1418
Brunelleschi participates in the
contest to design the dome1402
Brunelleschi
goes to Rome1446
Brunelleschi
dies14 71
Construction of the
lantern is
completed1420–1436
The dome
is built1296
Construction of
the new cathedral
beginsRENAISSANCE
1377
Brunelleschi is
born in Florence1359
Giotto’s Bell Tower(^) is completed
Thinking Ahead
A fresco in the Spanish
Chapel of the Santa
Maria Novella church
in Florence was painted
in 1355, 65 years before
work on the dome at
Santa Maria del Fiore
began. Even so, artist
Andrea di Bonaiuto
depicts the finished
cathedral, complete
with dome.
BRUNELLESCHI made it clear that he would not
reveal his architectural secrets. Only a few of
the capomaestro’s own sketches have survived.
The other surviving drawings that give a glimpse
of his ingenuity were made by collaborators
such as Taccola and Bonaccorso Ghiberti
(grandson of Brunelleschi’s rival Lorenzo). These
fellow architects got to see the machines used
during construction and made sketches of the
mechanisms in operation. But how exactly they
were devised remains unclear. Brunelleschi was
so secretive that he even hid the dome’s design
details from the Opera del Duomo. A story is told
that in the course of the 1418 dome competition,
TOP SECRET
the Opera required the contestants to reveal
their techniques to the public, which Brunelleschi
refused to do. He argued instead that whichever
contestant managed to stand an egg upright on a
marble table should be granted the commission.
Brunelleschi watched as all the other contestants
failed. When it was his turn, he rapped the bottom
of the egg sharply onto the table, breaking the
lower shell and leaving the upper part erect as
if it were a small dome. When those watching
protested that his trick made the challenge easy,
Brunelleschi pointed out that in the same way, if
he revealed his design tactics for the dome, they
ALAMY/ACI. would then go ahead and build it without him.