Gates of Paradise on the North Side of the Baptistery, Firenze

The Gates of Paradise were designed by 21 year-old Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1401 as part of a tender for the job of constructing the east doors to the Baptistery. Ghiberti's bronze reliefs were some of the first to use perspective and to treat the figures portrayed as individual characters. They were in this sense radically different from the Florentine floral Gothic style previously in vogue. The gates are considered to be one of the first works of art of the Renaissance period. Ghiberto successfully competed with Donatello, Brunelleschi and others for the commission which he did not complete until 1422.

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