Abbot Suger was a very innovative and energetic man who is said to be responsible for this advancement in architecture. In 1122 Suger was elected abbot of the French Royal Monastery of St. Denis. At this time St. Denis was not in its true splendor. The church was un-kept, overcrowded, and beginning to decay. The original building was built in 775 as a Carolingian basilica. Revisions had been made in 832 to enlarge the eastern chapel, but little work had been done since then. Sugar had aspirations to rebuild the church, yet had other matters that needed his attention before anything could be done. The Abbey was in financial trouble and faced a lot of criticism for the religious practices of the monks from Bernard of Clairvaux.

As Suger worked to strengthen the church’s finances and reputation, he researched and developed im

Although the various monuments of the High Gothic were quite different in structure, there were many similarities in the buildings. The three structural components of High Gothic could be seen in many of the buildings. While these components may have been structural characteristics of the buildings, there were other characteristics as well. Many of the buildings included jamb figures and contained stained glass that expressed the very important concept of colored light. While these buildings may posses many similarities, they are each still a very distinctive and unique part of High Gothic Architecture.

One of Alberti’s writings was the manuscript of Della Pittura that was dedicated to five young Florence artists. Alberti felt that the work of these five artists accurately represented the art of ancient Rome. Alberti’s favoritism of these artist was not unjust; these artists are now regarded as the founders of the Renaissance. The founders included the sculptors Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, and Luca della Robbia, along with the painter Masaccio and of course the architect Filippo Brunellschi.

Brunelleschi’s designs inspired many other architects that used his ideas as a basis for their own. Michelosso di Bartolomeo was a student of Brunelleschi’s that was commissioned to create the Palazzo Medici in Florence in 1444. This was a residential palace that reflected the traditional architecture of the domestic buildings in Florence. Bartolomeo used Romanesque arching, similar to the design of Brunelleschi’s Osedale degli Innocenti, to surround the courtyard. Another architect by the name of Guiliano do Sangallo followed the traditions of Brunelleschi. Here the use of classical elements can be seen in the entrance porch with its columns, entablature, and pediment. Brunelleschi greatly impacted the world of architecture from his own work and innovations to the inspiration of his followers.

The Early Gothic period was a time of exploration and innovation. During this time the buildings still possessed redundant features from the Romanesque period. But this had changed with the maturation into the High Gothic period. This period was characterized by its progressive structural and artistic features. Three structural components of Gothic architecture had been developed in this progression. The first was the pointed arch. This arch was much more sophisticated than the Romanesque semicircular arch and exerted less outward thrust. The second structural element of Gothic Architecture was the rib vault. This was a thin shell construction with folded plates. These rib vaults reduced the weight and allowed for greater building heights. The final structural element of Gothic architecture is the flying buttress. This is a type of buttressing that was built at right angles to the wall. Slender arches connected to the wall at strategic points. These slender arches gave the upper section of the building’s skeletal frame strength.

Brunelleschi, along with other Renaissance architects used their mathematical skills to incorporate geometry into their architecture. The architects of this time favored the straightforward numerical ratios such as1:2 and 1:3. The architects of the Renaissance also favored simple figures such as the square and the circle. Even the drawings of the human figures were inscribed with the basic outline of the circle and the square. The most famous of these drawings was Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. This figure had fingers and toes which were adjacent to both the circumference of a circle and the sides of a square. Geometric influences could be seen in many of Brunelleschi’s buildings. The Old Sacristy for the church of S. Lorenzo was built so the floor, walls, and pedentive looked as though they contained a cube. The Pizzi Chapel’s exterior had a series of square panels that were supported by six Corinthian columns, instead a pediment that was expected to be supported in other buildings. The i

Some topics in this essay:
Cathedral Maria, Renaissance Architecture, Hagia Sophia, Gothic Architecture, St Denis, Cathedral Notre-Dame, Renaissance Bramante’s, True Cross, Etienne Bourgew, Filippo Brunelleschi, gothic architecture, st denis, renaissance period, cathedral notre-dame, colored light, monument gothic cathedral, gothic cathedral, monument gothic, architecture renaissance, west front, jamb figures, french royal monastery, royal monastery st, monastery st denis, element gothic architecture,