As is the case throughout the entirety of the Baptistry, it is not even known when the unusual paintings that decorate the walls of the gallery were painted, or by whom.
According to today’s scholars they must be Romanesque, given that they are on what according to them are Romanesque walls. However, it is permissible to harbor some doubts about this opinion, especially since these paintings do not represent religious subjects, but secular ones: only animals and geometric patterns, all strictly in black and white – an artistic heresy for a Romanesque Christian building. It would be little wonder if after the first brushstrokes the painter had been immediately fired and severely punished. Instead, he was not only allowed to continue his work without being thrown out on the spot, but went on to decorate all of the walls. Yet a short time later those black and white paintings began to be covered by brightly colored mosaics of “religiously correct” saints and prophets.
Does all of this seem reasonable? I don’t think so.
But if, on the contrary, the walls were not Romanesque, a completely different history could be related. Here it is.
The Baptistry was built as a ‘Temple of Mars’ in the fifth century and cost an exorbitance. Towards the end of the work even the prosperous settlers of Florentia ended up in the red. In order to finish the interior on a budget, instead of marble panels they thought to use paintings that from afar could appear to be black and white marble as the rest. At that time skilled painters were very few and expensive on the payroll. Therefore, since the enterprise was running low on funds and the deadline was tight, they took on a few good-willed youngsters so that they could undertake to draw up something decent under the guidance of an expert master.
The master took it upon himself to encourage the imagination of his ragtag band of guys. But if he suggested to paint a bird showing a nice raptor, the apprentices didn’t get beyond a few little ducklings, and if he laid out an elegant composition of geometric racemes, he was merely met with some wonky curlicues. All of this was frustrating, but that was the skill level of the first Florentine painters: practically nil. There was no Cimabue on the horizon yet.
The vultures that can be seen in a tribune of the north west gallery tell us where the talented painters came from. Apparently, these birds must have been painted from memory because it is rather improbable that they had captured them in the nearby hills or that they would stay caged in order to be used as models: these were vultures from the mountains of the Middle East where the painters hailed from. Middle Eastern like the marble workers, the enterprise, and the architect.
