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Filippo Brunelleschi

Original nameFilippo Brunelleschi

Founder of Renaissance architecture, builder of the great dome of Florence

Rediscovering Proportion and the Dome · Renaissance & Baroque
RenaissanceFlorence DomePerspectiveEngineering

Who they are

The founder of Italian Renaissance architecture. The huge dome of Florence Cathedral, left empty for a century because no one could cover it, he conquered with a stroke of genius: instead of the traditional wooden centering (which could not span such a width), he invented a self-supporting "herringbone" brickwork that kept the dome stable as it rose, closing in ring upon ring. This red dome, over forty metres across, still crowns the Florence skyline and is seen as the opening work of the Renaissance. He also rediscovered the proportional rules of ancient Roman architecture and was the first to work out linear perspective systematically — fitting the whole Renaissance, in painting and building, with a rational eye.

Primary sourcesthe dome of Florence CathedralVasari, Lives of the Artists

Key stories

The Egg Made to Stand

Legend says that when Florence held a competition for the dome, people doubted Brunelleschi. He would not reveal his scheme, and only proposed: whoever could make an egg stand on a smooth table deserved the commission. All failed; he took the egg and tapped it lightly on the table — it stood. When they protested, "We could do that too," he answered: "If I told you how to build the dome, you would say you could do that too." A genius’s scheme often looks impossible before it is shown, and obvious after.

Relationships

Mentor
📖Leon Battista Alberti　together laid the rational rules of Renaissance architecture

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

The opening of the Renaissance and perspectiveBrunelleschi’s Florence dome is seen as the opening work of Renaissance architecture, and the linear perspective he rediscovered fitted the whole Renaissance, in painting and building, with a rational eye.

Appears in

Renaissance & BaroqueBrunelleschi: The Great Dome of Florence
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