The North Doors of the Florence Baptistery were made by Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1403 and 1424 and represent his first masterpiece, before the celebrated Gates of Paradise. The work is signed in the center, above the panels of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi: “OPVS LAUREN/TII•FLOREN/TINI.” After restoration in 2013-2015 (during which much of the original gilding was restored) the doors were displayed in the new Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and replaced by a copy.
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North Doors of the Florence Baptistery in the context of Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti (UK: /ɡɪˈbɛərti/, US: /ɡiːˈ-/, Italian: [loˈrɛntso ɡiˈbɛrti]; né di Bartolo; 1378 – 1 December 1455) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, the later one called by Michelangelo the Gates of Paradise. Trained as a goldsmith and sculptor, he established an important workshop for sculpture in metal. His book of Commentarii contains important writing on art, as well as what may be the earliest surviving autobiography by any artist.
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.