Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

“Growing up in the shadow of Santa Maria del Fiore he would have seen in daily operation the treadwheel hoists and cranes that had been designed to raise blocks of marble and sandstone to the top of the building.”

Brunellschi’s relationship with the duomo has an almost mythic quality. He is born beside the cathedral and grows up in the shadow of the construction site. Later, he dies in the same house. He is bound to the cathedral during the time of its construction, almost raised from childhood with a special bond with the building itself. These details contribute to The Fine Line Between History and Legend.

“He had also begun work on a new cathedral in Milan, an enormous Gothic structure complete with pinnacles and flying buttresses—precisely the sort of architecture to which Neri di Fioravanti and his group had objected.”

Giangaleazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, is an enemy of the Republic of Florence in a military, political, and ideological sense. He wages war on Florence, so the Florentines respond with a rejection of everything Milanese. In this way, the design of Santa Maria del Fiore embodies their rejection of Milanese and the Gothic style. The leaders of Florence use Architecture as a Political Statement of a fundamentally Florentine vision of the future.

“The historians of Florence were forever inventing spurious links between their city and ancient Rome.”

The people of Florence see themselves as a rising power. The city’s history, however, lacks the ancient imperial grandeur of Rome or Istanbul. As such, the Florentines seek to add weight to their reputation by aligning themselves with a historical ideal of the Roman past. This link is largely a myth; the buildings they claim to be Roman are, in fact, mostly from the early Middle Ages. The myth itself is what is important, as they believe it adds legitimacy to the newfound status of Florence. Just like Brunelleschi, the city itself is subject to mythmaking.

“Like the fragments of stone studied by Filippo, such manuscripts would form a link between the ancient Romans and the artists, philosophers and architects of the Quattrocento.”

The rediscovery of antiquity is a key foundation of the Renaissance. For Brunelleschi and Donatello, this is very literal. They sift through the ruins of Rome, searching for inspiration. Later, this same process will occur with the manuscripts which are found and translated. Brunelleschi is at the forefront of this movement, building the Renaissance as much as he built the dome.

“In the end, ugly and eccentric artists would become so much the norm that Filippo’s biographer, the painter and architect Giorgio Vasari—himself an uncouth man, with a skin disease and dirty, uncut fingernails—marveled that an artist as talented as Raphael should actually have been physically handsome.”

Giorgio Vasari, a renowned painter, was also famous for his numerous biographies of artists. Like many of his subjects, he was seen as “uncouth” and physically unattractive. This depiction contains an inherent irony in the lives of the artists, in that the men who created many beautiful works of art were themselves decidedly unaesthetic. The care and attention which they lavished on their work was not directed at themselves. Men like Brunelleschi were too focused on their work to care much about their own appearance.

“In this parable Filippo suggests to the wardens that whoever can make an egg stand on end on a flat piece of marble should win the commission.”

The story of the egg is a foundational part of the Brunelleschi mythos, but as King suggests, it is likely untrue. Instead, the story of the egg hints at a deeper truth about The Fine Line Between History and Legend. Parables and stories of Brunelleschi’s genius provide a shorthand explanation for why he should be revered, alluding to Brunelleschi as a quasi-mythical figure deserving of veneration. The mythological Brunelleschi may not be based entirely on true stories, but he emerges from this mythology as a fascinating figure in his own right.

“This time he accepted his position and then carefully bided his time, aware that he alone, and not Lorenzo, a man with no architectural experience, knew how the dome would be built.”

After the debacle with the baptistry doors, Brunelleschi refused to work with Ghiberti and left Florence for Rome. The competition for the design of the dome, however, is entered by an older and wiser Brunelleschi. A similar situation occurs, in which he is asked to share responsibility with Ghiberti. This time, Brunelleschi is confident in his ability to wrest control of (and credit for) the project away from his rival. Brunelleschi’s response is more calculated and less emotional, but founded on a fierce self-belief.

“The conception of time was changing in the fifteenth century.”

In the 1400s, in the early years of the Renaissance, almost everything in society is in a state of flux. Brunelleschi is redefining the field of architecture against the backdrop of a social upheaval which is so intense that the conception of time itself is no longer fixed. Brunelleschi is presented as riding the wave of this drastic change, helping to announce a new era in nearly every way.

“It must have run like clockwork, for the hoist raised, on average, fifty loads per day, or roughly one every ten minutes.”

Brunelleschi’s genius, King points out, is not limited to his aesthetic talents. Much of Brunelleschi’s work differs from his peers in that it has a practical use. Donatello’s statues are celebrated for their beauty, but Brunelleschi’s hoist is just one example of the ways in which his inventions had a material impact on the world. His influence can be calculated by weight and time saved.

“There is no reason to assume that they were not installed, but a magnetic survey conducted in the 1970s failed to detect any evidence of them.”

Citing modern magnetic surveys of the dome, King points out that much of the dome is still shrouded in secrecy. While larger domes have been built in the modern era, the mysteries of Brunelleschi’s construction died with him. The mythology of Brunelleschi remains intact because human technology has not yet caught up with Brunelleschi’s innovations. Even the most mundane assumptions cannot be wholly trusted.

“An example of a beffa, a cruel and humiliating trick, it is worthy of the pen of Boccaccio and anticipates the topsy-turvy dreamworld into which the characters are plunged in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Brunelleschi’s work on the dome is defiant and absurd. He attempts construction techniques which are radical and inventive, yet refuses to tell anyone exactly how he plans to proceed. As such, he thrusts Florence into a dreamlike state, in which one man seems able to alter the fabric of reality and redefine what is possible. In this way, Brunelleschi is presented as something like a writer, creating a new world from nothing, a new world in which dreams and reality are not as far apart as they once seemed.

