For the church of Orsanmichele, the bankers' and moneychangers' guild commissioned Ghiberti's towering bronze St.

WSJ: Review: The Flowering of the Florentine Renaissance | 'Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400�C1460,' at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence

Though the Opera del Duomo chose Brunelleschi's model, it appointed a four-man team to oversee construction, a team that included Ghiberti.

FORBES: Dome of the Brave

Brunelleschi soon made a miraculous recovery, bolting up to the construction site, where he proclaimed Ghiberti's work incompetent and demanded that it be torn down.

FORBES: Dome of the Brave

As workers started to lay a wooden brace at the base of the dome, Brunelleschi suddenly became bedridden, leaving Ghiberti in charge of building a structure he had not designed.

FORBES: Dome of the Brave

He lost out to Lorenzo Ghiberti, a fellow goldsmith.

FORBES: Dome of the Brave

The winners, Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, were in their early 20s, and their winning bronze panels are here side by side, along with examples of the classical Roman statuary they incorporated: one of the many marble versions of the "Boy with a Thorn" for Brunelleschi, and the muscular red marble torso of a centaur for Ghiberti.

WSJ: Review: The Flowering of the Florentine Renaissance | 'Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400�C1460,' at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence