Venice No. 3 / Venezia

Described and illustrated in Corblet (1881, vol. 2: 49) as a very large hemispheric baptismal font designed by Sansovino; dated to the time of the addition of the baptistery in 1343-1354 [NB:cf infra for actual dates]. The font and cover are described and illustrated in the SAVE VENICE web site [www.savevenice.org/Monumentpages/SanMarcopages/Fontmain.html]; the basin itself is practically plain but the font cover, a low-dome shape, is covered in reliefs and topped with a figural finial, a tall bronze statue of John the Baptist; the bronze reliefs of the cover were executed by Tiziano Minio and Desiderio da Firenze, apprentices to Jacopo Sansovino, in 1545; the finial statue was made of bronze by Francesco Segala, a metal caster from Padua, in 1565; the base has two volumes: the upper is round and the lower hexagonal; the whole is raised over a wide two-step hexagonal plinth. The font was restored in 1984.