Palazzo del Magnifico
Palace · Siena
Church building
The Battistero di San Giovanni (Italian: "Baptistry of St. John") is a religious building in Siena, Italy. It is in the square with the same name, near the final spans of the choir of the city's cathedral. It was built between 1316 and 1325 by Camaino di Crescentino, the father of Tino di Camaino. The façade, in Gothic style, is unfinished in the upper part, such as the apse of the cathedral. In the interior, the rectangular hall, divided into a nave and two aisles by two columns, contains a hexagonal baptismal font in bronze, marble and vitreous enamel, realized in 1417–1431 by the main sculptors of the time: Donatello (panel of "Herod's Banquet" and statues of the "Faith" and "Hope"), Lorenzo Ghiberti, Giovanni di Turino, Goro di Neroccio and Jacopo della Quercia (statue of John the Baptist and other figures). The panels represent the Life of John the Baptist, and include:
"Annunciation to Zacharias" by Jacopo della Quercia (1428–1429) "Birth of John the Baptist" by Giovanni di Turino (1427) "Baptist Preaching" by Giovanni di Turino (1427) "Baptism of Christ" by Ghiberti (1427) "Arrest of John the Baptist" by Ghiberti and Giuliano di Ser Andrea "The Feast of Herod" by Donatello...