Perspective Projection - Transformations and Projections in Computer Graphics - page 74

Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi, known to his contemporaries as “Pippo,” was born in Florence in
1377. His father, Ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, was a prosperous notary, but young
Filippo showed an interest in machines and in solving mechanical problems. (The term
“ser” was a title of respect, while “di Lippo Lapi” indicates that Brunellesco's father
was named Lippo and was from the Lapi family.) Filippo was therefore apprenticed, at
age 15, to a local goldsmith (perhaps one Benincasa Lotti). For the next six years he
learned to cast metals, work with enamel, engrave and emboss silver, and use precious
metals to decorate manuscripts with gold leaf and to make jewels and religious artifacts.
After completing his apprenticeship in 1398 at age 21, Brunelleschi was sworn as
a master goldsmith and became a well-known goldsmith in Florence and other cities.
From 1401 to 1416 or 1417, he seems to have spent most of his time in Rome (although
this is uncertain), working as a goldsmith, making clocks, and surveying the many ruins
of the eternal city. Returning to Florence after 13 years of absence, Brunelleschi, then
40, became involved in the competition for the great dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore
Cathedral. This was to be both the largest dome ever attempted, with a diameter of
more than 143 feet, and the tallest one, starting at a height of about 170 feet off the
ground and reaching about 280 feet. (The lantern on top of it adds more than 70 feet
to that.)
Even though known as a goldsmith, not an architect, Brunelleschi won the 1418
competition because of his original approach to the problem. The novel aspect of his plan
for the dome was to build it without any scaffolding. (The term “centering” was then
used.) This idea, and the 1:12 model of the dome that he built in brick to demonstrate
his method, helped convince the committee of judges to give him the commission. He
then spent the years from 1420 to 1436 supervising the construction while also designing
and building ingenious machines to haul heavy loads to the top.
Brunelleschi, a true Renaissance man both because of his interests and achievements
and because of his time period, died in 1446. Like Donatello, Masaccio, da Vinci, and
Michelangelo, he never married. For more information on Brunelleschi, his work, and
his times, see [King 00] and [Walker 02].
A biography of Brunelleschi [Manetti 88] was written in the 1480s, four decades after
the death of its subject, by his pupil Antonio Manetti, which brings us to Brunelleschi's
contribution to perspective. In this biography, Manetti describes Brunelleschi's panel
drawing, a trompe l'oeil that was then used by Brunelleschi in an experiment that fuses
nature and art, similar to an optical trick. This historically important painting has
since been lost, but it (and the experiment) are described in detail by Manetti.
trompe l'oeil.
1. A style of painting that gives an illusion of photographic reality.
2. A painting or effect created in this style.
The peepshow experiment . Brunelleschi placed himself at a point three braccia
(about six feet) inside the doorway of the not yet completed cathedral of Santa Maria del
Fiore. His idea was to specify a precise viewing point at which a viewer could compare
a real scene with a perspective painting of the same scene. Looking outside across the