But the curators of this show argue that it was in sculpture, not painting, that the Renaissance was really born.They suggest that this aesthetic revolution first showed itself in two bronze relief panels made by Brunelleschi and his compatriot, Lorenzo Ghiberti, in 1401 in a competition to create a set of new bronze doors for the cathedral's neighbouring baptistery.
Lorenzo Ghiberti's baptistery doors, decorated with panels telling Bible stories, were so admired by Dostoyevsky that he had a full-size picture of them stuck to the door of his study in St Petersburg.
Pistoia's medieval city centre is dominated by the 12th-century cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo, with its freestanding bell tower (once a Lombard watchtower) and the baptistery (begun 1337) opposite.
The octagonal 5th-century baptistery had replaced that of the 4th century, which had been built into the baths of the House of Fausta, named for Constantine's second wife.
Its medieval quarter contains the cathedral with an 11th-century octagonal baptistery, the Romanesque-style Church of San Michele, and 13th-century towers and fortifications.
The circular baptistery, begun in 1152 but only completed in the 14th century, is covered by a dome surmounted by a cone, which gives the structure an ogival, Oriental effect.
Pietro Bernini, (born 1562, Tuscany [Italy] died 1629, Rome) Italian late Mannerist sculptor who was invited to Rome in 1605/06 to work for Pope Paul V (1605 21) on the decorations of the Paolina (Borghese) Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he carved the coronation of Clement VIII (1612 13), as well as the marble relief Assumption of the Virgin (1607 10) in the baptistery.
Cividale del Friuli has some interesting relics from the 8th century, including the octagonal baptistery, the chapel (Tempietto) of the nunnery of Santa Maria in Valle, and the altar of the church of San Martino.
The cathedral (rebuilt 1552) has a Romanesque baptistery.
Baptisteries were among the most symbolic of all Christian architectural forms; and the characteristic design that was developed by the 4th century ad can be seen today in what is probably the earliest extant example, the baptistery of the Lateran palace in Rome, built by Sixtus III, pope between 432 and 440.
Customarily, a baptistery was roofed with a dome, the symbol of the heavenly realm toward which the Christian progresses after the first step of baptism.
