Seattle Art Museum announced that it is in the advanced stages of bringing to Seattle a stunning masterwork of the Italian Renaissance, three of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s celebrated panels from the doors of the Baptistery in Florence, known as the Gates of Paradise. The exhibit is tentatively scheduled for January 26 through April 6, 2008 at SAM Downtown.
The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece is comprised of three original panels and four sculptures, two before restoration and two after. This exhibition marks the first time that the panels have ever traveled to the United States since their creation over 550 years ago. The exhibition opened at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and will subsequently travel to the Art Institute of Chicago through October 13, 2007, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from October 30 to January 13, 2008.
The panels have been praised by generations of artists and art historians for their compelling portrayal of scenes from the Old Testament. Created in the mid-15th century and installed in the eastern portal of the Florentine Baptistery, it is said that the Gates of Paradise earned their nickname from Michelangelo, who greatly admired Ghiberti’s craftsmanship and artistic skill. In the 16th century Vasari called them the ‘finest masterpiece ever created, either in ancient or modern times.’
The exhibition will be on view at SAM during the same time as Roman Art from the Louvre (February 21 - May 11, 2008), a monumental exhibition of the Louvre’s Roman masterworks. “What a great opportunity for our community to see in Seattle supreme examples of Roman and Renaissance art. The original panels from Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise will never travel again,” said Mimi Gates, SAM Director. “The new expansion of SAM makes it possible for us to work with world-class museums and show multiple exhibitions of international significance. This is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity.”
The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece was organized by the High Museum of Art in collaboration with the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, Italy. The show was curated by Gary M. Radke, Dean’s Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University and Consulting Curator of Italian Art at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
“These brilliantly gilded bronze doors became an icon of Renaissance art and a touchstone of civic and religious life in Florence,” said Chiyo Ishikawa, SAM’s Deputy Director of Art and Curator of European Painting and Sculpture. “Ghiberti’s panels inaugurated a new approach to architectural space and sculptural relief, and exerted a profound and wide-reaching influence on Florentine art for centuries.”
On view will be three panels from the left door of the Gates depicting stories of Adam and Eve, Jacob and Esau, and Saul and David as well as two prophets and two idealized heads from the doors’ intricate frame. The exhibition also highlights Ghiberti's creation of the monumental doors and reveals important new findings made during their 25-year restoration including new insights into the fabrication process and the evolution of Ghiberti’s imagery and techniques. -- www.seattleartmuseum.org
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