GATES OF THE BAPTISTERY. 
32 
Sadducee. The graceful pose and noble gravity of the 
Baptist’s head, and the truthful modelling of his figure, are 
especially worthy of admiration. The bald-headed Sadducee 
holds a scroll in the left hand ; his drapery is composed of a 
thick mantle, which falls in ample folds over his close-fitting 
under-garments. The Pharisee, with his right hand on his 
beard, draws back in astonishment at the Baptist’s words. 
This noble group was cast in bronze by Rustici in his own 
house, which was in the Via Martelli. He had, unfortunately 
for himself, made no stipulation about the payment, and, when 
finished, the wool-merchants refused the two thousand crowns 
he demanded for his work. One of the Ridolfi who presided 
over the Guild at this time, appointed Baccio d’ Agnolo, then 
an unknown artist, and Michael Angelo, the rival of Rustici’s 
friend Leonardo, arbiters to settle the question. Rustici was 
obliged to abate his demands, and, disgusted with the treat- 
ment he had received, he abandoned art altogether, and only 
returned to it shortly before his death. 
From the steps of the cathedral a good view can be obtained 
of the group over the eastem gate, the Baptism of our Lord, 
by Andrea del Monte Sansovino (1460-1529). Andrea finished 
modelling his design, but died before committing it to marble. 
The work was finished in 1560 by Vincenzio Danti (1530-1576) 
an artist from Perugia. Danti, however, omitted an angel which 
Sansovino had executed in terra-cotta, and which was intended 
to form part of the composition. The Grand Duke Pietro 
Leopoldo, nearly a century later, ordered this angel to be 
copied in marble by Innocenzio Spinazzi ; but in the course of 
the work Spinazzi altered the expression, as well as action, of 
the figure. 
The group over the southern gate is finer than that over the 
eastern, and is the chef-d’œuvre of Vincenzio Danti who exe¬ 
cuted it in 1571. It represents the decapitation of John the 
Baptist. The modelling is excellent, but has still higher merit 
in the deep feeling displayed in the composition.