Ghiberti, Lorenzo 1378-1455
Italian goldsmith, bronze-caster and sculptor

Born in Florence, he executed frescoes in the palace of Pandolfo Malatesta at Rimini in 1400, and in 1402 won the competition to make a pair of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery. His chief competitor was Filippo Brunelleschi and both the panels they entered for this prestigious competition can be seen today in the Bargello Museum, Florence. Much of Ghiberti's life was spent completing this set of doors, and as soon as they were finished in 1424 he was entrusted with the execution of another set (1425-52), made to emulate the first pair, and dubbed by Michelangelo the 'Gates of Paradise'. Ghiberti was also responsible for the three bronze figures of the saints Matthew, Stephen and John the Baptist which adorn the exterior of Or San Michele. His large and flourishing workshop was a training ground for a distinguished generation of Florentine artists, including Donatello, Michelozzo Michelozzi and Paolo Uccello. In true Renaissance fashion, he was also a humanist and scholar and wrote I commentarii, a wide ranging history of art.

Bibliography: Richard Krautheimer and Trude Krautheimer-Hess, Lorenzo Ghiberti (1956)