Competition for the Florence Baptistery Bronze Doors (1401)

Timeline

1. 1401Florence · FlorenceThe Arte di Calimala (Florentine wool guild) commissioned a second pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery's north portal, publicly soliciting relief trial panels on the theme of the Sacrifice of Isaac, requiring the narrative scene to be completed within a four-sided inner frame.
2. 1401–1402Baptistery of St. John, Florence · FlorenceLorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello (participating as an assistant), and other artists submitted bronze relief trial panels, jointly reviewed by guild committee members and citizen representatives, comparing composition, perspective, and narrative expressiveness.
3. 1402Florence · FlorenceThe judging committee ruled Ghiberti's design the winner and awarded him the contract for the north doors. The result is regarded as a key moment in Florence's shift from Gothic tradition to Renaissance humanist visual language.