by Grant Allen
To your right stands the Baptistery itself, the original cathedral. It is an octagonal building, perhaps enclosing portions of an early Roman Temple, but entirely rebuilt and encased in marble in the twelfth century. Notice the three different stories of which it is composed: its Tuscan-Romanesque style, its round arches, its flat pilasters, its windows (later in their present form), and its octagonal cupola (best observed from neighbouring heights, such as the Piazzale on the Viale dei Colli). Walk right around the church and note the square apse or tribune on the west.
BAPTISTERY.
Being a baptistery, this building is mainly decorated with (late) works referring to the life of the Baptist. The groups above the doors, externally, consist each of three figures. Over the door to the north is the Preaching of St. John the Baptist, a trio in bronze by Francesco Rustici (1511), said to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci. The hearers represent a Pharisee and a Sadducee. Over the door to the east (facing the cathedral), is the Baptism of Christ by John, a work of Andrea Sansovino, 1502. The angel is later. This set is of marble. Over the door to the south is the Beheading of John the Baptist, in bronze, by Vincenzo Danti (1517), where the third figure is ingeniously made up by Herodias’s daughter waiting for the head with a charger. These three groups thus represent in this order the principal events in the life of the patron.
The bronze doors beneath are celebrated. The first and oldest of these is on the south side, below the Beheading of John the Baptist. It was completed by Andrea Pisano, the pupil of Giovanni (perhaps a grandson of Niccolò), in 1336, and is the oldest work of art of its sort of any importance in Florence. It marks, in fact, the beginning of the desire for the plastic embellishment of the city. This gate should be compared with that of Bonannus in the cathedral at Pisa, a rude twelfth century work on which it is evidently based. Contrasted with its original, it exhibits the great improvement in style effected by the Pisani; but at the same time, if compared with Niccolò’s reliefs on the pulpit at Pisa, it shows the sad falling off in the Pisan school after the death of that great and original artist, who, even more than Giotto, inaugurated the revival of art in Italy. The reliefs represent scenes from the life of the patron saint, John the Baptist. They run as follows:
ANDREA PISANO. — BRONZE DOORS OF THE BAPTISTERY.
On the left door, at the top, in the first relief, the angel appears to Zacharias in the Temple: notice the great simplicity of the treatment, as in Giotto. In the second, Zacharias is struck dumb. In the third is the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. (All these scenes are conventional, and based upon earlier treatments: compare the arch in the background here, as well as the relative positions of the Madonna and St. Elizabeth, with those you will find in comtemporary painting. This arch is most persistent). The fourth represents the Birth of the Baptist. In the fifth Zacharias writes, “His name is John.” In the sixth the young John departs to the wilderness. This delicious scene strikes the key-note for many subsequent Florentine treatments of the boy Baptist, who becomes with the Renaissance a most typical Florentine figure. The subject of the seventh is the Preaching of John. In the eighth, Jesus comes to Jordan. In the ninth, John baptises. (The gates were once richly gilded; traces of the gilding appear best on this relief). The tenth relief represents the Baptism of Christ, where the positions of St. John and the angel are strictly conventional, as is also the symbolical Jordan. Note all the figures and attitudes carefully. Omit the lower panels for the present.
On the right door, beginning again at the top, the eleventh relief shows John the Baptist before Herod. In the twelfth, John is sent to prison; in the thirteenth, he is visited by his disciples; this scene also recurs very frequently. In the fourteenth, Christ declares, “There hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” The fifteenth shows Herodias’s daughter dancing (the fiddler in this scene is conventional: look out for reappearances); the sixteenth represents the Decollation of St. John. In the seventeenth, the head is brought to Herodias’s daughter; in the eighteenth, she gives it to her mother: again a scene closely followed later. In the nineteenth, the disciples carry the body down to burial; the twentieth shows the entombment of John. Notice the conventional representation of an interior by a canopy or symbolical roof.
All these reliefs should be most carefully studied, both as scenes in the history of John which occur abundantly elsewhere (see the silver altar from this very church in the Opera del Duomo), and also as specimens of that Gothic art which replaced the earlier attempted classical revival by Niccolò Pisano. The fact is, Niccolò was a man in front of his age, whose direct influence died out at once, subsequent sculptors preferring a treatment more consonant with the architecture and painting of the moment.
