Filippo Brunelleschi was born 1377 from his mother and father, Giuliana Spini and Brunellesco di lippo in florence italy. Filippo was the middle of their three children. Filippo was given a literary and mathematical education intended to enable him to follow in the footsteps of his father, a civil servant. Brunelleschi started to train as a goldsmith and sculptor and went to the Arte della Seta which also included, metalworkers and bronze workers. Around the turn of the century, he was designated a master goldsmith. In 1403, Brunelleschi competed against Lorenzo Ghiberti and five other sculptors for the commission to make the bronze reliefs for the door of the Florence baptistery. Brunelleschi's entry was the best part of his short career as a sculptor, even tho Ghiberti won the …show more content…
He went on to complete another set of bronze doors for the baptistery with the help of Renaissance giant Donatello. 100 years later, Michelangalo said about the doors, "Surely these must be the ‘Gates of Paradise.” Brunelleschi's mad/ sad/ pissed off at losing the baptistery commission might take the blame for his decision to concentrate him talents on architecture instead of sculpture, but little biographical information is available about his life to explain the transition. Also unexplained is Brunelleschi's sudden transition from his training in the Gothic or medieval manner to the architectural class.. In 1417 the officials announced a prize for models presenting technical devices for the construction of the dome which was designed in the late Gothic period as an eight-sided vault of pointed curvature without exterior buttresses. Brunelleschi, along with many others submitted a model. In 1420 a decision was reached in favour of Brunelleschi’s model, which showed that the dome could be constructed without the traditional armature by placing the brickwork in herringbone patterns between a framework of stone