First Assignment

Collect as much information as possible about the Ghiberti Doors before the end of the period

Include:

How he was chosen to create the doors:

In 1401, a competition was announced by the Arte di Calimala(Wool Merchants' Guild) to design the baptistry North Doors. The existing north doors had been a votive offering to spare Florence from a new scourge such as the Black Death in 1348. Seven sculptors competed, including Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello and Jacopo della Quercia, with Ghiberti winning the commission. At the time of judging, only Ghiberti and Brunelleschi were finalists, and when the judges could not decide, they were assigned to work together on them. Brunelleschi's pride got in the way, and he went to Rome to study architecture leaving Ghiberti to work on the doors himself.

What is the style of Cathedral in which they reside?

The architecture is in Florentine Romanesque style

What story is on each panel?

On the left portion of the door, the depicted stories are of Adam and Eve, Noah, Isaac with Esau and Jacob, Moses, and David; in descending order. On the right portion of the door are the stories of Cain and Abel, Abraham, Joseph, Joshua, and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; in descending order.

How are they paired?

The ten panels are paired to remind us of the pages of a book and a chronological reading of them begins at the top left (the Genesis story), moving to the right, then down nad left again, and so on to the last panel in the lower right corner (the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon).