Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti on Gates of Paradise, modern copy Florence Baptistery
Born	Lorenzo di Bartolo 1378 (1378) Florence
Died	1 December 1455 (aged 76–77) Florence
Nationality	Florentine
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Gates of Paradise, Florence Baptistery
Movement	Early Renaissance

External video

Brunelleschi & Ghiberti, The Sacrifice of Isaac, Smarthistory

Lorenzo Ghiberti (Italian: [loˈrɛntso ɡiˈbɛrti]; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was a Florentine Italian artist of the Early Renaissance best known as the creator of the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, called by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise. Trained as a goldsmith and sculptor, he established an important workshop for sculpture in metal. His book of Commentari contains important writing on art, as well as what may be the earliest surviving autobiography by any artist.

Ghiberti was born in Pelago, 20 km from Florence. His father was Bartoluccio Ghiberti, an artist and goldsmith, who trained his son in goldsmithing. He then went to work in the Florence workshop of Bartoluccio di Michele, where Antonio del Pollaiolo also received his training. When the bubonic plague struck Florence in 1400, Ghiberti emigrated to Rimini, where he assisted in the completion of wall frescoes of the castle of Carlo I Malatesta.

Ghiberti's career was dominated by his two successive commissions for pairs of bronze doors to the Florence Baptistery (Battistero di San Giovanni). They are recognized as a major masterpiece of the Early Renaissance, and were famous and influential from their unveiling. Ghiberti first became famous when as a 23-year-old he won the 1401 competition for the first set of bronze doors, with Brunelleschi as the runner up. The original plan was for the doors to depict scenes from the Old Testament, but the plan was changed to depict scenes from the New Testament instead. However, the trial piece made was of the sacrifice of Isaac and still survives.