Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll.
- Anna Brownell Jameson
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![the execution of the doors of San Giovanni. Lorenzo imme- diately hastened to present himself as one of the competitors, and, on giving evidence of his acquired skill, he was accepted among the elected seven. They had each their workshop and furnace apart, and it is related that most of them jealously kept their designs secret from the rest; but Lorenzo, who had all the modest self-assurance of conscious genius, did not; on the contrary, he listened gratefully to any suggestion or criti- cism which was otiered, admitting his friends and distinguished strangers to his atelier while his work was going forward. To this candor he added a persevering courage; for when, after incredible labor, he had completed his models, and made his preparations for casting, some flaw or accident in the process obliged him to begin all over again, he supplied this loss of time by the most unremitting labor, and at the end of the year he was not found behind his competitors. When the seven pieces were exhibited together in public, it was adjudged that the work of Quercia was wanting in delicacy and finish ; that of Yaldambrina confused in composition; that of Simon da Colie well cast, but ill drawn ; that of Niccolb d’ Arezzo heavy and ill-proportioned in the figures, though well composed; in short, but three among the number united the various merits of composition, design, and delicacy of workmanship, and were at once preferred before the rest. These three were the work of Brunelleschi, then in his twenty-fifth year; Donatello, then about eighteen ; and Lorenzo Ghiberti, not quite twenty-three. The suffrages seemed divided; but after a short pause, and the exchange of a few whispered words, Brunelleschi and Donatello withdrew, generously agreeing and proclaiming aloud that Lorenzo had excelled them all, that to him alone belonged the prize; and this judgment, as honorable to themselves as to their rival, was confirmed amid the acclamations of the as- sembly.1 The citizens of Florence were probably not less desirous than we should be in our day to behold the completion of a 1 [The original panels by Ghiberti ancl Brunelleschi are in the National Mu- seum, Florence]; and in the set of engravings published by Lasinio‘the two designs are placed side by side. The superiority of the former, in point of excellence, is at once apparent. See Le tre Porte del Battisterio di San Gio- vanni di Firenze, incise ed illustrate, 1821. [Perkins’ Tuscan Sculptors also contains engravings of the panels. Donatello’s share in the competition is doubtful.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24877888_0089.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
