Antonio Filarete

Filarete, Antonio 

(real name, Antonio Averlino). Born circa 1400 in Florence; died circa 1469 in Rome. Italian architect, sculptor, and art theorist.

Filarete executed bronze doors for St. Peter’s Church in Rome between 1433 and 1445. In 1447 or 1448 he moved to Milan, where he designed the huge, strictly symmetrical hospital complex of Ospedale Maggiore (begun 1456), as well as other buildings. Filarete combined humanist principles with an abundance of Late Gothic devices in his sculptures and architectural plans. His artistic principles were most clearly expressed in his Treatise on Architecture (1460–64). This work, largely devoted to a description of the ideal city of Sforzinda, discusses geometry, perspective, optics, mechanics, the reconstruction of ancient buildings, and the contemporary Italian masters.

WORKS

Trattato d’architettura, vols. 1–2. Edited by A. M. Finoli and L. Grassi. Milan, 1972.

REFERENCE

Arte Lombarda, fascs. 38–39, 1973. (Entire issue devoted to Filarete.)