c. 1300-1366

Italian Architect and Painter

Floods in 1333 destroyed a bridge, built in 1177, that crossed the Arno River in Florence, and 12 years later, the city unveiled a new bridge, designed by the painter Taddeo Gaddi. The Ponte Vecchio was the first segmental arch bridge built in the West, and, as such, represents profound engineering achievement.

Gaddi, whose full name was Taddeo di Gaddo Gaddi, was born in Florence in about 1300. His father was the mosaicist Gaddi di Zanobi, and his godfather the painter Giotto (1276-1337). Eventually Gaddi went to work for Giotto, and lived with him for 24 years. Later Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), who coincidentally designed a corridor for the Ponte Vecchio, would write in his famous Lives of the Artists that Gaddi "surpassed his master in color" and, in some works, "even in expression."

Though his most well-known paintings are in Florence, Gaddi's work can be...