Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti (c. 1378-1455) was a Florentine goldsmith and sculptor whose bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery rank among the greatest achievements of Renaissance art. In 1401, the 23-year-old Ghiberti won a famous competition for the commission, beating Filippo Brunelleschi and five other competitors. That contest is often cited as the starting point of the Renaissance.

Ghiberti spent 21 years on the first set of doors (the North Doors), then another 27 years on the second set. Michelangelo reportedly called the second doors the "Gates of Paradise", a name that stuck. Their ten gilded bronze panels depict Old Testament scenes with pioneering use of linear perspective. The originals are now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo; the doors on the Baptistery are replicas.