Bronze doors of the Florentine Baptistery. Ghiberti Lorenz sculptures and biography

Lorenzo Ghiberti(Lorenzo Ghiberti) (c. 1378-1455) - Italian sculptor, jeweler, art historian. Bright representative Early Renaissance and one of the greatest masters of relief.

His father was the son of a notary, his mother was a peasant woman. Young Lorenzo received his artistic education in the jewelry workshop of his stepfather, the goldsmith Bartolo di Michele (perhaps Bartolo was Ghiberti’s real father, the artist himself left conflicting information about this). Lorenzo learned jewelry making skills from Bartolo, and also learned painting (however, neither jewelry nor His paintings have not survived to this day).

In 1400 Lorenzo Ghiberti went to Pesaro, where he painted frescoes at the court of the ruler, but quickly returned to Florence, having learned about the announced competition to create bronze doors for the baptistery of the Florence Cathedral. And in 1401, Ghiberti won a competition to make these second - northern - doors of the Florentine Baptistery - the first, southern ones, were made by Andrea Pisano back in the 14th century.
North Gate repeat the compositional structure of the doors made by Andrea Pisano - twenty-eight small reliefs are enclosed in Gothic frames. Twenty of them are devoted to depicting gospel scenes ( Entry into Jerusalem, last supper etc.), in the rest the figures of evangelists and church fathers are presented - we find a very detailed description in the omnipresent Vasari, who almost categorically recognized Ghiberti the best master relief. In these reliefs, Gothic features are clearly visible - the elongation of the figures, their sliding pose and conditional bending, the fluid smoothness of the folds of clothes, complex frames in the form quadrifoliums* - and they are already quite compatible with such Renaissance vividness of the narrative, truthfulness and inexhaustible variety of details - Ghiberti introduces elements of the real environment into the composition - architecture, vegetation, rocks, the sea.

Northern Gate. 1401-25 Lorenzo Ghiberti

Northern Gate. 1401-25 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

Annunciation. 1403-24 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

Adoration of the Magi.1403-24 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

Entry into Jerusalem. 1403-24 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

last supper.1403-24 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

Pilate washing his hands.1403-24 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

The Flagellation of Christ. 1403-24 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

Ghiberti worked on this work for more than twenty years - from 1403 to 1424. During this period, he also made several impressive statues for the church of Orsanmichele, also in Florence - statues John the Baptist (1412–1416), Apostle Matthew(1419–1422) and St. Stephen(1425–1428), the tomb of Leonardo Dati in the church of Santa Maria Novella (1423–1427), the reliquary of St. Zenobius decorated with reliefs in the cathedral (1430s), as well as two reliefs baptismal font of the baptistery of the Siena Cathedral(1417–1429). Several stained glass windows of the Florence Cathedral are also attributed to him; The most reliable among them is a stained glass window with a scene of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (c. 1425). Gothic and Renaissance features in all these works also expressively complement each other.

Saint John the Baptist. 1412-16 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Church of Orsanmichele, Florence.

Saint John the Baptist. Detail. 1412-16 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Church of Orsanmichele, Florence. Bronze

Apostle Matthew. 1419-23 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Church of Orsanmichele, Florence. Bronze.

Saint Stephen 1428 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Church of Orsanmichele, Florence. Partially gilded bronze.

Baptism of Christ. 1427 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Church of San Giovanni, Siena. Gilded bronze.

But the most important work of the master is considered to be the other - the third (eastern) - doors of the baptistery - Ghiberti worked on them for 27 years (from 1425 to 1452), the so-called “Gates of Paradise” (“They are so beautiful that they deserve to become the doors of heaven”, - Michelangelo said about them, and with his light hand That’s what they’re called all over the next centuries).
These doors represent ten complex gilded reliefs, made in gradual gradations of relief from high to very low (Vasari talks about the reliefs in sufficient detail, very, although a little boring for just reading, but undoubtedly informative - das_gift ), illustrating scenes from the Old Testament with many characters. Each door is framed with images of prophets, interspersed with medallions, and the doorposts are framed with garlands of leaves and bunches of grapes. In two medallions the artist placed two portraits of ordinary mortals - mine and son.
Still dynamic, but much more harmoniously balanced, the construction of these reliefs, even more multi-figured and compositionally complex, but consistently subject to the laws linear perspective, makes them full-fledged Renaissance works.
The masterpiece made such a strong impression on the Florentines that on the day the eastern gate was opened, the entire city gathered around it.

Eastern Gate.1425-52. Lorenzo Ghiberti

The creation of Adam and Eve. Detail.1425-52. Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"...The first depicts the creation of Adam and his wife Eve, executed with the greatest perfection. It can be seen that Lorenzo tried to make their bodies as beautiful as he could, wanting to show that, just like human bodies, coming out of the hands of the Lord, were the most beautiful figures he had ever created, and these figures that came out of the artist’s hands were supposed to surpass all the others created by him in his other works." -
from book Giorgio Vasari

Cain and Abel. Detail.1425-52. Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

Cain and Abel. Detail.1425-52. Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"... But it is especially beautifully depicted how Cain plows the land on a pair of oxen, which drag a plow in a yoke and whose efforts seem real and natural; the same is Abel, tending the flock when Cain kills him, and we see how mercilessly and cruelly he strikes his brother with a club and, like bronze itself, reveals the exhaustion of dead limbs in the most beautiful figure of Abel; and in the distance, in a flat relief, God is depicted asking Cain what he did with Abel."
from book Giorgio Vasari"Biographies are the most famous painters, sculptors and architects", chapter "Biography of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Florentine sculptor."

Noah after the flood. 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

Noah after the flood.(detail) 1425-52. Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"...But most excellent of all is the scene where he plants grapes and, drunk with wine, shows his shame, and Ham, his son, mocks him. And truly it is impossible to depict a sleeping person better, and we see the exhaustion of the intoxicated body and respect and love in his other two sons, who cover him with beautiful movements.In addition, there are depicted a barrel, grape branches and other accessories for harvesting grapes, executed with great observation and located in appropriate places so that they do not obscure the story, but greatly decorate it. -
from book Giorgio Vasari"Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects", chapter "Biography of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Florentine sculptor."

Abraham's sacrifice. 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"...In the fourth story, Lorenzo wanted to depict the appearance of three angels in the valley of Mamre, making them similar to one another, and the reverence of the holy elder before them is very convincingly and vividly expressed in the movement of his hands and his face. In addition, he with excellent expressiveness sculptured servants who, at the foot of the mountain with a donkey, are waiting for Abraham, who has gone to sacrifice his son. The naked boy is already on the altar, the father has already raised his hand and is ready to obey, but he is stopped by an angel, who holds him with one hand, and with the other points to the sacrificial lamb and saves Isaac from death. This story is truly beautiful, for, among other things, a huge difference is visible between the tender members of Isaac and the rougher ones of the servants, and it seems that there is not a single line there that is not drawn with the greatest art."
from book Giorgio Vasari"Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects", chapter "Biography of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Florentine sculptor."

Jacob and Esau. 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

Jacob and Esau Detail. 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"...In this story, dogs are beautifully and naturally depicted, and the figures themselves make the same impression as a living Jacob, Isaac and Rebekah would have made by their actions."
"Biography of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Florentine sculptor." Giorgio Vasari "Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects."

Joseph's story. 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

Joseph's story. Discovery of the golden cup. Detail. 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"... he depicted how the brothers put Joseph in a well, how they sell him to merchants and how they give him to Pharaoh, to whom he explains a dream about famine and advises him to make provisions to prevent it, and how Pharaoh showers him with honors. It also depicts how Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for grain, when Joseph recognizes them and sends them back for their father.In this story, Lorenzo depicted a round temple in perspective, which was a very difficult task, inside it there are figures in different positions, loading grain and flour, as well as donkeys extraordinary looking. Likewise, it depicts the feast that he gives them, as well as how the golden cup is hidden in Benjamin’s bag, how it is found, and how Joseph embraces and recognizes the brothers. This story, in its expressiveness and abundance of images, is considered among all his works the most successful, the most difficult and the most beautiful." -
from book Giorgio Vasari"Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects", chapter "Biography of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Florentine sculptor."

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

"...It remained for Lorenzo to do everything he was capable of in the tenth and last, where the Queen of Sheba with a huge retinue visits Solomon. Here he depicted in perspective a very beautiful building and all other figures are the same as in the previous stories, and in addition, the ornament of the architraves surrounding the said doors with fruits and garlands is executed with the usual good quality."
from book Giorgio Vasari"Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects", chapter "Biography of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Florentine sculptor."

Biblical character. Detail of the eastern gate. Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

Sibyl. Detail of the eastern gate.1425-52. Lorenzo Ghiberti . East Gate. Baptistery, Florence. Gilded bronze.

Self-portrait of Lorenzo Ghiberti 1425-52 Lorenzo Ghiberti . Baptistery, Florence. Bronze.

A bronze copy of the eastern gate, made by foundry worker V.P. Ekimov, was installed on the northern side of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Altar door. 1450-51. Lorenzo Ghiberti. Bronze. Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova.

Ghiberti rarely left his native Florence. He was lucky in life; his works were invariably liked by customers. Although he was not a professional architect, he for a long time were involved in the construction of the dome of the Florence Cathedral. Unlike the unmercenary Donatello Ghiberti was a rich man.

Ghiberti held leading place V artistic life Florence in the first half of the 15th century. After 1430, Ghiberti's interest in ancient art increased; he studied ancient monuments and collected them. He became close to humanists and was carried away theoretical problems art. In 1445 Ghiberti is one of the most educated people of his time - began work on the “Comments”. where I told the story ancient art(according to Pliny the Elder and other ancient authors), and also collected information on optics, perspective and artistic craft from medieval treatises. The most interesting is the second part of the Notes, about Italian art of the 13th–15th centuries. (up to the work of Ghiberti himself), which is essentially the first major historical sketch of the Renaissance renewal of art. There are three “Commentaries” in total, and not a single work is finished. The Commentaries also contain a detailed autobiography of Ghiberti - the first known autobiography of a Renaissance artist.

I didn’t want to write about Ghiberti – not because he’s bad! Good for everyone! Still would! But this is that author, that artist, whose legacy-meaning-skill is undeniable, but so undeniable that another “yat” is another “yat” - it’s customary to love such authors, but to love them as “Lumps with meaning”, and we We always want pieces of the soul and scraps of consciousness for ourselves personally. But if you're lucky - you can change your point of view - it will change itself. I happened to see these reliefs on the gates of the baptistery - in the museum of the cathedral in Florence - on the baptistery itself, of course, there are copies, and the originals were prudently taken by the Italians (the original Italians) to the museum - and rightly so! Square slabs - canvases - up close they have a magical effect - you read, you know, you understand, you accept, and the Lump, of course, the Lump - for everyone! - and heaps of books on the history of the Renaissance will confirm this! But. They really are that good. Incredibly good. And although there is no contradiction, everything stands upside down - again another world - no less alive than this one - a world living its own, predetermined history every time someone looks at it - millions of times! - and sooner this world will completely absorb you than you will have time to explain to him what you have read - even if only from Vasari. - das_gift

Before the doors of bronze in the temple shining with gold,
Michelangelo himself suddenly fell silent when he saw them.
He stood silently for a long time, amazed, until he said:
Oh wonders of wonders! The gates of heaven are worthy! -

From there, from Vasari.

