Lorenzo Ghiberti

80 LORENZO GHIBERTI (1378-1455)

The ingenious hands behind the Gates of Paradise

Winning the competition of as the best craftsmen in Italy

The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Battistero di San Giovanni, is renowned for its remarkable bronze doors. In 1401 a competition was organized for the design of the set of doors which would later be placed on the north side of the baptistery. Each participant was to be given four tables of brass and one year to create a panel with the subject of the “Sacrifice of Isaac.” The competition invited all the best craftsmen in Italy to Florence, including renowned masters Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia and Niccolò Aretino.

To everyone’s surprise, the young Lorenzo Ghiberti, in his early 20s, emerged as the final winner. Some scholars believe the Issac figure created by Ghiberti on the competition panel was “the first truly ideal Renaissance nude.” It successfully blended naturalism and classicism in one harmonious piece. The young Ghiberti outshone the more experienced artists and his accomplishments on the bronze Baptistry doors earned him a place in history as one of the most important Italian artists. Vasari once described Ghiberti in Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects as an artist whom even the “two distinguished craftsmen, the sculptor Donatello and the sculptor and architect Filippo Brunelleschi really took second place after…..he was far more expert in casting bronze.”

The goldsmith’s son

Lorenzo Ghiberti came from a somewhat controversial background. At the time of his birth, Lorenzo’s mother was

THE CREATION OF ADAM & EVE

Bronze panel, replica made by the Frilli Gallery in 2022

82 married to Cione Paltami Ghiberti, a man of good standing.

The couple separated shortly after Lorenzo’s birth, and she moved in with the accomplished goldsmith Bartolo di

Michele, also known as Bartoluccio. Lorenzo took his name and Bartoluccio not only raised him but also was his first teacher. It was from Bartoluccio that Lorenzo first learned the principles of design and studied the art of goldsmithing.

Only after Bartoluccio’s death and with the clarification of his legitimate parentage did he use the name Lorenzo di Cione di

Ser Buonaccorso Ghiberti.

This is the more formal of many theories regarding Ghiberti’s parentage and one accepted by the Florentine authorities in the Signoria at the time. However, some scholars believe Lorenzo was actually the biological son of Bartolo di Michele, and that he only claimed to be Cione’s legitimate heir in order to gain the Cione estate. We may never know the truth, but in any case Lorenzo Ghiberti’s artistic accomplishments far outweigh the importance of his biological parentage.

After winning the competition in 1401, Bartoluccio assisted his “son” Lorenzo Ghiberti with refining and perfecting the designs for the doors, which would ultimately depict the life of Jesus Christ from the New Testament, the four evangelists and the Church Fathers. This commission eventually took Ghiberti 21 years to complete.

Upon the completion in 1424, Ghiberti was again commissioned to produce a second set of doors with scenes from the Old Testament, which would be placed on the East side of the same baptistery. This time he chose to break free from the traditional Gothic quatrefoil used in the previous doors and produced ten large gilded bronze rectangular panels in a completely different style.

The ambitious design of the second commission went on for 27 years with astounding results. Michelangelo was so impressed by the artistry of the gates that after a long gaze he said “O divinum opus: O Janua digna polo!” (“Oh work divine! Oh door worthy of heaven!”). The East gates of the Florence Baptistery later come to be known as “La Porta del Paradiso” (“The Gates of Paradise’’), and Lorenzo Ghiberti will always be remembered as the genius behind the Gates of Paradise.