Opera del Duomo Museum

"Lorenzo [Ghiberti] himself made the north door between 1403 and 1424, after he had won the famous competition of 1401, in which his submission was preferred to those of Brunelleschi, Jacopo della Quercia and other artists. ... The north door consists of twenty quatrefoils panels with scenes from the Life of Christ, [plus eight panels from] the Four Evangelists and the Doctors of the Church. This scheme seems to have cramped Ghiberti’s talent for naturalistic representation, which however was given free rein in his great masterpiece, the third Baptistery door." - The Museums of Florence: Baptistery of San Giovanni (online April 2020)

"At the beginning of the 15th century, the Arte of Calimala (the Wool Merchants' Guild) announced a public competition to design the Baptistery's northern doors. Ghiberti won the hearts of the judges (though he was already the favorite, since he had already created the doors that were facing the Duomo) and was awarded the commission to create the northern doors.

"These last doors were so magnificent, it was quickly decided they were even better than the previous doors Ghiberti had designed and were to take place of honor, facing the Duomo. "The Gates of Paradise received their name by Michelangelo who is believed to have exclaimed: "they are so beautiful that they would be perfect for the gates of paradise".

The doors consist of 10 rectangular panels, displayed in two lines. They depict scenes of the Old Testament from left to right and from top to bottom. In each panel, Ghiberti described more than one scene so that there are over fifty scenes depicted.

All around the frame of the doors Ghiberti added 24 small bronze busts of famous Florentines, including his own self-portrait.

The original panels of the Gates of Paradise are now displayed at the Opera del Duomo Museum, the ones in situ are copies." - Visit Florence (online April 2020)

Donatello, "Penitent Magdalene"

1453–1455

White poplar

6' tall

The Penitent Magdalene is a wooden sculpture of Mary Magdalene by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello, created around 1453–1455. The sculpture was probably commissioned for the Baptistery of Florence. The piece was received with astonishment for its unprecedented realism.

"Documentation about the work is scarce. The earliest mentioning of the Penitent Magdalene dates from 1500 and mentions that the statue is being placed back in the Baptistery in Florence against the southwest wall. Since then, the statue has been moved a few times: in 1688 it was replaced by the baptismal font and put in storage, in 1735 it was moved back to the Baptistery against the southeast wall, and in 1912 it was put back against the southwest wall. Today, being moved after restoration, it can be seen in the Sala della Maddalena in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence.

"Though the 'Penitent Magdalene' was the usual depiction for the many single figures of Mary Magdalene in art, Donatello's gaunt, emaciated figure differs greatly from most depictions, which show a beautiful young woman in nearly perfect health. The Magdalene Penitent is famous for the detailed and very realistic carvings on the statue.

"Medieval hagiography in the Western church had conflated the figure of Mary Magdalene, already conflated with Mary of Bethany and the unnamed sinner in the Anointing of Jesus, with that of Saint Mary of Egypt. She was a popular figure in the Eastern Churches, who had been a prostitute before spending thirty years repenting in the desert. Donatello's depiction is similar to, and very probably influenced by, Eastern Orthodox icons of Mary of Egypt, which show a similar emaciated figure. He thus ignored the Western legends by which Mary was daily fed by angels in the desert.

Donatello executed the work when he was more than sixty years old, after he had spent a decade in Padua. The work was damaged by the 1966 flood of the Arno River, and the restoration process revealed some of the statue's original polychrome and gilding." Wikipedia (online April 2020)