viruses not only spawn febreezing asians in subways, hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer, but they also have the ability to drive serious artistic endeavors...some of which become viral themselves and spawn ideas. trying to make sense of one's own mortality and meaning in life leads to expression and creation. it's no coincidence the black plague sparked the renaissance and some of the most memorable art and architecture. today's post centers on the famous virus-inspired baptistry doors in florence.
the Rivalry
Brunelleschi had no ambitions to follow his father’s footsteps as a notary in Florence, instead, at the age of 15, he began an apprenticeship as a goldsmith. Goldsmiths at that time covered a variety of arts such as decorating books with gold leaf, setting precious stones, casting metals, engraving silver and working with enamel. Donatello, da Vinci, and vercocchio are other notable artists who started their artistic training in goldsmith workshops. Brunelleschi quickly mastered goldsmithing and started to study motion through the design of gears and wheels. He is reported to have made the first alarm bell and a spring powered clock (innovations that were hundreds of years before their time).
In 1402, at the age of 25, Brunelleschi entered the famous competition for the bronze doors of the Baptistry of San Giovanni which was sited across from the duomo. The competition which would play a critical role in Brunelleschi’s life came about as the result of the Black Plague. Throughout the 1300s the Black Plague struck Florence. In 1400, 12,000 florentines died (20% of the population). Every time the plague struck, the Florentines would try to drive it away by either ringing church bells, or marching the portrait of the virgin through the streets, or burning sulfur wormwood, juniper to clear the air. To appease the deity this time, the Guild of the Cloth merchants sponsored a competition for the bronze doors housing the font where all the citizens were baptized. 34 judges were chosen including artists, sculptors, and banker Giovanni Medici.
Each entrant was given four slabs of bronze weighing 75 pounds and ordered to execute the same scene, abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac to symbolize florence’s survival from the plague. The competitors were given 1 year to complete the task and the final design was to be 17 inches high by 13 inches wide. The process for casting bronze is conceptually the same today as 600 years ago. Today a bronze sculpture is made with wax, and then coated with a cementitious slurry material. The wax is burned out, leaving a hollow form to pour the bronze in. The process is called the ‘lost wax’ process. One year may seem like a long time to administer a bronze casting competition but 600 years ago, the slurry material was comprised of ox horn, iron filings and cow dung. The casting process was so complex and fraught with difficulty back then that when Michelangelo used to cast bronze, he would request a Mass to be said.
Out of the 7 entrants, Lorenzo Ghiberti arose to be Brunelleschi’s main challenger... and a life-long hated rival. Ghiberti was very different in his work process than Brunelleschi. He would seek out advice from the jurors, and adjust and change his sculpture entry accordingly. Brunelleschi worked in isolation. Always suspicious of others stealing his ideas, if he did make notes, he would use a cipher to hide their meaning. Da Vinci would later do the same by employing backwards handwriting in his notebooks. Ghiberti’s entry was made with 2 pours while brunelleschi’s entry was comprised of over 30 pieces soldered together. People today can decide which entrant they would’ve preferred as the original competition entries from Brunelleschi and Ghiberti can now be seen in Museo nazionale del bargello. The judges had a hard time declaring a clear winner between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti so they offered them a joint commission. Brunelleschi refused to pair up with Ghiberti and cede any design control. In frustration, Brunelleschi renounced his work in sculpture and never worked in bronze ever again and left Florence for Rome for the next 16 years of his life. Ghiberti would spend the next 22 years of his life working on the bronze doors that would weigh 10 tons. In the lives of the artist by Vasari, Ghiberti’s doors were named the Gates of Paradise by Michelangelo because of their beauty. Michelangelo was impressed by their illusion of space. Although they were cast relatively flat, they employed mathematical perspective principles to create a 3 dimensional sense of space. The doors were also technically materially advanced. Ghiberti used a special bronze alloy that was especially receptive to gilding. He mixed gold dust and mercury and painted it onto the bronze alloy to create a smooth flowing finish suggesting air and atmosphere. This highly toxic process involved burning the mercury away to leave only the gold in place.
Competition entries - Brunelleschi (left) vs Ghiberti (right)
Ghiberti's Baptistry Doors
i mistakenly had an eight foot long board of poplar cut into 1 foot x 1 foot square pieces. i lamented my mistake (the japanese woodcut artists i admire never used squares). design within squares is hard to make dynamic, but i figured, if ghiberti could work with the square, 'what the heck' i could try too. my latest woodcut efforts will be a series of square format prints that i will tape to my front door in response to covid-19.
square #1 - corona plant: small yet viral
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