THE GATES OF PARADISE
THE BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE,
Image Number 155b & 155c
The bronze doors to the Baptistery in Florence created by Lorenzo Ghiberti are recognized as a major masterpiece of the 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.
To carry out this commission, he set up a large workshop in which many artists trained. When his first set of twenty-eight panels was complete, Ghiberti was commissioned to produce a second set for another doorway in the church, this time with scenes from the Old Testament, as originally intended for his first set. Instead of twenty-eight scenes, he produced ten rectangular scenes in a completely different style. They were more naturalistic, with perspective and a greater idealization of the subject. Michelangelo dubbed these scenes the "Gates of Paradise."