Ghiberti, Lorenzo (1378–1455)

Bronze doors decorated in relief by the Italian sculptor and painter Lorenzo Ghiberti for the east doorway of the church of Sta Maria del Fiori, Florence, Italy.

Italian sculptor and goldsmith. In 1402 he won the commission for a pair of gilded bronze doors for the baptistry of Florence's cathedral. He produced a second pair 1425–52, the Gates of Paradise, one of the masterpieces of the early Italian Renaissance. They show a sophisticated use of composition and perspective, and the influence of classical models. Around 1450 he wrote Commentarii/Commentaries, the earliest surviving autobiography of an artist and an important source of information on the art of his time.

Although Ghiberti had other commissions, the work on the bronze doors of the baptistry of the cathedral of Sta Maria del Fiore in Florence occupied him throughout his working life. The first set, the North Doors, on which he worked for over 20 years, consists of 28 panels of gilded bronze representing New Testament scenes. While showing an awareness of Renaissance innovation, these scenes retain a strong element of International Gothic. Soon after their completion in 1424 he began on the East Doors, on which he worked for 27 years. Also of gilded bronze, they consist of ten much larger panels of Old Testament scenes. In these panels Renaissance features are much stronger.

Ghiberti was born in Florence and trained as a goldsmith. It was Michelangelo, who greatly admired Ghiberti's work, who called the East Gates ‘the gates of paradise’, the name by which they are now generally known. Ghiberti's other important commissions include the statues of St Matthew, St John the Baptist, and St Stephen (1414–17) for the church of Orsanmichele, Florence.