Ghiberti's Florence Baptistery Doors' Panels Tour U.S.
 

Lorenzo Ghilberti, an early-Renaissance sculptor spent 27 years fashioning his now world famous bronze doors he installed on the eastern portal of Florence's Baptistery opposite the Duomo in the heart of Florence.

The ten panels of the 20-foot-tall, three ton doors portray New Testament scenes - they were so sublime when finished in 1452 that none else than Michelangelo said they were so fine that they could decorate the entrance to Paradise, and thus the doors became known as the Gates of Paradise.

Now three panels of the doors, the whole of which were removed from the baptistery years ago for their preservation - high and dry and away from modern pollution, and replaced by copies in 1990, will tour the U.S. this spring - to Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

When they return to Florence after their American sojourn they will be put back into their original framework, placed in a hermetically sealed oxygen-free Mayonnaise jar in the Museum dell'Opera del Duomo, never to travel again museum officials claim.

Oh - credits for a very detailed article appearing in today's (10-17-06) New York Times art section.

Any detailed info. yet on when they will be in each city?

Thanks for posting this. The only thing I could find as far as a time-frame was that the tour would start in April. The on-line calendar for the Met only went through May of 2007 an it was not listed.

Panels will be at High Museum of Art in Atlanta April 28 to July 15; the Art Institute of Chicago, July 28 to Oct. 13; and the Met in New York, Oct. 30, 2007, to Jan. 13, 2008.

BC

If all goes well, I'll be looking at the fake ones in Florence before the real ones come to NY...

But great to know! Thanks Palenque Bob!

My heart skipped a beat when I saw your post PalenqueBob-

I will never, ever forget the first time I saw the Ghiberti Doors- it was my very first trip to Italy, many many years ago, and I had come to Florence just after the Arno flood in the sixties... They were twisted and hanging lopsided on the Baptistry, and the damage of the flood was all around us.

The sight of them all covered in mud was piercing and unforgetable-it's amazing that decades later they will actually visit my hometown...fantastic!

Thanks for posting this info!

Thank you Bookchick!

Mayonnaise jar???

Yes, in a Mayonnaise jar on the steps of Funk & Wagnells in NYC! (Have to have watched late-night TV in the 60s in the States to know this reference!)

Some interesting things from the NYT article:

The current restoration of all the panels began in 1980 and is still ongoing - 26 years counting.

Last previous restoration was after the devastating 1966 flood that bellastar talked about - four panels fell off during the flood were twisted and hanging lopsided on the Baptistry to use bellastarr's vivid description.

the renovation is the first time lasers were used to clean bronze.

The traveling U.S. exhibi will let the public experience not only the extraordinary workmanship but the results of the restoration process as well

the three panels coming to America are from the left door, depicting the stories of Adam and Eve, Jacob and Esau and Saul and David.

There will be 4 sculpture reliefs elements - 2 prophets' heads and 2 standing figures from the original frame of the left door. One of the heads has been restored, the other hasn't - ditto with the standing figures - letting the public see the transformation that took place by cleaning them.

Thanks PB, it's nice to feel young for a change! Late night TV was way past my bedtime in the 60s :)