Project by William Burges, architect from London, for the Cathedral façade, in ink and polychrome watercolour on paper. The plan, signed with the motto Flos florum (“Flower of the flowers”), was presented in the original competition of 1862. The proposal is one of those excluded by the judging committee, in this case due to the redundancy of formal and decorative elements. Burges imagined a tricuspid crowned façade and a rich and very original sculptural decoration in eclectic style. The front is characterized by quadrangular panels in green and white marble inlays, with niches, spires and gables inspired by the medieval portals of the Cathedral, a gallery of sculptures, three rose windows, and two large triple-opening windows referencing the ones of Giotto's bell tower. The central axis is decorated with a bas-relief representation of the Tree of Jesse, which is the genealogical tree of Christ: the trunk rises from a niche above the main portal, branches around the rose window and reaches the tympanum of the central cusp, which is a reworking of the 14th-century reliefs by Maitani on the façade of the Orvieto Cathedral. The lunettes above the portals have white and blue reliefs, inspired by those of Luca della Robbia above the sacristy doors.

The author donated this plan drawing to the Deputation for the façade in 1864, who gave it to the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.