Florence Baptistery
Ghiberti's career was dominated by his two successive commissions for pairs of bronze doors to the Florence Baptistery (Battistero di San Giovanni). They are recognized as a major masterpiece of the Early Renaissance, and were famous and influential from their unveiling. Ghiberti first became famous when as a 21-year-old he won the 1401 competition for the first set of bronze doors, with Brunelleschi as the runner up. The original plan was for the doors to depict scenes from the Old Testament, but the plan was changed to depict scenes from the New Testament instead. However, the trial piece, which survives, depicts the sacrifice of Isaac.