# South doors \(Life of St John the Baptist\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [PISANO, Andrea]() - Date: 1301-1350 - Technique: Gilded bronze, 486 x 280 cm ## Commentary The only documented works by Andrea Pisano are the reliefs of the bronze doors on the south portal of the Baptistery of Florence, which are signed ANDREAS UGOLINO NINI DE PISIS ME FECIT and dated 1330. Originally on the east portal of the Baptistery, they were later moved to accommodate Lorenzo Ghiberti's doors. Their history is well documented. From the end of 1329 the Florentine goldsmith Piero di Jacopo was working on the design for the frames of the doors, evidently inspired by the frescoed wall decoration of the Pulci Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence; he was later entrusted with their completion after casting. The figural reliefs, depicting twenty scenes from the Life of St John the Baptist and eight Virtues in quatrefoil frames, were the work of Andrea. From January 1330 to October 1331 the wax models for the frames and reliefs were being prepared for casting, which was carried out between October 1331 and April 1332 by the Venetian bell founder Leonardo Avanzi and two assistants. Andrea, evidently working without assistants, continued to polish and gild the reliefs until August 1333, when he received 98 florins. The first \(left\) door was completed and hung in the spring of 1333, but the casting of the second wing was not completely successful, and corrective work was begun by the Florentine goldsmith Lippo Dini and finished by Andrea at the end of 1335. The doors were dedicated on the Feast of St John the Baptist on 24 June 1336. Andrea Pisano's reliefs are related artistically to the work of the Pistoian goldsmith Andrea di Jacopo d'Ognabene \(responsible for the silver altar of 1316 in Pistoia Cathedral\), to whom he was probably apprenticed and through whom he may have come into contact with the workshops of Sienese goldsmiths. The sources for Andrea's technique of placing the figures in front of a plain background can be found in early 14th-century Sienese metalwork and sculpture. French Gothic influences are apparent in the way in which the figures have solid ground under foot instead of being perched on the edge of the lower relief frame. The tender, graceful figures reflect the art of Duccio, while Giotto's influence is shown in the arrangement of the reliefs in planes and the well-balanced compositions with the elements disposed across the whole surface of the relief. Andrea was clearly already a proficient master by the time he began work on the reliefs, but the only work that may possibly be attributed to an earlier period is the silver crucifix on a reliquary of the Cross, the signatures on which include the name ANDREAS, in Massa Marittima Cathedral. The task of producing the bronze doors took Andrea Pisano to the limits of his goldsmith's art, which may explain why in 1333-34 he extended his range into the realm of monumental sculpture. ## Related artworks - [Campanile]() - [Christ]() - [Detail of the Campanile]() - [Equestrian relief of St Martin]() - [Equestrian relief of St Martin]() - [King Solomon]() - [Madonna with Child]() - [Nursing Madonna \(Madonna del Latte\)]() - [Nursing Madonna \(Madonna del Latte\)]() - [Portal on the east side \(lower register\)]() - [Relief from the south side of the Campanile: 1. Faith \(upper register\)]() - [Relief from the south side of the Campanile: 1. Gionitus, inventor of Astronomy \(lower register\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()