1. * Quadrifolium- a closed figure, with two mutually perpendicular axes of symmetry, formed by four semicircles that convex outward.

Years of life: 1378 - 1455
When the Florentine Signoria, together with the merchant guild, decided to begin creating the missing doors of the oldest and most revered temple of Florence - San Giovanni, all the best craftsmen in Italy were invited to come to Florence. They had to present their work to competent judges and citizens. Along with other masters, twenty-year-old Lorenzo Ghiberti arrived in Florence.

Self-portrait

Italian sculptor Lorenzo di Cione Ghiberti was born in 1378. In his youth, he studied with a goldsmith and worked as a painter. Then Lorenzo wandered around different cities. He worked for some time in Pesaro with Signor Pandolfo Malatesta.

This is what Ghiberti himself writes: “In my youth, in the summer of our Lord 1400, I left here because of an epidemic that appeared in Florence, as well as a misfortune that befell my homeland, together with an outstanding painter, whom Signor Malatesta called to Pesaro . He entrusted us with one room, and we painted it with the greatest diligence. My spirit strove very strongly for painting, and this was the reason why the works entrusted to us by the signor, as well as the company in which I was, brought me fame and benefit. But at this time my friends wrote to me that the trustees of the temple of San Giovanni Battista were sending out invitations to all the masters who were famous for their learning and from whom they wanted to receive evidence.”

Baptistery of San Giovanni

The paintings Ghiberti created in Pesaro have not survived, but it can be assumed that they were of a high level. It was not for nothing that Signor Malatesta did not want to let Lorenzo go to the competition in Florence, keeping him at his court in every possible way.

Of all the applicants, the consuls selected only seven masters: three Florentines and four Tuscans. Among the latter was Lorenzo.

All seven had to do one test work - a “bronze story”, similar to those previously performed by Andrea Pisano for the south door of the baptistery. The participants included then almost unknown, and in the near future, the great masters of the Renaissance Brunelleschi and Donatello. The duration of the work is one year. Subsequently, Giorgio Vasari would write: “Everyone set to work with every zeal and diligence, putting all their strength and skill into it in order to surpass each other in perfection, and hiding in secret what they did so that there were no coincidences.”

South doors of the Baptistery
Andrea Pisano

Lorenzo, under the guidance of his stepfather and mentor Bartoluccio, was engaged in making models from wax and plaster. Every new model Ghiberti, unlike other competitors, showed everyone. He believed in himself and was not afraid of the evil eye. On the contrary, the young sculptor valued the opinions of understanding people.

Northern doors of the Baptistery

In 1402, the time came to take stock. 34 prominent artists and sculptors studied the works for a long time and carefully. After numerous discussions, the works of Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were recognized as the best. According to Vasari: “Donato (Donatello. - Note auto) and Filippo (Brunelleschi. - Note auto), seeing the skill that Lorenzo put into his work, they stepped aside, talked among themselves and decided that the work should be entrusted to Lorenzo.” One way or another, the order for the manufacture of doors was given to Ghiberti.

Ghiberti immediately got to work. How could he have thought then that creating doors for the Florence Baptistery would take up the bulk of his life! He decides to follow the experience of Andrea Pisano, who cast the southern, very first, doors of the temple. Lorenzo chooses almost the same composition for the doors - the same 28 fields, of which the lower 8 are reserved for individual allegorical figures, takes the form of the field frame beloved by Gothic - quadrifolia.

But he does not begin his story about the life of Christ with the upper left relief and end with the lower right, as Pisano did. Ghiberti goes from the lower left relief to the upper right. Art critic B. R. Vipper notes in his book: “Andrea Pisano, in his distribution of plots, adhered to the traditions of the Italian trecento... Ghiberti borrows the vertical principle of his story from Northern Gothic: it was in this order - from left to right and from bottom to top - that the alternation of scenes in color took place stained glass windows of a Gothic cathedral."

Ghiberti, along with his students, was absorbed in working on the doors of San Giovanni. But sometimes you have to break away. The now famous sculptor receives invitations from Rome, Siena, and Venice. Here is what Ghiberti writes about the work in Siena: “The Siena Commune commissioned me to perform two stories for the font: one story - when St. John baptizes Christ, and the second - when St. John is brought to Herod. Then with my own hands I made a bronze statue of St. Matthew, four and a half cubits high. Then I made in bronze the tomb of Messer Leonardo Dati, general of the order of Friars Preachers: he is an extremely learned man, and I made his portrait from life; the tomb is in low relief with an epitaph at the bottom. Also thanks to me, the tombs of Lodovico degli Obizzi and Bartolomeo Valori, buried in the Church of the Minor Friars, were executed in marble. In addition, I made a bronze shrine for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where the Benedictine monks pray; in this shrine were placed the relics of three martyrs: Protus, Hyacinth and Nemesius. On the front side of it were depicted two angels holding in their hands a garland of olive branches, on which the names of these martyrs were written. At this time, I set one carnelian in gold, the size of a nut in a shell, on which three figures were depicted in the most excellent manner, executed by the hands of an outstanding ancient master. For the handle, I made a dragon with half-opened wings and a lowered head, the neck is curved in the middle, the wings form the handle of the seal. A dragon or snake, as we say, was among the ivy leaves; My hand carved around the figure antique letters calling the name of Nero, which I did with great diligence.”

Saint Matthew

The master also has orders from his native Florence. Thus, Ghiberti makes three bronze statues to decorate San Michele: John the Baptist (1414), St. Matthew (1419-1422), St. Stephen (1428).

Saint Stephen

More than twenty years have passed since he began work on the order of the Florentine Signoria. Finally the great work is over. Numerous citizens of Florence came to see the handiwork of the great artist. There were masters from other cities as well. The success was unusually great. An order for new doors immediately followed. They were supposed to decorate the main, eastern, side of the baptistery.

Northern doors of the Baptistery

In 1425, Ghiberti began work on new doors, which Michelangelo would call “The Gates of Heaven”; they would glorify Ghiberti not only throughout Italy, but throughout the world.

Gates of Heaven

A new era in the history of culture was being born in Florence, the Renaissance was being born, and Ghiberti could not help but feel these changes. He himself participated in what was happening; he could not stand aside.

Abraham

The subjects chosen by the commission for depiction made one think about new form for reliefs. Now these were not just scenes from the life of one saint, but completely different events from biblical history. Lorenzo, looking at his wax models, understood: the quadrifolium shape would not work here. It's too complicated.

Adam and Eve

And he chooses a square - a wide, stable shape, extremely convenient for promising constructions. Ghiberti also decides to reduce the number of reliefs from 28 to 24.

Cain and Abel

“On the back side of the doors,” writes M. Nenarokomov, “the 24-square marking has been preserved forever. And still something did not suit Lorenzo. He didn't have enough room on the doors. The sculptor understood that in each field of the relief there should be many figures. Reduce the scale and you will get the impression of an anthill. Enlarge the scale of the figures themselves - fewer of them will fit.

What if the figures of the prophets (after all, each of them has its own field, as many as eight fields) are transferred to the frame of the reliefs? Place them as small statues in niches located on the sides of the reliefs. Great idea! But even this seems to Lorenzo not enough. He decides to take a very bold step - he reduces the number of reliefs to ten. So, according to the new scheme, the door area will be divided into ten equal square fields, around which a sculptural frame will be placed.

Isaac with Esau and Jacob

This is how he left the composition. I told Chancellor Bruni about this. He was horrified. A complete break with tradition, how can this be? But Lorenzo stood his ground: ten fields, and not one more. Leonardo Bruni argued and argued, and agreed. I knew that the master had a difficult character. Heavy, stubborn, like the bronze from which Ghiberti casts his reliefs...

…For the first time in his life, Ghiberti “casts a spell” on such large reliefs. There is space, and you immediately want to enhance the impression of this space. Lorenzo builds and constructs architecture in his reliefs. These are no longer small individual elements of the building, these are huge arches with stairs, terraces on which the action takes place. And in the background the sculptor carefully sculpts the mountains. Each relief is a different space, deep, alive, filled with people. Ghiberti includes in his plot compositions genre scenes similar to those he sees on the streets of his native Florence. All the heroes depicted on the reliefs are dressed in the clothes of the Florentines, his contemporaries. He is unable to escape reality.”

Joshua

In 1430, Ghiberti traveled to Rome, where he was shocked by the abundance of ancient monuments. Later, the sculptor will transfer the Roman arches to his reliefs. Arriving back in Florence, Ghiberti also began work to which he devoted the last twenty-five years of his life. During the day he worked on the gates, and in the evenings he wrote his “Comments” - a history of art. Ghiberti began to write for himself in order to better understand the art of past centuries. However, over time, his work turned from a chamber work into a scientific treatise.

Moses

M. Nenarokomov speaks about its meaning: “He divided it into three parts. Ghiberti dedicated the first part to antiquity. The sculptor and scientist retold the history of ancient art according to Pliny. The second one is the most interesting. It is dedicated to the art of the Middle Ages. Lorenzo began it with a description of this art. But the main thing was that he was the first to turn to the biographies of artists in his work.

Almost art history as a science was born by Lorenzo Ghiberti. He concluded the treatise with an autobiography. We don't know whose autobiography came first, his or Alberti's, but own biography Lorenzo is closer to our understanding of this genre.”

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

And the work on the gate continues... And the longer the sculptor works on the gate, the more concerned he is with the issue of perspective. In this regard, he begins to study the structure of the eye, the theory of light, and everything related to optics. After death, an unfinished treatise on the theory of light and the principles of optical imaging will be found on the table in his workshop.

The barely outlined spatial depth in “The Sacrifice of Abraham” turns into a complex multi-dimensional composition in “The Story of Jacob and Esau.” The depth of the space depicted in this “relief-painting” in no way depends on their presence. Ghiberti achieves this in part by varying the height of the relief and making the foreground figures almost circular. This method was used in ancient art. But much more important is a carefully verified optical illusion the removal of figures and architectural structures in space, which is why there is a gradual, and not random, as before, reduction in their size.

