Of all this crowd, two men rose to especial eminence: Magister Filippino degli Argani da Modena, and Giovanni Solari da Campione, who had a special connection with the domestic Gothic architecture of Venice. Filippino was son of Andrea degli Argani, architect to the Visconti. He showed so much talent for his father's profession that Duke Gian Galeazzo himself nominated him as a novice in the lodge of the guild. A letter, dated January 8, 1400, was addressed by the Duke to the Administrative Council of the lodge, saying--"Considering the fine genius shown even in boyhood by Filippo, son of our architect, the late Maestro of Modena, we advise that his talents shall be cultivated, and that he shall be practised in the technical arts, especially by the assistance and instruction of good masters.... Therefore we decree that the said Filippino shall enter the said _laborerium_ (of the Duomo at Milan), and we recommend him for instruction therein."[269] [Illustration: MARBLE WORK ON THE ROOF OF MILAN CATHEDRAL. _See page 363._] Filippino so far justified this recommendation, that when, on March 6, 1412, a competition was offered for designs for the window behind the choir, he won the commission. Many authors, not heeding the authentic documents, have given the credit of that window to Buonaventura from Paris. In 1404 Filippino was made _Magister_ of the guild, and given office under Marco da Carona. In 1406 he sculptured a beautiful sepulchre to Marco Corello, a Milanese who had left all his patrimony to the works of the Duomo. On Marco da Carona's death he became chief architect of the cathedral, with the three _Magistri_, Magatto, Leonardo da Sirtori, and Cristoforo da Chiona under him. An act passed by the guild on May 19, 1417, confirms him as "Superior et prior aliorum inzigneriorum de fabbrica," on a term of twelve years, at a salary of twenty florins a month. At the expiration of the twelve years he was not removed from office, but was given two colleagues with equal power to his own. These were Franceschino da Canobbio and Antonio da Gorgonzola.