Sculpture of Brunelleschi looking at the dome in Florence

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – April 15, 1446) was one of the foremost architects of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy. As explained by Antonio Manetti, who knew Brunelleschi and who wrote his biography, Brunelleschi "was granted such honors as to be buried in Santa Maria del Fiore, and with a marble bust, which they say was carved from life, and placed there in perpetual memory with such a splendid epitaph."^[1] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (985x1641, 534 KB) Summary Description: Statue of Filippo Brunelleschi (italian Architect) near the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore Time: 2004 License: Picture made by myself Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Filippo Brunelleschi ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (985x1641, 534 KB) Summary Description: Statue of Filippo Brunelleschi (italian Architect) near the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore Time: 2004 License: Picture made by myself Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Filippo Brunelleschi ... // Events January 17 – Pope Gregory XI enters Rome. ... is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Mehmed II Sultan of the Ottoman Empire is forced to abdicate in favor of his father Murad II by the Janissaries. ... The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. ... Florence (or Firenze, Florentia and Fiorenza) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany, and of the province of Florence. ... The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church, or Duomo, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, noted for its distinctive dome. ...

Early life

Little is known about the early life of Brunelleschi; the only sources are Antonio Manetti and Giorgio Vasari.^[2] According to these sources, Filippo's father was Brunellesco di Lippo, and his mother was Giuliana Spini. Filippo was the middle of three children. The young Filippo was given a literary and mathematical education intended to enable him to follow in the footsteps of his father, a civil servant. Being artistically inclined, however, Filippo enrolled in the Arte della Seta, the Silkmakers' Guild, which included goldsmiths, metalworkers, and bronze workers. He became a master goldsmith in 1398. It was thus not a coincidence that his first important commission, the Foundling Hospital, came from the same guild to which he belonged. ^[3] Antonio Manetti (1423-1497) was a Florentine mathematician and architect. ... Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian painter and architect, who is today famous for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing. ... Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence The Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents) was a childrens orphanage in Florence, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1419. ...

In 1401, Brunelleschi entered a competition to design a new set of bronze doors for the baptistery in Florence. Along with another young goldsmith, Lorenzo Ghiberti, he produced a gilded bronze panel, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. His entry made reference to a classical statue, known as the 'thorn puller', whilst Ghiberti used a naked torso for his figure of Isaac. In 1403, Ghiberti was announced the victor, largely because of his superior technical skill: his panel showed a more sophisticated knowledge of bronze-casting; it was completed in one single piece. Brunelleschi's piece, by contrast, was comprised of numerous pieces bolted to the back plate. Ghiberti went on to complete a second set of bronze doors for the baptistery, whose beauty Michelangelo extolled a hundred years later, saying "surely these must be the "Gates of Paradise."^[4] In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Latin baptisterium) is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. ... Lorenzo Ghiberti on Gates of Paradise, Baptistery, Florence, self portrait. ... For other uses, see Michelangelo (disambiguation). ... The Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St John) is believed to be the oldest building in Florence. ...

==Brunelleschi as an architect==

Section of the Dome.

Brunelleschi's dome of Santa Maria del Fiore.

There is scant biographical information about Brunelleschi's life to explain his transition from goldsmith to builder and, no less importantly, from his training in the gothic or medieval manner to the new classicism in architecture and urbanism that we now loosely call the Renaissance and of which Brunelleschi is considered the seminal figure. By 1400 there emerged an interest in ‘humanitas’ which contrasted with the formalism of the medieval period. But initially this new interest in Roman antiquity was restricted to a few scholars, writers and philosophers; at first it did not influence the visual arts. Apparently it was in this period (1402-4) that Brunelleschi and his friend Donatello visited Rome to study the ancient Roman ruins. Donatello, like Brunelleschi, had received his training in a goldsmith's workshop, and had then worked in Ghiberti's studio. Although in previous decades the writers and philosophers had discussed the glories of ancient Rome, it seems that until Brunelleschi and Donatello made their journey, no-one had studied the physical fabric of these ruins in any great detail. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (960x1280, 578 KB) Summary View on the dome of Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore Own photo - photo made by Georges Jansoone on 12 October 2005 Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Santa Maria del Fiore Metadata This... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (960x1280, 578 KB) Summary View on the dome of Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore Own photo - photo made by Georges Jansoone on 12 October 2005 Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Santa Maria del Fiore Metadata This... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ... Statue of Habacuc (popularly known as Zuccone) for the Giottos Bell Tower. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ...

