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BRUNELLESCHI, FILIPPO. 



BRUNI, LEONARDO. 



978 



1826, under his father at the Thames tunnel, of which work he was 

 resident engineer. Being the last to quit his post, he was more than 

 once in danger from the frequent breaking-in of water, during the 

 progress of the excavations, and only saved himself by swimming. 

 The final irruption in 1828, when one man was drowned, surprised 

 him 600 feet from the end of the tunnel : he was borne along by the 

 stream, and rose to the surface near the top of the shaft. 



Mechanical and railway engineering, and the construction of 

 machinery for locomotives and steam navigation, have been the special 

 objects of Mr. Brunei's study. For ten years he laboured in the 

 experiments instituted by his father to employ carbonic acid gas as a 

 motive-power. He was designer and civil engineer of the 'Great 

 Western,' the first steamship built to cross the Atlantic ; of the 'Great 

 Britain ;' of other large vessels ; and of the huge iron ship now being 

 built at Millwall for the Eastern Steam Navigation Company. He 

 has been engaged on the docks at some of our out-ports ; Among which 

 the most important are, the improvement of Bristol docks, Cardiff, 

 and the construction of the Old North Sunderland Dock. 



Mr. Brunei was appointed engineer to the Great- Western railway in 

 1833 ; and under his direction have all the tunnels, bridges, and other 

 works been constructed on that line and its branches and connections 

 including the Bristol and Exeter, South Devon, West Cornwall, 

 Birmingham and Oxford, and others. Noticeable among the bridges 

 on these lines are, that across the Thames at Maidenhead, for the 

 largest and flattest of brick arches that at Chepstow for the great 

 difficulties overcome in crossing the Wye and the bridge of the 

 Cornwall railway now in course of erection over the Tamar, which is 

 as near as may be, from coincidence of natural causes, of the same 

 span and height as the Britannia bridge, and has a central pier rising 

 from a depth of 80 feet of water : the deepest yet encountered in 

 railway engineering. 



The Hungerford Suspension foot-bridge, across the Thames at 

 London, was also erected by Mr. Brunei. It has the longest span in 

 England. He took part in the floating and raising of the Conway and 

 Britannia tubular bridges: operations not less remarkable for their 

 novelty and magnitude, than for the friendly co-operation of eminent 

 engineers by whom they were successfully accomplished. He set out 

 aii' 1 conducted the works of the Tuscan portion of the Sardinian rail- 

 way ; and had the entire charge of establishing and fitting the Renkioi 

 hospitals on the Dardanelles, necessitated by the late war with Russia. 

 These hospitals will accommodate 3000 patients ; and as regards 

 comfort, artificial ventilation, warming, baths, c., and special adapta- 

 tion to their purpose, they are not excelled by the best London 

 hospitals. An abundant supply of water is laid on from the hills, and 

 railways afford easy carriage from the landing-places on the shore into 

 the several wards. 



Mr. Brunei was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1830, and 

 was chosen on the council in 1844. He is a Vice President of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, and of the Society of Arts ; a Fellow of 

 the Astronomical, Geological, and Geographical Societies, and Chevalier 

 of the Legion of Honour. 



BRUNELLESCHI, FILIPPO. Had this artist no other claims to 

 notice than those arising from a single work, the dome of Santa Maria 

 del Fiore, or the cathedral at Florence, is one of those memorable 

 achievements which suffice to perpetuate a name. Brunelleschi was 

 born at Florence, in 1377, and was descended from a family which had 

 produced several eminent individuals. His father, who followed the 

 profession of notary in that city, designed to educate him either for the 

 same, or for the medical science. Filippo was accordingly initiated in 

 the studies which would prepare him for either of those pursuits. 

 But though not deficient in application, the natural bias of his mind 

 diverted his faculties into another direction ; and he at length prevailed 

 upon his father to place him with a goldsmith. At that period the 

 goldsmith's art comprised every branch of working in metals for orna- 

 mental purposes, and was intimately allied with design generally, and 

 with sculpture in particular ; in fact, to the latter art it frequently 

 fcerved as a kind of apprenticeship, as happened in Brunelleschi' s case. 

 Led on both by his own talent and the intimacy he had formed with 

 the celebrated Donatello, he applied himself to sculpture, and with 

 nuch success that he was admitted as one of the competitors in the 

 designs for the bronze gates of the Baptistery at Florence. 



After this he began to think of signalising himself in architecture, 

 and as Donatello was about to proceed to Rome, resolved on accom- 

 panying him thither for the purpose of acquainting himself with the 

 ancient buildings in that city. Here be perceived what a career was 

 opened to him who should endeavour to revive a style of architecture 

 altogether so different from that which had prevailed in his native 

 place for so many centuries. In 1407 he returned to Florence, where 

 it was proposed to complete the structure of Santa Maria, which had 

 been commenced by Arnolfo di Lapo two or three years before his 

 death, which happened in 1300, and which was afterwards carried on 

 by Giotto. With this view the most eminent architects were invited 

 from all parts to devise in what way it would be practicable to cover 

 the spacious octangular area between the four branches of the cross. 

