GHIBERTI, Lorenzo
(b. 1378, Firenze, d. 1455, Firenze)

Panel No. 3: Stories of Noah

1425-52
Gilded bronze, 79 x 79 cm
Baptistery, Florence

The figure of the reclining Noah at the lower left echoes the figure of Adam on the Creation of Adam and Eve panel above, and the centre line of the composition through the figure of one of Noah's sons connects visually with the open space between God and Eve above. The Noah panel represents another kind of fall of mankind, with Noah being the new Adam from whom humankind will again populate the earth. The ark in the distance, in the shape of a pyramid, seems to extend the entire width of the panel, again suggesting that its contents would repopulate the entire earth.