Nave of the San Lorenzo, 1421-1440.

Brunelleschi's first architectural commission was the Ospedale degli Innocenti‎ (1419-ca.1445), or Foundling Hospital. Its long loggia would have been a rare sight in the tight and curving streets of Florence, not to mention its impressive arches, each about 8 m high. The building was dignified yet sober. There were no displays of fine marble and decorative inlays.^[5] It was also the first building in Florence to make clear reference - in its columns and capitals - to classical antiquity. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x1512, 618 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Renaissance architecture ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x1512, 618 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Renaissance architecture ... Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence The Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents) was a childrens orphanage in Florence, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1419. ... Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD...

Soon other commissions came, the most important of which were the designs for the dome of the Cathedral of Florence (1419-1436) and the Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy of S. Lorenzo (1421-1440). The complex history of Santa Maria del Fiore need not be recounted except to state that by 1418 all that was left to finish was the dome. The problem was that when the building was designed in the previous century, no one had any idea about how such a dome was to be built, given that it was to be even larger than the Pantheon's dome in Rome and that no dome of that size had been built since Antiquity. Because buttresses were forbidden by the city fathers, and clearly was impossible to obtain rafters for scaffolding long and strong enough (and in sufficient quantity) for the task, it was unclear how a dome of that size could be built, or just avoid collapse. It must be considered also that the stresses of compression were not clearly understood at the time, and the mortars used in the periods would only set after several days, keeping the strain on the scaffolding for a very long time^[6]. In 1419, the Arte della Lana, the wool merchant’s guild, held a competition to solve the problem. The two main competitors were Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, with Brunelleschi winning and receiving the commission. View of the Facade with Giottos Bell Tower. ... The Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy in Florence is one of the most important monuments of the early Italian Renaissance architecture. ... The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church, or Duomo, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, noted for its distinctive dome. ... For other uses, see Dome (disambiguation). ... Facade of the Pantheon For other uses, see Pantheon (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... A buttress (and mostly concealed, a flying buttress) supporting walls at the Palace of Westminster Three different types of buttress: diagonal, on the statues plinth; an ordinary buttress supporting a flying buttress, to the right of the statue; a small ordinary buttress to the right side of the picture... Hoop stress is mechanical stress applied in a direction perpendicular to the radius of the item in question. ... Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378 - December 1, 1455) was an important Renaissance artist, specializing in sculpture and metalworking. ...

Nave of the Santo Spirito, 1441-1481.

The dome, the lantern (built: 1436-ca.1450) and the exedrae (built: 1439-1445) would occupy most of Brunelleschi’s life.^[7] Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical and mathematical genius.^[8] Thus he invented a new hoisting machine for raising the masonry needed for the dome, a task no doubt inspired by republication of the seminal work De Architectura by Vitruvius, which describes Roman machines used in the first century AD to build large structures such as the Pantheon and the Baths of Diocletian, structures still standing which he would have seen for himself. He also issued one of the first patents for the hoist in an attempt to prevent theft of his ideas. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2. ... An exedra adopted by James Cameron for a neoclassical interior space, at the Hermitage In architecture an exedra is a semicircular recess, often crowned by a half-dome, which is usually set into a buildings facade. ... De architectūra (Latin: On architecture) was a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus. ... Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c. ... Look up Pantheon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, built in the tepidarium of the baths The church of San Bernardo alle Terme recycled an old circular tower at the southwestern corner of the perimeter wall of the baths, one of four towers defining its grounds. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally maximum 20 years from the filing date, depending on extension). ... Builders hoist, with small petrol engine Hoist or hoist can mean:- A verb meaning to lift. In flag terminology, the half of a flag nearest to the flagpole. ...

Of the two churches that Brunelleschi designed, the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze, (1419-1480s) and Santo Spirito di Firenze, (1441-1481), both of which are considered landmarks in Renaissance architecture, the latter is seen as conforming most closely to his ideas. Exterior from the Piazza San Lorenzo. ... The Church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito (St. ... Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502, by Bramante. ...

