Ghiberti, Lorenz

Ghiberti, Lorenz a Florentine painter, and very eminent statuary, was born in 1378, and instructed by Starnina. About 1398 he went to Rimini, and was much engaged in painting on one of the doors of the baptistery of San Giovanni. His masterpiece was the Offering up of Isaac. He completed three statues of St. John the Baptist, St. Matthew, and St. Stephen, for the Church of San Michele; two bas-reliefs for the baptistery of the cathedral of Siena. All these works are still preserved. The reliquary of St. Zenobius and the two doors are, to this day, among the finest specimens of the art in Italy. He died in 1455. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.