Venice, The Frari’s Basilica. The Chapel of St, John the Baptist. The altar was erected by Fiorentini in 1436, and adorned with a sculpture of Donatello, the only Venetian piece of art created by the great master: St. John the Baptist. The wooden altar, rich with decorative detail, dates to the 15th century. The altar is dominated by a lily, the emblem of Florence, and has an attic which contains, in a niche, Christ in the act of blessing. On the sides of the attic are two putti holding the coat of arms with three purple bands on a silver background crossed by silver strips. The attic is supported by Renaissance pillars which herald the Annunciation up above and St, John in a niche below. Above the statue there is a Latin inscription, taken from the Gospel, which states the following: “INTER NATOS MULIERUM NON SURREXIT MAJOR JOANNE BAPTISTA” (among those who were given birth to by a woman, none were as great as John the Baptist). The statue by Donatello (1,55 metres tall) was placed on the chapel’s altar in 1438. It can be said that Donatello, in realizing this sculpture, sacrificed form for expression, a significant example of the new Renaissance culture. Mortified by penance and dressed in a shaggy animal skin and mantle thrown over his shoulders, the saint holds a scroll, between his tapering fingers, which states: “Ecce Agnus Dei”. On the plinth there is the signature: of the artist and the date, 1438: “Opus Donati de Florentia anno MCCCCXXXVIII”. Of the other two statues St. Zenobio and St. Genoveffa, the first is signed by a certain Girolamo. On the first step of the altar there are certain holy scenes of the Baptist’s life mastered by an unknown artist from1500, most likely Andrea Meldola alias Schiavone. Underneath the altar there is a wooden statue which contains the relics of B. Gentile of Matelica, Franciscan friar martyred in Persia on 5th September 1340 and brought here by Marco Corner.