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Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) was born in Florence, Italy and is said to be the originator of the Renaissance architectural style. He was trained as a sculptor and goldsmith. Between 1401 and 1403, he sculpted the second door of the The Doors of Paradise, entitled The Sacrifice of Isaac, and entered it in a competition for bronze reliefs in the baptistery of Florence. Ghiberti, another sculptor of the time, won the competition. Still, Brunelleschi's relief is considered to be his finest work.
After the competition, he began to focus on architecture. He rediscovered the principles of linear perspective which had been used by the Greeks and Romans. Unlike the emotional Gothic architecture of his period, Brunelleschi used straight lines, flat planes and cubic spaces. These traits were later to influence other Florentine artists. From 1409 onwards, he worked on the construction of Santa Maria del Fiore. He was fascinated by the problem of the cupola and won the competition to construct it in 1418. Brunelleschi found a way to create the curves of the cupola without using a supporting framework. This was one of the first examples of architectural functionalism.
His first major architectural work was the Ospedali degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital). He designed the lower facade which was finished in 1427. Also in the 1420s, Brunelleschi completed the old sacristy of San Lorenzo, which was commissioned by Giovanni de'Medici. He also drew plans for the basilica of San Lorenzo. Though uncompleted before his death, the basilica continued to be built after. Brunelleschi's true fame came when he worked on the cathedral of Florence. The dome of the cathedral was completed in 1436 and was a model for Michelangelo's dome of St. Peter's in Rome. On April 16, 1446, Filippo Brunelleschi died and was laid to rest in the Santa Maria del Fiore. Inscribed on his tomb: "A man of great genius."
It was Heaven's decree, after the earth had been so many years without a master mind and divine spirit, that Filippo [Brunelleschi] should leave to the world the greatest and loftiest building, the finest of all the achievements of ancient and modern times [i.e. the dome of Florence Cathedral]
-Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Painters (1568)
Sacrifice of Abraham
1401
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
Crucifix
1412-1413
Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Old Sacristy
1418-1428
Church of San Lorenzo, Florence
Ospedale degli Innocenti
1419-1424
Florence
Cupola
1420-1436
Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence
Facade of Pazzi Chapel
1429-1461
Santa Croce, Florence
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