DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0094
90
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
finished and erected in its place. As in the first
gate Andrea Pisano had chosen for his theme the
life of John the Baptist, the precursor of the
Saviour, and the patron saint of the Baptistery,
Lorenzo continued the history of the Redemption
in a series of subjects from the Annunciation, to
the Descent of the Holy Ghost; these he repre-
sented in twenty pannels or compartments, ten on
each of the folding-doors, and below these eight
others containing the full-length effigies of the four
evangelists and the four doctors of the Latin church,
grand, majestic figures;—and all around a border
of rich ornaments, fruit, and foliage, and heads of
the prophets and the sibyls intermingled, wondrous
for the beauty of the design and excellence of the
workmanship : the whole was cast in bronze, and
weighed thirty-four thousand pounds of metal.
Such was the glory which this great work con-
ferred not only on Lorenzo himself, but the whole
city of Florence, that he was regarded as a public
benefactor, and shortly afterwards the same com-
pany confided to him the execution of the third
gate of the same edifice. The gate of Andrea Pi-
sano, formerly the principal entrance, was removed
to the side, and Lorenzo was desired to construct a
central gate which was to surpass the two lateral
ones in beauty and richness. He chose this time
the history of the Old Testament, the subjects being
selected by Leonardo Bruni d’Arezzo, chancellor
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
finished and erected in its place. As in the first
gate Andrea Pisano had chosen for his theme the
life of John the Baptist, the precursor of the
Saviour, and the patron saint of the Baptistery,
Lorenzo continued the history of the Redemption
in a series of subjects from the Annunciation, to
the Descent of the Holy Ghost; these he repre-
sented in twenty pannels or compartments, ten on
each of the folding-doors, and below these eight
others containing the full-length effigies of the four
evangelists and the four doctors of the Latin church,
grand, majestic figures;—and all around a border
of rich ornaments, fruit, and foliage, and heads of
the prophets and the sibyls intermingled, wondrous
for the beauty of the design and excellence of the
workmanship : the whole was cast in bronze, and
weighed thirty-four thousand pounds of metal.
Such was the glory which this great work con-
ferred not only on Lorenzo himself, but the whole
city of Florence, that he was regarded as a public
benefactor, and shortly afterwards the same com-
pany confided to him the execution of the third
gate of the same edifice. The gate of Andrea Pi-
sano, formerly the principal entrance, was removed
to the side, and Lorenzo was desired to construct a
central gate which was to surpass the two lateral
ones in beauty and richness. He chose this time
the history of the Old Testament, the subjects being
selected by Leonardo Bruni d’Arezzo, chancellor