5.10.10

Brunelleschi's Dome

Virtuosity: a technical skill, fluency or style brought about by special knowledge of or interest in art or craftsmanship
Creative leadership: showing people the way though imagination and originality
Courage: the ability to do something in the face of fear, danger and/or disapproval
Risk-taking: taking actions that may have undesired or unpleasant results, but at the same time provide an opportunity for a positive outcome

Through all these characteristics, Brunelleschi was able to build and construct his master piece, the Dome atop of Santa Maria de Fiore.


From all these qualities and characteristics, I think courage mostly prompted Brunelleschi succeed in the construction of his masterpiece. Without courage and bravery, he would have never tried something new, but he would have kept "thinking inside the egg". But because he had courage, he thought "outside the egg" and took a risk, in making something new, which no one ever did and accomplished before. He had the idea to build the dome without cement or anything similar to that, and he wanted to build an outer and an inner dome, to support it. Brunelleschi needed a lot of courage for this, because not every body could understand his way of thinking, his ideas an concepts, and not every body support him. He also needed a lot of courage, when he made the decision to build the dome without cement or anything like this, but only bricks, it was exiting until the last second to see, if the dome would collapse or not. It was a risk, but also needed courage. He needed bravery for this, because  when he put the last brick into his place in the dome, everything could collapse, the dome, as well as his fame. Courage was needed for a lot of Brunelleschi's work, for the dome, his masterpiece, but also for inviting the linear perspective.





"How do the actions and decisions of people effect change?"


Actions and decisions of Brunelleschi effected change, such as the cracking of "the egg of the Middle Ages", and not keeping framing one certain job. Filippo broke the egg of the Middle Ages, which kept all ideas and thought in a shell, and didn't allow people to look at the world around them, but just try to survive, at least two times in his life. One, by deciding to take the challenge to build the dome atop of Santa Maria de Fiore, and two, by inventing the linear perspective. By taking the challenge of building the dome, Brunelleschi effected a lot of change. He brought more tribute, money and people to Florence, but he also was the pioneer of a new era, the Renaissance. Also his decision to break the egg, allowed new ideas to float out, and helped people to think in a different way. Also by inventing the linear perspective, there was a big change. Drawings became more realistic and easier to refer to. It was a big step, Filippo made, when he invented the new perspective. Also the decision of Brunelleschi of not focusing or framing on one job brought a big change to florence. If he never had stopped to be an artist and an goldsmith, probably only years later, a solution for the "dome problem" would have been found. So he changed his job many times in his life, and always got a new experience, which might have helped him to create his master piece, the dome of Santa Maria de Fiore. Many of Filippo Brunelleschi's actions and decisions effected change in Italy, as well as in the rest of Europe, but today, decisions and actions of people bring a lot of change too, we could call it "the new Renaissance" and another egg will be cracked.


Santa Maria de Fiore



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