It does not seem that Brunellesco belonged to the brotherhood. He is merely mentioned as Filippo the goldworker, son of the notary Brunelleschi (_Filippus ser Brunelleschi aurifex_). In no place, either here or elsewhere, is he ever called _Magister_, and throughout his life his every action was a protest against what he called "the _Maestranze_" a term of contempt like "their Master-ships," which Brunelleschi applied to the _Arte dei Maestri_. He had matriculated in 1398, when twenty-one years old, in the _Arte della Seta_, but as his tastes were strongly artistic, and he refused to follow his father's profession of lawyer, he enrolled himself in 1404 in the _Arte degli Orafi_ (goldsmiths), in which so many painters were already eminent. The goldsmiths or metal-sculptors, who seem to have seceded from the Freemasons, were still in some measure colleagues of the Masonic Guild, and their members were often called to vote or advise in the councils of the _Opera_. Thus we find Brunellesco as one of the _orafi_ called into council about the construction of the brackets. He appears to have held office as councillor in the _Opera_ for a year till 1405, when he was paid off. He was probably one of the _Operai_ on the part of the city. When in the famous competition of 1402 Brunellesco lost the commission for the doors of the Baptistery, he left Florence in dudgeon, and with his friend Donatello went to Rome. His studies of the methods of the ancient Romans in making their great domes, suggested to him a way of vindicating his _amour propre_ by defeating the whole guild of "Masters" on their own ground. He had made architecture a special study, and now thoroughly investigated the classic methods. He got to the roof of the Pantheon, and made studies of the stone-work in the ribs of the cupola, investigated the foundations, the supports, etc., and came back to Florence, where he let drop mysterious hints among the influential members of his own trade company, and in the studios of one or two artists, that even if the "_maestranze_ were to call their Masters from France or Germany, and all parts of the world, none of them would be able to make a dome equal to the one he could make." The Masters of the _laborerium_ at length heard of these assertions, and called on him to show his plans, which he declined to do.