- For the baptistry with the same name in Siena, see Battistero di San Giovanni (Siena)
The Battistero di San Giovanni is a religious building in Siena, Italy. It is located in the square with the same name, near the final spans of the choir of the city's cathedral....
The
Florence Baptistry or
Battistero di San Giovanni (
BaptisteryIn Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistery may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...
of St. John) is a religious building in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
(
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
),
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, which has the status of a minor basilica.
The octagonal Baptistry stands in the Piazza del Duomo, across from the
DuomoThe Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church of Florence, Italy, begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi...
cathedral and the
GiottoGiotto may refer to:* Giotto di Bondone an Italian painter* Giotto mission, an European Space Agency space mission for the observation of Halley's comet* The Giotto programming language for real-time embedded systems...
bell tower (Campanile di Giotto). It is one of the oldest buildings in the city, built between 1059 and 1128. The architecture is in Florentine
RomanesqueRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
style.
The Baptistery is renowned for its three sets of artistically important
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
doors with relief sculptures by
Lorenzo GhibertiLorenzo Ghiberti was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking....
. These doors were dubbed by
MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer...
"the Gates of Paradise" because of their beauty, and they were said to have begun the Renaissance.
The Italian poet,
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
and many famed artists and leaders of the
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, including members of the
MediciThe House of Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house who first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until...
family, were baptized here. Until the end of the 19th century, all Catholic Florentines were baptized in this Baptistery.
History
For a long time, it was believed that the Baptistery was originally a
Roman templeIn the ancient religion of Roman paganism, practitioners often performed their worship at a temple. Sacrifices would take place at an altar outside the temple, as this meant any mess was easier to clean up, and the ceremony could be attended by many. Roman temples were not large and were basically...
dedicated to Mars, the tutelary god of the old Florence.
DanteDANTE is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
is often mentioned as the founder of this legend, but this is wrong. The founder of this legend was
Giovanni VillaniGiovanni Villani was an Italian banker, official, diplomat, and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but later gained an unsavory reputation and served time in prison due to the bankruptcy of a trading and banking...
in his 14th century
Nuova CronicaThe Nuova Cronica or New Chronicles is a 14th century history of Florence created in a year-by-year linear format and written by the Florentine banker and official Giovanni Villani...
on the
history of FlorenceFlorence is a major historical city in Italy, distinguished as one of the most outstanding economical and artistic centres in the peninsula from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance.-Roman origins:...
. However, excavations in the 20th century have shown that there was a first century Roman wall running through the piazza with the Baptistery. The Baptistery is likely built on the remains of a Roman guard tower on the corner of this wall, or potentially another Roman building. It is however certain that a first octagonal baptistery was erected here in the late 4th or early 5th century. It was replaced or altered by another early Christian baptistry in the 6th century. Its construction is attributed to
TheodelindaTheodelinda, queen of the Lombards, was the daughter of duke Garibald I of Bavaria.She was married first in 588 to Authari, king of the Lombards, son of king Cleph. Authari died in 590. Theodelinda was allowed to pick Agilulf as her next husband and Authari's successor in 591...
, queen of the Lombards (570-628) to seal the conversion of her husband, king
AuthariAuthari also known as Agilolf, was king of the Lombards from 584 to his death. After his father, Cleph, died in 574, the Lombardic nobility refused to appoint a successor, resulting in ten years interregnum known as the Rule of the Dukes.In 574 and 575 the Lombards made the blunder of invading...
.
This octagonal shape has been a common shape for baptisteries for many centuries since early Christianity. Other early examples are the
Lateran BaptisteryThe domed octagonal Lateran Baptistery stands somewhat apart from the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome, to which it has become joined by later construction. This baptistery was founded by Pope Sixtus III in 440, perhaps on an earlier structure, for a legend grew up that Constantine the...
(440) that provided a model for others throughout Italy, the
Church of the Saints Sergius and BacchusLittle Hagia Sophia , formerly the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus , is a former Eastern Orthodox church dedicated to Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople, later converted into a mosque during the Ottoman Empire....
(527-536) in
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire...
and the
Basilica of San VitaleThe Church of San Vitale — styled an "ecclesiastical basilica" in the Roman Catholic Church, though it is not of architectural basilica form — is a church in Ravenna, Italy, one of the most important examples of Byzantine Art and architecture in western Europe...
in
RavennaRavenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire till 476. It was later the capital ofKingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna till 751...
