Brunelleschi, Filippo (1377–1446)

The most renowned architect of Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi decorated the city with imposing architecture that has endured as a symbol of Renaissance genius. The son of a prominent notary, he joined the Silk Guild of Florence as a boy. Showing great talent in the demanding arts of metalworking, he was welcomed into the city's guild of master goldsmiths and won commissions to execute silver altarpieces for the cathedral of Pistoia. His reputation as a sculptor also was spreading through the city and in 1401 he was invited to enter a competition to design the bronze doors of the new Baptistery in Florence. Unable to decide between the entries of Brunelleschi and his rival Lorenzo Ghiberti, the judges invited both men to execute the doors, a commission that Brunelleschi turned down out of wounded pride. His dramatic rendering of the sacrifice of Isaac survived, however, and is now housed in a Florentine museum.

Discovering a passion for architectural design, Brunelleschi joined his friend Donatello in a journey to Rome in 1402 to explore the city's ancient ruins. From his explorations and measurements of ancient Roman structures, he developed a system of ideal mathematical proportions; he was also one of the first artists to work out the principles of linear perspective. He had the opportunity to apply his system of geometrical harmony in his first important architectural commission, the design of the Foundling Hospital in Florence. Brunelleschi's portico for this building was the first Renaissance structure to make use of classical elements such as columns and capitals.

The design earned widespread admiration in Florence and led to Brunelleschi's next important commission, a sacristy for the Basilica of San Lorenzo. At the same time, Brunelleschi was studying the design of a dome for the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, the central cathedral of Florence. Begun in the fourteenth century, the structure was now finished except for the dome, which would have to span a diameter of 130 feet, a scale well beyond any dome attempted since the time of the ancient Romans. The builders and architects of Florence had no idea how to construct such a dome; raising a wooden scaffolding to support it while building—the conventional method at the time—was considered impossible. In 1419 Brunelleschi defeated his rivals in winning the commission, then solved the problem of the dome by designing a rounded cone, made of inner and outer shells supported by vertical and horizontal stone ribs. The architect designed not just the dome but also the machines and support structures used to raise it, as well as a lantern that was added after the dome was finished in 1436. The work on Santa Maria del Fiore is considered to be the architect's greatest architectural and engineering achievement.

Brunelleschi's other notable works include the Pazzi Chapel, in the church of Santa Croce, and the basilica of Santo Spirito, a church raised in an artisans quarter on the southern banks of the Arno River. This church was unfinished at the time of the architect's death; its facade was eventually completed in a later Baroque fashion that awkwardly clashes with the careful proportions of the interior. Brunelleschi's floor design, in the form of a Latin cross with three naves, resembles that of San Lorenzo. Both churches became emblematic of the classical proportions and elegant style of Renaissance church architecture.

Fascinated by problems of engineering, Brunelleschi also turned his attention to the design of fortifications (for the city of Pisa), aqueducts (near Assisi), and river-boats for use on the shallow Arno. Brunelleschi's genius for design as well as engineering allowed him to establish the occupation of architect as an independent profession, free of the medieval restrictions of builders' and masons' guilds. He was honored at his death with burial in Santa Maria del Fiore, still the most prominent structure in Florence.

See Also: architecture; Ghiberti, Lorenzo