The sculptor decorates the door frames with a garland of leaves and bunches of grapes. Ghiberti frames each door of the gate with an ornamental rectangle with niches; in the niches there are images of the prophets, between them there are medallions. “The Gates of Heaven” required the sculptor to spend twenty-seven years of his life. Twenty-seven years of constant search, trial, error and brilliant discoveries. Therefore, Lorenzo allows himself to make portraits in two medallions - his son and himself. Let the descendants of the famous creator of the “Gates of Heaven” see it.

In 1452 Lorenzo Ghiberti finally finished the eastern doors. He presented to the Florentine public main work own life. It was one of the happiest days for him. Once again all Florence gathered at the Gate of San Giovanni. General delight - best reward Ghiberti.

And just three years later, Lorenzo Ghiberti would be gone.

Ghiberti's tombstone

Text by Sergei Mussky

Biography

Lorenzo began to acquire the basics of his profession in the workshop of Bartoluccio. In 1401 the Guild of Arte di Calimala announced a competition to select the author new couple Bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery. The competition is based on bronze reliefs depicting the sacrifice of Isaac, which participants were required to submit in advance for judging. The finalists of the competition were Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi . After long discussions, a new, more economical method in using bronze and a more lyrical style bring Lorenzo victory and he begins to work on the second pair of bronze doors (the first in his career, but before that there were already doors in the Baptistery made by Andrea Pisano). The work takes the author 21 years. The new doors consist of 28 reliefs, 20 of which depict the life of Christ from the New Testament, while the lower ones were occupied by scenes from the lives of four evangelists and church fathers.

In 1424, the sculptor made a trip to Venice, returning, now famous in Florence, Ghiberti began to develop the design for the third pair of bronze doors installed in the eastern entrance to the Baptistery and devoted 27 years of his life to this work. The doors include 10 reliefs with scenes from the Old Testament. After working with Donatello in Siena, Ghiberti was influenced by his talent for working with the newly discovered laws of perspective and the technique of smooth relief. Lorenzo's new reliefs include more complex compositions of architecture and figures. This time they do not follow the shape proposed by Pisano - the square shape was chosen by Ghiberti to increase complexity and visual richness. “The Gates of Heaven,” as Michelangelo later called them, turned out truly magnificent. In the 1966 flood, five of the ten panels were torn off. Later the panels were restored by exact copies from San Francisco, and in 1990, fearing contamination, the panels were replaced with replicas.

During these years, Lorenzo also worked on statues for the church of Orsanmichele - St. Matthew, St. Stephen and St. John the Baptist.

Beginning in 1445, he worked on the “Commentaries” - an autobiographical text.

• A crater on Mercury is named after Ghiberti.

Bibliography

• Vasari Giorgio. Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects. T.2. M., 1963
• Ghiberti Lorenzo. Comments // Masters of art about art. T.2. Renaissance / Ed. A. A. Gubera, V. N. Grashchenkova. M., 1966

Write a review of the article "Ghiberti, Lorenzo"

Links

Lua error in Module:External_links on line 245: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).

Excerpt characterizing Ghiberti, Lorenzo

LIFE OF LORENZO GIBERTI

Florentine sculptor

(Lorenzo Ghiberti (1370-1455) - Florentine sculptor, as well as goldsmith, architect, painter and writer on art matters; son of Cione di Buonaccorso, stepson of the jeweler Bartolo (Bartoluccio) di Michele, which is why he was often called Lorenzo di Bartolo (or di Bartoluccio). IN last years XIV century I was in Rome, where I apparently studied the painting of Giotto and Cavallini. In 1400 he participated with Mariotto di Nardo in the paintings of the castle in Pesaro. From 1401 - again in Florence, where he won the competition for the second doors of the baptistery and until the end of his life he wrote “Comments” (“Notes on Art”).

Works: second doors of the baptistery (1403-1424), third (“heavenly”) doors of the baptistery (1425-1452); statues for Orsanmichele: Saints John (1419), Matthew (1419-1422) and Stephen (1420); bronze shrine of Saints Protus, Hyacinth and Nemesius in Florentine National Museum(1420); two bas-reliefs for the font of the Siena Baptistery (1424-1427); Cancer St. Zenobius in the Florentine Cathedral (finished in 1442). Terracotta Madonnas in the museums of New York, Detroit and Rochester, the Louvre, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

There is no doubt that in any country, anyone who, with one talent or another, managed to become famous among people in one way or another, very often becomes a kind of sacred light, serving as an example for many who were born after him, but living in the same times, not to mention about those endless praises and extraordinary awards that he received during his lifetime. And nothing so awakens the human spirit and makes the rigors of learning easier for him than the honor and benefit with which skill acquired by the sweat of the brow is rewarded over time, for thanks to them every difficult undertaking becomes accessible to everyone, whose talent develops all the more rapidly, the higher national recognition elevates him. And there is no number of those who, hearing and seeing this, do not spare labor in order to be able to deserve what they saw one of their compatriots deserve, and therefore in ancient times valiant people were either rewarded with riches or awarded triumphs and honors. images. However, since it rarely happens that valor is not pursued by envy, one should, as far as possible, strive to defeat it by exceptional superiority, or at least to repel its onslaught if it becomes bolder and gathers its strength. This is what Lorenzo di Cione Ghiberti, aka di Bartoluccio, was able to fully achieve thanks to his merits and his destiny 1 , to whom excellent artists - Donato, the sculptor, and Filippo Brunellesco, the architect and sculptor - deservedly gave way, admitting in truth, although perhaps their feelings forced them to the contrary, that Lorenzo was a better caster than they. And truly this happened to their glory and to the confusion of many who, imagining themselves, take on someone else’s work and take the place of others, more worthy, while they themselves remain fruitless and, endlessly toiling over the same thing, their envy and malice confuse and depress others working knowledgeably.

So Lorenzo was the son of Bartoluccio Ghiberti 2 and from a very early age he studied the art of jewelry from his father, an excellent craftsman, who taught him this craft, which Lorenzo mastered so much that he began to work much better than his father. However, becoming even more interested in the art of sculpture and drawing, he sometimes took up paints, and sometimes cast small figures in bronze, finishing them with great grace. He also liked to imitate the coinage of ancient medals, and in this way he at one time depicted many of his friends from life. And while he, working with Bartoluccio, was striving to achieve success in this matter, the plague of 1400 broke out in Florence, as he himself tells about it in a book written by him with his own hand, in which he discusses questions of art and which is in the possession of the venerable Messer Cosimo Bartoli, a Florentine nobleman. And since this plague was joined by all sorts of civil strife and other urban disasters, he had to leave, and in the company of a certain painter he went to Romagna, where in Rimini they painted a room for Signor Pandolfo Malatesta and carefully completed many other works 3 , to the satisfaction of the said lord, who from his youth was a great lover of works of art of drawing. Meanwhile, Lorenzo did not cease to study the drawing and sculpt from wax, plaster and similar materials, for he knew very well that such small stucco works are the sculptor’s drawing and that without such a drawing the sculptor cannot bring a single thing to perfection. He was not outside his homeland for long, since the plague had stopped and the Florentine Signoria, together with the merchant guild, decided (for at that time the art of sculpture had excellent masters, both Florentine and foreign) that it was time to begin, as has been discussed more than once, the creation of the missing two doors of San Giovanni, the oldest and main temple of the city. They decided to inform all the craftsmen, considered the best in Italy, to come to Florence to test them at an exhibition, in which each would present one bronze story, similar to those that Andrea Pisano had once made for the first door 4 . Bartoluccio wrote about this decree to Lorenzo, who worked in Pesaro, persuading him to return to Florence and show himself: after all, this was an opportunity to attract attention and discover his talent, in addition to the fact that such benefit could be derived from it that both of them would never have to make earrings. Bartoluccio's words excited Lorenzo so much that, despite the great caresses that Signor Pandolfo, the painter, and the whole court showered on him, Lorenzo took leave of this signor and the painter, who released him only with difficulty and displeasure, and no promises helped , nor an increase in salary, since every hour that separated Lorenzo from his return to Florence seemed to him like a millennium. So, he left and returned safely to his homeland. Many foreigners had already arrived there, and after they introduced themselves to the consuls of the workshop, seven craftsmen were selected from the total number - three Florentines and the rest Tuscans. They were given a monetary reward, and within a year each had to complete a bronze story of the same size as the stories on the first door, which served as a model. And they decided that the story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac should be depicted, believing that in it the named masters should be able to show everything that concerns the difficulties of art, since such a story includes landscapes, naked and clothed figures, and animals, and it was possible to make the first figures round, the second semi-relief and the third bas-relief. Competing in this work were Filippo di Ser Brunellesco, Donato and Lorenzo di Bartoluccio, Florentines, as well as Jacopo della Quercia, a Sienean, his student Niccolò from Arezzo, Francesco from Valdambrina and Simone from Colle, nicknamed Bronze 5 ; They all made a promise to the consuls to complete the story within the appointed time. And each one set to work on his own with every zeal and diligence, putting all his strength and skill into it in order to surpass each other in perfection, and hiding in the greatest secret what they did so that there were no coincidences. Only Lorenzo, who was led by Bartoluccio, who forced him to work and make many models before they decided to put at least one of them into work, constantly brought townspeople to see the work, sometimes even visitors, if only they understood the matter, so that hear their opinion; and thanks to these opinions he created a model, perfectly executed and flawless. Therefore, after the molds were made and the model was cast in bronze, everything turned out as well as possible, and then he, together with Bartoluccio, his father, polished the bronze with such love and with such patience that better work and a better finish could not have been imagined. And so, when the time came for the competition, the completely finished works of both his and the other masters were submitted to the court of the merchant workshop. When they were all examined by the consuls and many other townspeople, opinions differed. Many foreigners came to Florence, some painters and some sculptors, as well as several goldsmiths, who were summoned by the consuls in order, together with other masters of the same craft who lived in Florence, to pass judgment on these works. They were thirty-four in number, and each was very experienced in his art, and although their opinions differed, for one liked the style of one, and the other - the other, nevertheless they agreed that Filippo di Ser Brunellesco and Lorenzo di Bartoluccio conceived and executed his story better and with better and more numerous figures than Donato did, although the drawing on his story was magnificent. In the story of Jacopo della Quercia, the figures were good, but not distinguished by their subtlety, although they were executed with knowledge of design and with great care. Francesco di Valdambrina's work had good heads and was well polished, but the composition was confused. The work of Simone of Collet was well cast, for he was a master in this art, but the drawing was lame. Niccolò's example from Arezzo, executed with great skill, had heavy figures and was poorly polished. Only the story that Lorenzo presented as a model and which can now be seen in the meeting room of the merchant workshop was perfect in all respects. The entire work had a pattern and was distinguished by excellent composition; the figures in his manner were slender and executed with grace in the most beautiful poses, and it was finished with such care that it seemed not cast from bronze and polished not with iron, but with breath. Donato and Filippa, seeing the skill that Lorenzo put into his work, stepped aside, talked among themselves and decided that the work should be entrusted to Lorenzo, believing that in this way the best service would be rendered to both society and private individuals, since Lorenzo, being barely twenty-year-old youth, will still bring, by improving in this area, those magnificent fruits that are promised in his wonderful history, which he, in their judgment, accomplished much better than everyone else, and saying that to take it away from him would be a manifestation of envy, much moreover nobility, which was manifested in the fact that she was entrusted to him.