(548).
This baptistery was the city's second
basilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building , usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC.Basilicas were also used for religious purposes...
after San Lorenzo outside the northern city wall, and predates the church
Santa ReparataSanta Reparata is the former cathedral of Florence, Italy. Its name refers to Saint Reparata, an early virgin martyr who is the co-patron saint of Florence.- History :...
. It was first recorded as such on 4 March 897, when the Count Palatine and envoy of the Holy Roman Emperor sat there to administer justice. The granite pilasters were probably taken from the Roman Forum in Florence, where the Piazza della Reppublica exists today. At that time, the baptistery was surrounded by a cemetery with Roman
sarcophagiA sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos the word came to refer...
, used by important Florentine families as tombs (now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo).
A new and much larger octagonal baptistery was built in
RomanesqueRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
style around 1059, evidence of a period of growing economic and political importance of Florence. It was reconsecrated on 6 November 1059 by
Pope Nicholas IINicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...
, a Florentine. According to legend, the marbles were brought from
FiesoleFiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...
, conquered by Florence in 1078. Other marble came from ancient structures. The construction was already finished in 1128.
An octagonal
lanternA lantern is a portable lighting device used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may be used for signaling, or as general light sources for camping...
was added to the pavilion roof around 1150. It was enlarged with a rectangular apse on the west side in 1202. On the corners, under the roof, are monstrous lion heads with a human head under their claws. They are early representations of
MarzoccoThe Marzocco is the heraldic lion, sculpted by Donatello in 1418–20, that is a symbol of Florence.It was commissioned by the Republic of Florence for the apartment of Pope Martin V at Santa Maria Novella, where this traditional insegna of communal republican defense stood guard atop a column...
, the heraldic Florentine lion (see
Loggia dei LanziThe Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street, three bays wide and one bay deep. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with...
).
Between the 14th and the 16th century, three bronze double doors were added, with the bronze and marble statues above them. This gives an indication that the baptistery, and not the cathedral, was initially in the highest esteem of the Florentines.
Exterior
The baptistry has eight equal sides with a rectangular addition on the west side.
The sides, originally in sandstone, are clad in geometrically patterned colored
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
, white
CarraraCarrara is a city in the province of Massa-Carrara , famous for the white or blue-gray marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione river, some 100 km west-northwest of Florence....
marble with green Prato marble inlay, reworked in Romanesque style between 1059 and 1128. The pilasters on each corner, originally in grey stone, were decorated with white and dark green marble in a zebra-like pattern by
Arnolfo di CambioArnolfo di Cambio was an Italian architect and sculptor.-Biography:Arnolfo was born in Colle Val d'Elsa, Tuscany....
in 1293.
The style of this church would serve as prototype, influencing many architects, such as
Leone Battista AlbertiLeon Battista Alberti was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer, and general Renaissance humanist polymath...
, in their design of Romanesque churches in Tuscany.
The exterior is also ornamented with a number of artistically significant statues by
Andrea SansovinoAndrea dal Monte Sansovino or Andrea Contucci del Monte San Savino was an Italian sculptor active during the High Renaissance...
(above the Gates of Paradise), Giovan Francesco Rustici,
Vincenzo DantiVincenzo Danti was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Perugia.His father was an architect and goldsmith, and Vincenzo developed an interest in drawing and goldsmithing. In 1545 he went to Rome to study sculpture and in 1553 he managed to secure a commission for a bronze statue of Pope Julius III...
(above the south doors) and others.
The design work on the sides is arranged in groupings of three, starting with three distinct horizontal sections. The middle section features three blind
archAn arch is a structure that spans a space while supporting weight . Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-History:Arches...
es on each side, each arch containing a window. These have alternate pointed and semicircular
tympaniThis article is about the architectural element. For the landform, see Pediment .A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice...
. Below each window is a stylized arch design. In the upper
fasciaFascia , pl. fas·ci·ae , adj. fascial is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue system that permeates the human body. It interpenetrates and surrounds muscles, bones, organs, nerves, blood vessels and other structures...
, there are also three small windows, each one in the center block of a three-panel design.
The apse was originally semicircular, but was it was made rectangular in 1202.
Baptistery doors
Recommended by
GiottoGiotto may refer to:* Giotto di Bondone an Italian painter* Giotto mission, an European Space Agency space mission for the observation of Halley's comet* The Giotto programming language for real-time embedded systems...
