DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0098
■94
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
in just gradations of size and relief according to
the rules of perspective; different actions of the
same story represented on different planes ; build-
ings of elaborate architecture ; landscape, trees, and
animals:—in short, a dramatic and scenic style of
conception and effect wholly opposed to the severe
simplicity of classical sculpture. Ghiberti’s genius,
notwithstanding the inflexible material in which he
embodied his conceptions, was in its natural bent
pictorial rather than sculptural; and each pannel
of his beautiful gates is, in fact, a picture in relief,
and must be considered and judged as such. Re-
garding them in this point of view, and not subject-
ing them to those rules of criticism which apply to
sculpture, we shall be able to appreciate the as-
tonishing fertility of invention exhibited in the
various designs; the felicity and clearness with which
every story is told ; the grace and naivete of some
of the figures,* the simple grandeur of others; the
luxuriant fancy displayed in the ornaments, and the
perfection with which the whole is executed;—and
to echo the energetic praise of Michel Angelo, who
pronounced these gates “ worthy to be the Gates of
Paradise!”
Complete sets of casts from these celebrated com-
positions are not commonly met with, but they are
to be found in most of the collections and academies
* The angels in the wood cut are a perfect example of
this grace and simplicity.
EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
in just gradations of size and relief according to
the rules of perspective; different actions of the
same story represented on different planes ; build-
ings of elaborate architecture ; landscape, trees, and
animals:—in short, a dramatic and scenic style of
conception and effect wholly opposed to the severe
simplicity of classical sculpture. Ghiberti’s genius,
notwithstanding the inflexible material in which he
embodied his conceptions, was in its natural bent
pictorial rather than sculptural; and each pannel
of his beautiful gates is, in fact, a picture in relief,
and must be considered and judged as such. Re-
garding them in this point of view, and not subject-
ing them to those rules of criticism which apply to
sculpture, we shall be able to appreciate the as-
tonishing fertility of invention exhibited in the
various designs; the felicity and clearness with which
every story is told ; the grace and naivete of some
of the figures,* the simple grandeur of others; the
luxuriant fancy displayed in the ornaments, and the
perfection with which the whole is executed;—and
to echo the energetic praise of Michel Angelo, who
pronounced these gates “ worthy to be the Gates of
Paradise!”
Complete sets of casts from these celebrated com-
positions are not commonly met with, but they are
to be found in most of the collections and academies
* The angels in the wood cut are a perfect example of
this grace and simplicity.