The Gates of Paradise
dal 27/7/2007 al 13/10/2007
Segnalato da
27/7/2007
The Gates of Paradise
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece. A retrospective. This exhibition will reveal the complex nature of the conservation process through the juxtaposition of two sections of the frieze and two decorative heads: one version of each has been resplendently cleaned, the other is still disfigured by damaging surface deposits.
Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece
Curator: Bruce Boucher
In 1425 Lorenzo Ghiberti was commissioned to design a pair of bronze doors for Florence’s Baptistery. He labored on the task for 27 years, fashioning a masterpiece that Michelangelo called “truly worthy to be the Gates of Paradise” for its remarkable beauty and grandeur. For the past 25 years, Ghiberti’s gates have undergone extensive conservation, and they are now nearing completion. To celebrate the conclusion of this arduous project and its stunning results, three relief panels from the left wing of the Gates of Paradise and sections of the door’s frieze will travel to North America. This exhibition will afford viewers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe Ghiberti’s work up close before the individual elements are reintegrated with the rest of the doorframe and put on permanent display in a hermetically sealed room in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence, never to travel again.
Depicting the stories of the Creation, Jacob and Esau, and David and Goliath, the panels will offer viewers a coherent vision of Ghiberti’s artistic genius and the range of perspectival solutions he invented for the narrative panels. The Creation Panel documents Ghiberti’s earliest work on the doors and features a splendid depiction of nude figures in a landscape, set off by angelic hosts. The relief of Jacob and Esau, with its nearly three-dimensional foreground figures, masterful scientific perspective, and impressive architecture, shows that the artist was at the vanguard of Florentine illusionism and storytelling. Finally, the elaborately chased and punched panel of David and Goliath demonstrates creative shifts in perspective, from the tumultuous battle to the impressive glimpse of Jerusalem above.
This exhibition will reveal the complex nature of the conservation process through the juxtaposition of two sections of the frieze and two decorative heads: one version of each has been resplendently cleaned, the other is still disfigured by damaging surface deposits. A video will document the conservation methods used, which formerly included submerging the panels in a solution of Rochelle salts and distilled water and meticulously cleaning some parts by hand. In recent years, conservation has been carried out exclusively using innovative laser technology, which enables the surface dirt to be cleaned in a non-invasive manner.
Sculptor, painter, draftsman, architectural consultant, stained glass designer, entrepreneur, author of a treatise on the arts, and the first artist to write an autobiography, Ghiberti could honestly declare in his Commentaries that “few things of importance were made in our city that were not designed or devised by my hand.” The seven works in this exhibition, while representing only a small portion of his oeuvre, confirm that Ghiberti had good reason to boast.
Curator: Bruce Boucher, curator of sculpture, Department of Medieval through Modern European Painting and Sculpture, at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Other Venues: This exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta in collaboration with the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council in the Arts and Humanities and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
Sponsor: This exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art in collaboration with the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, Italy.
This exhibition is supported by generous gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Frederick A. Krehbiel II and Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan.
Additional support is provided by the President's Exhibition and Acquisition Fund.
This project is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Special thanks to the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Chicago for its collaboration and support.
Additional Resource: Special thanks to the Istituto Italiano.
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