Baptistery (Siena)
The Battistero di San Giovanni under the cathedral choir of the Tuscan city of Siena is a Gothic baptistery and famous for the baptismal font , begun in 1417 , a major work of Italian Renaissance sculpture.
architecture
From 1316 the choir of the cathedral of Siena was to be enlarged. For this, an elaborate substructure was required on the steeply sloping terrain , which was expanded as a lower church and used as a baptistery. The construction is considered to be the work of the sculptor-architect Tino di Camaino or his father Camaino di Crescentino. This baptistery was completed by 1325 and from 1382 onwards it received an unfinished three-part façade with portals by Mino del Pellicciaio in graceful late Gothic forms. Access is via an outer flight of marble stairs from 1451.
The vaults in the three-aisled interior, which are widely spanned because of the dimensions of the choir above, rest on sturdy pillars as they also had to bear the burden of the choir architecture. The frescoes of the vaults were done by Vecchietta and other Sienese painters around 1450 to 1460.
Baptismal font
The baptismal font, which was worked on from 1417 to 1429, is the most important liturgical and artistic piece of equipment. A marble tabernacle with a statuette of John the Baptist by Jacopo della Quercia or from his perimeter, 1427 , rises above a hexagonal basin with bronze reliefs on the six sides of the wall and figures of the virtues on the edges Lives of John are by four different sculptors, three of whom are among the most famous of the early Renaissance. Donatello created the bronze angels between the tabernacle gables.
The bronze reliefs in detail:
- An angel announces the birth of John to Zacharias (father of John) . Jacopo della Quercia , 1428-1429.
- Birth of John. Giovanni di Torino, 1427.
- The Baptist's Sermon. Giovanni di Torino, 1427. These two reliefs show the stylistic influence of Ghiberti and his first portal reliefs (1401) on the Baptistery of Florence .
- Baptism of Christ by Lorenzo Ghiberti
- The Baptist, Ghiberti and associates are captured.
- Dance of Salome before Herod and death of John. Donatello , 1427. This bronze plaque is a significant step in the development of the relief art. With consistent application of perspective, a very flat, almost graphic modeling ("relievo sciacciato") creates a maximum of spatial effect, while in the foreground almost fully plastic groups of figures reproduce the dramatic moment when Salome has the severed head of the Baptist presented to Herod.
- The six reliefs of the baptismal font, 1427–1429
Jacopo della Quercia, The Angel's Message to Zacharias
Giovanni di Turino,
The Birth of John
Giovanni di Turino, Sermon of the Baptist
Ghiberti,
The Baptism of Jesus
Ghiberti, Capture of the Baptist
Donatello, Dance of Salome
crypt
Since 2003 the so-called "crypt" has been accessible from the baptistery stairs. However, as the name suggests, the room was not used to store relics of saints, but to accommodate pilgrims. In the room, which was long filled with rubble, wall paintings in Secco technique from the years 1270 to 1290 were discovered, which therefore belong to the time before Duccio . The scenes from the passion story (the best preserved are: The Capture, Crucifixion, Descent from the Cross and Entombment) have largely retained their fresh colors.
literature
- Elisabeth Wünsche-Werdehausen: Tuscany (= Reclams Universal Library . No. 19463). Reclam, Ditzingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-15-019463-8 , pp. 163-164.
- Klaus Zimmermanns: Toscana. The hill country and the historic city centers (= DuMont art travel guide. ). 8th, updated edition. DuMont-Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7701-3556-1 , pp. 299-300.
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 19 ′ 5 ″ N , 11 ° 19 ′ 46 ″ E