Reason Numner 8,765,142 I Love My Wife

My wife was sitting there, working on her computer, and suddenly she lets out a excited little cry, and tears come to her eyes.

I'm thinking there was a cute picture of somekind, or an e-mail that touched her, but as she does every day, she surprises me with what moved her.

It's these doors, known as the Gates of Paradise.
We were married on a Mediterranean cruise, and for our honeymoon, we go to Pompeii, Rome, Florence, Monaco, Nice and Barcelona (not bad, eh?). Franki had to see these doors at the Duomo, and though they were replicas, they were still incredible.

Among the many treasures of Grace Cathedral, the ones most visible to visitors are the great east doors, replicas of the famed Doors of Paradise. Their shimmering gold surfaces beckon the pilgrim up the great stairway to look in awe at the intricately sculpted and nearly three-dimensional panels. The original doors, by master sculptor and craftsman Lorenzo Ghiberti, stood at the east entry of the ancient Baptistry of the Duomo (Cathedral) in Florence, Italy. Now in the Duomo museum (replaced by a replica), they are considered by many art historians to mark the beginning of the Renaissance. Their popular name- Doors of Paradise- is based on a tradition that the young Michelangelo, greatly impressed by the doors, described them as worthy to be the Gates of Paradise.

Well, it turns out the Ghiberti doors are now touring the US, starting in Atlanta, and moving on to Chicago and finally New York.

When Franki saw this bit of news, she teared up, because the idea of seeing the real Ghiberti doors has always been a dream to her, and the thought of doing so was overwhelming. We will be going to see them in Chicago.

The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece will premiere in Atlanta on 28 April 2007 and remain on view through 15 July 2007. The exhibition is tentatively scheduled to travel to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Once returned to Florence, the three Gates of Paradise panels will be reassembled in their original framework and placed in a specially designed, hermetically sealed case in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo—never to travel again.

Yep - that's my wife - the Renaissance art lover.