52 MAY/JUNE 2022
1150–1170
Roof and lantern of the
baptistery is completed
next to the old cathedral
of Santa Reparata
ROMANESQUE GOTHICBRUNELLESCHI AND THE EGG
Filippo Brunelleschi demonstrating his
project’s viability to the members of
the Opera del Duomo. Oil painting by
Giuseppe Fattori, 19th century. Palazzo
Pitti, FlorenceConstruction Timeline
FERNANDO BAPTISTA/NGSAKG/ALBUMdesign, but was it feasible? In 1418, once the base
of the dome was finished, the Opera del Duomo
launched a competition to find an architect who
would make the dome a reality.
Winning the Contest
Known to his friends as “Pippo,” Filippo
Brunelleschi was born in Florence in 1377 and
spent his childhood in the family home opposite
the construction site where the cathedral was
gradually taking form. Perhaps growing up in
the shadow of the unfinished Santa Maria del
Fiore, and seeing Fioravante’s domed maquette
inside, inspired Brunelleschi to puzzle out how
such an ambitious dome could be built.
Gaining renown as a goldsmith and sculptor,
in 1401 Brunelleschi entered an architectural
contest to create new doors for Florence’s Bap-
tistery of San Giovanni, the octagonal building
that stands alongside the cathedral. The chal-
lenge: A set of doors even more magnificent
than those designed some 70 years earlier by
Andrea Pisano. On that occasion, Brunelleschi
lost to Lorenzo Ghiberti. Defeated, he moved
to Rome with his friend Donatello, and for the
next 15 years he immersed himself in the study
of ancient Roman architecture. It is said that he
rediscovered the principles of linear perspective
developed by the Greeks and Romans.
Brunelleschi returned to Florence between
1416 and 1417. When the contest for designing
the dome was announced in 1418, Brunelle schi
was already one of the favorites, along with his
great rival Ghiberti. The proposals that were
submitted all had to stick closely to Fioravante’s
design. What the judges were really looking for
was what engineering system the competing
architects could come up with to support the
huge dome while it was under construction.
Some proposals envisaged wooden props sup-
porting the walls of the dome while it was going
up. Another alternative was to fill the transept
with sand to create a mound on which the dome
would rest during construction, a solution the
Opera del Duomo rejected. Brunelleschi, mean-
while, offered a startling and radical proposal:
He claimed that he would build the vast dome
without using any support systems at all.
This idea caused a sensation; no one could
grasp how it would work. Although Brunelleschi
refused to reveal the engineering details, he was