Ancient Greek and Roman builders understood the principles of linear perspective, but those skills were lost in the Middle Ages. It took centuries before Italian architect and designer Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – 1446) finally rediscovered them. That made him the father of Renaissance architecture, and the first modern planner, engineer, and sole construction supervisor. The Duomo in Florence – the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore – is his crowning achievement. Brunelleschi’s creativity was not limited to architecture, however. As seen below, the man was also a prankster who mastered the practical joke like few had before or since.

You Did Not Want to Tick Off Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi’s most famous practical joke targeted a cabinet maker named Manetto, also known as il Grosso, or “The Fat”. Good natured and well off, Manetto got on Brunelleschi’s bad side by skipping a social event. Like a medieval Kendrick Lamar who couldn’t let a slight go, Brunelleschi was determined to make Manetto pay. So he pulled out all the stops to pull of an elaborate prank. He would mess with Manetto’s mind to convince him that his soul had switched bodies and morphed into somebody else. In his architectural career, Brunelleschi was known for thorough preparation and attention to detail. He put those traits to full use against Manetto.

Brunelleschi assembled a wide cast of characters. He then carefully coached them on how to convince Manetto that he had morphed into somebody else. To wit, a well-known fellow Florentine named Matteo. When all was ready, Brunelleschi sprang into action one fine day in 1409. The architect went to his mark’s house as Manetto closed shop at the end of his workday. Brunelleschi picked the lock, entered, and barred the door behind him. When Manetto made it home, he was surprised to discover that the door was barred from within. He rattled the door, then nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his own voice – actually Brunelleschi’s, doing an impersonation – ask who was at the door. When he said “Manetto”, the voice on the other side of the door called him a liar, because he was Manetto.

Messing With Manetto’s Mind

Manetto was so confused by Brunelleschi’s assertion that he was Manetto, that he wandered off to a nearby piazza. There he ran into an acquaintance, Donatello, who was in on the prank. He addressed him as Matteo, instead of Manetto. Then a bailiff, also in on it, passed by addressed Manetto as Matteo, and told him he had orders to arrest him for debt. Manetto’s protestations that he was not Matteo did him no good, and he was hauled off to prison. There, the alarmed Manetto’s name was entered into the register as Matteo. He was thrown into a cell where all the inmates – all also in on the joke – called him Matteo.

The bewildered cabinet maker spent a sleepless night in jail. He tried to solace himself with the notion that it was just a mixup that would get cleared up soon. When he woke up the next morning, things did not get cleared up, but instead got worse. After a restless night in jail, the morning brought not relief, but a further blow to Manetto’s mind. Two “brothers” – the real Matteo’s siblings – arrived at the lockup and claimed him as their relative. They paid his debt and got him released from prison, all the while complaining about his gambling and wastrel ways. Growing more confused by the minute, Manetto was escorted to Matteo’s home in the other side of Florence. Filippo Brunelleschi was nowhere close to done with him, however.

The Renaissance’s Greatest Prank?

When Manetto reached Mateo’s home, his protestations that he was not, in fact, Matteo, were derisively dismissed. Throughout that day and evening, his brothers and a parade of visiting friends of Matteo nearly convinced Manetto that he had, indeed, morphed into somebody else. Eventually, Manetto was put to sleep with a potion supplied by Brunelleschi. Unconscious, he was carried back to his own home for the prank’s dramatic finale. When Manetto woke up the next morning, he was relieved to discover that he was back in his own house. Relief turned to alarm, however, when he realized his house was in disarray, with furniture, tools, and other items rearranged.

Manetto’s discombobulation grew with the arrival of Matteo’s brothers, who now addressed him by his real name. They told him an astonishing tale: last night, their brother Matteo had insisted that he was not Matteo, but Manetto. Their account was confirmed by Matteo’s arrival, and his description of a strange dream in which he had been Manetto. That nearly snapped Manetto hold on his sanity. He was convinced that his soul had migrated into Matteo’s body, and that he had, indeed, temporarily morphed into Matteo. Eventually, Manetto found out what Filippo Brunelleschi had done to him. He felt so humiliated, that he abandoned Florence and moved to Hungary. Brunelleschi’s attention to detail had proved its worth in pulling off the Renaissance’s greatest – or at least most elaborate – prank.

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Some Sources & Further Reading

Ancient Origins – Filippo Brunelleschi and His Remarkable Renaissance Prank

History Halls – The Tasaday Hoax: The Isolated Stone Age Tribe that Wasn’t

King, Ross – Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture (2001)

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