Filippo+Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi was born in 1377 in Florence, Italy. He “[i]nitially trained as a goldsmith and sculptor and enrolled in the Arte della Seta, the silk merchants’ guild, […] and was designated a master goldsmith” (A+E Networks). He eventually competed with five other sculptors to make bronze reliefs for the door of the Florence baptistery. He did not win this competition, but soon turned his attention towards architecture.

Donatello and Brunelleschi worked together to study the ancient ruins of Rome. Since no one studied the ruins in Rome in detail, this seemed to be something they were both interested in. While studying them, Brunelleschi decided he would turn to architecture for his permanent career choice. Donatello, however, remained a sculptor.

“Early in his architectural career, Brunelleschi rediscovered the principles of linear perspective, known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but lost during the Middle Ages” (A+E Networks). Linear perspective is when you place all lines to a certain point to make the object look as if it is going back in the distance, receding even. Objects in the front appear bigger than object in the back. Since then, his “rediscovery” led to artists using his perspective principles to create new pieces that showed two and three dimensional objects. This spread throughout all of Italy and into Western Europe.

His most famous work is the dome that topped the Santa Maria del Fiore. Brunelleschi studied the dome of the Pantheon in Rome to get his inspiration for his own masterpiece. The cathedral was under construction for a long period of time. The overseers of the project decided it would be good to have a dome crown the top of it. A problem arose when they realized it “[w]ould be huge, 143 feet 6 inches in diameter. Unlike other domes, it would not be a hemisphere, but an octagon, rising in good Gothic fashion to a point. And it would be built without the flying buttresses that supported other great Gothic churches” (King).

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Brunelleschi’s idea was to construct the dome without relying on wooden framework. This caused question since the dome needed framework to be held up, and since flying buttresses weren’t being used, it seemed silly. “He devised a chainwork system of stone, iron and wood that would grid the dome to create a system of “invisible buttressing” to achieve the balance necessary to keep the dome from collapsing” (King). This created the rib or frame work needed to hold up the outside of the dome. He also used “complex and inventive brickwork” to help sturdy the frame. The dome took over 15 years to complete. He died in 1466 but is remembered as one of the greatest innovators of architecture during the Renaissance era.

A+E Networks. “Filippo Brunelleschi Biography.” //Biography.com//. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

“ANG: American Needlepoint Guild.” //Needlepoint.org.// Nov. 1995. Image 24 Nov. 2013.

“Brunelleschi.” //Wordpress.com.// 4 Mar. 2011. Image. 24 Nov. 2013.

"Brunelleschi, Dome of the Cathedral in Florence, 1420-36." //Youtube.com.// 19 Nov. 2011. Video. 24 Nov. 2013.

King, Ross. “‘Dome’ Rises to the Occasion to Profile an Architectural Genius.” // Chicagotribune.com. // 5 Feb. 2001. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.