Lorenzo Ghiberti (UK: /ɡɪˈbɛərti/, US: /ɡiːˈ-/,[1][2][3] Italian: [loˈrɛntso ɡiˈbɛrti]; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, the later one called by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise.

Ghiberti's career was dominated by his two successive commissions for pairs of bronze doors to the Florence Baptistery (Battistero di San Giovanni).

In Rimini he was fortunate enough to receive employment by Carlo I Malatesta, where he assisted in the completion of frescoes on the walls of the castle.

[4] However, shortly after his arrival he received word from his friends back in his home town of Florence that the governors of the Baptistery were holding a competition and sending for masters who were skilled in bronze working.

To carry out this commission, he set up a large workshop in which many artists trained, including Donatello, Masolino, Paolo Uccello, and Antonio del Pollaiuolo.

Dubbed "The Gates of Paradise" by Michelangelo, this second set remains a major monument of the age of Renaissance humanism.

He told Noah he was going to destroy the earth with a flood and that he needed to build an Ark (shown by the waves in the photograph).

As recommended by Giotto, Andrea Pisano was awarded the commission to design the first set of doors at the Florence Baptistery in 1329.

The south doors were originally installed on the east side facing the Duomo, and were transferred to their present location in 1452.

The eight lower panels depict eight virtues: hope, faith, charity, humility, fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence.

In 1401, the Arte di Calimala (Cloth Importers Guild) announced a competition to design doors that eventually would be placed on the north side of the baptistry.

[7] These new doors would serve as a votive offering to celebrate Florence being spared from relatively recent scourges such as the Black Death in 1348.

Each participant was given four tables of brass, and was required to make a relief of the “Sacrifice of Isaac” on a piece of metal that was the size and shape of the door panels.

[4] At the Aja, Ghiberti built a large furnace to melt his metal in an attempt to cast the doors, however his first model was a failure.

[10] The bronze statues over the northern gate depict John the Baptist preaching to a Pharisee and Sadducee and were sculpted by Francesco Rustici.

In 1425 he got a second commission for the Florence Baptistery, this time for the east doors, on which he and his workshop (including Michelozzo and Benozzo Gozzoli) toiled for 27 years, excelling themselves.

The panels are included in a richly decorated gilt framework of foliage and fruit, with many statuettes of prophets and 24 busts.

The Annunciation panel portrays the scene with an angel dressed in robe, wings, and a trumpet appearing to Mary, which was shown in an expression of shock leaving a doorway.

[12] The Nativity panel depicts the birth of Christ with an ox, a donkey, Joseph and Mary, an angel, and the shepherds.

The temple in the background is depicted by columns and arches with complex designs, the merchants are also shown holding goods while being pushed away.

[19] The Transfiguration panel shows Jesus standing with the prophets Moses and Elijah over his disciples Peter, James, and John.

[24] The Flagellation panel depicts Jesus being flogged by the Roman soldiers holding rods in a swinging motion.

[25] The Crucifixion panel of the North Doors depicts the scene with Mary and John at the foot of the cross mourning with angels next to Christ hanging.

St. Stephen for the Arte della Lana (Wool Manufacturers' Guild) By 1417 Lorenzo Ghiberti was married to Marsila, the 16- year-old daughter of Bartolommeo di Lucca, a worthy comb-maker.

[29] While in Florence, Ghiberti, aged seventy-five, succumbed to a fever of unknown cause[4] and was buried in the Basilica di Santa Croce on December 1, 1455.

[4] However, Buonaccorso had a different spin on his grandfather's work, with his metal castings taking the form of artillery and cannonballs.

In describing his second bronze portal for the Florence Baptistry, he states: "In this work I sought to imitate nature as closely as possible, both in proportions and in perspective... the buildings appear as seen by the eye of one who gazes on them from a distance."

In about 1413 one of Ghiberti's contemporaries, Filippo Brunelleschi, demonstrated the geometrical method of perspective used today by artists, by painting the outlines of various Florentine buildings onto a mirror.

His Book of Optics was translated into Italian in the fourteenth century as Deli Aspecti,[31] and was quoted at length in Ghiberti's "Commentario terzo."

Mark Smith suggests that, through Ghiberti, Alhazen's Book of Optics "may well have been central to the development of artificial perspective in early Renaissance Italian painting.