The Renaissance: Florence Leads the Way - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 102

SCULPTURE AND SCULPTORS
Renaissance sculpture shared the inspiration of the other arts: to impart a living likeness to
images of humans and animals carved of stone and cast in metal. Limbs and muscles must
be visible in folds of clothing. And above all, the subject's body must look as if it is about
to move or as though it has been captured in movement.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) designed the north and east doors of the Baptistery of
the Cathedral of Florence. The most celebrated is the east door. Each of its bronze panels
relates a story from the Old Testament . Each panel uses lights and darks to shape the scene
and employs the principles of perspective to create a three-dimensional reality. And the fig-
ures are caught in their movement and the lines of their drapery flow. When Michelangelo
first saw the east door, he is said to have exclaimed: “They are so beautiful that they are
worthy of standing at the gates of Paradise.”
Donatello (circa 1386-1466) was the pioneer of Florentine sculpture. On a study visit
to Rome, he and Giotto made drawings of the buildings and estimated heights, seeking to
rediscover the techniques used in their construction. His marble statue of St. George por-
trays a warrior ready to launch himself forward. When Michelangelo saw this sculpture,
legend has him shouting, “March!”
(H)e created living people out of stone by imparting to them weight and balance and
psychological depth of human beings. Most regard David as his masterpiece. It dis-
penses with clothes to become the first life sized free-standing nude since classical an-
tiquity. [92]