So Lorenzo set to work on these doors, located opposite the guardianship of San Giovanni, and made for one door a large wooden frame, exactly as it should have been, with broken pieces, with decorations in the form of heads at the intersections of the frames of individual stories and with those surrounding them friezes. Having made and carefully dried the mold in a room he bought opposite the church of Santa Maria Nuova, where there is now a weavers' hospital called Aia, he built the largest furnace that I remember seeing, and cast the said frame from metal. However, as fate would have it, nothing good came of this, and so, realizing what the mistake was, he did not lose heart and was not at a loss, but, quickly making another mold, so that no one would know about it, he cast again , and he succeeded perfectly. So he finished the whole work, casting each story separately and placing them in their places after cleaning. The distribution of stories was similar to that which Andrea Pisano had done in his time in the first doors, made by him according to a drawing by Giotto. Ghiberti made twenty stories from the New Testament, the continuation of which, as there, was eight of the same panels. Below he depicted four evangelists, two per door, and in a similar way four church fathers, both of them differing from each other in poses and clothes: one writes, another reads, the third reflects, and, differing from one another, they all have their own liveliness are equally well executed. In addition, on the margins of the frame, divided around each story into separate panels, there is a frieze of ivy leaves and other patterns intersected by broken frames; and at every corner there is a perfectly round head of a man or a woman, representing prophets and sibyls, very beautiful and in their diversity showing the full strength of Lorenzo's talent. Above the Church Fathers and Evangelists named above, in four frames, starting from the bottom, on the side facing Santa Maria del Fiore, is placed the beginning, and there in the first panel is the Annunciation of Our Lady, where in the pose of the Virgin herself and in her graceful turn he expressed confusion and sudden fear that overwhelmed her when the angel appeared. Nearby he depicted the Nativity of Christ, with the Mother of God reclining, resting, after childbirth; Joseph is there, contemplating the shepherds and singing angels. On the other hand, that is, on the other door leaf, on the same level, the arrival of the Magi, their worship of Christ and the bringing of gifts is depicted; there is also their retinue, following them with horses and other beasts of burden, executed with great talent. And then, next to it, Christ’s argument in the temple with the scribes is depicted, where the admiration and attention on the part of the scribes is no worse expressed than the joy of Mary and Joseph finding Jesus. The next row begins above the Annunciation with the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan by John, where their movements express the reverence of one and the faith of the other. Next comes the temptation of Christ by the devil, who, frightened by the words of Jesus, makes a frightened movement, thereby revealing that he recognized him as the son of God. Nearby, on the other hand, Christ expels the merchants from the temple, overturning the tables of the money changers, scattering sacrificial animals and doves and scattering other goods, while the figures falling one on top of the other have a very beautiful and thoughtful expressiveness in their rapid fall. Further, Lorenzo, in the next panel, depicted the wreck of the boat of the apostles, where Christ raises Peter, who leaves the sinking ship. This story is replete with various movements of the apostles saving the boat, but the faith of St. Peter is recognized in his movement towards Christ. The next row on the other door begins with the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, where Lorenzo expressed in the poses of the three apostles how heavenly visions blind the eyes of mortals; likewise, the divine nature of Christ, standing between Elijah and Moses, is expressed by his high head and wide open arms. Nearby is the Resurrection of Lazarus, who, emerging from the tomb with swaddled arms and legs, stands at full height to the surprise of those present; and there Martha and Mary Magdalene, with humility and the greatest reverence, kissing the feet of the Lord. Next to it follows, on the other door, the Entrance of the Donkey into Jerusalem, when the Jewish children in various poses spread out their clothes in front of him and scatter olive and palm branches, not to mention the apostles following the Savior. Nearby is the Supper of the Apostles, extremely beautiful and well composed, where they are depicted at a long table, with half of them sitting indoors and half outside. Above the Transfiguration - Prayer in the garden, where the state of sleep is shown in three different poses of the apostles. And then, next to this, the captivity of Christ and the kiss of Judas are depicted, where much is worthy of attention, for there are also fleeing apostles and Jews, grabbing Christ with very sharp and strong movements. On the other side, next to this story, Jesus Christ is depicted tied to a pole, and his figure, evoking compassion with his entire pose, slightly wriggles in pain under the blows, and the Jews, scourging him, show in their movements both rage and frightening vindictiveness. Nearby is depicted how he is brought to Pilate, who washes his hands and sentences him to crucifixion. Above the Prayer in the garden, on the other side, in the last row, is Christ, who carries a cross and is led to death by a crowd of soldiers, depicted in unusual poses so that it seems as if they are dragging him by force; not to mention the crying and grief of Mary, expressed in their gestures in such a way that even an eyewitness could not have seen them better. Next to this, he depicted the crucified Christ, on the ground in mournful poses and full of despair, the Mother of God and St. John the Evangelist. This is followed on the other side by the Resurrection, where the guards, stunned by thunder, are motionless as if dead, while Christ ascends in such a position that he seems already enlightened by the beauty and perfection of his body, created by the efforts and great ingenuity of Lorenzo. The last panel depicts the Descent of St. Spirit, where the attention and movement of those on whom it descends are expressed with extraordinary softness. So this work was completed and brought to perfection, and Lorenzo did not spare either his labor or the time required for metal work. If we pay attention to the fact that the naked bodies are beautiful in all respects, although the clothes are still in some ways close to the old techniques of Giotto, then the whole is still closer to the modern style, and a certain very captivating grace is manifested in the grandeur of the figures. And truly the composition of each story is so strict and harmonious that Lorenzo deservedly received the praise that Philippe gave him at the very beginning, and even more. And thus he was recognized with the greatest honor by his fellow citizens and showered with the highest praise both from them and from artists local and foreign. The cost of this work, including the outer frame, which was also cast in bronze, together with its chased garlands of fruits and animals, was twenty-two thousand florins, and the weight of the metal door was thirty-four thousand pounds.

When this work was completed, the consuls of the merchant's workshop recognized that their order was carried out perfectly, and, taking into account the unanimous praise, they decided to entrust Lorenzo with a niche in one of the pillars on the façade of Orsanmichele, namely for the one allocated to the shearers' workshop, a bronze statue of four and a half cubits in memory of St. John the Baptist, which he began, and never left it until he finished it 6 . In this work, which was and is still praised, he wrote his name on the cloak in the form of a border of letters. In this statue, erected in 1414, one can see the beginning of a good new manner in the head, in one of the arms, which seems bodily, in the hands and in the whole pose of the figure. Thus he was the first to imitate the works of the ancient Romans, which he studied very carefully, as anyone who wants to do good work should do. On the pediment of this tabernacle, he tried his hand at mosaics, depicting the half-length figure of the prophet. 7 .

Lorenzo's fame as a most skilful caster had already spread throughout Italy and beyond its borders, so much so that when Jacopo della Fonte and Vecchietta of Sienese, as well as Donato 8 performed for the Siena Signoria in their (sic! – OCR) San Giovanni several bronze stories and figures that were supposed to decorate the font of this temple, and when the Sienese saw the work of Lorenzo in Florence, they conspired with him and ordered him two stories from the life of St. John the Baptist. On one of these stories he depicted the Baptism of Christ, providing it with numerous figures, naked and very richly dressed, and on the other - as St. John is captured and taken to Herod 9 . In these stories he surpassed and defeated the others who completed other stories, and therefore received the highest praise both from the Sienese and from the others who saw this. When the masters of the Florentine Mint decided to place in one of the niches around Orsanmichele, namely opposite the woolen workshop, a statue of St. Matthew of the same height as the above-mentioned St. John, they ordered it to Lorenzo, who executed it to perfection, and for it he was praised much more than for St. John, for he made it more new. This statue served as the reason for the consuls of the woolen workshop to make another statue in the same place, in another neighboring niche, also in bronze and in the same proportions as the previous two - St. Stephen, their representative, and he completed this statue too, covering the bronze with a very beautiful varnish. They were no less pleased with this statue than with other works he had completed before. 10 .

The general of the preaching brothers at that time was Master Leonardo Dati, and in order to leave in Santa Maria Novella, where he took vows, a memory of his homeland, he ordered Lorenzo a bronze tomb on which he was to be depicted from life as the deceased. She liked it and received approval, and as a result, another one was created in Santa Croce, commissioned by Lodovico degli Albizi and Niccolò Valori. After this, Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici, wishing to honor the remains and relics of the three martyrs - Protus, Hyacinth and Nemesius - ordered the delivery of these relics from Casentino, where they had been kept for many years without sufficient veneration, and commissioned Lorenzo to make a metal shrine with two bas-relief angels in the middle, carrying an olive garland, inside of which are written the names of the named martyrs 11 . The relics were placed in this reliquary and placed in the church of the monastery of degli Angeli in Florence with the following words carved on the marble below, on the side of the monastic church: Clarissimi viri Cosmas el Laurenlius fratres neglectas diu Sanctorum reliquiae Martyrum religiose studio ac fidelissima pielate suis sumptibus aereis loculis condendas colendasque curarunt 12 . And on the outside, opposite the church facing the street, under the coat of arms with balls, the following words are also carved in marble: Hic condila sunt corpora Sanctorum Christi Martyrum Prothi et Hyacinthi et Nemesii. Ann. Dom. MCCCC XXVIII 13 . And since this tomb turned out to be very worthy, the trustees of the Cathedral of Sita Maria del Fiore began to want to order a shrine and a bronze tomb for the ashes of St. Zinovia 14 , Bishop of Florence, three and a half cubits long and two cubits high, on which, in addition to the frame with all its various decorations, he depicted in front on the shrine itself the story of the resurrection of St. Zinoviy, a boy left by his mother in his care and who died while she was on a pilgrimage. Another story shows another boy dying under a cart and St. Zinovy ​​resurrects one of the two saints sent to him. Ambrose monks, one of whom died in the Alps, the other grieves for him before St. Zinoviy, who, taking pity on him, says: “Go, he’s sleeping. You will find him alive." And on the back of the shrine are six angels carrying a garland of elm leaves, on which letters are carved in memory and honor of this saint. This work he carried out and completed with all sorts of ingenious diligence and skill, which is why it deserved extraordinary praise for its beauty.

