care and anxiety for the building, that Ghiberti was
united with Filippo in the work. The bitter vexation
of Filippo, the despair into which he fell, when he
heard what the wardens had done, may be understood
by the fact that he was on the point of flying from
Florence; and had it not been that Donato and Luca
della Robbia comforted and encouraged him, he would
have gone out of his senses. A truly wicked and
cruel rage is that of those men, who, blinded by envy,
endanger the honors and noble works of others in the
base strife of ambition: it was not the fault
of these men that Filippo did not break in pieces
the models, set fire to the designs, and in one half
hour destroy all the labors so long endured, and ruin
the hopes of so many years. The wardens excused
themselves at first to Filippo, encouraging him to
proceed, reminding him that the inventor and author
of so noble a fabric was still himself, and no other;
but they, nevertheless, gave Lorenzo a stipend equal
to that of Filippo. The work was then continued
with but little pleasure on the part of Filippo, who
knew that he must endure all the labors connected
therewith, and would then have to divide the honor
and fame equally with Lorenzo. Taking courage,
nevertheless, from the thought that he should find
a method of preventing the latter from remaining very
long attached to that undertaking, he continued to
proceed after the manner laid down in the writing
given to the wardens. Meanwhile the thought occurred
to the mind of Filippo of constructing a complete
model, which, as yet, had never been done. This
he commenced forthwith, causing the parts to be made
by a certain Bartolomeo, a joiner, who dwelt near his
studio. In this model (the measurements of which
were in strict accordance with those of the building
itself, the difference being of size only), all the
difficult parts of the structure were shown as they
were to be when completed; as, for example, staircases
lighted and dark, with every other kind of light,
with the buttresses and other inventions for giving
strength to the building, the doors, and even a portion
of the gallery. Lorenzo, having heard of this
model, desired to see it, but Filippo refusing, he
became angry, and made preparations for constructing
a model of his own, that he might not appear to be
receiving his salary for nothing, but that he also
might seem to count for something in the matter.
For these models Filippo received fifty lire and fifteen
soldi, as we find by an order in the book of Migliore
di Tommaso, under date of the 3d October, 1419, while
Lorenzo was paid three hundred lire for the labor
and cost of his model, a difference occasioned by the
partiality and favor shown to him, rather than merited
by any utility or benefit secured to the building
by the model which he had constructed.