Giorgio Vasari

“ One part of this picture is of singular beauty: it exhibits Cain ploughing the earth with a pair of oxen, whose labour, and the efforts they make beneath the yoke, are so admirably exhibited, that they seem alive and in positive motion. The same maybe said of the figure of Abel, who is keeping his flocks: he is then slain by his brother, and here the movements of Cain are full of violence; his expression is that of pitiless cruelty, as he strikes his brother with his club, while the bronze itself has been made to exhibit the languor of death in the most beautiful form of Abel. ”

“ When Donato and Filippo saw the care and success with which Lorenzo had completed his specimen, they drew aside together, and, conferring with each other, decided that the work ought to be given to him, because it appeared to them that the public advantage, as well as individual benefit, would be thus best secured and promoted, since Lorenzo being very young—for he had not completed his twentieth year—would have the opportunity, while exercising his talents on that magnificent work, of producing those noble fruits of which his beautiful story gave so fair a hope. ”

“ He divided his work into ten compartments, or pictures, five on each side, which gave to each compartment one braccio and a third; around the whole and serving as an ornament to the frame-work which encloses the stories, are niches filled with figures in almost full relief, the number of which is twenty, all of exceeding beauty. Among others is the naked form of Sampson, with a jaw bone in his hand and his arm round a column, and this exhibits a degree of perfection which will bear comparison with that displayed by the ancients in their figures of Hercules, whether in bronze or marble. ”

“ THE FLORENTINE SCULPTOR LORENZO GHIBERTI.
[born 1381—died 1455.]
Whoever obtains renown among his fellow-men for the possession of any particular gift, is without doubt for the most part a truly blessed light and exemplar to many, whether of his contemporaries or of those who come after him, to say nothing of the great honours and large rewards derived from this advantage by himself in his own life-time. ”

“ Lorenzo Ghiberti was indeed a goldsmith, as well for the elegant style of his beautiful workmanship, as for the infinite care and extreme delicacy of its finish. This man may truly be cited as an excellent goldsmith, for all his genius in that art of foundery was employed when he had to perform his smaller works ”

“ Lorenzo undertook the bronze ornaments of that door of the same church which is opposite to the Misericordia, with those admirably beautiful decorations of foliage which he did not survive to finish, being unexpectedly overtaken by death when he was making his arrangements and had already nearly completed the model for reconstructing the door previously erected by Andrea Pisano. ”

“ In the distance, moreover, and executed in basso-rilievo, is seen the Almighty Father, demanding from Cain what he has done with his brother. Each of the compartments comprise four stories. In the third Lorenzo represented the patriarch Noah issuing from the ark, with his wife, his sons, his daughters, and the wives of his sons, together with all the animals, those of the air as well as of the earth: all these creatures are finished with such perfection of excellence, each in its kind, that it is not possible for art more effectually to imitate nature. ”

“ This act, in truth, redounded to the glory of those two artists, as well as to the confusion of many, who, presuming on their own abilities, press themselves forward and occupy the place due to the talents of others, although they are unable to produce any good fruits; and after labouring a thousand years to effect nothing, do but oppress the efforts and hinder the advancement of those who might promote the progress of art and knowledge, but for their envy and malignity. ”

“ In this picture the relief of the landscape is gradually lowered, so that the distance is increased with great judgment, and the true proportions of the first figures to the mountains, with those of the mountains to the city, and of the city to the distant country, are observed with infinite care, the degrees of relief being regulated with the nicest judgment, and the whole work conducted to the utmost perfection: the experience of the master, and his power in his art, increasing from day to day. ”

“ The city of Florence had acquired so much glory and praise from the admirable works of this most ingenious artist, that a resolution was taken by the consuls of the Guild of the Merchants to give him a commission for the third door of San Giovanni, which was also to be of bronze. In the case of the first door, which Lorenzo had made, he had followed the directions of the consuls, as regarded the decoration of the frame-work, by which the figures were surrounded, since they had determined that the general form of all the doors should be similar to that constructed by Andrea Pisano. ”

“ For the fourth story of this compartment Lorenzo has chosen the appearance of the three angels in the valley of Mamre: these figures have a close resemblance to each other: the holy patriarch is seen in the act of adoration before his celestial visitors, his hands are folded, and the expression of his countenance is most life-like and appropriate. The servants with the ass, who are represented as awaiting Abraham at the foot of the mountain, whither he has gone to make the sacrifice of his son, are equally excellent. ”

“ Nor is there any thing by which the minds of men are more readily aroused to effort, or by which the discipline of study is rendered less onerous to them, than the honours and benefits to be derived from the heavy labours of the artist or man of learning. ”

“ Lorenzo was the son of Bartoluccio Ghiberti, [1] and in his early youth acquired the art of the goldsmith, under the care of his father, who was an excellent master, and instructed him in such sort that Lorenzo, aided by his natural abilities, became a better goldsmith than his teacher. But delighting still more in the arts of design and sculpture, [2] he sometimes worked in colours, and at other times employed himself in the casting of small figures in bronze, which he finished very gracefully. ”

“ All these figures are varied in their attitudes, vestments, and other particulars: one is reading, another writing; some are in deep meditation, and differing thus one from another, all, whether acting or reflecting, are equally lifelike. The framework which encloses each picture is enriched with ornaments of ivy leaves and foliage of other kinds, with mouldings between them, and on each angle is a male or female head in full relief, purporting to represent the Prophets and Sybils. They are very beautiful, and their variety serves to prove the fertility of invention possessed by the master. ”

“ By these it is that every undertaking, however difficult, is rendered easy, and at no time will the powers of the labourer be put forth so effectually and with so rich and mature a fruit as when he is stimulated to effort by the praises of the world. ”

“ Isaac stands naked on the altar, while the father, with upraised arm, is in the act of proving his obedience, when he is prevented by the angel, who arrests his arm with one hand, while he points with the other to the animal which he is to offer in sacrifice, and thus delivers Isaac from death. ”

“ But although there were divers opinions among them touching various points, and one preferred the manner of this candidate and one of that, yet they all agreed that Filippo di Ser Brunellesco and Lorenzo di Bartoluccio had presented works of better composition, more richly adorned with figures, and more delicately finished [5] than was that of Donato, although in his specimen also the design was exceedingly good, [6] In the work of Jacopo della Quercia the figures were carefully designed, but wanted delicacy of finish. ”

“ There are infinite numbers of men who seeing and feeling this, subject themselves to many a pain, that they also may attain to the distinction, and merit the rewards conferred upon some one of their compatriots ”

“ Respectable men, etc. I consider that for the ten stories of the new door, which you have determined to choose from the Old Testament, two things must be secured, and above all the first, which is, that they be such as are capable of illustration ”

“ The only circumstance correctly given in the text is that of Joseph taken from the well. Vasari has partly followed the text of Ghiberti, who is rather describing the history as it occurred, than his own work. Neither is the description of the scenes which succeed the above precisely accurate.—Schorn. ↑ Lorenzo himself speaks of this work in the following manner:—“I have done my best in all respects to imitate Nature, so far as was in my power. Some of the histories represented, contain more than a hundred figures, others have less ”

“ See also the fine work of Lasinio, Le tre porte del Battistero di San Giovanni di Firenze incise ed illustrate. Florence, 1821. ↑ From the works of Cambi, and that of Giuliano Ricci, we find that the door was finished and erected in April of the year 1424. — Schorn. ↑ Baldinucci, p. 11, cites a passage from Ghiberti’s own memoranda, wherein he has set down all the expenses of this work, with the remark that he has undertaken to cast the statue at his own cost. If it fail, he is to bear the loss ”