Crouching lion. Detail of a marble sculpture decorating the exterior of the Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St John) on the Campo dei Miracoli in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. The lion is at the foot of one of the portal columns. The Baptistery was begun in Romanesque style in 1152 by Diotisalvi, remodelled between 1260 and 1284 by Nicola Pisano and Pisano’s son Giovanni, and completed in the 1300s.
Pisa, Tuscany, Italy: sculpted marble lion decorating the exterior of the Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St John) on the Campo dei Miracoli. The Baptistery of San Giovanni was founded on 15 August 1152. Its basic shape and design of the lower part of the building was established by Diotisalvi, who supervised its construction from 1152 until about 1180. The inscription “Deotisalvi magister huius operis”, “Deotisalvi is the architect of this work”, appears on a pillar. Solemn ceremonies, such as the investiture of the Operaio del Duomo, were already being held here in 1185. Towards the mid-1200s the Baptistery building site was again a hive of activity: while Guido Bigarelli da Como worked inside on the baptismal font, work on the outside started again under Nicola Pisano, together with his son Giovanni, who introduced sweeping changes to Diotisalvi’s structure. Nicola, an architect and sculptor, also made the pulpit (1260), which immediately became a model for others; in the 1300s the external loggia was adorned with sculpted figures by Nicola’s son Giovanni. It was here, at the Baptistery building site, that the “Renaissance” of sculpture began, with the work of Nicola Pisano and later of Giovanni. It represented the moment when “mediaeval” became “modern”. The building displays a mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles. Here, in 1564, Galieo Galilei was baptized.
Size: 3872px × 2592px
Location: Battistero di San Giovanni, Baptistery of St John, Baptistry of Saint John, Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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