Brunelleschi’s Dome
“Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture” by Ross
King is all about the architect and Engineer Filippo Brunelleschi, who went on the design the
dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. King examines the history of Filippo and how he went on to
create this masterful dome with a completely revolutionary method. He also talks about the
adversity and obstacles that Filippo went through to get the opportunity to design this dome.
King uses this story to show Filippo is a genius architect who reinvented architecture and
heavily influenced the renaissance. My reason for choosing this book was my overall interest in
the Italian renaissance and my interest in architecture.
King first goes over the origins of the dome and what led to the need for a solution to an
architectural problem. The first opposing ideas for how the dome should look started back in
1366 when Giovanni di Lapo and Neri di Fioravanti squared off over which of their designs the
dome would be built off of. Giovanni proposed a dome that was very traditional with buttresses,
external projecting supports, being used to support the dome and keep it from collapsing. This
however was opposed by many architects including Neri for two main reasons. The first was that
the buttresses would look ugly and the second was that it was too similar to the architecture of
Florence’s traditional enemies: Germany, France, and Milan. Neri proposed that the dome should
be supported not by buttresses, but instead by a series of stone or wooden chains that would
encircle the dome at the point of possible rupture, a very ambitious design. King then introduces
Filippo, a master goldsmith who was living in Rome. Lorenzo was born in 1377 in Florence to
notary Ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lappi. But, after a tie in the contest for The Commission for the
Doors with rival Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1401, he quit sculpturing and bronze work and left Florence
for Rome for the next fifteen years. Finally, in 1418 a challenge was proposed to submit a design
for the dome that Neri had proposed 50 years before. Filippo jumped at this opportunity and
created a very ambitious design where he proposed a dome with no wooden centering. Even after
proposing this idea to the judges, he refused to show how it worked, as he was scared of his ideas
being stolen by other architects. In 1420 Filippo’s model was chosen as the winner and work on
the dome started. However, Filippo’s troubles were not finished after acquiring the rights to build
the dome. His rival Lorenzo was assigned to work with him and grew a hatred of Filippo due to
his opposing vision of how the dome should be built. He also had to fend off attacks from
Giovanni da Prato who claimed that Filippo had strayed from the original vision of the dome and
that it was due to his incompetence. He also had to deal with issues with the supply of materials
having to construct this dome amid war, and even being jailed. However, Filippo was able to
fight through this adversity and continue his construction with his view. In the end, Filippo was
able to complete the construction of the dome and died soon after. King uses all of these
examples of adversity that Filippo fought through along with describing the ambitious and
complex designs and tools that he employed, to show how revolutionary he was to the field of
architecture.
Overall this book was very well written and quite easy to read compared with other books
talking about people or events in the Italian Rennaisance. The organization of this book was
superb, as it started by showing the problem, then going into Filippo's introduction, and then
finally showed how he was able to solve the problem and turn into the great architect we
remember him as today. The use of illustrations was also very helpful, as it helped explain some
of the architectural concepts that King talked about when describing the dome. I agree with King
that Brunelleschi was a major influence on the Italian renaissance and architecture in general.
Even today the “Cúpula de Santa María de las Flores” is a highly visited landmark in Europe and
stands strong. His dome also inspired many others throughout Europe, most notably
Michelangelo in the design of the Dome in St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. One thing that King
could have done to show even more of Filippo's influence on the Italian renaissance is to talk
more about his work on perspective and its influence on art (he only spent one chapter discussing
this). However, this could have taken too much focus off of the dome, which is considered
Brunelleschi’s crowning achievement. Another thing that I believe that King did well is his use
of primary sources. He mostly employed the works of Antonio Manetti a younger Florentian
mathematician and architect.
Overall King uses Brunelleschi’s path through his struggles to the ultimate success to
show how great and influential of an architect he was. I would recommend this book to anyone
interested in the Italian renaissance, as many books covering this topic focus mainly on artists
and sculptures such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, therefore ignoring the architectural
aspect of the renaissance.