vine, and, having been made drunk by
the wine, is showing his nakedness, and his son Ham is deriding him; and
in truth a man sleeping could not be imitated better, the limbs being
seen outstretched in drunken abandonment, while his other two sons, with
consideration and love, are covering him in very beautiful attitudes;
not to mention that there are the cask, the vine-leaves, and the other
features of the vintage, so carefully made and fitted into certain
places, that they do not impede the story, but serve as a most beautiful
adornment. In the fourth scene it pleased Lorenzo to make the apparition
of the three Angels in the valley of Mamre, giving them a close likeness
one to the other, while that most holy patriarch is seen adoring them,
with much appropriateness and vivacity in the position of his hands and
the expression of his countenance; and, in addition, Lorenzo showed very
beautiful feeling in the figures of his servants, who, remaining at the
foot of the mountain with an ass, are awaiting Abraham, who had gone to
sacrifice his son. Isaac is placed naked on the altar, and his
father, with uplifted arm, is about to show his obedience, but he is
hindered by the Angel, who is restraining him with one hand, while with
the other he is pointing to where is the ram for the sacrifice, and
delivering Isaac from death. This scene is truly very beautiful, since,
among other things, there is seen a very great difference between the
delicate limbs of Isaac and those of the servants, which are more
robust; insomuch that there appears to be no touch therein that was not
given with the greatest art. In this work, also, Lorenzo showed that he
surpassed his own self in the difficulties of making buildings; in the
birth-scene of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau; in the scene when Esau is
hunting, at the wish of his father; and in that when Jacob, instructed
by Rebecca, is offering the cooked kid, with its skin wrapped round his
neck, while Isaac is feeling for him and giving him his blessing. In
this scene there are some dogs, very beautiful and lifelike, besides the
figures, which produce the very same effect that Jacob, Isaac, and
Rebecca did by their actions when they were alive.

[Illustration: THE FALL OF JERICHO

(_Detail, after_ Lorenzo Ghiberti, _from the Paradise Gate of the
Baptistery, Florence_)

_Brogi_]

[Illustration: THE CREATION OF EVE

(_Detail, after_ Lorenzo Ghiberti, _from the Paradise Gate of the
Baptistery, Flo