The Story of Joseph (The Gates of Paradise)

In comparison with his panels for the earlier doors, these panels are more naturalistic in terms of Ghiberti's use of perspective and the rendering of the figures. Many historians noted that of all the ten panels on the Gates of Paradise, the Joseph panel was the most difficult, and also most beautiful.  It is noteworthy because of Ghiberti's invention, order, manner, and design, that his figures appear to move and to have souls. While the foreground figures are presented in high relief (leading to nearly free-standing figures), the figures further back are presented in low relief, following Donatello's technique of rilievo schiacciato (flattened relief), and the rest of the panel involves the application of incised lines, creating a very dynamic and complex sense of space.

The use of the rectangular (rather than quatrefoil) format, moreover, allowed Ghiberti to explore depth of space fully in all the scenes. The ten panels contain figures rendered in such high relief they are almost completely in the round. Each panel has clever devices of perspective, which give the illusion of real depth in scenes which are quite complex with multiple areas of action. The panel showing the story of Joseph (son of Jacob) is a particularly fine example of Ghiberti's skill at rendering depth with the double layer of receding architectural features behind the crowd of foreground figures.

Ghiberti's first set of doors  for the Florence Baptistery are admired for the quality of their design and execution and stand as exemplars of the International Gothic style. However, his second set, christened by Michelangelo, the "Gates of Paradise," emphatically confirmed his genius and secured him his place in the pantheon. The two doors each feature five gilded bronze panels showing amalgamated scenes from the Old Testament. Around the panels there is a frame that contains representations of famous Biblical figures and contemporary artists (and even the heads of Ghiberti and his son, Vittorio). In the Joseph panel, Ghiberti combines the narratives of Joseph cast by his brethren into the well; Joseph sold to the merchants; the merchants delivering Joseph to the Pharoah; Joseph interpreting the Pharaoh's dream; the Pharaoh paying him honour; Jacob sending his sons to Egypt; and Joseph recognizing his brothers and returning home.

This bronze is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence