Hero of our Hero Leonardo Da Vinci: Filippo Brunelleschi

We may today still be in awe with the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, 456 years after his death and we may still be inspired by him. Leonardo was himself in reverence with Filippo Brunelleschi who lived a century earlier. I was moved during the last week whilst watching a show on BBC giving an account of the genius of Leonardo in various fields.

In his serial of stories, Micheal J Gelb describes in his book, “Discover your Genius”, of the like of Plato, Columbus, Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Jefferson, Darwin, Gandhi, Einstein, how Filippo continues to inspire & influence the world today.

Post the renaissance period, the great inventors or artists did not, in the western world signed their works. All deeds at the time were attributed to God. At Renaissance, the individual contribution was accepted. Now, we believe that He acts through humans.

We may learn to model Filippo Brunelleschi’s creative problem solving skills, his challenge of the limits of the impossible, and his persistence in getting his vision into reality. Above all, as he was a multi skilled person, modeling him would expand our perspective.

Some learning’s:

  1. When I begin a project I start with a visualization of its successful completion.
  2. I keep my priorities in perspective when I’m under stress.
  3. I have faith in my own ideas.
  4. I don’t let set back throw me off course.
  5. Opposition strengthens my resolve.
  6. I can improvise when necessary.
  7. When I set a goal, I work with patience and dedication until it is successfully realized.
  8. I want to expand my intellectual perspective.
  9. I can think “out of the box” and then apply creative solutions to real life problems.
  10. I understand and appreciate the influence of architecture in my view of the world.

I still have goose pimples when I flash back in my past trip to Florence in 2004.

2 comments ↓

#1 Hans on 09.02.06 at 10:58 am

that makes a list of 10 things 😉 but how about 6? I’ve tagged you so now you’re gonna pull a list of a 6? After Oliver it’s you the lucky winner of the chain 😉

#2 CREATIVE LESSONS FROM SHEN KUO at Joseph’s blog on 10.25.06 at 2:05 pm

[…] You may be wondering who was Shen Kuo (1031-1095)? Shen Kua as some of the western authors also called him, was a mathematical, scientist, diplomat,astronomer, engineer, inventor a meteorologist, of the like and attributes given to past western geniuses as Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). Most importantly, the world attributed the discovery of the difference between true north and the magnetic north to the genius Shen Kuo. He had in his time, a thousand years ago, worked out the mathematical difference with such precision that made navigation then,much more reliable. […]

Leave a Comment