58 MAY/JUNE 2022
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN MANUEL SAGA IS A PHD FELLOW
OF THE POLITECNICO DI TORINO (TURIN), ITALY.Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented
Architecture. Ross King, Bloomsbury USA, 2013.
Learn moreThrough the 1430s, construction was ham-
pered by cash flow problems, wage cuts, and a
shortage of building materials. But Brunelleschi
struggled on and in 1436 was vindicated. The
magnificent dome was completed successfully,
and Pope Eugenius IV consecrated the cathedral.
Brunelleschi, however, was not given carte
blanche in designing the lantern that would fin-
ish the mighty work. Once again a competition
was held, and once again Brunelleschi’s design
won out over that of his rivals. Drawing on his
brilliance as a sculptor, he carved a model from
chestnut wood, but he died in 1446 before it
could be placed. His design for the lantern was
finally completed and placed over the dome in
1471, topped with a copper sphere—the Palla—
designed by Andrea del Verrocchio.
In the 16th century work continued on the
cathedral, including the spectacular interior
decoration of the dome, a stunning rendering of
the Last Judgment begun by Giorgio Vasari. The
facade of the cathedral was left unfinished and
was dismantled in 1587. Three centuries later, it
was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic design that sought to
revive the stylistic principles originally proposed
by Giotto in the 14th century.
Fifteenth-century Italian architect and
polymath Leon Battista Alberti marveled at
Brunelleschi’s grand achievement:
Whoever would be envious enough to deny
praise to the architect Pippo, seeing such a
structure towering over the skies? It is wide
enough to cast its shadow over all the Tus-
can people, made as it is without any beam
or wooden supports. It is hard to believe that
this was done at this time when nothing of
the kind was ever to be seen in antiquity.According to historical tradition, Filippo
Brunelleschi was buried under the cathedral.
The tradition, it turned out, was true: In 1972
his tomb was found in the crypt, in the shadow
of his own gravity-defying dome.