While Lorenzo's works brought him more and more every day great fame, for he served an infinite number of people with his works, making them both in bronze and in silver and gold, a very large carnelian gem fell into the hands of Giovanni, son of Cosimo de' Medici 15 , on which Apollo was carved flaying Marsyas, and which, as they say, served as a seal for the Emperor Nero; and since this stone was a rare thing in its size and in its wonderful carving, Giovanni gave it to Lorenzo so that he could make a carved gold frame for it, and he, after working for many months, completely completed it, creating a work that, in terms of quality and perfection of carving, in no way inferior to the carvings on the stone itself. This work gave rise to the fact that he made many other things from gold and silver, now lost. In the same way, from gold he made a button for Pope Martin for his chasuble, with round relief figures set with precious stones of enormous value, an excellent thing. And also a most wonderful miter with golden leaves, and among them many very round figures, considered the most beautiful, and in addition to fame, he received great benefit from this thanks to the generosity of the pope.

In 1439, Pope Eugene arrived in Florence, where a council was taking place to reunite the Greek Church with the Roman Church. Having seen the work of Lorenzo, which he liked no less than Lorenzo himself, he ordered him a miter of fifteen pounds of gold and of pearls weighing five and a half pounds, which was valued, together with the precious stones set in it, at thirty thousand ducats in gold 16 . They say that this thing contained six pearls the size of a hazelnut, and, judging by the later drawing, it was impossible to imagine more beautiful and more intricate patterns entwined with precious stones, and a greater variety of all sorts of puttas and other figures that made up the numerous varied and graceful decorations, for which he and his comrades received from the pope, in addition to the agreed amount, countless proofs of his mercy.

Florence received so much praise for the excellent work of this most talented artist that the consuls of the merchant guild decided to order him the third door of San Giovanni, also in bronze. 17 . And since he made the first ones according to their instructions and decorated them with ornaments framing the figures and encircling the panel of all the doors, as was the case with Andrea Pisano, and seeing how much Lorenzo surpassed Andrea in this, the consuls decided to replace the middle doors of Andrea and move them to the place of the doors , located opposite the Misericordia, and Lorenzo to order new middle doors, for they believed that he would make all the efforts possible in this art, and gave him complete freedom, allowing him to do as he wanted and as, in his opinion opinion, the most elegant, the richest, the most perfect and the most beautiful doors that he could or was able to imagine should be obtained, and so that, without sparing either time or expense, he would surpass and defeat all his other own works, just like so far he has defeated other sculptors.

Lorenzo began this work, investing in it all the extensive knowledge that he possessed.

And so he divided the doors into ten rectangles, five per door, so that each story had one and a third cubits of light, and all around, in the frame of the canvas that encircles all the stories, there are niches, vertical and filled with almost round figures, there are twenty of them in total , and they are all very beautiful. Like, for example, the naked Samson, hugging a column, holding his jaw in his hand and showing a perfection, higher than which can only be found in the bronze or marble Hercules created by the ancients, and like Joshua, who in the pose of an orator, as if alive, addresses the troops, not not to mention the numerous prophets and sibyls, adorned with equally varied clothes, headdresses, hairstyles and other outfits, and not to mention the twelve reclining figures in niches located in the transverse frame of the stories, and at the corners of these frames, he placed heads in the tondo women, young men and old men, thirty-four in number, among whom in the middle of these doors, near his name carved there, he depicted his father Bartoluccio; the younger one is Lorenzo himself, his son, the master of the entire work, and all this, not counting the great variety of foliage, broken pieces and other decorations, was executed with the greatest skill.

The stories on this door are from the Old Testament. The first depicts the creation of Adam and his wife Eve, executed with the greatest perfection. It can be seen that Lorenzo tried to make their bodies as beautiful as he could, wanting to show that, just as the human bodies that came out of the hands of the Lord were the most beautiful figures that he ever created, so these figures that came out of the hands of artist, should have surpassed all others created by him in his other works. The consideration is truly the greatest in its meaning. In the same story, he depicted how they eat an apple, and at the same time their expulsion from paradise and their figures in these actions perfectly express first the consciousness of their sinfulness and shame, covered with their hands, and then repentance when the angel expels them from paradise . The second panel depicts Adam and Eve with the little Cain and Abel who were born to them, and it is also depicted how Abel makes a sacrifice from the best first fruits, and Cain from those that are worse; and in the movements of Cain, envy of one’s neighbor is expressed, and in Abel, love for God. But it is especially beautifully depicted how Cain plows the land on a pair of oxen, which drag a plow in a yoke and whose efforts seem real and natural; the same is Abel, tending the flock when Cain kills him, and we see how mercilessly and cruelly he hits his brother with a club and how bronze itself reveals the exhaustion of dead limbs in the most beautiful figure of Abel; and in the distance, in flat relief, is a god asking Cain what he did to Abel. Thus, each panel contains the content of four stories. In the third panel, Lorenzo depicted Noah coming out of the ark with his wife, sons, daughters and daughters-in-law, and with them all the animals, both feathered and land, and each of its kind was sculpted with the greatest perfection accessible to art imitating nature , we see the ark open, and in perspective, in the flattest relief, the corpses of the drowned, and all this is done with such grace that it is difficult to express, not to mention the fact that there is nothing more alive and moving than the figure of Noah and his loved ones, and cannot be. When he makes a sacrifice, we see a rainbow - a sign of God’s reconciliation with Noah. But more excellent than anything else is the scene where he plants grapes and, drunk with wine, shows his shame, and Ham, his son, mocks him. And truly it is impossible to depict the sleeping person better, and we see the exhaustion of the intoxicated body and the respect and love in his other two sons, who cover him with beautiful movements. In addition, there are depicted a barrel, grape branches and other accessories for harvesting grapes, made with great observation and located in appropriate places so that they do not block the story, but greatly decorate it. In the fourth story, Lorenzo wanted to depict the appearance of three angels in the valley of Mamre, making them similar to one another, and the reverence of the holy elder before them is very convincingly and vividly expressed in the movement of his hands and his face. In addition, with excellent expressiveness he sculpted his servants, who at the foot of the mountain with a donkey are waiting for Abraham, who has gone to sacrifice his son. The naked boy is already on the altar, the father has already raised his hand and is ready to obey, but he is stopped by an angel, who holds him with one hand, points to the sacrificial lamb with the other, and saves Isaac from death. This story is truly beautiful, because, among other things, one can see the huge difference between the tender members of Isaac and the rougher ones of the servants, and it seems that there is not a single line there that is not drawn with the greatest art. As for the difficulties with the depiction of buildings, here too Lorenzo has surpassed himself in this work: both where Isaac, Jacob and Esau are born, and where Esau hunts, fulfilling the will of his father, and Jacob, taught by Rebekah, serves a roast kid , wrapped in his skin, and Isaac gropes him and blesses him. The dogs in this story are beautifully and naturally depicted, and the figures themselves produce the same impression that a living Jacob, Isaac, and Rebekah would produce by their actions. Encouraged by the study of art, thanks to which it became increasingly easier for him, Lorenzo tried his talent in things more intricate and difficult. In fact, in the sixth panel he depicted how the brothers put Joseph in a well, how they sell him to merchants and how they give him to Pharaoh, to whom he explains a dream about famine and advises him to make provisions to prevent it, and how Pharaoh showers him with honors. It also depicts how Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for grain, how Joseph recognizes them and sends them back for their father. In this story, Lorenzo depicted a round temple in perspective, which was a very difficult task, but inside it were figures in different positions, loading grain and flour, as well as unusual-looking donkeys. Likewise, it depicts the feast that he gives them, as well as how the golden cup is hidden in Benjamin’s sack, how it is found, and how Joseph embraces and recognizes the brothers. This story, in its expressiveness and abundance of images, is considered the most successful, the most difficult and the most beautiful among all his works.

And indeed, Lorenzo, with his wonderful talent and with his inherent excellent grace in this field of sculpture, could not help but create the most beautiful figures whenever the compositions of these beautiful stories occurred to him, as is revealed in the seventh panel, where he depicts Mount Sinai and on top of it is a kneeling Moses, reverently accepting laws from God. On the half-mountain stands Joshua, waiting for him, and at the foot of it all the people, frightened by thunder, lightning and an earthquake, in different positions, performed with the greatest liveliness. He followed this with zeal and great love in the eighth panel, where he depicted how Joshua went to Jericho, turned the flow of the Jordan back and pitched twelve tents, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. The figures there are very lively, but more beautiful than their figures are in low relief, where they with the Ark of the Covenant walk around the walls of the above-mentioned city, from the sound of trumpets the walls collapse and the Jews take possession of Jericho. The landscape there shrinks and the relief becomes more and more flat, which is strictly observed from the first figures to the mountains, and from the mountains to the city, and from the city to the distant landscape depicted completely flat, and all this with great perfection. And since Lorenzo became more and more experienced in this art day by day, we then see on the ninth panel the murder of the giant Goliath, whose head David cuts off with a youthful and courageous movement, and the army of God defeating the army of the Philistines, where Lorenzo depicted horses, carts and other military equipment. He then depicted David returning with the head of Goliath in his hand, and the people greeting him with music and singing, all expressed convincingly and vividly. It remained for Lorenzo to do everything he could in the tenth and last story, where the Queen of Sheba with a huge retinue visits Solomon. Here he depicted in perspective a very beautiful building and all the other figures in the same way as in previous stories, and in addition, the ornament of the architraves surrounding the said doors with fruits and garlands was made with his usual good quality.

In this work, both in its individual parts and as a whole, it is revealed what the skill and efforts of an artist-sculptor can achieve in relation to figures of almost round, semi-relief, bas-relief and the flattest ones, if he has ingenuity both in the combination of figures and in in the choice of extraordinary poses of women and men, and in the variety of buildings and perspectives, and, finally, in maintaining an equally graceful appearance for figures of both sexes, so that in the whole work as a whole the old people are depicted as full of dignity, and the young ones - full of grace and charm. And truly it can be said that this work is perfect in all its parts and that it is the most beautiful creation in the whole world that has ever been seen either by the ancients or by our contemporaries. And Lorenzo is probably worthy of praise if one day Michelangelo Buonarroti, when he stopped to look at this work and someone asked him whether, in his opinion, these doors were beautiful, answered: “They are so beautiful that they would be worthy of becoming a gate.” paradise,” praise truly deserved and expressed by those who could judge it. However, Lorenzo was able to complete them because he was twenty years old when he began them, and because he worked on them for forty years with exorbitant effort.

