidently in contrast to the knowledge accumulated by artisans, in which, nevcithcless, Alberti himself showed a lively interest.1 Clearly, Graysons learning is specifically that of humanism, of which Albeiti was a leading, if sometimes ambivalent, exponent Graysons brief account of epochal c hange (published, it should be noted, in 19721 implicitly assigns to Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1440) the role of artisan, as inventor of technical procedures theorized indeed transmuted into ‘learning by Alberti, an assessment bv and large also conveyed in the latest monograph on the older architect. Indeed. Brunelleschi apprenticed with a goldsmith and never si towed any interest in turning himself into a humanist a careenenham ing strategy followed by his ontemorary, the cx Ã'  asional ate bites Lorenzo Ghiberti, as well as much later, more assiduously and famously, by Andrea Palladio In my view. Brunelleschis achievement depended, even if indirectly, on a crucial late-medieval intellectual disciplinary and discursive domain—a field of learning—that humanism m general opposed and ultimately destroyed. The field in question was the philosophical study of grammar, a subiect of particular interest to Alberti, whose jpproach to the subject was, however, conduc ted on quite different premises and whose emergence as an architect, as I will suggest, depended not only on the careful formulation of a critical position toward Brunelleschis architecture in general, but also on the close involvement in the .assessment and elaboration of a particular Rrunelleschian project. Most acco unts of Albertis career represent his direct experience of architectural planning and design as rposcd to the engagement with theory and the legacy of antiquity as subsequent to the writing of his architectural treatise. l will consider the possibility that  in architecture. as in many of Albertis fields of interest, contemplation and action were dosely linked. In Florence 1441, the recently completed dome ol the cathedra! of Santa Maria del Fiore loomed over a spectacle of remarkable irrelevance to the sacred values and purposes the great building had been constructed to accommodate and express. One by one. men came forward—hardly a priest among them -and before a large and attentive audienc e dec laimed verges, not on the relations between humankind and a transcendent deity, but between man and man. The theme of the verses was friendship; the organizer, who himself wrote a lengthy prose meditation on the- topic for the occasion, was Leon Battista Alberti.8 Since 1434, Alberti had been in Florence with the papal court, which he served as an official in the secretariat of Pope Eugenius IV. The pope was in Florence to preside over a council summoned to negotiate the reconciliation of the wes tern and eastern churches, the latter motivated by the threat of Ottoman power that, in little more than a decade, would engulf Constantinople itself.9 The pope was lodged and the council sessions located at the great Dominican monastery and center of learning of S. Maria Novella. This was the site of the famous exchanges between senior representatives of Greek intellectual traditions and individuals in the western delegation who had risen to prominence through distinction in the new learning ot humanism, which ideally encompassed direct and profound exposure to ancient Greek us well as Latin letters On paper, the council ended successfully in 1439 with Use proclamation in the cathedral ot the union of the Latin ami Gieek churches, though this was never accepted In many Byzantines and was anyway soon overtaken by the Turkish advam e. Tlie advantages sought by the Florentine government in expensively hosting the council, however, were no doutst not primarily of religious nature, but had to do rather with securing the inextricably entwined commercial and cultural prominence of the city. The Medicean regime went to great lengths to attract the council to Florence, an outcome requiring extensive negotiations that were entrusted to Lorenzo de Medici, Cosimos brother. â€Å"Originality in Italian Renaissance Architecture† EssayIe Indeed, the ccrtame itself indicates that the binary distinction ot Latin and the vernacular obscured the range of stylistic idioms and models available to those concerned with literary expression in their native language (much the same was also true, of course, of writing in Latin), It is possible that the certame jurors were more willing to recognize this diversity than Alherti, with his commitment—expressly slated in the preface to 1Ã'…Ã'ŽÐ º three of the .1 Fjuniglia -to a unitary linguistic regime, at least in the context of writing.19 Alberti’s favored entry in the competition was almost certainly that of his friend and fellow papal bureaucrat Leonardo Dati, whose attempt to write Italian hexameters broke brusquely with local traditions of vernacular versification, which were upheld by most other competitors.10 The jurors were not impressed. Alberti s response is known from a highly polemi cal anonymous text known as the Protests in which the author, certainly Alberti himself, represents the lurvs   decision as aroused by envy and as a scornful riposte to the organizer.^ Many scholars have rashly taken Alberti at his word, assuming that the blow of the failed ccrtame was enough to drive Allierti to a mood of Weak pessimism and. a little later, to a return to Latin as his literary language of choice. The central themes ol the Pmtvtta appear in other of Albertis writings, however, suggesting a concern not so much to represent a given state of affairs as to focus attention on general forces affecting human conduct. The author ot the Protesta represents envy as the major force in play, and indeed Alberti proceeded to select envy as the theme ot a second ccrtame. which however never took place, though Dati and others wrote pieces for it. A more compelling reason to read the Pmtcsta skeptically, however, is that it gives the highly implausible impression that only Alberti and the jurors had significant roles to plav on this occasion.M Whatever Albertis reaction, it is surely far mote likely that the award was first of all an act of flattery to the people of Florence and, in particular, the leading c itizen who financed the event and, we may suppose, saw to it that tin cathedral was made available. This was Piero di Cosimo dc Medici, elder son of the effective ruler of Florence since 1434. Pieros key role, along with his younger brother, in the cultural policies of the Medici has been emphasized and documented in many recent studies. Ihere can be no doubt of the larger strategic purpose of he involvement in the events of 1441, while   the projected topic of the second ccrtame, envy, was a particular concern of Pieros father. Cosimo. The ccrtamc cororurto ottered Piero, though sfill young be was horn in 1416). a timely and conspicuous stage on which to display himself as a patron ot culture. Two events of 144(1 had greatly affected both the landing of the Medici in the city and Piero’s potential personal role I he victory ot Anghiari suppressed major external .is well av internal threats to the Medicean â„â€"gime;uand Pieros unc le I oreno, younger brother ar*d Ã'  lose partner of Ð ¡os. i mo rie Medic i, died, leaving a c lear oportuntty and even need for the memb ers of the younger generation to establish themselves in the political and cultural affairs of the city.26 The commission at this time of formal portraits of Piero and his brother was sorely accomplished in part to emphasize their new status.