BRUNETIERE
10
BRUNETIERE
a wooden coffered ceiling for the nave, spherical
vaults for the side aisles, and rectangular chapels
with barrel vaults along the outer walls; lateral
aisles also surround the transept. The external cor-
nice is carried out in a straight line; the height of the
nave is double its width; the Corinthian columns
bear the classical triple entablature but with arches
springing therefrom; to increase the height these
arches bear another broad triple entablature. We
are frequently reminded in this edifice of the ancient
Christian and the Romanesque basilicas. Its dome
was completed by Manetti, who allowed himself
here, and to a greater degree in Santo Spirito, a
certain liberty in dealing with the designs of Bru-
nellesco. The plan of the latter church is in the main
the same as that of San Lorenzo; the interior niches
are rounded, though their exterior walls are rec-
tangular. These niches follow the lateral aisles
around the transepts and the apse. Over the meet-
ing of the great nave and apse rises a low drum sup-
porting a ribbed dome; it is finished with round
windows and a lantern. Brunellesco executed also
no little domestic architecture. He supervised the
construction of the Foundling Hospital (Spedale
degli Innocenti) and drew the model of a mag-
nificent palace for Cosimo de'Medici which the
latter failed to carry out through fear of envy.
Finally he built a part of the Pitti Palace, and in
this work left to posterity a model method of the
use of quarry-faced stone blocks for the first story.
In recognition of his merits this epoch-making archi-
tect, no less distinguished in the decorative than
in the constructive arts, was buried within the
sacred precincts of the cathedral.
Scott, Filippo di Ser Brunellesco (London. 1901); Fabriczy. FUippo BrwneUeschi, sein Leben und seijie Werke (Stuttgart, 1S92); DrRM. Die Baukunst der Renaissance in Italien (Stutt- gart, 1903); Schnaase, Ocschiehie der bildenden Kuntte (.Stutt- gart, 1879i, VIII.
G. GlETMA>™.
Brunetiere, Ferdinand, a French critic and professor, b. at Toulon, 19 July, 1S49; d. at Paris, 9 December, 1906. After finishing his studies at the Lyc6e Louis-le-Grand, he took the entrance ex- amination of-the Ecole Normale, a higher training- school for teachers, but failed on account of de- ficiency in Greek. When the Franco-German war broke out, he enlisted in the heavy-armed infantry. After the war he returned to Paris and led a very precarious life as a teacher in private schools. In 1S74, he began to write for the "Revue des Deux Mondes", then edited by Charles Buloz, whose principal associate he soon became. From the first he was an opponent of the Naturalist School, which in retaliation feigned to ignore him and de- clared that the name of Brunetiere was the pseu- donym of some writer of no account. His mastery of criticism and his immense and minute learning. which were combined with a keen and cutting styli . soon proved his intellectual power. The editor- ship in chief of the "Revue des Deux Mondes was tendered to him in 1893. Although he had not attained the higher academic degrees, he was ap- pointed professor of the French language and lit- erature in the Ecole Normale in 1886, a position he held up to 190,5, when the school was reorganized. On account of Ins conversion to Catholicism, he was dropped from the list of professors. He was elected
to the French Academy in 1 893
In 1897, M. Brunetiere lectured in the United
States, under the auspices of the Alliance Franeaise. After delivering nine lectures on French poetry in
the annual coins, ■ of the Percy Tumbull lectures on poetry, ai the Johns Hopkins University, lie travelled through the country speaking to enthusias- tic audiences on classical and contemporary liter- ature. He met with a success that no French lecturer before him had ever attained. In New York
more than three thousand persons gathered to hear
him. His most famous lecture was on Zola, whose
so-called lifelike pictures of the French bourgeois,
of the workman, soldier, and peasant, he described
as gloomy, pessimistic, and calumnious caricatures.
Brunetiere was the greatest French critic of the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. His articles in the "Revue des Deux Mondes" resemble a strongly framed building, without frivolous orna- ment, majestic in proportion, impressive through solidity. They have been published in about fifteen volumes bearing various titles, as: " I critiques sur l'histoire de la litterature franeaise; "Questions de critique"; "Essais sur la litterature contemporaine", etc. Brunetiere was a dogmatist, judging literary works not by the impression they made upon him, but according to certain princi- ples he had laid down as criteria. According to his dogmatic system, a literary work derives its value from the general ideas it contains, and the originality of a writer consists only in setting his own stamp upon a universal design. A good sur- vey of his ideas may be had from the "Manuel de litterature franchise" (tr. New York). This form of criticism was more or less borrowed from D6- site Nisard. About the year 1S89. M. Brunetiere changed his method and applied to literature the theories of evolution, explaining the formation, growth, and decay of the various literary genres in their development from a common origin, by the same principles as those by which Darwin explained the development of the animal species. (L'^volu- lution des genres; L 'Evolution de la po6sie lyrique au XIX e siecle.) However weak the basis of such a system may be, all the details are interesting. In 1892 M. Brunetiere showed himself an orator of the highest rank. His lectures at the Odeon thea- tre on "Les epoques du Theatre Francais" proved very successful. In 1893 he delivered a course of public lectures at the Sorbonne on "L'evolution des genres", and in 1894 on "Les sermons de Bossuet ". When he was deprived of his professor- ship at the Ecole Normale, in 1905, he became ordinary lecturer to the Societe des Conferences. M. Brunetiere was master of the difficult art of convincing a large audience. He had all the quali- ties of a true orator: clearness of exposition, strength and logic of reasoning, an unusual command of general ideas, a fine and penetrating voice, and above all, a certain strange power of conviction which won the immediate sympathy of the most prejudiced hearers.
M. Brunetiere became a convert to Catholicism, in consequence of long and thorough study of Bos- suet's sermons, and. strange to say. by a logical process of deductions which had boon -u^'i-ted to him by Auguste Comte's philosophy. (See Dis- cours de combat. L'd series, p. 3.) In giving up his materialistic opinions to adopt the Catholic Faith he was prompted by a deep conviction, and there was no emotional clement in this radical change. The article he wrote in 1895, "Apres unc visite au Vatican", augured his conversion to Cathol- icism. In this article, M. Brunetiere showed that science, in spite of its solemn promises, had failed to give happiness to mankind, and that faith alone was able to achieve thai result. Soon after. M. Brunetiere publicly adhered to Catholicism and for ten years he made a
pari of France, to defend his new faith against the attacks of free-thinkers. Among these addn — - may be mentioned: " I.e besoin de croire ', Besan- cpu 1898; "Fes raisons actuelles de croire". Lille,
1899; " I. idee de solidarite". Toulouse, I'.IDII; "Fac- tion catholique", fours. 1901; "Lea motifs d'ee- Lyons, L901, etc. He devoted himself to this (ask with the greatest energy, for he was