In finishing and polishing this work after casting, many helped Lorenzo - then young, who later became excellent craftsmen, namely the jewelers Filippo Brunellesco, Masolino da Panicale, Niccolò Lamberti, as well as Parry Spinelli, Antonio Filarete, Paolo Uccello, Antonio del Pollaiolo 18 , who was at that time still quite a youth, and many others who, working together on this work and discussing it, as they do when working together, brought no less benefit to themselves than Lorenzo. To the latter, in addition to the reward received from the consuls, the Signoria presented an excellent estate near the Abbey of Settimo. It did not take long before he was elected a member of the Signoria, having the honor of holding the highest office in his city. For this, the Florentines deserve as much praise and gratitude as they deserve blame for their ingratitude towards other outstanding people of their homeland.

After this most amazing creation, Lorenzo made a bronze frame for that door of the same temple that opposite the Misericordia, with that wonderful foliage, which he did not have time to finish, since death unexpectedly overtook him, when he had conceived and had almost completed the model for remaking this door , previously executed by Andrea Pisano. This model is now lost, but in my youth I saw it in Borgo Allegri, before Lorenzo’s descendants allowed it to perish.

Lorenzo had a son named Bonaccorso 19 , who completed the frieze and the remaining unfinished frame with his own hand and with the greatest care. The frame of which I speak is the rarest and most wonderful work of bronze that can ever be seen. After this, Bonaccorso did not do much, since he died young, but he could have done it, since he was bequeathed the secret of fine casting, and with it the skill and method of making metal through in the same way as we see in the things left by Lorenzo . The latter, in addition to his own works, left to his heirs many antiquities made of marble and bronze, such as, for example, the bed of Polykleitos - a very rare thing - a bronze leg of natural size, several male and female heads and several vases, ordered by him from Greece at an expensive price. He also left several torsos and many other things, and all this, together with Lorenzo’s property, was squandered, and partly sold to Messer Giovanni Gaddi, who was at that time a chamber cleric, among other things, the said bed of Polykleitos and other best things 20 . Bonaccorso left behind a son named Vittorio, who was engaged in sculpture, but without much sense, as can be judged by the heads he made in Naples for the palace of the Duke of Gravina, which are not very good, for he never practiced art with love or diligence , but only squandered the fortune and everything else left to him by his father and grandfather. After all, when he went to Ascoli as an architect under Pope Paul III, one of his servants stabbed him there one night for the purpose of robbery. So the family of Lorenzo died out, but not his glory, which will live forever 21 .

Let us return, however, to Lorenzo himself. Throughout his life he did many things, he loved painting, as well as glass work, and in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore he made the eyes around the dome, with the exception of the one made by Donato, the one where Christ crowns the Virgin. In the same way, Lorenzo completed the three above the main doors of the same Santa Maria del Fiore, and all the peepholes of the chapels and apse, as well as the peephole of the front facade of Santa Croce 22 . In Arezzo he executed a window for the main chapel of the parish church with the Marriage of Our Lady, as well as a window with two other figures for Lazzaro di Feo di Baccio, a very wealthy merchant 23 . But since it was all made of Venetian glass, painted too thickly, the rooms turned out to be darker than expected. Lorenzo was appointed assistant to Brunellesco when he was entrusted with the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, but was later recalled, as will be related in the life of Filippo.

This same Lorenzo wrote an essay in Italian, in which he talks about many different things, but in such a way that you won’t find much harmony there 24 . In my opinion, the only good thing is that after discussing many ancient painters and mainly those whom Pliny talks about, he briefly mentions Cimabuya, Giotto and many other of their contemporaries, and he did this with much greater brevity, than was necessary, only for the sake of deftly moving on to talking about himself and telling in detail, as he did, about all his works in turn. I will not pass over in silence the fact that he pretends that the book was written by others, and then, as he writes it, and being a man who knows how to draw, work with a chisel and cast bronze better than weave stories, he, narrating about himself , says in the first person: “I did,” “I said,” “I did and said.”

In the end, having reached the sixty-fourth year of his life, he died of a severe and prolonged fever, leaving behind him immortal glory in the works he created and the works written about them, and was buried with honors in Santa Croce 25 . His image in the form of a bald man is on the frame of the main bronze doors of the temple of San Giovanni and falls exactly in the middle of the frame when the doors are closed, next to him is Bartoluccio, his father, and next to them you can read the following words: Laurentii Cionis de Ghibertis mira arte fabricatum 26 .

Lorenzo's drawings were most excellent, and he executed them with great relief, as can be seen in our book of drawings on the Evangelist by his work and in several other drawings, excellently executed in chiaroscuro. His father Bartoluccio also drew competently, as can be judged by another Evangelist he drew in the same book, which, however, is much worse than Lorenzo’s Evangelist. These drawings 27 together with several drawings by Giotto and others, I received in 1528 from Vittorio Ghiberti, and I have always treated them and still treat them with great respect, both because they are beautiful and in memory of such people. And if, when I was friends and communicated with Vittorio, I knew what I know now, I would easily have received many other truly wonderful things from Lorenzo’s heritage. Of the numerous poems, both Latin and Italian, created at different times in praise of Lorenzo, it will be enough, so as not to bother the reader, to quote the following:

Dum cernit valvas aurato ex aere nitentes
In templo, Michael Angelus obstupuit:
Attonitusque diu, sic alta silentia rupit:
O divinum opus! O janua digna polo! 28

He was fascinated by the theoretical problems of art. In 1445, Ghiberti, one of the most educated people of his time, began work on “ Comments" There are three of them in total, and not a single essay is finished. First "Commentary" dedicated to history ancient art, is clearly unsuccessful. The third “Commentary” is also not of particular interest. But the second one, completed in 1447-1448, is of exceptional importance. and dedicated to history Italian art. This Commentary concludes with Ghiberti's detailed autobiography, the first known autobiography of a Renaissance artist.

A crater on Mercury is named after Ghiberti.

Baptistery in Florence

Ghiberti's father was the son of a notary, his mother was a peasant woman. She left her husband, moved to Florence and here she met the jeweler Bartolo di Michele detto Bartoluccio, in whose workshop the young Ghiberti received his artistic education. Brunelleschi and Donatello also began their activities in jewelry, but then they decisively broke with its traditions. Ghiberti, on the other hand, remained a goldsmith throughout his life, even when he carried out large monumental commissions. He most of all valued the elegance of finely finished form, the smooth flow of lines, and the harmony of a carefully weighed composition. It is not for nothing that in his “Comments” he so glorifies the Cologne master Gusmin (died ca. 1420), who worked for Louis II of Anjou, brother of the French king Charles V, Jean of Berry and Philip of Burgundy358. Ghiberti saw Gusmin's jewelry and was delighted with its exquisite craftsmanship. Around 1400, Ghiberti apparently became acquainted with the work of French jewelers of the 70-90s of the 14th century, which largely determined the style of his competition relief from 1402.

After the death of his stepfather in 1422, Ghiberti headed a large workshop specializing in bronze casting. Donatello, Ciuffagni, Michelozzo, Paolo Uccello, Masolino passed through it. It was one of the largest artistic centers in Florence, sensitive to changing tastes. An excellent organizer, Ghiberti managed to organize the work in such a way that the individual handwriting of his assistants was completely dissolved in the general style.

Ghiberti's main customers were the Signoria and the richest guilds (Kalimala, Seta, Cambio). Connected with his hometown by thousands of threads, Ghiberti rarely left it (short trips to Pesaro, Venice, Siena, Pisa, two visits to Rome in 1416 (?) and c. 1429). He was lucky in life, his works were invariably liked by customers; Although he was not a professional architect, he was for a long time involved in the construction of the dome of the Florence Cathedral. He could write with satisfaction in his Commentaries: “There are few significant things done on our land that were not drawn or installed by my hand.”359 All this led to Ghiberti's rapid enrichment. Unlike the unmercenary Donatello, he became a rich man who bought up plots of land and amassed a first-class collection of antiques360. Having become close to humanist circles in the 20s and 30s, Ghiberti constantly exchanged ideas with them and borrowed a lot from their vocabulary. But he never became a learned humanist, even when, around 1447, he began writing three books of his “Commentarii”, where he outlined the history of ancient art, Italian art of the 13th-14th centuries and prepared quotation material from Vitruvius, Alhazen, Avicenna, Averroes, Vitelo, Pekama and Bacon for a theoretical essay361. As a scientist, Ghiberti remained an amateur, although he would never have agreed with this. He did not know Greek (he knew only Latin) and was infinitely inferior to Brunelleschi in the fields of mathematics, geometry, optics and mechanics. His element was the rich artistic experience, and not its theoretical generalization. Intelligent, lively and judicious, he was unusually receptive to the most diverse trends of his time, striving to fuse them together in a very special “Ghibertian” style. It happily combined the main features of the Florentine character.

It is significant that Ghiberti himself most of all valued himself as a jeweler and creator of picturesque relief. He writes almost nothing about his statues. But he informs you in detail about his jewelry, not forgetting to mention the nature of the material used, its weight, its price, and the selection precious stones, which were his weakness, about the degree of subtlety of the work. Ghiberti transferred all these skills of a jeweler into monumental plastic, which left a very special stamp on it.

The earliest undisputed work by Ghiberti is a competition relief from 1402. We have already talked about him (pp. 42-43) - When Ghiberti worked on him, he was only twenty-four years old. The early maturity of the master is striking362. As R. Krautheimer363 convincingly showed, Ghiberti in this relief reveals a thorough acquaintance with Franco-Burgundian jewelry of the 70-90s of the 14th century - the finest detailing of faces with pointed graceful features, emphasizing the bones, smooth, linear type, as if faceted folds. Only Ghiberti’s figures are more slender, they are more freely deployed in space, and there is more perceptibility in them. Ghiberti was inspired not only by the local post-Gothic traditions, but also used the experience of French jewelers, who were famous throughout the world for the exceptional care in making their miniature products.

Simultaneously with the work on the second doors of the baptistery, Ghiberti cast two bronze statues for Or San Michele - John the Baptist (1412-1416) and the Apostle Matthew (1419-1422). Their customers were the rich workshops of Kalimala and Cambio. The first of the statues is a typical example of international Gothic, which captured Florence in the orbit of its powerful influence, as evidenced, in particular, by the works of Lorenzo Monaco after 1404 (cf. t. g, pp. 204-210), which are convincing stylistic a parallel to the works of Ghiberti from the end of the first decade - the first half of the second. The figure of John stands in a niche of Gothic form, in size it surpasses all earlier statues cast in bronze. The weight of the body rests on the left leg, the right leg is slightly set back. But the motive of the movement is almost not revealed, since the figure, devoid of contrapposto, seems to be unfolded on a plane, moreover, it is hidden behind the robe. The latter breaks up into smooth parabolic folds - a favorite motif of late Gothic sculptors. All forms are made with jewelry care, this is especially reflected in the finishing of the hair and the hair shirt visible from under the cloak. The inexpressive face has a shade of that impersonality that Nanni and Donatello were the first to overcome. Ghibertius's statue of John the Baptist is perceived as a historical anachronism, especially when one remembers that at the time of its creation Nanni's Philip and Donatello's Marcus were already completed.

