34 
CHAPTER II. 
THE BAPTISTERY. 
INTERIOR. 
CHE usual entrance to the Baptistery is by the southern 
gate. The sombre light which penetrates through the 
small deep-set windows of the ambulatory leaves the interior 
of the building in comparative darkness; and a clear day, even 
for Florence, is absolutely necessary to distinguish the mosaics 
which cover the roof and walls of San Giovanni. Around are 
niches, once containing votive offerings, and statues of apostles 
and prophets, with two allegorical figures signifying the natural 
and written law ; they were executed by Bartolommeo Amma¬ 
nati and Spinazzi, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
but have been all removed. A painfully emaciated figure in 
wood of the Magdalene, by Donatello, still remains, not one of 
his best works. The niches are separated by columns com¬ 
posed of Sardinian granite, with the exception of one, which 
is of white channelled marble, and faces the high altar ; this 
is said to be the identical column on which stood the statue 
of Mars near the Ponte Vecchio, at the base of which fell 
Buondelmonte, when attacked and murdered by the rival 
Amidei ; the column of oriental cipollino which stood here 
until 1430 is in the Mercato Vecchio, where it is crowned 
with a statue of Abundance. The architrave is decorated 
with cherubs’ heads in mosaic, which both Brunelleschi and 
Donatello copied in their sculpture. Above this architrave are 
mosaic heads of prophets and patriarchs. Arches resting on