r his death in the Office of Works; but they have since
been lost by reason of the negligence of those officials. In our own
day, to the end that the whole might be completed, a part of it was made
on one of the eight sides, but by the advice of Michelagnolo Buonarroti
it was abandoned and not carried further, because it clashed with the
original plan. Filippo also made with his own hand a model for the
lantern; this was octagonal, with proportions in harmony with those of
the cupola, and it turned out very beautiful in invention, variety, and
adornment. He made therein the staircase for ascending to the ball,
which was something divine, but, since Filippo had stopped up the
entrance with a piece of wood let in below, no one save himself knew of
this staircase. And although he was praised and had now overcome the
envy and the arrogance of many, he could not prevent all the other
masters who were in Florence from setting themselves, at the sight of
this model, to make other in various fashions, and finally a lady of the
house of Gaddi had the courage to compete with the one made by Filippo.
But he, meanwhile, kept laughing at their presumption, and when many of
his friends told him that he should not show his model to any
craftsmen, lest they should learn from it, he would answer that there
was but one true model and that the others were of no account. Some of
the other masters had used some of the parts of Filippo's model for
their own, and Filippo, on seeing these, would say, "The next model that
this man makes will be my very own." Filippo's model was infinitely
praised by all; only, not seeing therein the staircase for ascending to
the ball, they complained that it was defective. The Wardens determined,
none the less, to give him the commission for the said work, but on the
condition that he should show them the staircase. Whereupon Filippo,
removing the small piece of wood that there was at the foot of the
model, showed in a pilaster the staircase that is seen at the present
day, in the form of a hollow blow-pipe, having on one side a groove with
rungs of bronze, whereby one ascends to the top, putting one foot after
another. And because he could not live long enough, by reason of his old
age, to see the lantern finished, he left orders in his testament that
it should be built as it stood in the model and as he had directed in
writing; protesting that otherwise the structure would collapse, since
it was turned with th