We find the same passion for the melodic flow of lines in the statue of St. Stephen, executed between 1425-1429 for the same Or San Michele, commissioned by the powerful workshop of Lana. This somewhat limp statue clearly demonstrates how difficult it was for Ghiberti to break with the “soft style”, even after he paid tribute to the new direction. And that he looked closely at him is shown by an earlier statue of the Apostle Matthew (1419-1422). Here all the forms, including the shape of the niche, are simplified, the figure gains in monumentality, becomes larger in size and more stable, the right leg is slightly set back, while the right shoulder is slightly extended; the pose was inspired by the statues of Roman orators and poets, the arms and legs became stronger, the shoulders became straighter, the drapery more rounded and full. Ghiberti seemed to realize that Donatello’s “Marcus” and “John” are already facts of the past and that they cannot be ignored. However, he does not abandon his favorite linearity of folds and that very special finishing of the form, which in this monumental figure reveals the hand of a jeweler who is accustomed to ziselize bronze as if he were dealing with gold. And in the statue of Matthew, the face lacks “character”, which makes it much inferior to the powerful images of Donatello.

Work on the statues of John the Baptist and Matthew coincided with work on one of Ghiberti's main works - the second doors of the Florentine Baptistery, on which he worked with a large staff of assistants between 1404 and 1424. The creative process proceeded very slowly (on average three reliefs were completed per year). By 1415, most of the reliefs had been cast, but their finishing took nine years (I4I5-I424) - The figures and background were made separately and only then combined. This method of work contradicted the basic principles of pictorial relief and greatly delayed its development. In the second doors we find only the beginnings of a picturesque relief (and then only in the most recent scenes), but in general here general character The relief continues the tradition of Andrea Pisano. Only in the third door will the picturesque relief receive a classical form of expression.

At first, it was planned to place scenes from the Old Testament on the second doors, but this idea was abandoned no later than 1404, when they decided to focus on the New Testament cycle. Scenes should be "read" from left to right within each register and then move on to the register above. This arrangement symbolized the ascent through the steps of redemption. The final scenes of the Christological cycle are placed in the uppermost register. The story begins with the Annunciation and ends with the Descent of St. spirit." The two lower registers feature the seated evangelists and the four church fathers (Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, and Ambrose). All the figures, as well as the heads of the prophets and sibyls inserted into the frame, were gilded, clearly standing out against the neutral background of bronze. On the left door leaf, Ghiberti, proud of his work, gave a self-portrait in the image of one of the prophets. The frames of each of the reliefs and the door portal are richly decorated with plant motifs dating back to French traditions.

When Ghiberti was working on the reliefs of the second doors of the baptistery, “international Gothic” was flourishing in Florence and the new Renaissance art was just taking its first steps. Both in his statue of John the Baptist and in the reliefs of the second doors, Ghiberti is a convinced adherent of the Gothic understanding of form. But evolution is taking place, albeit slowly, without sudden leaps, without revolutionary innovations. The early group of reliefs (“Annunciation”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Baptism”, “Prayer of the Cup”), which appeared around 1404-1407, is in many ways similar to the style of the competition relief. The same graceful figures, the same melodic, smooth folds. Only the draperies became a little softer and the linear cutting of the form became somewhat stronger. Then we observe the growth of the features of “international Gothic”, reflected, as in Lorenzo Monaco, in a pronounced attraction to curvilinear, curved lines that neutralize the volume of figures (“Twelve-year-old Christ in the Temple”, “Transfiguration”, “Crucifixion”, etc.) . The work was carried out especially intensively between 1413 and 1416, when two thirds of all reliefs were completed. Apparently, the last scenes to be composed were “The Betrayal of Judas,” “The Procession to Golgotha,” “The Flagellation of Christ,” “The Descent of St. spirit." Here the clothes are better coordinated with the motive of the figures’ movement, the number of plans increases, the most distant of which is given in low relief, paving the way for the artistic solutions of the third doors. Most of the heads of the prophets were completed after 1415. Among these heads there are many inspired by ancient examples - Roman sarcophagi and Roman portraits (in particular, portraits of Socrates and Caesar). These are Ghiberti's first timid steps to assimilate the ancient heritage. He does this very tactfully, subordinating the ancient details to his plan. From the ancient heritage he takes only what suits him and what does not violate the stylistic structure of his own forms.

The reliefs of the second doors, like Andrea Pisano's first doors, are inscribed in a very complex and capricious form of Gothic quadrifolia, in which four arcs alternate with four triangles. It is extremely difficult to successfully fill such a field with figures, and Ghiberti coped with this task brilliantly. His compositions are distinguished by amazing variety and elasticity, although he uses very little low relief and his architectural scenes are usually given in the same high relief. Ghiberti builds his compositions in such a way that they curved lines echo the smooth arcs of the frame, and the straight lines echo the outlines of sharp triangles. To do this, he uses the inclinations of the figures, their bends, the rounding folds of their draperies, and the verticals of the architectural scenes. There seems to be not a single detail or accessory that he would not play with great art in his compositions, always carefully weighed. And if some compositions suffer from overload, then this depended on the nature of the theme itself, and not on the individual desire of the artist. He himself undoubtedly preferred compositions with a small number of figures that did not overload the quadrifolium field. In Ghiberti's reliefs, as in the Trecentist paintings, there remains much that is unclear and ambiguous in the relationships of figures, objects and scenes in space. There are no clear spatial structures so characteristic of Renaissance reliefs and paintings. But even within the confines of such a pictorial system, the master manages to achieve a certain clarity and visibility. The figures of the evangelists and church fathers, given in lower relief, are especially good. Here the master’s remarkable compositional gift for unfolding a figure on a plane, without impoverishing the motive of movement, is fully revealed. In addition, these figures, like those located below, are distinguished by a special fineness of decoration, to which the jeweler Ghiberti always attached exceptional importance.

The second doors of the baptistery gravitate more towards the artistic culture of the Trecento than to the Renaissance movement that was just beginning to take shape. And Ghiberti himself, with his observant and lively mind, should have understood this well. Brunelleschi's early buildings, the first realistic statues of Nanni and Donatello, the discovery and geometric justification of perspective by Filippo (c. 1425), the appearance in Florence of Alberti, who easily assimilated Brunelleschi's new ideas, which he summarized in a treatise on painting completed in 1436, rapid successes Florentine humanism, the fascination of humanistic circles with ancient art, the creation of the first pictorial relief by Donatello around 1417 - all this could not help but give Ghiberti the idea of ​​the need to somehow respond to these innovations, but to respond in such a way as not to lose his individuality and not sacrifice his hobbies of his youth. This was a difficult task that could give rise to a conflict situation. But not for such an integral and balanced nature as Ghiberti. He mastered it as a result of diligent, unhurried work, as a result of lively communication with people of a new type, as a result of a happy natural gift for merging into a harmonious whole the most contradictory elements that for anyone else would have been incompatible. This reflected the strong character of Ghiberti, who from a young age had his own firmly established aesthetic ideals.

Very interesting are two reliefs made by Ghiberti for the font of the Siena Baptistery. The first relief (“John the Baptist before Herod”) was started around 1420 and completed by 1427; the master began the second relief (“Baptism”), completed by the same date, a little later - around 1424. At this time, an extremely important turning point occurred in the development of the Hibertiian pictorial relief. The scene “John the Baptist before Herod” is, in principle, not much different from the scene of the second doors of the baptistery (“Christ before Pilate”), which is similar in general compositional structure. The same figures in high relief, the same podium placed at an angle. Only the architectural backdrop has become more complex, in which the background is in low relief. The relief depicting the “Baptism” was designed in a completely different way. Here the figures, having lost their volumetric-statuary character, are already inseparable from the background against which clouds and angels are depicted in the rilievo schiacciato technique - an innovation that formed the basis for the picturesque relief of the third doors of the baptistery. In his interpretation of the foreground figures, Ghiberti fully preserves his favorite features - grace of proportions, fragility of the physique, melodic play of lines.

The same phase in the development of Ghibertian pictorial relief is represented by the Cassa (cancer) dei Santi Proto, Giacinto e Nemesio from the Florentine church of Santa Maria degli Angeli (1426-1428; now kept in the Bargello). Cast from bronze, the reliquary at first glance reveals the hand of a jeweler, and, moreover, a jeweler who had excellent taste. Very beautiful in proportions, it is decorated on the front side with lovely figures of flying angels, who carry a garland with a Latin inscription. Light, flowing robes anticipate the style of drapery of the second half of the 15th century, and the low relief and skillfully used bold angles are the style of the reliefs of the third doors of the baptistery. These trends will get in them further development, as in the Cassa di San Zenobio in the Florence Cathedral (1432-1442, the main relief depicting the “Miracle of the Boy of the Strozzi Family” was cast in 1439). In cancer St. Zinovy, the side walls are decorated with scenes from the life of the saint (“The Miracle of the Crushed Cart” and “The Miracle of the Servant”), and the front side is decorated with figures of six flying angels carrying a garland with a Latin inscription. Work on the shrine coincided with years of work on the reliefs of the third doors. Here we can talk about the identity of the style, a completely established style of pictorial relief.

The main relief with many figures is built according to all the rules of perspective. The background is designed in the form of a landscape and two architectural complexes. I would like to dwell on the latter in more detail, since Ghiberti gave them general great importance, as evidenced by such reliefs of the third doors as “The History of Isaac”, “The History of Joseph”, “The History of Joshua” and “The Meeting of the Queen of Sheba with Solomon”366. According to Ghiberti, the scenes, designed to create an impression of depth, determined the relationships through which “stories” (that is, the collection of figures and objects) became proportionate to the human eye(“colla ragione die l"occhio gli misura)366. Ghiberti’s architecture is very special. It is undoubtedly inspired by early examples of Brunelleschi’s work. Ghiberti understood very well that Filippo highly valued the plane of the wall, not burdened with any unnecessary divisions and decorations. But that’s it he goes even further. The buildings in his architectural scenes are very unique. They are devoid of any decoration, smooth planes dominate in them, they are so light that they resemble houses of cards. But they are based on a new order system, the elements of which completed by all"antica. And what is especially interesting is that this entire order system is extended vertically. Redesigned, so to speak, in a Gothic manner. Thin, slender pilasters involuntarily evoke Gothic tendencies; where possible, Ghiberti introduces cross rib vaults (“Meeting of the Queen of Sheba with Solomon”). He loves to fantasize about architectural themes, loves to recreate on a plane the ensembles of a Renaissance city, puritanically strict and at the same time full of a very special charm, inherent only in the best of the creations of the early Renaissance.

