Presentation in the Temple

Ghiberti’s ascertainable work as a painter is confined to the design of important stained-glass windows: he supplied (probably in 1404) a cartoon of the Assumption for the central rose window in the cathedral fa�ade, and in 1412 designs for the flanking windows, representing St Stephen and St Lawrence. On 4 April 1424 he was paid for two designs for windows in the first bay of the cathedral, representing Joachim Expelled from the Temple and the Death of the Virgin. In October 1436 he received a final payment for designs for four windows in the St Zenobius Chapel of the cathedral choir. Finally, he designed three of the round windows in the drum of the cathedral dome: on 7 December 1443 he was paid for the Presentation in the Temple and on 11 September received final payments for Christ on the Mount of Olives and the Ascension.

Judging by its stylistic affinity to these windows, and also according to Vasari, the fa�ade window of the Crucifixion in Santa Croce, Florence, was also designed by Ghiberti, probably c. 1450.