mount
two of the gates, which were at one time heavily gilded, tho few traces
of this are now visible.

The Baptistery, empty as it appears to the eye upon first entering it,
is replete with beautiful monuments, a description of which would fill a
good-sized volume. It is built, as I have already said, upon an
octagonal plan. The altar, which formerly stood beneath the cupola, has
been removed. On the 24th of June every year the magnificent retablo in
massive silver, which is preserved among the treasures in the Opera del
Duomo, is displayed in the Baptistery. The silver alone weighs 325
pounds, including two center-pieces, two side-pieces, and a silver
crucifix with two statuettes seven feet high, and weighing 141 pounds,
the group being completed by two statues of Peace in engine-turned
silver. Many artists were employed upon the making of it. Finiguerra,
Pollaiuolo, Cione, Michelozzi, Verrocchio, and Cennini made the lower
parts and the bas-reliefs of the front, while the cross, executed in
1456, is by Betto di Francesco, and the base of it by Milano di Domenico
dei and Antonio Pollaiuolo.

The interior of the cupola of San Giovanni is ornamented with some of
the oldest specimens of mosaic decoration in Florence, these Byzantine
artists being the first, after Murano and Altino, to exercise their
craft in Italy, and being succeeded by Jacopo da Turita, Andrea Tafi,
and Gaddo Gaddi.

The handsome tomb of Baldassare Cossa (Pope John XXIII., deposed at the
time of the Council of Constance), was reared in the Baptistery by
Donatello. The Holy of Holies is relatively modern, having been erected
at the expense of the Guild of the "Calimala," as the men who gave the
finishing touch to the woolen stuffs manufactured abroad were called.
The baptismal font, in a building specially used for christening, would,
as a matter of course, be intrusted to artists of great repute, and that
at San Giovanni is attributed to Andrea Pisano. Upon each face is
represented one of the baptisms most famous in the history of the
Catholic religion, an inscription beneath explaining each episode; but
this font is, unfortunately, so much in the background that it escapes
the notice of many visitors.

Donatello carved the wooden statue of the Magdalen which occupies one of
the niches, the thin emaciated face being typical of the artist's
partiality for reproducing in their smallest details the physical
defects of his subject. The exterior aspect