Lorenzo Ghiberti
Gates of Paradise — Florence Baptistery
He won the most famous competition in art history — the 1401 contest for the Baptistery doors — and spent the next fifty years creating the two sets of bronze doors that Michelangelo called the Gates of Paradise. They are the supreme achievement of Renaissance relief sculpture.
Key works
- Gates of Paradise (East doors)1425-1452— Michelangelo named them — 10 Old Testament panelsMuseo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence (originals); Baptistery, Florence (copies)
- North doors, Baptistery1403-1424— 28 panels of the life of ChristBaptistery, Florence