Emilio De Fabris (28 October 1808 – 3 June 1883) was an
Italian architect best known for his design of the west facade of the
Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence, Italy.
De Fabris was born in
Florence, Italy. He initially studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, then traveled to Rome, where he met the archeologist
Antonio Nibby and to Venice where he met the historian and art-critic
Pietro Selvatico. In 1857–1860, he helped design, alongside
Michelangelo Maiorfi, the Palazzo della Borsa in Florence. He was professor at the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts and Architect to the Opera di Santa Croce.
Work on the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
The original facade design for
Santa Maria del Fiore, by
Giotto
Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...
, was found outdated for the cathedral and so a series of three competitions was held to modify Giotto's original design, keeping with the main lines of the structure. The challenge for the competition was to create a facade which brought together two periods in architecture: the
Gothic style, which had faded out, and the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
style, which was more recent. In 1871, Fabris' design won, and he immediately went to work embellishing the cathedral with red, green, and white
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
. Fabris died in 1883.
References
*Fanelli, Giovanni, and Michele Fanelli. ''Brunelleschi's Cupola.'' Florence: Mandragora s.r.l., 2004. Print.
*''Emilio De Fabris' Life work.'' July 29, 1883. Copyright, The New York Times. Website. Date of access: 09/26/2010
External links
A Case Study on Florence Cathedral
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabris, Emilio De
1808 births
1883 deaths
19th-century Italian architects