Research Report Science in the Art of the Italian Renaissance I: Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise- Linear Perspective and Space

Abstract

AS with the works of a number of Italian Renaissance artists, Lorenzo Ghiberti's art contained scientific elements. In his case both his training as a goldsmith, which introduced him to concepts of mineralogy, and his knowledge and use of techniques in the realm of the science of optics demonstrated a melding of art and science. Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise was among the first works of the period to use a true scientific study of perspective and space. The greatness ascribed to these bronze doors for the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence is due not only to Ghiberti's artistic merits, but also to the science that was behind the doors' sense of perspective and space.