North Doors of the Florence Baptistery

Lorenzo Ghiberti was a Florentine sculptor and goldsmith whose monumental bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery marked a decisive shift toward naturalism and spatial depth in Early Renaissance relief. His later doors, later called the Gates of Paradise by Michelangelo, employ linear perspective and classical anatomy to narrate biblical scenes across ten gilded panels. His workshop became the preeminent training ground for Florentine sculptors in metal. Ghiberti's Commentarii, an autobiographical and theoretical text, stands as one of the first sustained writings on artistic practice by a working artist.

Florence, Italy