The Captivity of Christ

myminifactory

In 1401, the Arte dei Mercantanti di Calimala (guild of merchants dealing with foreign cloth and exporting cloth) chose to commission a second bronze door for the Baptistry of Florence. The new door was meant to accompany the original one completed by Andrea Pisano in 1336. A competition was held for the new door, and seven artists submitted trial reliefs of The Sacrifice of Isaac. Lorenzo Ghiberti's entry won over that of his closest rival, Filippo Brunelleschi. On November 23, 1403, a contract was awarded to Ghiberti and his father, Bartolo di Michele, for the new door. They executed the project between 1403 and 1424. The design aimed to harmonize with the original door, featuring twenty-eight panels with a similar scheme of quatre-foils. The upper reliefs depicted scenes from the New Testament, while the lower panels showed single figures of the Evangelists and Church Fathers. Ghiberti adjusted the proportions of the panels and replaced Andrea Pisano's dividing lattice with rich foliate ornamentation. On Easter Sunday in 1424, the doors were installed at the East entrance to the Baptistry, facing the Cathedral. In 1452, they were moved to their current location, the North Entrance, when Ghiberti's second bronze door, the Gates of Paradise, took their place.