The baptistery, located at the northeast corner of Padua Cathedral, was built during the second half of the thirteenth century alongside the Romanesque predecessor of the present cathedral. It is a building with principal axes of the same length on a square plan, having cupola on a circular drum and an adjoining chancel on the east. The decoration of the interior was initiated by Fina di Pataro Buzzacarini, the wife of Francesco I da Carrara, known as Francesco il Vecchio, the lord of Padua from 1350 to 1388. She died in 1378 and was buried in the baptistery. Giusto de' Menabuoi, a native of Florence but active in northern Italy, was entrusted with the decoration which probably began after the death of the donor.

The pictorial program of the frescoes, which cover the entire interior, is subdivided into several sections: Paradise in the upper segment of the vault, scenes from the Genesis in the window zone below that, the evangelists in the spandrels, the story of John the Baptist and the life of Christ on the four walls of the main space, and finally the Miracle of Pentecost and a number of motifs from the Apocalypse on the east side of the adjacent chancel.

The dominant accent is the fresco in the dome of the cupola, its theme - Paradise depicted as a heavenly retinue assembled around Christ - had been a recurring subject of fourteenth-century frescoes. It probably reflected the effect that Dante's Divine Comedy had on its contemporaries. Giusto's narrative tone is predominantly solemn and ceremonial. His strength clearly did not extend to the depiction of dramatic events or variation in the action and expression of figures.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	View from the southwest c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	Paradise (dome frescoes) c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	Paradise 1375-76 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	Paradise (detail) 1375-76 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	The Creation of the World (detail of the dome fresco) c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	The Expulsion from Paradise(detail of the dome fresco) c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	St Luke between David and Jeremiah c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	Scenes from the Life of Christ (west wall) c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	Votive image (west wall) c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	Scenes from the Life of Christ (north wall) c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	The Wedding at Cana 1376-78 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	The Baptism of Christ c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	The Birth of John the Baptist c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua
	The Crucifixion c. 1378 Fresco Baptistery, Padua