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How did Donatello and Nanni di Banco challenge Lorenzo Ghiberti at Orsanmichele?

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Bronze self-portrait of Lorenzo Ghiberti in relief, set within ornate floral and geometric decoration on the Gates of Paradise at the Florence Baptistery. — Lorenzo Ghiberti Self-portrait by Lorenzo Ghiberti, detail from *Gates of Paradise*, 1425–52; gilded bronze doors formerly on the east side of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, and now on display in Opera del Duomo Museum, Florence.

At Orsanmichele, Donatello and Nanni di Banco challenged Lorenzo Ghiberti by introducing a new, monumental style that departed from the Gothic conventions seen in Ghiberti’s earlier St. John the Baptist.1

While Ghiberti’s St. John was technically modern as a large-scale bronze, it remained stylistically tied to the Gothic tradition, with the figure appearing somewhat overwhelmed by its drapery. In contrast, Donatello’s works, such as St. Mark and St. George, and Nanni di Banco’s St. Philip and Quattro Santi Coronati (“Four Crowned Saints”), utilized monumental proportions that matched their life-size scale.1

These younger sculptors employed a "weighty new classical" approach, drawing inspiration from antiquity—such as Nanni di Banco’s use of Roman-style togas and portrait-like heads—to create figures with greater physical presence and spatial unity. This shift toward classical strength and naturalism forced Ghiberti to evolve his own style, which he successfully did in his subsequent commissions, such as the St. Matthew.123