works. Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625)
was known for his peaceful floral land-
scapes and still lifes. Both men were boys
when their father died.
SEEALSO: Bosch, Hieronymus
Brunelleschi, Filippo .........................
(1377–1446)
The most renowned architect of Florence,
Filippo Brunelleschi decorated the city
with imposing architecture that has en-
dured as a symbol of Renaissance genius.
The son of a prominent notary, he joined
the Silk Guild of Florence as a boy. Show-
ing great talent in the demanding arts of
metalworking, he was welcomed into the
city’s guild of master goldsmiths and won
commissions to execute silver altarpieces
for the cathedral of Pistoia. His reputation
as a sculptor also was spreading through
the city and in 1401 he was invited to en-
ter a competition to design the bronze
doors of the new Baptistery in Florence.
Unable to decide between the entries of
Brunelleschi and his rival Lorenzo Ghib-
erti, the judges invited both men to ex-
ecute the doors, a commission that
Brunelleschi turned down out of wounded
pride. His dramatic rendering of the sacri-
fice of Isaac survived, however, and is now
housed in a Florentine museum.
Discovering a passion for architectural
design, Brunelleschi joined his friend Do-
natello in a journey to Rome in 1402 to
explore the city’s ancient ruins. From his
explorations and measurements of ancient
Roman structures, he developed a system
of ideal mathematical proportions; he was
also one of the first artists to work out the
principles of linear perspective. He had
the opportunity to apply his system of
geometrical harmony in his first impor-
tant architectural commission, the design
of the Foundling Hospital in Florence.
Brunelleschi’s portico for this building was
the first Renaissance structure to make use
of classical elements such as columns and
capitals.
The design earned widespread admira-
tion in Florence and led to Brunelleschi’s
next important commission, a sacristy for
the Basilica of San Lorenzo. At the same
time, Brunelleschi was studying the design
of a dome for the Basilica of Santa Maria
del Fiore, the central cathedral of Florence.
Begun in the fourteenth century, the struc-
ture was now finished except for the dome,
which would have to span a diameter of
130 feet, a scale well beyond any dome at-
tempted since the time of the ancient Ro-
mans. The builders and architects of Flo-
rence had no idea how to construct such a
dome; raising a wooden scaffolding to sup-
port it while building—the conventional
method at the time—was considered im-
possible. In 1419 Brunelleschi defeated his
rivals in winning the commission, then
solved the problem of the dome by de-
signing a rounded cone, made of inner
and outer shells supported by vertical and
horizontal stone ribs. The architect de-
signed not just the dome but also the ma-
chines and support structures used to raise
it, as well as a lantern that was added after
the dome was finished in 1436. The work
on Santa Maria del Fiore is considered to
be the architect’s greatest architectural and
engineering achievement.
Brunelleschi’s other notable works in-
clude the Pazzi Chapel, in the church of
Santa Croce, and the basilica of Santo
Spirito, a church raised in an artisans quar-
ter on the southern banks of the Arno
River. This church was unfinished at the
time of the architect’s death; its facade was
eventually completed in a later Baroque
fashion that awkwardly clashes with the
careful proportions of the interior.Brunelleschi, Filippo