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This
chapel was granted to the Florentine
School, which gave Donatello
the task of creating the wonderful
wooden statue of St. John the
Baptist
that we can admire today. This
is the only statue by the great
Florentine
master left in Venice and can
rightly be reckoned among his
masterpieces.
What really strikes the viewer
is the force of St. John's expression,
who
maintains all his admonishing
power despite being poorly clothed
and
mortified by penance.
The statue is placed in the
central part of a beautiful
15th century wooden
altar featuring also the statues
of other minor artists, among
which is
worth mentioning the Christ
Arisen dominated by the lily,
symbol of
Florence.
On the first step of the altar
is a scene from the Baptist's
life and beneath
the altar is a wooden statue
containing the relics of the
Blessed Gentile da
Matelica of the Friars Minor,
martyred in Persia on 5th September
1340.
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