Editing Filippo Brunelleschi (section)

===Sculpture – Competition for the Florence Baptistry doors===
{{See also|North Doors of the Florence Baptistery}}
Brunelleschi's earliest surviving sculptures are two small bronze statues of evangelists and saints (1399–1400) made for the altar of the Crucifix Chapel [[Pistoia Cathedral]].{{sfn|Gärtner|1998|p=20}} He paused this project in 1400, when he was chosen to simultaneously serve two representative councils of the [[Republic of Florence|Florentine government]] for about four months.{{sfn|Walker|2003|p=9}}

Around the end of 1400, the city of Florence decided to create new sculpted and gilded bronze doors for the [[Florence Baptistery]].{{sfn|Walker|2003|p=15}}{{efn|These may have been meant to celebrate the signing of a treaty between Milan and Venice or the end of a deadly epidemic of the [[Black Death]].{{sfn|Walker|2003|p=15}}}} A competition was held in 1401 for the design, which drew seven competitors, including Brunelleschi and another young sculptor, [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]]. Each sculptor had to produce a single bronze panel, depicting the [[Sacrifice of Isaac]] within a Gothic four-leaf frame. The panels each contained Abraham, Isaac, an angel and other figures imagined by the artists, and had to harmonize in style with the existing doors, produced in 1330 by [[Andrea Pisano]]. The head of the jury was [[Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici]], who later became an important patron of Brunelleschi. The jury initially praised Ghiberti's panel. When they saw Brunelleschi's work, they were unable to choose between the two and suggested that the two artists collaborate on the project.{{sfn|Walker|2003|pp=21–22}} Brunelleschi refused to forfeit total control of the project, preferring it to be awarded to Ghiberti. This divided public opinion.{{sfn|Walker|2003|pp=21–22}}

Brunelleschi would eventually abandon sculpture and devote his attention entirely to architecture and optics,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Art in Renaissance Italy|last1=Paoletti|first1=John T|last2=Radke|first2=Gray M|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall|year=2012|location=Upper Saddle River, N.J|pages=203–205}}</ref> but continued to receive sculpture commissions until at least 1416.<ref name=gardner>{{cite book |last1=De la Croix |first1=Horst |last2=Tansey |first2=Richard G. |last3=Kirkpatrick |first3=Diane |title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages |date=1991 |publisher=Thomson/Wadsworth |isbn=0-15-503769-2 |edition=9th |page=[https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/592 592] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/592 }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Filippo Brunelleschi (attr.), san giovanni evangelista, 1400-01 ca. 01.jpg|St. John the Evangelist, Altar of Saint at Church of San Zeno, [[Pistoia]] (1399–1400)
File:Filippo brunelleschi, Geremia, 1400-1401, 05.jpg|''Prophet Jeremiah'' detail of altarpiece, Church of San Zeno, Pistoia (1399–1400)  
File:Filippo brunelleschi, Isaia, 1400-1401, 04.jpg|The ''Prophet Isaiah'', Church of San Zeno, Pistoia detail of altarpiece (1399–1400)
File:Filippo Brunelleschi, The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-2, Bargello, Florence.jpg|''The Sacrifice of Isaac'', Brunelleschi's competition project for a door panel of the Baptistry of Florence (1401)
</gallery>