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How did Lorenzo Ghiberti represent figures that were near and far away in his relief panels?

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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.

In his relief panels, particularly the Gates of Paradise, Lorenzo Ghiberti employed a sophisticated illusionistic technique to represent depth and distance.12

To create the appearance of space, Ghiberti utilized varying degrees of relief projection:1

Foreground figures: These were sculpted in high relief, causing them to project further from the background and appear closer to the viewer.1
Background features: These were executed in low relief, which helped them recede visually and approximate distance.1

Furthermore, Ghiberti integrated linear perspective and perspectivally rendered architecture to enhance this sense of depth. In his own writings, I Commentarii, Ghiberti expressed pride in his ability to create architectural settings that allowed the eye to measure space, noting that he rendered figures near the viewer larger and those further away smaller, just as they appear in reality. This mastery of pictorial space allowed him to transform the flat surface of the bronze panels into a convincing, three-dimensional environment.2341