,
Andrea PisanoAndrea Pisano , also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was an Italian sculptor and architect.He first learned the trade of a goldsmith. Pisano then became a pupil of Mino di Giovanni, about 1300, and worked with him on the sculpture for S. Maria della Spina at Pisa and elsewhere...
was awarded the commission to design the first set of doors in 1329. The
South Doors were originally installed on the east side, facing the Duomo, but transferred to their present location in 1452. The bronze casting and gilding was done by the Venetian Leonardo d'Avanzano, widely recognized as one of the best bronze smiths in Europe. This took no less than six years, the doors being completed in 1336. These Proto-Renaissance doors consist of 28 quatrefoil panels, with the 20 top panels depicting scenes from the life of St.
John the BaptistJohn the Baptist was a mission preacher and a major religious figure who led a movement of Baptism at the Jordan River in expectation of a divine apocalypse that would restore occupied Israel...
. The eight lower panels picture the eight virtues of hope, faith, charity, humility, fortitude, temperance, justice and prudence. The moulded reliefs in the doorcase were added by
Lorenzo GhibertiLorenzo Ghiberti was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking....
in 1452. There is a Latin inscription on top of the door: "Andreas Ugolini Nini de Pisis me fecit A.D. MCCCXXX" (Andrea Pisano made me in 1330).
The group of bronze statues above the gate depict The Beheading of St. John the Baptist
. It is the masterwork of Vincenzo DantiVincenzo Danti was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Perugia.His father was an architect and goldsmith, and Vincenzo developed an interest in drawing and goldsmithing. In 1545 he went to Rome to study sculpture and in 1553 he managed to secure a commission for a bronze statue of Pope Julius III...
from 1571.
In 1401, a competition was announced by the Arte di CalimalaThe Arte di Calimala, the guild of the cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth, was one of the greater guilds of Florence, the Arti Maggiori, who arrogated to themselves the civic power of the Republic of Florence during the Late Middle Ages...
(Wool Merchants' Guild) to design the baptistery
North Doors. The existing north doors had been a votive offering to spare Florence from a new scourge such as the
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged...
in 1348. Seven sculptors competed, including
Lorenzo GhibertiLorenzo Ghiberti was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking....
,
Filippo BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy...
,
DonatelloDonatello was a famous early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
and
Jacopo della QuerciaJacopo della Quercia was an Italian sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, a contemporary of Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and Donatello. He is considered a precursor of Michelangelo.-Biography:...
, with 21-year old Ghiberti winning the commission. At the time of judging, only Ghiberti and Brunelleschi were finalists, and when the judges could not decide, they were assigned to work together on them. Brunelleschi's pride got in the way, and he went to Rome to study architecture leaving Ghiberti to work on the doors himself. Ghiberti's autobiography, however, claimed that he had won, "without a single dissenting voice." The original designs of The Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi are on display in the museum of the
BargelloThe Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace or Palazzo del Popolo is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy.-Terminology:...
.
It took Ghiberti 21 years to complete these doors. These gilded bronze doors consist of twenty-eight panels, with twenty panels depicting a biblical scene from the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
. The eight lower panels show the four evangelists and the Church Fathers Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory and Saint Augustine. The panels are surrounded by a framework of foliage in the door case and gilded busts of
prophetIn religion, a prophet is a person who has been contacted by, or has encountered, the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other humans...
s and
sibylThe word sibyl probably comes from the Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. The earliest oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity, "who admittedly are known only through legend" prophesied at certain holy sites, under the divine influence of a deity, originally— at Delphi and...
s at the intersections of the panels. Originally installed on the east side, in place of Pisano's doors, they were later moved to the north side. They are described by Antonio Paolucci as "the most important event in the history of Florentine art in the first quarter of the 15th century".
The bronze statues over the northern gate depict John the Baptist preaching to a Pharisee and Sadducee. They were sculpted by
Francesco RusticiFrancesco Rustici was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was initially a pupil of his father Cristoforo Rustici, then became a follower of the style of Caravaggio. Francesco painted an Annunciation for the church of the Madonna di Provenzano in Siena. He painted a Death of Mary Magdalen...
and are superior to any sculpture he did before. Rustici may have been aided in his design by
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
, who assisted him in the choice of his tools.