The most mature work Ghiberti, who immortalized his name, is the third door of the Florentine Baptistery (1425-1452). Michelangelo considered them worthy of being the gates of heaven, and hence their name “Porta del Paradiso”. Here Ghiberti, as in the reliefs of the shrine of St. Zinovia, appears fully armed with specific techniques of pictorial relief, creating a work that served as the starting point for later Renaissance works of this kind.

At first, the Kalimala workshop turned to Leonardo Bruni for advice, who recommended depicting twenty-eight scenes, “magnificent and meaningful” (letter from Bruni dated 1424 (?)). This program drew objections from Traversari and Niccolo Niccoli. Apparently, Traversari, famous as an expert in patristics, was Ghiberti’s main adviser, especially considering the fact that the themes of the Old Testament scenes were developed from the point of view not of scholastic literature, but of the works of the church fathers.

The final program (ten large scenes with inserted episodes) was established in 1428-1429, and Ghiberti was responsible for its development.

played a lot decisive role. The most important was the abandonment of the Gothic form of quadrifolia used in the first and second doors of the baptistery, and their replacement with simple, smooth rectangular frames. This fact alone speaks of Ghiberti’s conscious transition to Renaissance positions. The entire structure of the double doors gained clarity and calm. All that remained was to find such proportions that the rectangular reliefs would fit well with the framing of the door leaves and the framing of the entire portal.

The Old Testament scenes are read from left to right within each register, then moving to the register below. The story begins with “The Creation of the Heavens, Stars and Man” and ends with “The Meeting of the Queen of Sheba with Solomon”367. Following the Trecentist traditions, Ghiberti gave each relief a number of additional episodes (he calls them “effetti”), thereby violating one of the basic principles of realistic art - the unity of place and time. Ghiberti's story has a spasmodic character, which colors it in somewhat fairy-tale tones. Here he follows in the footsteps of the Siena painter Bartolo di Fredi (frescoes in San Gimignano) and the Pisan Piero di Puccio (frescoes in Camposanto). With extraordinary ingenuity, Ghiberti combines various episodes in one relief (he depicted thirty-seven episodes in total). So, in the first relief, the viewer sees God the Father in heaven surrounded by angels, the creation of Adam and Eve in the foreground, the Fall in the distance on the left, expulsion from paradise on the right. These multi-temporal episodes are so skillfully arranged that the story flows smoothly without interruption. To do this, one had to be a great master of composition, and Ghiberti manifests himself as such in all other reliefs. In accordance with the meaning of the individual compositions, Ghiberti placed the figures and heads of prophets and prophetesses in niches on the sides, and in the center, under the second relief from the bottom, he placed a self-portrait and a portrait of his son Vittorio, who actively helped him.

In framing the door leaves and the portal, Ghiberti widely used plant motifs, which he processed with extraordinary diligence. The niches are separated from each other by ornamental inserts that protrude slightly forward, emphasizing the recesses of the niches. The frame of the portal is given a much more powerful relief. There are leaves, fruits, and ears of corn here. Various birds and squirrels swarm among them. Everything is conveyed with amazing precision and love, which clearly shows what a passionate admirer of nature Ghiberti was. There are a lot of remnants of late Gothic naturalism here, but everything has become denser, more voluminous, more weighty, in short, more realistic.

Each of the gilded reliefs is cast from one piece, and not mounted, as on the second doors, from different parts. This stimulated the “pictorial” construction of compositions, with extensive use of perspective. Usually the line protrudes slightly beyond the rectangular frame, but the compositions on top do not extend beyond its limits, this gives the reliefs a slight concavity. The statues and heads of prophets and prophetesses were cast separately and then inserted into niches. There are a lot of ancient motifs in these statues and heads, as well as in the reliefs themselves. From about 1416 until the end of his life, Ghiberti accumulated a huge number of sketches from ancient monuments (mainly from sarcophagi, reliefs of the Arch of Constantine, Trajan's Column, the frieze of the Temple of Minerva in the Forum of Nerva, etc.). He resorted to them when he wanted to achieve greater expression of faces, greater vitality and harmony of complex figured groups, greater convincingness in conveying the movement of fluttering draperies and individual gestures. In the third doors, art historians have noted many direct borrowings from ancient sculpture. But Ghiberti subjected all these borrowings to such changes that they could organically dissolve in his own plan. Ancient art, as perceived by the master, was not nature itself, as Donatello imagined it, but contained the principles and laws that governed nature. Its main significance for Ghiberti was that it was purified and

improved edition of nature368. In this approach, Ghiberti was close to the Florentine humanists, who became more and more seriously interested in ancient art (Niccolò Niccoli, Poggio and others). And, probably, not without their influence, he himself began to collect antiques.

It would be unnecessary rigor to analyze each of the reliefs separately, especially since many of them contain up to a hundred or more figures acting as simple extras. Ghiberti clearly formulated his basic attitude in the Commentarii: “I planned in them [that is, in the reliefs of the third doors] to respect all dimensions and tried to imitate nature, as far as it was in my power, and also [to imitate] all the outlines that I could draw from it, as well as an excellent and rich composition of numerous figures.”369. Here we have a kind of manifesto for the new realistic art. To achieve the effect of depth, Ghiberti attached great importance to architectural scenes depicted in perspective (he calls them casa-menti). Of no less importance were the plans (piani) decreasing in degree of relief, which in at the greatest distance were performed in rilievo schiac-ciato. Finally, the size and volume of the figures were strictly differentiated depending on the degree of their distance from the viewer’s eye. In this system, everything was based on size and proportions. This is how the boundaries between the painting and the “picturesque relief” were smoothed out.

In the composition of the scenes decorating the third doors, Ghiberti reveals truly amazing ingenuity. One involuntarily gets the impression that he puts it together easily, without special effort, although in fact each of the reliefs was the fruit of long and diligent work. It is especially striking how skillfully he combines episodes from different times (effetti) and how rich his repertoire of various movement motifs is. Looking carefully at the reliefs, you find in them many charming details, suggested by life and completely unexpected. But on the whole, Ghiberti remains in this, the most “Renaissance” of his works, true to his youthful skills as a jeweler and his attraction to everything

graceful and melodic. He is little attracted to the individual appearance of a person and the opportunity to express a certain character in him. Therefore, it would be in vain to look for the embodiment of the new humanistic ideal of man in his reliefs. Pretty and outwardly beautiful usually blur the boundaries of the individual.

Probably, without Brunelleschi's discovery and without Alberti's advice, Ghiberti would never have been able to give such bold perspective solutions as we find in the reliefs of Porta del Paradiso. However, he understands perspective more freely, more “empirically”, taking into account the changing point of view of the viewer. Brunelleschi's promising system must have seemed too rigid and somewhat mechanistic to him. He deliberately does not observe a single perspective point of view for all reliefs370, but builds compositions of individual reliefs from his own point of view. He takes into account that the viewer looking at the doors will not stand in one place, but will be in motion. Therefore, he develops his compositions much more freely than Brunelleschi and Alberti would have done. The lines do not always converge strictly at one point, and cases of optical deformations are not uncommon. This free use of perspective fits well with Ghiberti’s “murmuring” story, replete with inserted episodes.

The art of Ghiberti is a very special case in the history of the Quattrocentist movement. artistic culture. If the master had executed only the second doors of the baptistery, he should have been given a place, like Lorenzo Monaco, among the belated trecentists. But Ghiberti didn’t stop there. The husband is very experienced, he was able to take into account the changes that did not occur on his initiative in Florentine art in the second and third decades of the 15th century. Hence his involvement in new, realistic trends. However, unlike Donatello, Ghiberti never broke with the past, with the traditions of the “soft style”. Thus was born a unique symbiosis of elements of late Gothic and early Renaissance. It would be incorrect to characterize Ghiberti as a “conservative.” It developed, albeit slowly, but extremely consistently and purposefully. He wanted to remain himself, but he also wanted to “keep up with the times.” He wanted to preserve the face of a jeweler who most of all valued elegance and quality work and sought special melody in compositional structures and melodiousness of lines, but he also wanted to “imitate nature as far as it was in his power.” Here he had to learn the foundations of new perspective thinking, inseparable from the new, realistic art that was born before his eyes. Thus, Ghiberti, remaining himself, quietly took his place among Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, although he was much inferior to them in the boldness and monumentality of artistic decisions.

This article or section needs revision. Please improve the article in accordance with the rules for writing articles... Wikipedia

Ghiberti- Lorenzo (Ghiberti, Lorenzo) 1381, Florence 1455, Florence. Italian sculptor, one of the leading masters of the Early Renaissance. The son of a certain Mona Fiora and Cione Ghiberti, who left his family early; was adopted by his mother's second husband, jeweler Bartolo... European art: Painting. Sculpture. Graphics: Encyclopedia

- (Ghiberti) (circa 1381 1455), Italian sculptor and jeweler of the Early Renaissance. He worked mainly in Florence. At the beginning of his creativity (reliefs of the northern doors of the Florentine Baptistery, 1404 24) he retained the Gothic... ... Art encyclopedia

Ghiberti, Lorenzo- Ghiberti L. The Creation of Adam and Eve. Fragment of the eastern doors of the Florentine Baptistery. GIBERTI (Ghiberti) Lorenzo (about 1381 1455), Italian sculptor and goldsmith of the Florentine school of the Early Renaissance. In graceful multi-figure bronze... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (c. 1381 1455) Italian sculptor and jeweler. Representative of the Florentine school of the early Renaissance. In the bronze reliefs of the northern (1404 24) and eastern (1425 52) doors of the baptistery in Florence, he turned to the experience of ancient art,... ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

Ghiberti Lorenzo (circa 1381, Florence, ≈ 12/1/1455, ibid.), Italian sculptor and jeweler of the Early Renaissance. He worked in Florence, as well as in Siena (1416≈17), Venice (1424≈25) and Rome (before 1416 and around 1430). His early works... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Ghiberti) Lorenzo (circa 1381 1455), Italian sculptor and goldsmith of the Florentine school of the Early Renaissance. In the elegant multi-figure bronze reliefs of the northern (1404 24) and eastern (1425 52) gates of the baptistery in Florence, he turned to experience... ... Modern encyclopedia

- (Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1378 1455) famous Florentine sculptor, foundry and goldsmith; received his initial education from Bartoluccio and Gerard Scarnina. He fled from the plague in 1400 from Florence, but soon returned to... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

- (Ghiberti) (circa 1381 1455), Italian sculptor and goldsmith. Master of the Florentine school of the Early Renaissance. In the bronze reliefs of the northern (1404 24) and eastern (1425 52) doors of the baptistery in Florence, he turned to the experience of ancient art,... ... encyclopedic Dictionary