 How it was originally intended to effect this, in accordance with the 

 other parts of the edifice, does not now appear. Owing to the magni- 

 tude of the space to be covered by a single vault, very formidablu 

 diJBBculties presented themselves, and the possibility of doing it was 



BICXJ. DIV. VOL. I. 



questioned ; for with the exception of the dome of Santa Sophia, the 

 diameter of which is something less, the only example which could in" 

 any way serve as a guide were St. Mark's at Venice, and the cathedral 

 at Pisa. While the rest were engaged in fruitless debates, Brunelleschi 

 was assiduously employed in maturing his plans, models, and scheme 

 of operations, and contented himself with pointing out the hazardous- 

 ness of a project which he had assured himself he should be able to 

 accomplish. At length Brunelleschi's model, explaining the whole 

 mechanism and construction of his intended cupola, was publicly 

 exhibited, and convinced every one of his success. He was commis- 

 sioned to commence the work, but it was soon determined to associate 

 with him Lorenzo Ghiberti as a colleague. This arrangement he 

 resented in every possible way, and ultimately Ghiberti was removed, 

 and Brunelleschi constituted sole architect. He now gave all his 

 energies to the work, and had the satisfaction of seeing this chef- 

 d'oeuvre terminated before his death. 



While in size this noble cupola yields very little to that of St. Peter's 

 (and being on an octangular plan its diameter as measured from angle 

 to angle is somewhat more), it is infinitely more commanding, being 

 so very much larger in comparison with the altitude and other dimen- 

 sions of the mass on which it is placed. It further suggests the idea 

 of greater amplitude of space within, and has less the appearance of 

 being a separate and independent structure standing upon the lower 

 one ; besides which, its simplicity and expanse, if they do not perfectly 

 accord with, are rendered not the less striking by, the fanciful and 

 somewhat minute style of the older part of the fabric. Although this 

 single structure was his most memorable work, it was by no means the 

 sole one of any magnitude which he executed. Among his other 

 productions may be mentioned the church of San Lorenzo at Florence, 

 and the celebrated Pitti Palace in that city. The latter of these, which 

 was afterwards continued and completed by Ammaneti, is chiefly 

 remarkable for its severe simplicity and massiveness. Brunelleschi 

 was also employed on several works at Mantua and in its vicinity. In 

 his private character he is said to have been a man of a noble and 

 generous spirit; and that as an architect he was enthusiastic in devotion 

 to his art, there can be little doubt. He died in the year 1444 (that 

 of Bramante's birth), and was buried with much ceremony in Santa 

 Maria del Fiore, his remains resting within that edifice which he had 

 consummated by his skill, and which will perpetuate his name. 



BRU'NI, LEONARDO, commonly designated ARETINO, was born 

 at Arezzo, of humble parents, in 1369. He studied Latin and Greek 

 at Florence, under the learned Coluccio Salutati, and afterwards went 

 to Rome, where he obtained the post of secretary in the papal chancery 

 [BKACCIOLINI], under Innocent VII. In a tumult, which took place 

 at Rome against the papal government, he was assailed by the mob, 

 and escaped with difficulty to Viterbo, where the pope took shelter. 

 Bruni continued in his office, under Innocent's successors, aud he 

 attended John XXII. in 1414 to the Council of Constance. After the 

 deposition of that pope, Bruni returned to Florence, where he chiefly 

 resided for the remainder of his life. In 1427 he was appointed 

 chancellor to the republic, an office which he retained till his death. 

 He was also sent by the state on several missions. When the Emperor 

 John Palseologus and the Greek patriarch came to attend the Council 

 of Florence, Bruni harangued them in Greek, in the name of the 

 republic. He died in 1444, and was buried, with great honours, in 

 the church of Santa Croce, where he is represented on his monument 

 reclining on a bier with the volume of his ' History of Florence ' on 

 his breast, and a crown of laurel round his head, that being the 

 manner in which he was buried by order of the community. Bruni 

 was commonly styled L'Aretino, from the place of his birth, which 

 circumstance has led some travellers, and Mme. de Stael among the 

 rest, to mistake his monument at Santa Croce for that of the obscene 

 writer Pietro Aretino, who died and was buried at Venice. (ValeVy, 

 ' Voyages en Italic.') 



Bruni wrote a great number of works, many of which are now for- 

 gotten, and have never been printed. Mehus gives the title of sixty- 

 three of them in his biography of Bruni, prefixed to the edition of his 

 'Epistolse,' 2 vols. 8vo, Florence, 1741. Among his Latin works are 

 a ' History of the Goths,' compiled in great measure from Procopius ; 

 a commentary on the Peloponnesian war, a book on the first Punic 

 war, to fill up the void of the lost books of Livy, a history of his own 

 times from the schism of Urban VI. and Clement, in 1387, till the 

 victory of An^hiari by the Florentines, in 1440; and the 'Historia 

 Florentina.' This last, Bruni's principal work, begins from the founda- 

 tion of Florence, and is carried down to the year 1404. It was printed 

 at Strasbourg, folio, 1610, and was also translated into Italian by 

 Donato Acciajuoli, Venice, 1476, and Florence, 1492. The opinion of 

 Machiavelli on the Florentine histories of his two predecessors, Bruni 

 and Poggio, is quoted under BRACCIOLIKI. Bruui translated into Latin 

 ' Plato's Epistles ; ' the ' Politic, Ethic, and Giconomic of Aristotle,' 

 several speeches of Demosthenes and ^Eschines ; and made numerous 

 other translations from the Greek. He wrote in Italian ' Vite di 

 Dante e del Petrarca," Florence, 1672, which are not among the best 

 biographies of these two illustrious men ; ' Vita di Cicerone," which 

 he first composed in Latin, and afterwards turned into Italian, printed 

 for the first time by Bodoni, Parma, 1804 ; and ' Novella di Messer 

 I .iunardo d'Arezzo,' inserted among the ' Novelle di Varj Autoii,' and 

 published agaiu separately at Veroua, 1817. 



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