vi" of these "stories in marble, in which are depicted the
beginning of all the arts." ...

Filippo of Ser Brunellescho of the Lapi, which is, according to
Florentine use, his somewhat cumbrous name, or Brunelleschi for short,
as custom permitted him to be called, was the son of a notary, who as
notaries do, hoped and expected his boy to follow in his steps and
succeed to his practise. But, like other sons doomed their fathers' soul
to cross, Filippo took to those "figuretti" in bronze which were so
captivating to the taste of the time, and preferred rather to be a
goldsmith, to hang upon the skirts of art, than to work in the paternal
office. He was, as Vasari insinuates, small, puny, and ugly, but full of
dauntless and daring energy as well as genius. From his gold and silver
work, the "carvings" which old Bartoluccio had been so glad to escape,
and from his "figuretti," the ambitious lad took to architectural
drawing, of which, according to Vasari, he was one of the first
amateurs, making "portraits" of the Cathedral and baptistery, of the
Palazzo Pubblico, and the other chief buildings of the city. He was so
eloquent a talker that a worthy citizen declared of him that he seemed
"a new St. Paul;" and in his thoughts he was continually busy planning
or imagining something skilful and difficult.

The idea of completing the Cathedral by adding to it a cupola worthy of
its magnificent size and proportions seems to have been in the young
man's head before the Signoria or the city took any action in the
matter. Arnolfo's designs are said to have been lost, and all the young
Filippo could do was to study the picture in the Spanish chapel of Santa
Maria Novella, where the cathedral was depicted according to Arnolfo's
intention; and this proof to the usefulness of architectural
backgrounds, no doubt, moved him to those pictures of building which he
was fond of making.

After his failure in the competition with Ghiberti for the baptistery
gates, Filippo went to Rome, accompanied by Donato. Here the two friends
lived and studied together for some time, one giving himself to
sculpture, the other to architecture. Brunelleschi, according to Vasari,
made this a period of very severe study. He examined all the remains of
ancient buildings with the keenest care; studying the foundations and
the strength of the walls, and the way in which such a prodigious load
as the great dome, which already he saw in his mind's eye, could best be