If not for unexpected morning rain, Kansas City would not be celebrating a major gift: a bronze cast of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s 15th-century Gates of Paradise. The original gilded doors were made for the east entrance of the baptistery in front of Florence Cathedral by Ghiberti and his workshop from 1425 to 1452.
They depict scenes from the Old Testament and their startling virtuoso relief—figures are placed in landscapes or perspectivally rendered architecture to suggest depth—influenced generations of artists.