The eight lower panels contain admirable allegorical figures of the Cardinal Virtues. Each is named legibly beside it. Note them as examples of the embodied allegories so popular during the Gothic period. The Renaissance adornment at the sides of the doors was added in 1452 by Vittorio Ghiberti, son of the great Lorenzo whose main work you have next to examine.
Now, go round to the second or north door, which comes next in chronological order — a hundred years later. Florence was by this time no longer dependent upon Pisa for her artists. At the beginning of the fifteenth century it was decided to make another pair of bronze doors, and, after a competition for the choice of an artist, in which Jacopo della Quercia and others took part, the Signoria decided upon commissioning Lorenzo Ghiberti to execute them. His original panel for the competition, together with that of his chief rival, Brunelleschi, may still be seen at the Bargello. This beautiful door, in fact, represents the first beginnings of Renaissance Sculpture. (See Perkins’s “Tuscan Sculptors,” a book which you should assiduously read up in the evenings.) Compared with Andrea Pisano, the composition is richer, the relief higher, the treatment more naturalistic. (Orcagna’s reliefs at Or San Michele bridge over the gap between the two in the history of Florentine sculpture.) These gates are devoted to the life of Christ, to whom John testified.
The subjects begin on the left, third panel from the bottom, and (unlike the last) run right across from door to door, being continued upward. The first is the Annunciation, with the usual loggia and lily, and God the Father discharging the Holy Spirit: note the greater complexity and power of composition as compared with Andrea; the second is the Nativity; the third, the Adoration of the Magi; the fourth, the Finding of Christ in the Temple. Observe in all the conventional treatment. Above, in the fifth, is the Baptism of Christ — compare with the (simpler) similar subject on Andrea Pisano’s gate, also with the contemporary pictures; in the sixth, the Temptation, a fine conception, much above any previous one; in the seventh, the chasing of the money-changers from the Temple; in the eighth, Christ and Peter on the water; in the ninth, the Transfiguration; in the tenth, the Raising of Lazarus; in which note the bystanders; in the eleventh, the Entry into Jerusalem; in the twelfth, the Last Supper, a difficult composition; in the thirteenth, the Agony in the Garden; in which all the attitudes are conventional; in the fourteenth, the Kiss of Judas; the fifteenth, the Flagellation; the sixteenth shows Christ before Pilate; the seventeenth, the Bearing of the Cross (Way to Calvary); the eighteenth, the Crucifixion; the nineteenth, the Resurrection, very conventional; the twentieth, the Ascension.
All these reliefs should be carefully studied, as realisations in plastic art of scenes which will be found in very similar forms among painted Lives of Christ elsewhere. (See, for example, the same moments in the Fra Angelicos in the Belle Arti.) The advance upon Andrea Pisano in composition, anatomy, and treatment of nature should also be noted. Especially admirable in this way is the spirited scene of the Entry into Jerusalem.
The eight panels below represent: in the first tier, the Four Evangelists, with their symbolical animals (irregular order): Matthew (angel), Mark (lion), Luke (bull), John (eagle). Beneath them are the Four Doctors of the Church, in the order of: Ambrose, Jerome translating the Vulgate, Gregory with dove at ear, Augu
stine holding the De Civitate Dei. (Each Doctor accompanies the cognate Evangelist.) Traces of gilding are here also abundantly apparent. Ghiberti was occupied upon this great work from 1403 to 1424.
Now, go around to the third or eastern door, which occupied Ghiberti for the remainder of his lifetime (1425-1452.) In this marvellous task Ghiberti abandoned the simplicity of his earlier style, and endeavoured to produce, not so much reliefs as pictures in bronze, with effects of perspective not proper to plastic art. The result is nevertheless most beautiful and striking. (Intermediate works between his two styles may be found in his font at Siena.) These are the doors which Michael Angelo declared fit for the gates of Paradise. See them at about ten o’clock on a bright morning, when the sun strikes them. The subjects are taken from the Old Testament history.