Ghiberti was now widely recognized as a celebrity and the top artist in this field. He was showered with commissions, even from the pope. In 1425 he got a second commission, this time for the
East Doors of the baptistry, on which he and his workshop (including
Michelozzothumb|250px|[[Palazzo Medici]] in Florence.Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi was an Italian architect and sculptor.-Biography:...
and
Benozzo GozzoliBenozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. He is best known for a series of murals in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi depicting festive, vibrant processions with wonderful attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence.-Apprenticeship:He was born Benozzo di...
) toiled for 27 years, excelling themselves. These had ten panels depicting scenes from the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
, and were in turn installed on the east side. The panels are large rectangles and are no longer embedded in the traditional Gothic quatrefoil, as in the previous doors. Ghiberti employed the recently discovered principles of perspective to give depth to his compositions. Each panel depicts more than one episode. In "The Story of Joseph" is portrayed the narrative scheme of Joseph Cast by His Brethren into the Well
, Joseph Sold to the Merchants
, The merchants delivering Joseph to the pharaoh
, Joseph Interpreting the Pharaoh's dream
, The Pharaoh Paying him Honour
, Jacob Sends His Sons to Egypt
and Joseph Recognizes His Brothers and Returns Home
. According to Vasari's LivesThe Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times, or Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, as it was originally known in Italian, is a series of artist biographies written by 16th century Italian painter and architect...
, this panel was the most difficult and also the most beautiful. The figures are distributed in very low relief in a perspective space (a technique invented by Donatello and called rilievo schiacciato, which literally means "flattened relief".) Ghiberti uses different sculptural techniques, from incised lines to almost free-standing figure sculpture, within the panels, further accentuating the sense of space.
The panels are included in a richly decorated gilt framework of foliage and fruit, many statuettes of prophets and 24 busts. The two central busts are portraits of the artist and of his father, Bartolomeo Ghiberti.
MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer...
referred to these doors as fit to be the "Gates of Paradise" (It. Porte del Paradiso), and they are still invariably referred to by this name.
Giorgio VasariGiorgio Vasari was an Italian painter and architect, who is today famous for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany...
described them a century later as "undeniably perfect in every way and must rank as the finest masterpiece ever created". Ghiberti himself said they were "the most singular work that I have ever made".
The "Gates of Paradise" situated in the Baptistery are a copy of the originals, substituted in 1990 to preserve the panels after over five hundred years of exposure and damage. To protect the original panels for the future, the panels are being restored and kept in a dry environment in
Museo dell'Opera del DuomoIn Italian cities, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, the "Museum of the Cathedral works", houses works of art formerly in the city cathedral, the "Duomo".Some details about the individual museums can be found in each city's article:...
Some of the original panels are on view in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The remaining original panels are being restored and cleaned using lasers in lieu of potentially damaging chemical baths. Three original panels made a US tour in 2007-2008, and then were reunited in a frame and hermetically sealed with the intention of making the panels appear in the context of the doors for public viewing.
One of the few copies made in the 1940s is installed in Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco.
The two porphyry columns on each side of the Gates of Paradise were plundered by the
PisaPisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
ns in Majorca and given in gratitude to the Florentines in 1114 for protecting their city against
LuccaLucca is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
while the Pisan fleet was conquering the island.
The Gates of Paradise are surmounted by a (copy of a) group of statues portraying the The Baptism of Christ by Andrea Sansovino. The originals are in the museum Opera del Duomo. He then left to Rome to work on a new commission, leaving these statues unfinished. Work on these statues was continued much later in 1569 by Vincenzo Danti, a sculptor from the school of Michelangelo. At his death in 1576 the group was almost finished. The group was finally completed with the addition of an angel by
Innocenzo SpinazziInnocenzo Spinazzi was an Italian sculptor of the Rococo period active in Rome and Florence.Born in Rome to a silversmith, he became the leading sculptor in Florence, where he died. He was trained by Giovanni Battista Maini...
in 1792.
Interior
The vast interior of the Baptistry recalls the interior of the
PantheonThe Pantheon is a building in...
in Rome. The interior is rather dark, light entering through small windows in the
ambulatoryThe ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar.-Architectural context:Aisles that line the nave extend through the transept and continue in a half-circle that...
and through the lantern. The interior is divided in a lower part with columns and pilasters and an upper part with an ambulatory. The Florentines didn't spare any trouble or expense to decorate the baptistry. The interior walls are clad in dark green and white marble with inlaid geometrical patterns. The niches are separated by monolithic columns of Sardinian granite. The marble revetment of the interior was begun in the second half of the 11th century.
