Being the Renaissance man that he was, Brunelleschi's talent was very diverse. Besides his well known works, the man invented linear prespective. He would paint, with use of a mirror, two panels depicting the Baptistry and the Piazza delia Signoria in perspective. The birth of linear perspective was marked by these two works. This was most certainly a key step in the evolution of renaissance art. During the same time Brunelleschi built mechaniccal clocks though only indirect accounts exist, his sculpting and architecture was better documented. It didn't stop there, as it happened, Brunelleschi also did some inventing in his spare time. Among the most innovative was a boat to carry marble slabs from the Carrara quarries to Florence via an upstream voyage on the Arno. He also excelled in hydraulic applications and was reputable as an architect and military engineer and finally he produced "high-tech" stages for shows and festivals including scenic machinery. .
Again in 1418 Brunelleschi's competitive nature compelled him to try his luck at yet another competition against Ghiberti. This time a model for the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. Brunelleschi triumphed with a proposal to erect the dome without wooden centering. It took some of Brunelleschi's know how and a special technique that made it possible to create the cupola's curves without a supporting framework for the 140 foot gap in the roof of the Florence Cathedral. It took most of his life and formed what would become the basis of Renaissance Architecture. The structure would be finished in 1434. During this period Brunelleschi also worked on the Spedale degli Innocenti (1421-24), the Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo (1428), the reconstruction of San Lorenzo (1423 ca.), the Pazzi Chapel in the Cloisters of Santa Croce (1430), and on the design for Santo Spirito (1436), the appearance of the medieval city was completely renewed.