“Under such circumstances, traditional tools such as plumb-lines and mason’s levels were quite useless.”

Brunelleschi’s ambitious plans extend beyond the typical tools of the trade. The masons working under Brunelleschi find themselves in unknown territory, in which the devices they once used to measure their work can no longer be trusted. Brunelleschi must invent new tools to monitor his new designs, demonstrating the extent to which he is evolving the field of architecture far beyond known, reliable parameters.

“Manetti claims that Filippo himself inspected each and every brick destined for the dome.”

According to Manetti, Brunelleschi’s meticulousness is literally baked into every brick of the dome. This claim that Brunelleschi inspected every brick is an example of Manetti’s tendency toward mythmaking. He imbues each brick with Brunelleschi’s spirit, so that the design of the architect extends into the building supplies themselves. Even something as mundane as a brick is endowed with an importance that extends beyond its simple function. Each brick is evidence of why Brunelleschi should be revered.

“Alberti justifies the gigantic dimensions of the dome because they reveal both evidence of man’s God-given power to invent and the superiority of Florentine commerce and culture.”

Florentine historians criticized the massive structures of the past as hubristic insults to God. The Florence cathedral, in contrast, was evidence of the moral worth of Florence as a city and a people. As hubristic as this point of view may seem, Brunelleschi’s success lends credence to the Florentine arrogance. He was able to achieve the impossible, imbuing the city with a passion and a self-importance that extended for centuries.

“Manetti and Vasari do not even mention the episode.”

Il Badalone was one of Brunelleschi’s most notable failures. It was a failure of engineering, an affront to the mythologized version of Brunelleschi as the master inventor. As such, neither Vasari nor Manetti include this story in their biographies of Brunelleschi. The act of mythmaking is not just evident in how they inflate the truth, but in how they exclude and censor inconvenient truths.

“Neri di Fioravanti’s 1367 model of the cathedral, once so sacred, now served the Opera as a lavatory.”

As the dome nears completion, Brunelleschi is venerated for his work. His veneration involves the casting aside of old idols, as the formerly venerated model by Neri di Fioravanti is turned into a lavatory. This degradation is a pressing reminder to Brunelleschi of the price of failure. Should he fail to build the dome, he will not achieve the immortality and veneration that he craves. He and his model could be cast aside as easily as Neri and his.

“A familiar scapegoat was used to explain the Florentines’ ineptness in battle: homosexuality.”

The tendency to blame homosexuality for Florentine military failure speaks to the prejudice in the society, but also the refusal to self-reflect. Failure must be attributed to some moral failing of the society, rather than to concrete mistakes. Florence cannot fail, it can only be failed. As such, the use of scapegoats is an important indication of the level of self-importance in the society, a self-importance which is buoyed by Brunelleschi’s genius in architecture while remaining immune to his failings as a military engineer.

“He was not held like a common criminal in Florence’s communal prison.”

By the time of his arrest, Brunelleschi has already achieved a high status in the city. He is not thrown in jail with the other criminals; he only needs to point to the near-finished dome in the city center to remind people of why he is so important. Brunelleschi is more than just a man. He has become the embodiment of the early Renaissance, the living symbol of Florentine self-belief. He cannot be jailed in any meaningful sense because he is already more myth than man.

“The Papal Abbreviator at this time was Leon Battista Alberti.”

Further evidence of the growing status of Brunelleschi is the way in which one of his biggest fans is also responsible for transcribing the Pope’s edicts. The same writer who praises Brunelleschi is responsible for conveying the holy words to the world. Praise of Brunelleschi, by association, carries extra weight when written by the Papal Abbreviator and indicates the reverence which is already given to him in this society.

“He must have been overwhelmed by the feeling that he had equaled, and even surpassed, the Romans whose works he had studied and admired.”

As the dome nears completion, Brunelleschi is vindicated. Importantly, he is still alive to receive the praise from the adoring crowd. He has triumphed over the naysayers and his rivals, winning the support of the people of Florence for performing a feat many thought was impossible. He walks alongside Popes and Dukes, marching through the streets as their equal in the eyes of the public.

“Fifteen years after the wreck of Il Badalone, Filippo, now sixty-six, appears to have washed his hands of this particular problem.”

As he enters old age, Brunelleschi has learned from the mistakes of his past. The failure of Il Badalone was an embarrassment and a costly mistake. With the dome so nearly complete, he has no need to make the same mistakes again. He no longer needs to prove his genius, as the dome is now evidence for this. Brunelleschi has moved beyond the young man’s desire to prove himself. He has matured.

“According to Vasari, the sudden death of Filippo brought tremendous grief to the people of Florence, who appreciated him more in death than they had in life.”

According to Vasari, the death of Brunelleschi only solidifies the mythos of the man. In death, he becomes a legendary figure far more than in life. The mythologizing of the life of Filippo Brunelleschi begins almost immediately, particularly as the arrogant, brusque Brunelleschi is easier to appreciate through his great works than in person.

“For Vasari, the capomaestro had been a genius sent from heaven to renew the moribund art of architecture, almost parallelling how Christ had come to earth to redeem mankind.”

Brunelleschi built the dome, but he also helped to build the idea of architecture as an estimable art form in its own right. According to Vasari, this is nearly as impressive an accomplishment. His work is so impressive than he almost single-handedly elevates an artform. Vasari approaches blasphemy in his desire to praise Brunelleschi, demonstrating that the architect’s achievements inspire people in many ways.