Lorenzo Ghiberti

Born in Florence in 1378 as Lorenzo di Bartolo, he trained as a goldsmith before establishing a metal-sculpture workshop that would anchor his career. In 1401 he won the competition to create the first set of bronze doors for the Baptistery of San Giovanni, launching a decades-long relationship with the building. The commission that followed — the second set of doors — earned Michelangelo's famous praise and secured Ghiberti's place as a defining sculptor of the Early Renaissance. Beyond the workshop, he wrote the Commentarii, a text on art that includes what may be the earliest surviving auto…