Joshua (The crossing of the Jordan river and the fall of the Jericho)

This relief is a marble copy of the bronze plate from the Gates of Paradise, eastern (main) door of the Florence Baptistery. The door was done by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the 15th century and depicts the scenes from the Old Testament. This particular plate is an illustration to Joshua scene of the crossing of the Jordan river and the fall of Jericho. This piece of Ghiberti's work is fascinating because to portray the crumbling of Jericho's walls before Joshua's army, Ghiberti incised deep cracks in the fortifications which can be partly seen on the marble copy. Only the master like Ghiberti, who rose immediately to the summit of his profession and stayed there, would be so insouciant as to simulate dreaded cracks in his bronze casting. The original plate is stored at Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.这件浮雕是佛罗伦萨洗礼堂东门（主门）"天堂之门"青铜门板的大理石复制品。该门由洛伦佐·吉贝尔蒂（Lorenzo Ghiberti）于15世纪打造，以《旧约》中的场景为创作主题。这件复制品所对应的原作门板，描绘的是约书亚带领以色列子民渡约旦河、攻陷耶利哥城的圣经场景。吉贝尔蒂的这件作品极具巧思：为了展现约书亚大军兵临城下时耶利哥城墙崩塌的场景，他在青铜原作的城防结构上刻下了深邃的裂缝，这些裂缝在这件大理石复制品上仍有部分可见。唯有像吉贝尔蒂这般甫登行业巅峰便屹立不倒的大师，方能如此从容地在青铜铸品中还原令人望而生畏的城墙裂缝。该青铜门板原件现藏于佛罗伦萨大教堂博物馆（Museo dell'Opera del Duomo）。