Filippo Brunelleschi
The architect who rediscovered perspective.
Brunelleschi built the dome of Florence Cathedral without scaffolding from the ground. He also demonstrated how linear perspective works, giving painters a new tool.
Filippo Brunelleschi was born in Florence in 1377. His father was a notary who wanted his son to become an official, but Filippo trained as a goldsmith instead. He was a versatile engineer with an interest in mechanics, mathematics and clockwork.
In 1401 he took part in the competition for the new bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery. He lost to Lorenzo Ghiberti, and his competition relief of the Sacrifice of Isaac is now in the Bargello museum. According to an early biography, he then travelled to Rome with his friend Donatello to measure and study the ancient ruins. At some point in the 1410s he carried out a famous experiment in which he painted the Baptistery on a panel and let the viewer compare the image with reality by means of a mirror. The experiment showed how linear perspective works, with lines converging on a single point.
His great work is the dome of Florence Cathedral, built in 1420–1436. It is still the largest dome of brick and masonry ever built. No one knew how to vault the enormous octagonal opening. Brunelleschi solved the problem with two shells, an inner and an outer one, and with bricks laid in a herringbone pattern so that the masonry supported itself during construction. He also designed new hoisting machines to lift the materials. The lantern on top was completed only after his death.
As an architect he created a new style based on classical columns, round arches and simple proportions. His works include the foundling hospital, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, with its airy loggia, and the churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito. The interiors are clear and logical, with grey stone against white walls. He was known for being combative and suspicious and liked to keep his technical solutions secret.
Brunelleschi died in 1446 and was buried in the cathedral beneath his own dome, a rare honour. He is regarded as the founder of Renaissance architecture, and his theory of perspective gave painters such as Masaccio a tool that transformed the whole of art.