The Gates of Paradise
After the plague which visited Florence, Italy, in the year 1400, had subsided, the people decided, as a thank-offering, to add bronze gates to the baptistery of the Church of St. John the Baptist.
The Guild of Merchants, to whom the church belonged, invited a competition of the artists of the day.
Six artists shared the contest with Ghiberti, among them Brunelleschi. One year was allowed for them to complete a model. Thirty-four foreign and native artists were appointed as a deciding committee. Ghiberti's work was considered faultless; and the contract was awarded to him on the 23d of November, 1403. A number of other artists were assigned to help him. The work lasted twenty-one years. On the 19th of April, 1424, both folding-doors were hung on their hinges. The work was so eminently satisfactory, that the Guild decided that a third door should be consigned to him also. He was no longer to be bound to a single model; the only condition in the contract being, that, so long as he was working at the door, he was to accept no other commission without the consent of the Guild of Merchants; otherwise, as concerned time and cost, he was left to his own will. The door was completed and conveyed to its place June 16, 1452: and not long afterwards Lorenzo Ghiberti died (1455); the principal part of his life, amounting to seventy-four years, having been devoted to these two works.
The second door surpassed the first in every respect, and was the first important creation of Florentine art, the influence of which appears evident upon Michael Angelo.
The creation of Adam, the drunkenness of Noah, and the death of Goliath, painted by Michael Angelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, owe their primary idea to the small figures of Ghiberti's compositions. Michael Angelo said of these doors, "They are worthy to be the gates of paradise.
1. The creation of Adam.
2. Adam and Eve driven out of Eden.
3. Noah's thank-offering after the Deluge.
4. Abraham's sacrifice on Mount Moriah.
5. Esau's renunciation of his birthright.
6. Joseph and his brethren.
7. Moses in the presence of the Lord on Sinai.
8. Joshua before Jericho.
9. David and Goliath.
10. The Queen of Sheba at Solomon's court.
This must always be considered one of the grandest works of modern art. Plaster casts of these wonderful doors, or gates, have been brought to America. Two bronze doors on a similar plan are in the Capitol at Washington, illustrating in one the life of Columbus, in the other the life of Washington.