North Doors (ornamental fragments)

In 1401, the Florentine guild of cloth finishers (Arte di Calimala) announced a competition for the northern doors of the Florentine Baptistery. The contestants were required to make a relief depicting a biblical theme, namely the sacrifice of Isaac. The winner from among the seven contestants was Ghiberti, who completed the doors between 1403 and 1424. The doors consist of twenty-eight multifoil panels in seven rows. The upper panels depict events from the life of Christ, while the lower ones show the church fathers and the apostles. While the influence of the international Gothic style can still be detected in some scenes, in others Renaissance stylistic elements appear. The Museum of Fine Arts ordered casts of the door frame and of eight reliefs, one of which was subsequently destroyed.