Skip to content
Register Sign in Wishlist

Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
Humanism, History, and Artistic Philosophy in the Italian Renaissance

$109.00 USD

Award Winner
  • Author: Amy R. Bloch, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Date Published: August 2016
  • availability: This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
  • format: Adobe eBook Reader
  • isbn: 9781316405345

$ 109.00 USD
Adobe eBook Reader

You will be taken to ebooks.com for this purchase
Buy eBook Add to wishlist

Other available formats:


Looking for an inspection copy?

This title is not currently available on inspection

Description
Product filter button
Description
Contents
Resources
Courses
About the Authors
  • This book examines the heretofore unsuspected complexity of Lorenzo Ghiberti's sculpted representations of Old Testament narratives in his Gates of Paradise (1425–52), the second set of doors he made for the Florence Baptistery and a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture. One of the most intellectually engaged and well-read artists of his age, Ghiberti found inspiration in ancient and medieval texts, many of which he and his contacts in Florence's humanist community shared, read, and discussed. He was fascinated by the science of vision, by the functioning of nature, and, above all, by the origins and history of art. These unusually well-defined intellectual interests, reflected in his famous Commentaries, shaped his approach in the Gates. Through the selection, imaginative interpretation, and arrangement of biblical episodes, Ghiberti fashioned multi-textured narratives that explore the human condition and express his ideas on a range of social, political, artistic, and philosophical issues.

    • Contains the most detailed examination ever published of one of the great masterpieces of Italian Renaissance sculpture
    • Offers readers a new vision of the role of the early fifteenth-century artist - the artist, in this case, participated directly in fashioning the meaning of the work - and presents the first intellectual portrait of any early fifteenth-century artist
    • Discusses the vast traditions of Old Testament interpretation (in text and image), giving readers a sense of how understanding and representation of the Old Testament have changed over centuries
    Read more

    Awards

    • Honourable Mention, 2017 PROSE Award for Art History and Criticism

    Reviews & endorsements

    'Looking at the beautifully restored panels in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, I was struck by how much of Bloch's analysis of the Gates of Paradise impacted my view. Her concentrated focus on what Lorenzo Ghiberti and his friends and patrons were reading, what they probably read, and what he wrote transforms the Gates into texts … It is this type of detail that will appeal to bronze specialists in particular, though the book should be read by all who work in Italian Renaissance art and literary history. Highly Recommended.' Meghan Callahan, Renaissance Quarterly

    'Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise is as much a monograph on a complex work of bronze sculpture, as an exploration of how Italian artists of the era created pictorial narrative …' Joost Joustra, Oxford Art Journal

    '… [An] ambitious, erudite book … Bloch's ten chapters - one for each panel of the Gates - provide an analysis of Ghiberti's chronological narrative through a detailed description of the scenes.' Luca Palozzi, The Burlington Magazine

    See more reviews

    Customer reviews

    Not yet reviewed

    Be the first to review

    Review was not posted due to profanity

    ×

    , create a review

    (If you're not , sign out)

    Please enter the right captcha value
    Please enter a star rating.
    Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

    How do you rate this item?

    ×

    Product details

    • Date Published: August 2016
    • format: Adobe eBook Reader
    • isbn: 9781316405345
    • contains: 269 b/w illus. 16 colour illus.
    • availability: This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
  • Table of Contents

    1. The Adam and Eve panel: the birth of creativity
    2. The Cain and Abel panel: fashioning thought and fate
    3. The Noah panel: architecture and politics emerge
    4. The Abraham and Isaac panel: the sacrifice from the competition to the Gates of Paradise
    5. The Jacob and Esau panel: perspective, vision, and memory
    6. The Joseph panel: speech acts in the piazza
    7. The Moses panel: sculpting the drama of nature
    8. The Joshua panel: the fate of art
    9. The David panel: Ghiberti, tragedian
    10. The Solomon and Queen of Sheba panel: a portrait of Ghiberti's Florence.

  • Author

    Amy R. Bloch, University at Albany, State University of New York
    Amy R. Bloch is Associate Professor of Art History at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her research focuses on Italian Renaissance sculpture, and she has published articles and essays on Ghiberti, Donatello, Michelangelo, and on the art and ritual of baptism in Florence. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Villa I Tatti (the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies), the Renaissance Society of America, and the College Art Association.

    Awards

    • Honourable Mention, 2017 PROSE Award for Art History and Criticism

Related Books

also by this author

Sorry, this resource is locked

Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org

Register Sign in
Please note that this file is password protected. You will be asked to input your password on the next screen.

» Proceed

You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.

Continue ×

Continue ×

Continue ×
warning icon

Turn stock notifications on?

You must be signed in to your Cambridge account to turn product stock notifications on or off.

Sign in Create a Cambridge account arrow icon
×

Find content that relates to you

Join us online

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more Close

Are you sure you want to delete your account?

This cannot be undone.

Cancel

Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.

If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.

×
Please fill in the required fields in your feedback submission.
×