Friday Morning at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

Today was another day of mainly Brunelleschi-related siteseeing. We started off by walking behind the basilica to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, the Museum of the Works of the Duomo.

This building was originally the offices of the Opera del Duomo, the organization that oversaw everything that had to do with the duomo (the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) especially its construction. This includes the baptistery, the Battistero di San Giovanni.

This building has been turned into a storage place for the originals of many of the pieces of art that were in and on the church. Most of these have been replaced with copies in an effort to preserve the originals.

The Gates of Paradise

In 1401 a competition was held in Florence to create a set of doors for the baptistery, on the east side, facing the duomo. Filippo Brunelleschi, who at the time was a goldsmith, entered the competition. Among the other seven entrants was Lorenzo Ghiberti, who was a teenaged painter from Florence. He was assisting another painter in another town, and came back to Florence for the competition.

According to Brunelleschi's first biographer, Antonio Manetti, who knew and was friends with Brunelleschi, the outcome of the competition was a tie between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti. Brunellechi was not happy with this and refused his half of the commission, leaving the whole thing to Ghiberti.

However, the official records do not indicate anything other than Ghiberti receiving the commission. One clue though is that the only two panels submitted for the competition that survive are the ones created by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. These panels are preserved in the Bargello museum, which we did not visit on this trip, but will be a high priority for the next trip.

In any case, the doors, which were supposed to take three years to finish, were finally finished twenty years later and were installed in the east entrance to the baptistery. At this point, Ghiberti received another commission for a set of doors for the north entrance of the baptistery. When these doors were finished, they were considered so beautiful that they deserved the privileged spot in the east entrance, facing the duomo. So the first set of doors were moved to the north entrance, and the new set installed in the east entrance. When Michelangelo saw these doors, he called them the Gates of Paradise.

In 1966, the 10 original panels, which had become very weathered, were replaced by copies and the originals were moved to this museum. Only the 7 below were on display when we were there. These were protected by glass panels so these photos have lots of reflections on them, but you can still see the beauty and also how badly they have deteriorated by the years of weathering in the piazza.

Michelangelo's Last Pieta

Below are more photos of the sculpture. As with many of Michelangelo's later sculptures, this one does not appear to be finished, as you can see when you view the back. It is thought by many that this was done on purpose.

Cantorial Pulpits

Below are the cantorial pulpits (the singing galleries for the choristers) of Donatello and Luca della Robbia.

Maddalena

The photos below are Maddalena (Magdalene) by Donatello, 1455, partially gilded wood.
I had never seen any images of Mary Magdalene like this so it was very surprising to enter the room and see this statue standing there.

Brunelleschi's Workshop

Then we came to an area in the museum called Brunelleschi's Workshop where I took the photos below.