Celebrating Italian artists who inspired Watermill bedroom names: 3: Brunelleschi

The Watermill’s bedrooms are named after famous Italian artists* and we thought it would be fun to tell you more about them in a series of short articles. We’ll also make sure that there’s a copy of their stories in their bedrooms here for you to enjoy during your stay. Today it’s the turn of Filippo Brunelleschi, (1377-1446), the irascible genius who built the incredible, gravity-defying dome of Florence cathedral, and also invented (or rediscovered) linear perspective. Oh, and he created neo-classical architecture as well!

The magnificent dome of Florence cathedral. Picture: Public domain via wikicommons.

Statue of Filippo Brunelleschi, looking up at his greatest creation, the dome of Florence cathedral. Image by djedj from Pixabay

Brunelleschi was one of the pioneers of the Italian Renaissance, that explosion of art and architecture which began in Florence in the early 15^th century. Indeed, its roots can be can be traced to the day in 1401 when Filippo left Florence in a huff after being declared joint winner, with Lorenzo Ghiberti, in the a competition to create new bronze doors for the baptistry of the cathedral. Entrants had to submit a bronze panel on the theme of the sacrifice of Isaac. Here’s a detail from Filippo’s version:

Brunelleschi’s Competition Panel Detail.jpg. (2023, December 27).via Wikimedia Commons.

Filippo believed he should have been the sole winner and swept off to Rome with his apprentice Donatello. There they marvelled at, and measured up, the impressive remains of Ancient Rome, paying particular attention to the Pantheon, a temple built in the early second century AD, still intact and functioning as a church, its dome then the largest in the world.

On his return t0 Florence, Brunelleschi was much in demand as an adviser to the Opera Del Duomo, the committee in charge of building the dome on the unfinished cathedral. The problem was that no one knew how to do it: the original architect, Arnolfo di Cambio had left a vague model of the dome, but no specific instructions. Brunelleschi’s arrogance, his refusal to reveal his methods, coupled with the committee’s caution, hampered progress, as did the machinations of his old rival Ghiberti. and it was not until 1420 that Brunelleschi was put in sole charge.The dome (built 1420-1456; diameter 45.5  metres, height 116 metres) is the work of mathematical and engineering virtuoso, but also a secretive genius who refused to tell anyone how he did it, and left behind no building plans or diagrams.

Then the largest dome in the world, it was built without underlying scaffolding for support during construction, and used innovatve techniques to prevent it toppling to the ground or bursting apart. These included a self-supporting double shell, interlocking ‘herringbone’ patterned bricks to spread the load, quick-drying mortar, stiffening struts and constraining chains.

Dissecting the dome; tecnical drawings reveal some of it secrets. Picture credits below.

In order to spare you from cultural indigestion, we won’t delve just now into Filippo’s re-invention of linear perspective, nor his revival of classical architecture, but save those extraordinary achievements for another day and another Watermill post. But you can read more about Brunelleschi and Donatello and a whole host of Renaissance characters, both real and imagined, in that intriguing historical detective story set in Florence in the early Renaissance, A Matter of Perspective.

[Dome technical drawings picture credits (l to r): Lodovico Cardi detto il Cigoli (1559—1613). Duomo di Firenze.png. (2025, March 3). via Wikimedia Commons; National Geographic Visuals by Ferdinando G Baptista; Cutaway of the dome of Florence cathedral.Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.]*Si monumentum requiris circumspice (If you seek his monument look around). Sir Christopher Wren‘s epitaph on his tomb in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. It applies equally to Filippo Brunelleschi.

Some years ago we decided to switch from numbers to names in each of our rooms, They celebrate famous Italian artists, mainly from the Renaissance and mainly men, because (a) the early Renaissance is our favourite artistic period and (b) because few women were painting professionally in those days, and even fewer have become famous. At Lois’ insistence we included Artemesia Gentileschi on our list, and next year we will be introducing Sofonisba Anguissola, despite her tongue-twisting name.

h