Lorenzo Ghiberti. “The gates of paradise”. 1457 Gilded bronze relief panels. 21"x171/2". Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, ItalyLorenzo Ghiberti's masterpiece 'Gates of Paradise' is composed of 10 gilt bronze relief panels depicting scenes from the Old Testament that were the centerpiece of a pair of bronze doors for the east side. from the Baptistery of Florence. Ghiberti used a combination of intuitive and linear perspective to tell a story in each panel. Each story is composed of numerous scenes with the largest and tallest relief figures located in the foreground and the shallowest reliefs and corresponding smaller figures in the background. Three of the panels (Jacob and Essau, Joseph and Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba) incorporate major architectural elements rendered convincingly through the use of linear perspective. Linear perspective, also called scientific perspective, is a "magic formula" that allows the artist to recreate a three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional surface that appears realistic and accurate to the human eye. (Harris, Zucker). This method is generally considered to have been developed by Brunelleschi in 1420 and documented in a book, On Painting by Leon Battista Albertini in 1435. The method uses intersecting lines to guide the artist in the precise expression of perspective. The first element of linear perspective is the horizon which, as the name suggests, is a horizontal line that runs across the frame at approximately the viewer's eye level. This horizon line extends beyond the frame of the “window” or canvas. Next comes the vanishing point, usually a single point on the horizon line toward which all lines "disappear" as they move away. According to middle of paper ......ng of Tabitha' are two fine examples of the use of linear perspective in Renaissance painting. Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise" has been restored, removed from its place. in the doors, and replaced by copies. They are now visible as individual panels, sealed for protection, and located in Florence at the Santa Maria del Fiore Opera Museum. Luckily for us, you don't have to travel to Florence to see Ghiberti's masterpiece. Excellent casts of the originals can be seen just outside Santa Cruz, in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. Works Cited Harris, B. and Zucker. How one-point linear perspective works. KhanAcademy video. Internet. 2-25-14Kane, D. Science in Italian Renaissance Art I: Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise - Linear Perspective and Space. The Ohio Journal of Science. Vol.102. No. 5 (December 2002). pp. 110-112. Internet. 2-24-14