I Commentarii

work by Ghiberti

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June 24, 2026

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I Commentarii is a significant work by Lorenzo Ghiberti, an early Italian Renaissance sculptor. Written around 1447, it consists of three books that serve as treatises on art history and theory, spanning from antiquity to Ghiberti's own time.1

The first book is a compilation of ancient art history, drawing from Latin authors and emphasizing the inseparable link between practice and theory in ancient art's excellence. The second book discusses art from the recent past, including Ghiberti's admiration for certain Sienese painters and a goldsmith named Gusmin, and notably contains an autobiography. The third book is more theoretical, though it is fragmentary in the surviving manuscript.1

Ghiberti's I Commentarii reveal his humanist interests and confidence in his role within the Florentine Renaissance. He aimed to recapture and study the art of the ancients, developing a new style that blended classical influences with his own artistic innovations.1

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art criticism
Renaissance art criticism
Lorenzo Ghiberti’s I Commentarii (c. 1447; “Commentaries”) includes a discussion of artists’ lives (painters and two sculptors, himself included), and also traces the trajectory of artistic progress, which for Ghiberti begins with the proto-Renaissance artist Giotto, who returned to ancient models of art. Ghiberti also summarizes the…
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Lorenzo Ghiberti’s I Commentarii (c. 1447; “Commentaries”) includes a discussion of artists’ lives (painters and two sculptors, himself included), and also traces the trajectory of artistic progress, which for Ghiberti begins with the proto-Renaissance artist Giotto, who returned to ancient models of art. Ghiberti also summarizes the…
Read More

Lorenzo Ghiberti
Later works and writings of Lorenzo Ghiberti
Ghiberti’s writings, I Commentarii (probably completed about 1447), shed more light on his humanist interests.The commentaries are composed of three books. The first, a history of art in ancient times, is Ghiberti’s digest of writings of Latin authors on the subject; in it he reveals his belief…
Read More
Ghiberti’s writings, I Commentarii (probably completed about 1447), shed more light on his humanist interests.The commentaries are composed of three books. The first, a history of art in ancient times, is Ghiberti’s digest of writings of Latin authors on the subject; in it he reveals his belief…
Read More