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"So Fine That They Would Grace the Entrance of Paradise"
Michelangelo was often jealous of fellow artists, but he was generous with his praise
for the sculpted East Doors of the Baptistry, the octagonal building next to the
Florence Cathedral where all Florentines had been baptized for generations. He said
that the 12 bronze reliefs were "so fine that they would grace the entrance of paradise"—and
the evocative name, Gates of Paradise, has stuck ever since. Michelangelo was complimenting
the artist, but also referring to the graveyard that once lay in the Piazza del
Duomo, where the dead were laid out as if queuing for passage to Heaven.
The mastermind behind the Gates was Lorenzo Ghiberti. Years earlier, at only 25
years of age, the young prodigy had won a competition to decorate the Baptistry's
north doors with scenes from the New Testament. Those first reliefs, which had been
lavishly bankrolled by the city as an appeal to God to end a plague that was ravaging
Florence, had taken 21 years to design and cast. They won Ghiberti huge acclaim.
Now, in 1425, the middle-aged artist was asked to tackle the East Doors, working
with a team of talented young assistants. Everyone knew from experience that they
were in for a long haul—the resulting 10 panels, depicting scenes from the Old Testament,
would take another 27 years to complete. Along the way, in the feisty, backstabbing
world of Florentine artists, the Gates would become mired in scandal.
In 1444, a jealous rival declared that Ghiberti had been born illegitimate and was,
thus, unqualified to work on such a prominent religious artwork. The charge was
technically true. His mother had fled her half-witted husband for another man, borne
two children and only married her lover after her husband was dead. City officials
should have canceled Ghiberti's commission, but they wisely decided to ignore the
denunciation. The artist had proved he was simply too talented to sack.
When the finished product was revealed in 1452, Florentines were so astonished by
its beauty and spiritual power—"perfect in every particular, the finest masterpiece
in the world," raved fellow artist Giorgio Vasari—that they endowed Ghiberti with
a large estate for his old age, a declaration from the city of unreserved tribute.
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