LORENZO GHIBERTI. — BRONZE DOORS OF THE BAPTISTERY.
Begin your examination at the top left panel, and proceed from right to left, alternately. Each panel contains several successive moments in the same subject. I will mention the most important, but several others may be discovered on close inspection. In the first panel are shown the Creation of Adam; of Eve; God’s communion with Adam; and the Expulsion from Paradise (note the fig-leaves). In the second are Adam tilling the soil; Cain and Abel at their different vocations; their sacrifices; the murder of Abel. The third represents the Exit from the Ark; Noah’s Sacrifice; his Drunkenness, with Shem, Ham, and Japhet. In the fourth Abraham entertains the Three Angels; Sarah at the door of the tent; Hagar in the Desert; the Sacrifice of Isaac. Observe the beautiful stone-pines. In the fifth, Esau with his dogs comes to Isaac; Rachel and Jacob; Isaac blessing Jacob, etc. The sixth shows Joseph and his Brethren in Egypt, several successive moments, including the finding of the cup in the sack. The subject of the seventh is the Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. The eighth represents the Ark carried round the walls of Jericho, with the blowing of the trumpets. The ninth shows the Battle against the Amorites. In the tenth Solomon receives the Queen of Sheba. You cannot too thoroughly examine these marvellous bronze pictures.
Notice also the exquisite decorative heads, and the figures of Biblical personages, the most beautiful of whom is perhaps Miriam with the timbrel to the left. I strongly advise you to get photographs of all these subjects, study them carefully at home, and then return to compare and reëxamine the originals. Only thus can you gain some idea of Ghiberti’s life-work. Linger long over such exquisite groups as Abraham and the Angels, or Esau and Isaac.
Now, enter the Baptistery.
The interior, with its beautiful Tuscan-Romanesque arcade, on the second story, resembling a triforium, is much handsomer and larger than the plain exterior would lead one to suppose. (Outside, the cathedral dwarfs it.) Parts of it are adorned with admirable early mosaics. The rest has fine inlaid marble-work. It would be impossible to describe all these in full. They can be adequately seen only on a very bright morning, when it is practicable to identify most of the figures by the aid of their inscriptions. The general architecture will remind you of Pisa. The arch of the tribune, which occupies the place of an apse, perhaps belongs in part to an early Roman building, — local tradition says, a temple of Mars. Notice that the reliefs outside the tribune bear reference to the history of St. John the Baptist, as does almost everything else in this building. On the left is the Profession of the boy Baptist; on the right, his Preaching by the Jordan, with the approach of Christ; farther to the right, he baptises the Saviour.
Mount the steps to the High Altar, an ugly modern work, replacing the beautiful mediæval silver shrine, now in the Opera del Duomo. It is supported by the eagles of St. John, which you will find everywhere on this edifice (as elsewhere in Florence), and surmounted by a bad rococo group of John the Baptist and angels. The relief beneath the altar represents the daughter of Herodias receiving the head of the Baptist.
The fine early mosaic of the apse (1225) should be closely observed on a bright morning. It represents, on the right, the Madonna and Child; on the left, St. John the Baptist enthroned; in the centre, the Lamb with adoring patriarchs and prophets. Note that the figure of the Lamb is specially appropriate in a church of the Baptist, who first uses the word “Behold the Lamb of God,” always placed on a scroll around the reed cross he carries. If you will search for yourself, you will find that the whole building is full of similar baptismal symbolism.
Immediately to the left of the enclosure of the tribune is the font (of 1371), the only one in Florence, all children born in the city being baptised here. (The ceremony takes place on Sunday afternoons, and is worth a visit.) The font is adorned with good early reliefs of the life of the Baptist, whose statue stands in a niche behind it.
Now, go around the church from this point to the left, noticing the beautiful early inlaid pavement, much defaced by time, and representing, opposite the High Altar, the Signs of the Zodiac.
Over the first altar, that of St. Mary Magdalen (who is often associated with St. John the Baptist as the female penitent in the desert of Provence), stands her statue by Donatello. She is represented nude and haggard, clad entirely with her own long hair. These lean and hungry penitent Magdalens will be more fully explained, with reference to their legend, when we visit the Belle Arti. Compare there the very similar picture, attributed to Andrea del Castagno or Filippino Lippi, and balanced by a Baptist. Notice the inscriptions and eagle.
