[Born at Florence, 1377. Died there, 1446. Aged 69.] The self-taught constructor of the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence, which, though smaller than that of St. Peter’s at Rome, surpasses it in elegance and lightness. A builder of churches, palaces, and fortifications. Michael Angelo declared that it was difficult to imitate and impossible to excel him. Small and insignificant in person, but of commanding genius. With many competitors, his goodness and prudence preserved him from enmity. [His tomb is next to that of Giotto, in the Cathedral at Florence, and bears an epitaph by Aretino. This bust was done by Alessandro d’Este. It is no doubt taken from that in the Church of Sta. Maria del Fiore, at Florence, which was done from the life, in marble, by his pupil, Il Buggiano. In 1830, statues of him and Arnolfo, his fellow architect, were placed in the new chapter-house: they are by Luigi Pompaloni, a Florentine.] 132. LORENZO GHIBERTI, or LORENZO DI CIONE. _Sculptor._ [Born at Florence, 1378. Died, 1455. Aged 77.] One of the most memorable of the great Italian artists of the fifteenth century. At the age of 23, he competed with Brunelleschi and Donatello for the execution of the side doors of San Giovanni at Florence. His two rivals confessed themselves vanquished and retired in his favour. These gates were twenty-one years in course of completion, and are divided into 20 panels, each containing a bas-relief cast in bronze, from a subject in the New Testament. Another twenty years were spent in producing the central doors of the same Baptistery, representing in ten compartments the principal events of the Old Testament. Of these, Michael Angelo said they were beautiful enough to stand at the entrance of Paradise. A reproduction of these gates occupies the centre of the south end of the Renaissance Court. Ghiberti modelled and cast statues, worked in gold, painted on glass, and wrote a MS. history of Ancient and Modern Artists. [Buried in Sta. Croce, Florence; his tomb is now lost. This Bust is by Carlo Finelli. There is an interesting portrait of him by his own hand, amongst the heads on his celebrated gates in the Renaissance Court. The two heads in the centre, between the upper corners of the second panels from the ground, are portraits of Ghiberti and Bartoluccio, the caster; the right-hand one, with the bald head, being Ghiberti. In the original gates his name is inscribed near the head, with the words,-- “Laurentii Cionis de Ghibertis mirâ arte fabricatum.”] 133. DONATO DI NICCOLO DI BETTO BARDI; called by his contemporaries DONATELLO. _Sculptor._ [Born at Florence, 1386. Died there, 1468. Aged 83.]