Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi is widely known as one of the founding fathers of Renaissance architecture, as well as the first modern engineer. Born in Florence, Italy in 1377 and died in April 14th, 1446, Brunelleschi was the second son to Brunelleschi di Lippo di Tura di Cambio Bacherini a notary and Giuliana di Giovanni Spini. Di Lippo’s family was from Ficarolo on the Po and was of importance and well known, as Di Lippo was also a diplomat. From a very young age Brunelleschi was taught mathematics…

guild of Florence decided to commission a second set of doors for the baptistery of Florence. They held a competition for the second set of doors in effort to find the best sculptor. In total there was seven entries but only two survived in the end, Filippo…

Creativity and imagination was put into the creating of the dome for Florence’s cathedral. Filippo Brunelleschi used those as he constructed the dome. He not only made one dome, but two; and outer an inner dome. He was an apprentice for a goldsmith as a boy, and there he had “mastered drawing and painting, wood carving, sculpture in silver and bronze, stone setting, niello, and enamel work. Later he studies optics and tinkered endlessly with wheels, gears, weights, and motion, building a number…

in Florence. Therefore, Brunelleschi was considered as the first man who begun to comprehend the rules of the classical architecture, following on from that started using them in his new designs. (Murray 1963, p.25) Instead of re-using classical methods of construction, he had to move further with his conception of the new dome, since the octagonal drum diameter was too big to use traditional methods like just a simple arch rotated on its axis. As the result of Brunelleschi studies, he proposed…

choose Architecture: Brunelleschi's design of the dome for Florence's cathedral. I remember watching this on NOVA back in 2014, and was intrigued by it then too. This is a feat of modern engineering technology at a time when it shouldn’t have been possible to construct. The Florence cathedral had been constructed as an icon to the world of the power and majesty that Florence was trying to project. Unfortunately, the cathedral had been constructed but the dome to cover it had not, and was…

Arnolfo di Cambio, who greatly expanded the size of the Duomo structure that was to replace an earlier cathedral. Construction commenced in 1296 but came to a halt when the dome covering the crossing space posed architectural difficulty. Filippo Brunelleschi, was known as a trained goldsmith and sculptor and later turned his attention to architecture. After years of traveling and studying Roman buildings, such as the "Pantheon", gave him insight with respect to Classical methods of…

took 16 years and Brunelleschi lived to see it completed in 1436. He designed the lantern house for the top of the dome, but he did not live to see it completed. His friend Michelozzo finished it for him in 1461. Brunelleschi was years ahead of his time. It is said his dome started the Renaissance. His machines he invented for the project were so impressive that Leonardo da Vinci sketched them and that is why we know anything about them. Thank you da Vinci. And thank you Brunelleschi for your…

Fourteenth century Italy was divided into many individual city-states. However, instead of being ruled by one sovereign, each city was governed by the dominant families located nearby. Many of these families held strong economic or political roles in their society. From the late fourteenth to the seventeenth century, the Medici family held an extremely influential role in the governance of Florence. Giovanni di’ Bicci, whom many consider to be the founder of the Medici dynasty, brought to life…

Construction on Santa Maria del Fiore’s cathedral began in 1296 to show off the status of Florence as one of Europe’s economic and cultural capitals. Still, decades later, no one seemed to have any idea of how to build a dome nearly 150 feet across, especially as it would have to start 180 feet above the ground, atop the existing walls. So in 1418 the Florentine fathers decided to hold a contest for the ideal dome design, with a prize of 200 gold florins--and perhaps even eternal glory--for the…

the revival of classical knowledge of architecture Sources/Research: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/il-duomo/mueller-text “What we know for sure is that another candidate, a short, homely, and hot-tempered goldsmith named Filippo Brunelleschi, promised to build not one but two domes, one nested inside the other, without elaborate and expensive scaffolding.” “His dome would consist of two concentric shells, an iounteract…