Other aspects of Brunelleschi's life

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Brunelleschi's interests extended to mathematics and engineering and the study of ancient invented hydraulic machinery and elaborate clockwork, none of which survives. Brunelleschi also designed fortifications for Florence in its military struggles against Pisa and Siena. In 1424, Brunelleschi did work in Lastra a Signa, a village protecting the route to Pisa, and in 1431 he did work to the south, on the walls of the village of Staggia. The latter walls are still preserved, but whether these are specifically by Brunelleschi is unsure. He also had a brief and disastrous cameo in the world of shipmaking, when, in 1427, he built a monstrous ship called Il Badalone to transport marble to Florence from Pisa up the Arno River. The ship sank on its first voyage, along with a sizable chunk of Brunelleschi's personal fortune. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Florence (or Firenze, Florentia and Fiorenza) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany, and of the province of Florence. ... For other uses, see Pisa (disambiguation). ... Arno River in Florence, Italy The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. ...

Besides accomplishments in architecture, Brunelleschi is also credited with inventing one-point linear perspective, revolutionized painting and allowed for naturalistic styles to develop as the Renaissance digressed from the stylized figures of medieval art. A cube in two-point perspective. ...

Invention of linear perspective

The first known perspective picture was made by Brunelleschi in about 1415. His biographer, Antonio Manetti, described this famous experiment, in which Brunelleschi painted the Baptistery in Florence from the front gate of the unfinished cathedral. The painted panel was constructed with a hole at the vanishing point. It was observed from the unpainted side and the reflection of the image was viewed in a mirror through the hole, giving the illusion of depth. Unfortunately, the painted panel has since been lost. ^[9] Soon after, many Italian artists used linear perspective in their paintings. Antonio Manetti (1423-1497) was a Florentine mathematician and architect. ... In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Latin baptisterium) is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. ... Florence (or Firenze, Florentia and Fiorenza) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany, and of the province of Florence. ...

Theatrical machinery

Another of Brunelleschi’s activities was the designing of the machinery in churches for theatrical, religious performances that re-enacted Biblical miracle stories. Contrivances were created by which characters and angels were made to fly through the air in the midst of spectacular explosions of lights and fireworks. These events took place during state and ecclesiastical visits. Though it is not known for certain how many of these Brunelleschi designed, but it seems that at least one, for the church of S. Felice, is confirmed in the records.^[10]

Principal works

The principal buildings and works designed by Brunelleschi or which included his involvement:

• Dome of the Cathedral of Florence, (1419-1436)
• Ospedale degli Innocenti,‎ (1419-ca.1445)
• Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze, (1419-1480s)
• Palazzo di Parte Guelfa, (1420s-1445)
• Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, (1421-1440)
• Santa Maria degli Angeli: unfinished, (begun 1434)
• The lantern of the Florence Cathedral, (1436-ca.1450)
• The exedrae of the Florence Cathedral, (1439-1445)
• Santo Spirito di Firenze, (1441-1481)
• Pazzi Chapel, (1441-1460s)

View of the Facade with Giottos Bell Tower. ... Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence The Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents) was a childrens orphanage in Florence, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1419. ... Exterior from the Piazza San Lorenzo. ... The Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy in Florence is one of the most important monuments of the early Italian Renaissance architecture. ... Santa Maria degli Angeli is a former church and convent in Florence, Italy. ... The Church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito (St. ... Cappella Pazzi & First Cloister Pazzi Chapel (Cappella dei Pazzi) at the Basilica di Santa Croce is a typical Renaissance chapel in Florence. ...

See also

• Taccola

Mariano di Jacopo detto Taccola (1382 - c. ...

References

István Orosz (b. ...

Footnotes

• Argan, Giulio Carlo. The Architecture of Brunelleschi and the Origins of Perspective Theory in the Fifteenth Century, J. Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 9 (1946), 96-121.
• Fanelli, Giovanni. Brunelleschi’s Cupola: Past and Present of an Architectural Masterpiece. (Florence: Mandragora, 2004).
• Kemp, Martin. 'Science, Non-science and Nonsense: The Interpretation of Brunelleschi's Perspective,' Art History 1 (2) (1978), 134-161.
• Prager, F.D. Brunelleschi's Inventions and the 'Renewal of Roman Masonry Work', Osiris 9 (1950), 457-554.
• The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo: the Representation of Architecture. Edited by Henry A. Millon and Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994)
• What Brunelleschi Saw: Monument and Site at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence by Marvin Trachtenberg.
• King, Ross. Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Filippo Brunelleschi

• Free audio guide of Brunelleschi's Dome
• O'Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., "Filippo Brunelleschi", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive