Building Heaven's Ceiling: A Novel Based on the Life of Filippo Brunelleschi

by Joe Cline

Overview

His greatest accomplishment came after his greatest disappointment. 
 
One of the founding fathers of the Renaissance, Filippo Brunelleschi was more than an Italian designer. Brunelleschi made his mark in architecture and construction. 
 
In his early years, sculpting was Brunelleschi's passion. But after being passed over for a major commission, he set his sights on architecture, and changed the landscape of Italy as it is known today. Brunelleschi's most prominent contribution, the dome of Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was the first of its kind, paving the way for bigger and more elaborate domes to come. His invention of machines to facilitate the construction of the dome, allowed future structures to not only be imagined, but to be erected as well.  
 
With his imagination, understanding of linear perspective, focus on geometric principles, and intellect for mathematics, Brunelleschi influenced the rise of modern science and architecture worldwide.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165313295
Publisher:	Barbera Foundation
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	358 KB

About the Author

Originally from Georgia, Joe Cline majored in anthropology and minored in history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. After working on his master's degree in biological anthropology at Georgia State, he ventured westward to California for more graduate school at Pepperdine University and received his master's degree in fine arts in screenwriting for television and film. His interests include writing (duh), lots of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, history, evolutionary theory, primatology, coffee, and his fabled battle cat of lore, Monkeycat.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Chapter One: Florence, 1385

Chapter Two: Florence, 1396

Chapter Three: Florence, 1396

Chapter Four: Florence, 1402

Chapter Five: Florence, 1402

Chapter Six: Florence, 1402

Chapter Seven: Appian Way, 1402

Chapter Eight: Rome, 1402

Chapter Nine: Rome, 1402

Chapter Ten: Rome, 1402

Chapter Eleven: Rome, 1402

Chapter Twelve: Rome, 1402

Chapter Thirteen: Rome, 1408

Chapter Fourteen: Florence, 1417

Chapter Fifteen: Florence, 1418

Chapter Sixteen: Florence, 1419

Chapter Seventeen: Florence, 1420

Chapter Eighteen: Florence, 1420

Chapter Nineteen: Florence, 1420

Chapter Twenty: Florence, 1429

Chapter Twenty-One: Florence, 1429

Chapter Twenty-Two: Florence, 1430

Chapter Twenty-Three: Florence, 1430

Chapter Twenty-Four: Florence, 1435

Chapter Twenty-Five: Florence, 1436

Chapter Twenty-Six: Florence, 1436

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Florence, 1446

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

2018-06-25
Cline relates the life of the great Italian Renaissance architect, engineer, and artist Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) in this debut historical novel.Before Brunelleschi became one of the most venerated artists in Florence, Italy, he was a hotheaded young man desperate to prove his father wrong. Instead of continuing the family profession as a notary, he enrolls in a goldsmithing school, where he meets his lifelong friend, the perpetually drunk sculptor Donatello, and his bitter enemy, artist Lorenzo Ghiberti. His focused sketches show promise, and he approaches life with an innate sense of self-confidence. But after losing a bid to finish the doors of the Baptistery of St. John to Ghiberti, he and Donatello depart for Rome in the hope of starting anew. There, they have a chance meeting with Cosimo di Medici and Cardinal Colonna, and soon they're the cardinal's favored artists, working in a well-funded studio. After the death of Brunelleschi's father, however, he finds himself back in Florence, facing old demons and attempting to do what his dad said was impossible—create a ceiling for the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. This work was written as part of the Mentoris Project, a series of biographies and novels about important Italian figures, sponsored by the Barbera Foundation. In it, Cline reimagines Brunelleschi's life with a modern sensibility that stays true to its historical context, even during fictional dialogues. The novel combines the lightheartedness of the 2000 animated buddy-comedy The Road to El Dorado with the melodramatic gravity of Les Misérables. However, it's as much a history lesson as it is a dramedy, with several interludes describing the history of famous monuments, such as the Coliseum, and figures, such as Pope Eugene IV. These are often distracting, but they do provide key background information in an approachable way. Stray attempts at profundity feel clichéd, though, as when a father figure delivers a pithy maxim: "Greatness is a choice that always requires effort." Overall, however, Cline delivers an engaging work of historical fiction.A fast-paced and often fun foray into the development of an underappreciated artist.

Kirkus Reviews