As recommended by Giotto to the Arte di Calimala (Cloth Merchants Guild), the guild who had the patronage of the Baptistry, Andrea Pisano was awarded the commission to design the first set of doors in 1329. An antetype for the doors was probably the San Ranieri Gate of the Pisa Cathedral, done by Bonanno Pisano around 1180. The wax model and the gilding at the end was the work of Andrea Pisano, whereas the bronze-casting was executed by Venetian masters, for whom these monumental doors nevertheless were a difficult challenge; it took six years to complete the doors. The gate wings consist of 28 quatrefoil panels altogether, with twenty top panels depicting scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist. The eight lower panels represent the eight virtues of hope, faith, charity (the three theological virtues), humility, fortitude, temperance, justice and prudence (the four cardinal virtues). The south doors were originally installed in 1336 on the east side, facing the Duomo, and were transferred to their present location in 1452.Ref? Lorenzo Ghiberti moulded reliefs for the adjusted doorcase. There is a Latin inscription on top of the door: Andreas Ugolini Nini de Pisis me fecit A.D. MCCCXXX (“Andrea Pisano made me in 1330”).
The group of bronze statues above the gate depict The Beheading of St John the Baptist. It is the masterwork of Vincenzo Danti from 1571.