Basilica of San Lorenzo In the name of Our Lord, A

My good lords, Master Brunelleschi has used simple and straight forms, as well as perfect symmetry, precise as the pure forms and harmonies of architecture, to construct San Lorenzo. The church in its supreme geometry carries out the theories and principles of perfection in architecture and the ideal of proportion in the universe. The church building is sturdy, according to scientific principles of perspective, but it does not have the deceptive complexity of Gothic art. It recalls the simplicity of the fine basilica designs (Heydenreich 114) of the early Church in Rome, an example to us all.

The church is not on so massive a scale that it towers above every building in the city; that honor is reserved for Santa Maria del Fiori. Nor does it have the same features as a cathedral in the French style. For example, although it has a pitched roof and a suggestion, from the exterior, of a clerestory, it does not have north and south towers on the exterior between the atrium and nave. Rather, San Lorenzo, is on a manageable scale. And there are features that it do

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is to suggest an outdoor colonnade in the Roman style. This is an achievement on Brunelleschi's part of recalling to our minds the beauty of antiquity as far as shaping the interior space with geometrical forms is concerned. The symmetrical repetition of round arches is amplified in effect by the fact that the interior wall of the nave portico (actually closer to the exterior), below the base of the transept arches, is another row of eight arches, fronted by ribbed arch moldings, parallel to the nave, which frame painted panels. Along the top of the arch moldings runs a horizontal molding identical to that above the decorated arches facing the nave. Between these arches are fluted pilasters with Doric bases and Corinthian capitals that butt against the bottom of the horizontal arch molding. At the points along the continuous horizontal molding where the pilaster capitals touch, the molding is conceptually transformed into an entablature (Gadol 36). The arch molding motif is repeated, somewhat reversed, and slightly amplified for the interior door opening at the narthex. Amplification occurs in the form of a widened arch frame and the transformation of pilasters along the interior portico wall into full columns. The columns are s
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Approximate Word count = 1968
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)