Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti (c. 1378 in Pelago, † December 1, 1455 in Florence) was Italian sculptor, goldsmith, ore caster and art theorist. His most famous work is the so-called Michelangelo Paradise door of the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral ( Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore ).
Life
Ghiberti went with his stepfather, the goldsmith Bartolo Ghiberti in the teaching and learning in parallel, and the painting. It is shown that Ghiberti in 1400 from the plague fled to Rimini and worked there for, inter alia Pandolfo Malatesta.
The following year, he went to Florence and applied to a sample of his skills ( The Sacrifice of Isaac ) for a contract at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Under six competitors - Jacopo della Quercia et al and Filippo Brunelleschi - he was selected to manufacture the northern bronze door at the baptistery of the cathedral. The work, created 1403-1423, a total of 28 partially gilded reliefs in four passes - are inserted - typical Gothic tracery. The 20 main fields of the door contain scenes from the New Testament; In addition to the four evangelists and four teachers of the church, the door is decorated by rich ornament. Ghiberti's masterpiece was the design of the east portal, the so-called paradise door to which ( 1425-1452 ), he worked 27 years. The door is divided into ten fields; The reliefs show scenes from the Old Testament.
In addition, Ghiberti created 1414 for niches at the church Orsanmichele the bronze statues of John the Baptist and in the years 1419-1422 that of Matthew and of St. Stephen. From that time the bronze reliefs date for the baptistery of San Giovanni in Siena with the baptism of Christ, John before Herod ( 1427), as well as the tombs of Leonardo Dati in Santa Maria Novella and the Ludovico degli Albizzi in Santa Croce in Florence.
As an architect, Ghiberti had around 1420 together with Filippo Brunelleschi as the second architect of the Cathedral in Florence. Soon after completion of the first Bronze Door ( 1424) he received the commission for a second. In the same year he began this work; after his death, his son Vittorio led them further and completed it 1452nd This artwork Michelangelo praised with the words " ... it is worthy to adorn the gates of Paradise ." In ten fields scenes from the Old Testament are represented, framed by richly ornamented with numerous figures and heads. Below Ghiberti has also shown next to his son himself.
As bronze casters made Ghiberti in 1428, inter alia, the reliquary of St. Hyacinth and in 1440 the ornate sarcophagus with reliefs of St. Zenobius in the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. In addition to two small bells for the sacristy, which Ghiberti 1445 made , he also drew designs for its stained glass windows. He also created several stained glass windows for the cathedral of Arezzo.
At the age of almost 77 years, Lorenzo Ghiberti died on December 1, 1455 in Florence.
Lorenzo Ghiberti's work
Ghiberti's work is distinguished from balance and harmony. His art shows a connection between the International Gothic style with its schönläufigen lines and the ideals of the Renaissance with its reception of antiquity. Ghiberti was also active as a writer: he wrote towards the end of his life, the book " I commentari " which included a consideration of the 14th century Italian art, but also art-theoretical thought.