A01=Scott Nethersole
Author_Scott Nethersole
baptistery
brass
bronze
Brunelleschi
Category=AFK
Category=AFKB
Category=AGA
Category=AGB
design
disegno
Donatello
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Florence
Florence Baptistery
forthcoming
Leon Battista Alberti
Luca della Robbia
marble
Masaccio
Materiality
metalwork
Orsanmichele
public
sculpture
stained glass
Product details
- ISBN 9781836391906
- Dimensions: 138 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 15 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Lorenzo Ghiberti was the most celebrated sculptor of his day – praised by Alberti, admired by peers and trusted with Florence’s most prestigious commissions, including the iconic Baptistery doors. Yet his legacy has often been diminished, cast as a decorative hangover from the Gothic era and overshadowed by Donatello’s perceived Renaissance modernity. This book reconsiders Ghiberti’s achievement by focusing on his mastery of materials and design across bronze, glass, marble and drawing. From complex narrative reliefs to architectural ornament, Ghiberti emerges not just as a skilled craftsman, but as an inventive, multidimensional artist who redefined the possibilities of sculptural storytelling. By understanding him on his own terms, we gain a richer picture of early Renaissance invention and its lasting visual impact.
Scott Nethersole is Professor of Art History, 500–1500 CE, at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He was previously Reader in Italian Renaissance Art at the Courtauld, London. His books include Art and Violence in Early Renaissance Florence (2018).
