Baldassarre Lanci
Baldassarre Lanci (1510–1571) was an Italian architect, inventor, theatrical set designer, and master of perspective of the Renaissance period. Born in Urbino, he spent most of his working life in Tuscany.
Early career
He began his career as military engineer, for ten years following 1547 he was in the continual employment of the
Pius IV
Medici architect
From 1557 he worked almost exclusively for
patron for whom he supervised such projects as the fortification of Siena and many other Tuscan towns. His urban works included the design of Terra del Sole a fortified new city for Cosimo I de' Medici, in what is now the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Lanci also designed the church of Santa Maria della Rosa in the spa town of Chianciano Terme, in today's Province of Siena; Santa Maria della Rosa was built on a central plan; even though it was not finished, the church is notable for the sobriety, and clean lines of its design which culminates in an elegant dome. The church, however, was never fully completed. In 1585 building work stopped, fourteen years after Lanci's death. He also designed the walls of Grosseto
in 1564, directing the construction site until his death in 1571, when he was succeeded by his son Marino.
Lanci's most notable achievement was his invention in 1567 of a piece of surveying equipment to obtain
orizzonte designed by Leon Battista Alberti
.
His diverse works also included many
hydraulic engineer
.
Engineer
As an architect his engineering skills were firmly to the forefront, rather than an interpretation on the finer and more sophisticated points of rinascimento architecture. Impregnable fortresses such as the Fortezza Medicea at
palazzi
. This is not to say Lanci was a man lacking in sophistication, one of his more surprising talents was designing some of the sets for the lavish theatrical and dramatical performances for which the Medici court was famed. As with his architecture, though, it was his engineering skills even here which dominated.
Long before the
periaktoi stage. The periaktoi stage setting was basically a series of three sided revolving triangular boards each side with a different scene. Each triangular board was connected, hence there would be one or two flanking the stage, in the wings, and a further section suspended between them on which would be painted skies, cloudy, sunny, dawn or dusk. The entire series of revolving boards were linked to each other by a series of pulleys and machinery, thus allowing scene changes to be almost instantaneous. While Lanci did not invent this mechanism himself (indeed Vitruvius had described these three-sided units revolving in the Roman
era) he was instrumental in its further development. Often producing and relocating the settings of the plays, himself, in order that a greater variety of scenery could be included. What in fact Lanci realised and promoted was that a false perspective coupled with a deliberately created illusionary architectural area, was the perfect dramatical setting.
References
- Nuti, Lucia (1996). Ritratti di città. Visione e memoria tra Medievo e Settecento. Venice: Marsilio.
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