Emilio De Fabris was born 1808 in Florence, Italy. Fabris was an architect most famous for his design of the west facade of the Santa Maria del Fiore. The original facade design by Giotto was found outdated for the cathedral and so a series of three competitions were held to modify Giotto's original design, keeping with the main lines of the structure.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 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. Florence was extremely proud of De Fabris' devotion of his time and energy to make this a truly monumental landmark of the city. Fabris died in 1883.
Fanelli, Giovanni, and Michele Fanelli. Brunelleschi's Cupola. Florence: Mandragora s.r.l., 2004. Print.
The New York Times. "Emilio De Fabris' Life work." July 29, 1883. Copyright, The New York Times. Website. Date of access: 09/26/2010. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10E13FF385411738DDDA00A94DF405B8384F0D3