Orvieto No. 1

Described and illustrated in Rosatelli (2000): the large red-marble basin is octagonal with very small sides ornamented with small foliage motifs; the large underbowl area has a framed panel on each of the eight sides; the short white-marble stem of the base is also ocatagonal and has a moulding and tiny foliage pattern ornamentation; the next volume down is a flat red-marble octagon which rests on the backs of eight white-marble couchant lions. According to Rosatelli, the font was started by Luca di Giovanni, from Sienna, in 1390; Giovanni da Friburgo and Giovanni Teutonico continued the work in 1402 and it was completed by Jacopo di Petro Guidi, from Florence, in 1403; the tall octagonal pyramid which covers the font has Gothic architectural ornamentation and a figural finial, John the Baptist] and is the work of Sano di Matteo (1407) [NB: Donatello had been commissioned to provide the Baptist finial, but his statue was never delivered to the Duomo; instead, it ended eventually in a museum in Berlin]. For a series of photographs of the font with CC permission see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Baptismal_font_of_Duomo_di_Orvieto [accessed 23 April 2025]