Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

Author:Ross King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2000-08-14T16:00:00+00:00


It is safe to assume that the masons, like the stone cutters and ironmongers, were initially puzzled by what the capomaestro required of them. It comes as no surprise that the brickwork in the shells was as complex and inventive as everything else Filippo designed for the cupola. The bricks were not merely laid in horizontal layers: at regular intervals in both shells the rings were interrupted by larger bricks laid on their ends—that is, at right angles to the horizontal courses. This angled brickwork is the spinapescie (fishbone) bond mentioned in the 1426 amendment. These vertical bricks, each of which passed through four or five horizontal rings, ascended in diagonal bands to the top of the dome, forming a zigzag or herringbone pattern. Filippo must have known that these spiraling bands of upright bricks would constitute planes of weakness, since they were less able than a more conventional bond to counter the hoop stresses that threatened to crack the dome.6 Why, then, should he have chosen to use the herringbone bond?



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