The life and inspiring works of the artist who gives your room his name: 9. Lorenzo Ghiberti***

Left: Lorenzo Ghiberti. North doors Florence baptistry. 1402 t0 1424. By Sailko Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45833936 AND
Right: Lorenzo Ghiberti. Gates of Paradise. 1425-1542, Sailko, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45833936

The Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) made his name through the design and construction of two sets of massive bronze doors for the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral. They were recognised as exceptional from the very beginning: Michelangelo even called second set the Gates of Paradise. Each of its 10 bronze panels is regarded as a masterpiece of Early Renaissance art in its own right.

Creating the first baptistery doors

This first pair of doors (left above), on which Donatello, and other Early Renaissance sculptors also worked, took from 1403 to 1424 to complete, but impressed the powers-that-be so much that they commissioned a second pair. These took even longer to finish: 27 years (1435 to 1452), even though there were again numerous distinguished assistants, including Donatello, Michelozzo, and Luca della Robbia.

The doors were so magnificent, however, that it was quickly decided that they should be placed on the east side of the baptistery, facing the cathedral. Their fame was assured when Michelangelo dubbed them The Gates of Paradise.

Lorenzo Ghiberti. Gates of Paradise. 1425-1542. Sailko, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45833936

(There is a rational as well as a romantic aspect to Michelangelo’s statement. Every Florentine child had to be baptised before being admitted into the Catholic Church, the only pathway to salvation. After the baptism ceremony the baptistery doors were opened and the baby taken to the cathedral for the beginning of the journey to Paradise).

Renaissance innovation in bronze

These massive doors (5.20 m tall, 3.10 m wide, 11 cm thick; weight 8 tonnes) also have a distinctly different style from the first set: gone are the 28 quatrefoil Gothic panels, replaced by just 10 larger rectangular panels, representing (often complex) scenes from the Old Testament. Each panel is a celebration of the new artistic spirit and the innovative techniques of the Renaissance.

Where to see Ghiberti’s masterpieces today

You can now admire the original doors in the wonderful Museo dell’Opera dell’Duomo in Florence (The ones in the baptistery are facsimiles.) And you can examine the 10 masterpiece panels up close and personal. Below are just three of them as a taster:

Lorenzo Ghiberti and others. Gates of Paradise. 1425-1452. Panel. Joshua. Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Lorenzo Ghiberti and others. Gates of Paradise. 1425-1452. Panel. Abraham. Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creative commons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Lorenzo Ghiberti and others. Gates of Paradise. 1425-1452. Panel. Joseph. Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

And to round off our celebration of this incredible achievement, here is a bust of Lorenzo Ghiberti smiling down at us from the Gates of Paradise.

Gates of Paradise, Self-portrait bust of Lorenzo Ghiberti. Baptisterio, Florence. Richardfabi, Canon Powershot A95, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

***  Who wants a number on the bedroom door when they could be staying in Botticelli, Bronzino or Brunelleschi? Or Donatello,  Gentileschi, Ghirlandaio or Ghiberti? Or in one of another half-dozen famous Italian artists, from Alberti to Fra Angelico, from Lippi to Vasari?

Some years ago, we decided to switch from numbers to names in each of our rooms. They celebrate famous Italian artists, mainly from the Renaissance and mainly men, because (a) the early Renaissance is our favourite artistic period and (b) because few women were painting professionally in those days, and even fewer have become famous.

At Lois’ insistence we included Artemesia Gentileschi on our list a few years ago, and in 2026 we have introduced Sofonisba Anguissola, despite her tongue-twisting name.