Page 288 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

286  CENTR AL IT AL Y

The East Doors of the Baptistry

Lorenzo Ghiberti’s famous Quercia and Brunelleschi. The trial
bronze Baptistry doors were panels by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi
commissioned in 1401 to mark the are so different from Florentine
city’s deliverance from the plague. Gothic art of the time – notably
Ghiberti was chosen to make a set in the use of perspective and
of new doors after a competition individuality of figures – that they
that involved seven leading artists, are often regarded as the first
including Donatello, Jacopo della Ghiberti’s winning panel works of the Renaissance.

“Gate of Paradise”
Having spent 21 years working on
the North Doors, Ghiberti was
commissioned to make the East
Doors (1424–52). Michelangelo
enthusiastically dubbed them the
“Gate of Paradise”. The original ten
relief panels showing scriptural
subjects are now exhibited in the
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
(see p283); those on the
Baptistry are copies.

Abraham and the Sacrifice
of Isaac
The jagged modelled rocks
symbolizing Abraham’s pain are
carefully arranged to emphasize
the sacrificial act.

Key to the East Doors
1 Adam and Eve are Expelled from Eden
1 2 2 Cain Murders his Brother, Abel
3 The Drunkenness of Noah and his Sacrifice
3 4 4 Abraham and the Sacrifice of Isaac
Joseph Sold into Slavery 5 6 5 Esau and Jacob
Ghiberti, a master of perspective, 6 Joseph Sold into Slavery
formed the architectural 7 8 7 Moses Receives the Ten Commandments
elements in shallower relief 8 The Fall of Jericho
behind the figures to create the 9 10 9 The Battle with the Philistines
illusion of depth in the scene.
10 Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp569–73 and pp590–96

286-287_EW_Italy.indd 286 4/4/17 5:35 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2)
Date 14th November 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm