Life of Brunelleschi

Few architects in history have enjoyed fame comparable to Filippo Brunelleschi (1377—1446), whose new vision created the first architecture of the Renaissance. His buildings, such as the Pazzi Chapel, the church of San Lorenzo, and the Foundling Hospital are among the chief ornaments of the city of Florence.

The major source of our knowledge of Brunelleschi’s life comes from this biography, which was composed at the end of the fifteenth century by an anonymous author whom some have identified with Antonio di Tuccio Manetti. From these writings derive most of what we know of the Renaissance invention of mathematical perspective, the competition with the sculptor Ghiberti for the commission fore the Baptistery doors, and the struggle to complete the great dome of the cathedral of Florence.

The author understands the revolutionary nature of Brunelleschi’s work, above all in its rejection of the entire complex of late Medieval European architecture with its overtones of transcendental mysticism. At the same time he sees clearly in Brunelleschi’s classicism a reflection of the new spirit of Italian humanism and rationalism, then still in the process of creation.