St. John the Baptist

The statues was installed in a niche on the exterior of the Orsanmichele church in Florence. It was so highly praised, in fact, that Ghiberti was subsequently commissioned to create two more bronze works of similar proportions: St. Matthew (1419) for the Bankers Guild, and St. Stephen (1425) for the Wool Merchants Guild. As historian Mark Cartwright explains, the first statue of Saint John the Baptist is generally considered the "finest" of the three works, although the statue of Saint Matthew "is captivating for his poise and gesture similar, one might imagine, to an orator in the Roman Senate". 

Ghiberti was a keen student of the surviving art from antiquity and especially classical artist's preoccupation with human anatomy and proportion [and that he] even had his own small collection of antique pieces.  Specific influences (in addition to the fashionable International Gothic style) came from such renowned sculptors as his fellow-Florentine Donatello, who had actually been an assistant to Ghiberti early in his career and from those metalworkers he had contacts with from northern European, particularly German craftsmen.

This statue of John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, was the first large bronze work in Florence, and represents an impressive technical achievement for its time, in that it was cast in a single piece. Indeed, Ghiberti had to accept financial liability if his ambitious undertaking did not come to fruition. The work follows the International Gothic style, as seen in the unnaturalistic, yet elegant, flowing curves of the figure's drapery and hair, and the general dignity of the work. Ghiberti exquisitely renders finer details too, including the goatskin cloak, the beard and hair, and the Saint's expression, which shows a slightly furrowed brow. His eyes are inlaid with silver.

This Bronze is housed in the Orsanmichele, Florence