The rectangular apse was faced with mosaics in 1225.
The building contains the monumental
Tomb of Antipope John XXIIIThe Tomb of Antipope John XXIII is the marble and bronze tomb monument of Antipope John XXIII , created by Donatello and Michelozzo for the Florence Baptistry adjacent to the Duomo...
by Baldassare Coscia, designed by Donatello and his pupil Michelozzo Michelozzi. A gilt statue, with the face turned to the spectator, reposes on a deathbed, supported by two lions, under a canopy of gilt drapery. He had bequeathed several relics and his great wealth to this baptistry. Such a monument with a
baldachinA baldachin, or baldaquin , is a canopy of state over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure may be called a ciborium when it is sufficiently...
was a first in the Renaissance.
The
mosaicMosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
marble pavement was begun in 1209. The geometric patterns in the floor are complex. Some show us oriental zodiac motifs, such as the slab of the astrologer Strozzo Strozzi. There was an octagonal font, its base still clearly visible in the middle of the floor. This font, which once stood in the church of Santa Reparata, was installed here in 1128. Dante is said to have broken one of the lower basins while rescuing a child from drowning. The font was removed in 1571 on orders from the grand duke
Francesco I de' MediciFrancesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.-Biography:...
. The present, and much smaller, octagonal font stands near the south entrance. It was installed in 1658 but is probably much older. The reliefs are attributed to
Andrea PisanoAndrea Pisano , also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was an Italian sculptor and architect.He first learned the trade of a goldsmith. Pisano then became a pupil of Mino di Giovanni, about 1300, and worked with him on the sculpture for S. Maria della Spina at Pisa and elsewhere...
or his school.
Mosaic ceiling
The baptistry is crowned by a magnificent mosaic ceiling. The earliest mosaics, works of art of many unknown Venetian craftsmen (including probably
CimabueCenni di Pepo Cimabue also known as Bencivieni di Pepo or in modern Italian, Benvenuto di Giuseppe, was an Italian painter and creator of mosaics from Florence. He is also well known for his student Giotto, considered the first great artist of the Italian Renaissance...
), date from 1225. The covering of the ceiling started under the direction of the
FranciscanThe term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...
friar Jacopo da Torrita and was probably not completed until the 14th century.
This mosaic cycle depicts in the three sections above the high altar, the
Last JudgmentThe concept of a Last Judgment is found in all Abrahamic religions and elsewhere like Zoroastrianism and Duat.In Islam, the Last Judgment is referred to as "the Day of Standing" and God Almighty, will judge all Creation....
with a gigantic, majestic Christ and the Angels of Judgment at each side by
Coppo di MarcovaldoCoppo di Marcovaldo was an Italian painter active n Tuscany.-Biography:He was born in Florence, and is mentioned as active in Pistoia in 1265, where he frescoed the St...
, the rewards of the saved leaving their tomb in joy (at Christ's right hand), and the punishments of the damned (at Christ's left hand). This last part is particularly famous: evil doers are burnt by fire, roasted on spits, crushed with stones, bit by snakes, gnawed and chewed by hideous beasts. These scenes remind us of later works showing us in grisly detail the horrors of hell, such as The Last Judgment
or the panel Hell
(from the triptychA triptych is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and folded. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
The Garden of Earthly Delights), both by the Flemish painter
Hieronymus BoschHieronymus Bosch was an Early Netherlandish painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries...
.
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
grew up looking at these mosaics and these images of death and resurrection must have had a deep impact on him.
The other scenes on the ceiling depict different stories in horizontal tiers of mosaic : (starting at the top) Choirs of Angels, Thrones, Dominations, and Powers; stories from the Book of Genesis; stories of Joseph; stories of Mary and the Christ and finally in the lower tier : stories of Saint John the Baptist.
In the drum under the ceiling are many heads of prophets, attributed to
Gaddo GaddiGaddo Gaddi was an Italian painter and mosaicist of Florence in a gothic art style. Almost no works survive. He was the father of Taddeo Gaddi. He completed mosaics on facade of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The "Coronation of the Virgin" mosaic over the inside door of Florence Cathedral, dated...
, a friend of Cimabue.
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