“Ek aur dekhoge. Saahib?” Sheikh asked me. “Time for one more?”
Sheikh had been driving me around the beautiful Hoysala temples near Hassan in his vintage jeep. He had seen me palpably excited when we reached Belur early in the morning. He had quietly followed me as I relentlessly circumambulated the star shaped platform of the the Chennakeshava temple at Belur feasting on the intricate decorations of the outer walls.
“Isme kya hai saahib? Pathar hee to hai?” He had asked innocently - What’s the fuss about? Its just stone! Not knowing what to say I bought him a cheap copy of the Hoysala architecture guide book, printed in Kannada, and left him to what he did best – drive. After a hearty meal, while the heat outside soared and I dozed for a few minutes, I actually saw him flip through the book. At the Hoysaleshwar Temple at Hallebid, he followed me inside the cool inner sanctum and seemed to listen intently to the guides toneless monolog.
On the drive back, after I thought I had seen what there was to see in the region, he threw the poser my ways – one more? he was asked. It was like asking the local glutton if he cared for another morsel of dessert!
The craggy old man sat under the receding shadow of Giotto’s campanile. He was selling cheap replica’s of Michelangelo’s David, postcards that depicted Tuscan landscape’s and other tidbits. I pointed over his shoulder and asked if the kind senor knew anything about those doors. He did not even bother to look behind. He gave me the high two shouldered I-do-not-care Italian shrug and continued to brood.
I even saw some tourists, head buried deep into Frommers’ , walk right past it. Right past the very doors Michelangelo dubbed porta caeli – The Gates of Paradise.
It is easy to see why. There is just so much going around here on the cobbled courtyard west of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. There is the iconic dome that caps not only the church, but metaphorically, caps Florence, The western neo-gothic façade of the basilica is stunning. Nearby, Giotto’s tower soars up in the Duomo’s airspace, unleashing a cunning optical illusion that leads the viewer to believe that all levels of the tower are of the same size (where as they mushroom out as the tower goes up.) Amidst these gigantic structures, both in size and reputation, the tiny octagonal Baptistery can be inadvertently ignored and the iconic bronze gates, just a spec on the spectacular Florentine art landscape.
Perchance, a visitor with a basic eye for the fabulous were to glance sideways, the view is guaranteed to stop the most frantic dash mid-step. And for those, like me, who came looking for them, put the backpack down, pull a chair, for there is a lot to soak in here.
For a twenty-first century frequent flier, digital SLR totting, email on iPhone, Rick Steve on iPad globe trotter, it would be difficult to imagine the early years of the fifteenth century to be anything but idyllic, laidback, easy, uncomplicated. Right here in Florence, the times were anything but that. The art frenzy in Florence c1400s matched the dot-com madness of Silicon Valley in late 1990s. Art was the currency, artists were cult icons and time was of essence. In 1401, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Fillipo Brunelleschi, two superstar artists came face to face, each bidding their superlative expertise to blow life into inanimate materials to earn the commission of the century, to design a new set of bronze doors for the baptistery. After one year of labor, the two artists presented their wares. (It is firmly believed that Giorgio Vasari first used the word concorrenza - competition in the context of this race.) The council could not cleanly choose between the two and they declared Ghiberti and Brunelleschi joint winners. Confident that he was second to none, even in the first place, Brunelleschi walked away from the contract, a decision that would ultimately pave another golden brick in the history of Florence and mankind. Ghiberti spent the next twenty-one years of his life in a workshop not too far from her, aided by apprentices like Donatello, to create a masterpiece that is today largely dated, insignificant and forgotten.
Brunelleschi went into a self imposed exile and appeared in time to participate in another competition in 1418 to design and build the dome for the church. Brunelleschi and Ghiberti competed again and this time Brunelleschi won. The rest is history. Brunelleschi managed to design and build a structure that has not been attempted for 500 years. Had Brunelleschi won the competition for the doors, it is quite likely the church would still have been an uncapped building. While Brunelleschi was busy figuring out the ingenious “dome within a dome”, Ghiberti was quietly granted the commission for a second set of doors, the Gates of Paradise, this time depicting scenes from the Old Testament.
For almost 25 years after that, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti co-existed on this very courtyard that I now stand. I wonder how the two humongous personalities persisted so claustrophobically together without taking a sledgehammer at each other’s work.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455). Jacob and Esau Panel, from Gates of Paradise
Do not miss the Easter egg the master planted. In the bottom right corner above, you can see Ghiberti's self portrait. Had he tried this trick a century ago, he would have been hanged for it.
Not only did they survive around each other, they chose to inextricably weave themselves into each others work: Ghiberti was the inspector for Brunelleschi’s dome – often offering needless advice, while Brunelleschi used the very Baptistery as the subject as he reinvented the lost art of Linear Perspective, that Ghiberti gleefully incorporated in his new ten panels in bronze.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455). Joseph Panel, from Gates of Paradise
Notice the clever use of depth to reinforce linear perspective?
Each bronze door is one monolithic piece of bronze. A 4 foot tall fence prevents visitors from going too close. The fence is understandable. The urge to touch the panels is extremely strong. Paul Walker’s well researched and peppy book on the lives and times of the two artists adds a whole different dimension that makes is even more worthwhile to be here. In his words “…the two young masters, full of dreams and promise, and Florence herself – already old and storied-stood at a crossroad, not only in Italy but in the history of western world, a crossroad that could only lead in one of two directions: destruction or rebirth.”
Walking in the general direction of the Intihuatana at Machu Picchu trailing our rather attractive Quechua guide, we had to climb up a few steps The ancient 15th century Inkan artisans have repeatedly and cleverly blended natural rock formations into building structures (as you can see in this picture). A sprawling rock has been converted into a tiny staircase.
Yet, how inexplicable is the disparity of attention provided to the steps on the left – nicely detailed and finished – and to the one on the right – rough hewn and incomplete.
Why did the artisan stop when he are almost there? Budget cut? Reprioritization?
Will we ever know?
* * *
Here is the profusely decorated south wall of the Chennakeshava Temple in Belur. Right in the middle of the frame, notice a glaring 5 X 3 space of schist left raw?
Why?
A space assigned to a famous (popular?) sculptor who could not finish it (accident/death?). A now forgotten compulsion (contractual/superstition/cultural sensitivity?) that did not allow another artisan to complete it?
Or should one believe a story of supreme confidence that the space was left blank as a challenge to other artists of unknown generations to try and better the art on the surrounding walls? Or one of servile humility silently agreeing that perfection can only be attained by God? I will never know.
* * *
On a different note, I encountered these steps while climbing up to the ballekilla – the fort within the fort - of the 17th century Pratapgad in Maharashtra. You can see two sets. One is 360 years old. The second has been laid less than 15 years ago.
One is beautifully intact, the other in tatters. I am sure you know which is which.
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