The Florence Baptistery North Doors

Paper Summary:

Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) was a many-sided Renaissance figure; he was a bronze-caster, sculptor, goldsmith, draughtsman, architect, writer, and historian. Among his most celebrated surviving works are the bronze doors he created for the Baptistery of the Cathedral in Florence. This discusses the circumstances in which Ghiberti secured and completed the commission to design the north doors of the Baptistery (1400-24) and analyzes their composition and character. Ghiberti's work in Florence is then compared to that of Gianlorenzo Bernini at the Baroque church of Santa Andrea al Quirinale, Rome (1658-70).

From the Paper:

"In late 1400 the officials of the Cloth-Dealers and Refiners' Guild of Florence (the Arte di Calimara) announced a competition to design a set of doors for the Baptistery of the Cathedral. The Baptistery is a very old structure, the primary elements of which probably date to the seventh and eight centuries AD. The exterior covering of marble was constructed in the twelfth century and stood as an exemplar of architectural elegance and harmony. The Baptistery, which is a free-standing octagonal building located in the Piazza San Giovanni at the western end of the Cathedral, has three doors opening to the north, south and east. In the 1330s Andrea Pisano had completed a set of bronze doors for the southern entrance, and the Guild sought to complete the project by fitting similar doors, in bronze and decorated with reliefs, to the other two entrances."

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