“His genius was so commanding”, writes Vasari, “that we can surely say he was sent by heaven to renew the art of architecture”. Trained as a goldsmith and sculptor, after losing the competition for the Baptistery doors to his rival Ghiberti, Brunelleschi turned to architecture, winning the biggest commission of his day, to build the cupola (dome) for Florence’s cathedral. Through study of ancient architecture in Rome and by devising ingenious solutions to seemingly insuperable construction difficulties, Brunelleschi, as capomaestro, succeeded in raising an elegant dome, which was the largest and highest since antiquity.

Filippo Brunelleschi, Cupola (1420-1436) Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence