Isaac with Esau and Jacob

Isaac with Esau and Jacob sits around the central level of its bronze door and depicts the lives of Isaac, wife Rebecca and their twin sons

Architectural design was one area that developed signficantly during the Renaissance and there are early examples in this panel of across the background of Lorenzo Ghiberti's innovative use of perspective. He combined classic art with his own ideas plus those of members of his studio and the result was this extraordinary project that took 27 years to complete.

The foreground of this artwork captures countless numbers of figures that form several different scenes, all related to the overall theme. The groundbreaking nature of this set of doors has meant that often a copy of them is in their original place, in order to preserve the original for generations to come.

Ghiberti desired to produce artistic versions of the original Bible stories that felt real and compelling, and the artist felt that perspective was one way in which he could provide a more lifelike scene. Some elements of medieval art provided more of a flat finish that he wanted to move on from. This panel explains the stories and provides emotional feedback from the people involved too.

The sculptor would go into great detail within the scripture to ensure that every detail given could be found within his artwork, other than when he purposefully made an artistic decision to go in a slightly different direction. As this highly religious time, most members of society would already be very much aware of the various passages of the Old and New Testaments, referring only for a particular detail that may have escaped their memory.