Florence Baptistery Doors
In the thirties of the fourteenth century led to the first of the bronze doors by Andrea Pisano, commissioned by the powerful Arte di Calimala (or Merchants Guild, specializing in the importation of fine fabrics), which had the task of protecting the Baptistery.The second port was built instead by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the first decades of the fifteenth century. He won a contest that was also attended by other famous artists, including Filippo Brunelleschi.The third door, called Gates of Paradise (Porta del Paradiso), is entirely gilded and it was made by Ghiberti as well, in the years 1425-1452. The original door is currently preserved in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.For the realization of the two doors of the Baptistry, Lorenzo Ghiberti created a proper workshop of bronze workers, which had as apprentices also Donatello and Michelozzo.The iconography of the three bronze doors depicts, as in a gigantic illustrated Bible, the Old Testament Stories (East Gate), the stories of Saint John the Baptist (South Gate), and the Stories of Christ, or new Testament (North Gate).The doors of the Baptistery, in particular those of the Gate of Heaven, feature a modern and vital sculpture, realized with impressive perspective solutions. They are a symbol of Florentine Reinassance.