Just to the right of the High Altar is the beautiful tomb of John XXIII., “formerly Pope” — an anti-Pope deposed by the Council of Constance. It was erected by his friend and adherent, Cosimo de’ Medici, who declined to alter the inscription to please the successful rival. The recumbent figure of the deceased in gilt bronze on the tomb is by Donatello, but still not beautiful. Beneath are Faith, Hope, and Charity, the first by Michelozzo. The Madonna and Child above are very pleasing.
The dome has early mosaics of Our Lord in the centre, surrounded by adoring Angels. The other subjects (best identified by photograph beforehand, and then studied on the spot) are the Last Judgment, the Life of the Baptist, the Life of Christ, the Story of Joseph, the Creation, and the Flood.
CHAPTER VII.
THE NEW CATHEDRAL.
From the old, proceed to the new cathedral: contrast its Gothic architecture with the Tuscan-Romanesque of the Baptistery.
FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL.
The modern façade, by De Fabris, is a fine though florid piece of recent Italian Gothic workmanship, and is full of symbolism, both of the Blessed Virgin and of the Florentine Saints (Reparata, Zanobi, etc.) especially commemorated in this cathedral. To describe it in full, however, would be alien from the historical character of this guide-book. I will, therefore, only call attention to the (patroness) Madonna and Child, enthroned, in the great niche under the rose window (Sarrocchi). The saints to right and left have their names inscribed, and the words can be read by the aid of an opera-glass. Also, note the Assumption of the Madonna in a mandorla, in the pediment, just beneath, and the figures of Santa Reparata and San Zanobi on either side of the doorway. Those who desire to follow the subject further can do so by the aid of the large designs in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo. I cannot unreservedly share in the frequent English utter condemnation of this florid and somewhat gaudy work, which, in spite of much overelaboration and a few gewgaws, seems to me not wholly unworthy of the place it occupies.
Proceed around to the south side to view the earlier part of the building. Under the first window, is an interesting old inscription, which should be read by those who know Latin. Just beyond it is a charmingly infantile mediæval relief of the Annunciation, where the division between the Madonna and the angel is even more marked than usual. Stand by the doorway of the Campanile, to examine the general effect of the south side. Observe the exquisite double windows, with twisted columns, and the infinite variety of the inlaid marble-work. (I cannot describe all this, but go through it slowly.) Over the first door, said to be by Giotto, is a good statue of the Madonna and Child, of the
fourteenth century; above it, Christ blessing; higher still, the Annunciation, in two separate niches. Do not omit to note the architecture of all these niches, and of the columns which support them. Observe that, as this is a church of Our Lady, almost all the decorations have reference to her history.
The second south door, called the Canons’ Entrance, by Lorenzo di Giovanni (1397), has, in the tympanum, a relief of the Madonna and Child, with two adoring angels, very dainty; above it, a Pietà. Observe the decorative work and statues on this beautiful doorway, foreshadowing the Renaissance. Close by, near the door, is one of the best points of view for Giotto’s Campanile.
Here the south transept, with its round (or rather obtuse-angled) apse, projects into the Piazza. Stand on the steps opposite, between the statues of the two principal architects, Arnolfo and Brunelleschi (the latter gazing up at his great work), in order to take in the arrangement of this transept, with its cupola, etc., and the dome behind it, as well as the fine angular view of the Campanile. Do not hurry over the exterior of the cathedral. Look at it slowly. It cost many lives to build, and is worth an hour or two of your time to examine.
Now, go around the south transept, and stand near the door of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore to look up at the dome, whose cornice and arcade are finished on this side only. Elsewhere are seen the empty places where a similar arcade and cornice were to have been carried around it. Observe also the minor clustered cupolas below the dome. If you will carefully note the exterior architecture from this point of view, it will help you better to understand the interior. The portion facing you, which would elsewhere be the choir, is here devoted to the Tribune of San Zanobi, the great early bishop and patron.
Pass hence around the north transept and proceed to inspect the exterior of the north aisle.