Sixteen marble statues of the Apostles and Evangelists sculpted in the second half of the 14th century for the arches of the main Cathedral doors. Arnolfo carried out his project of decorating the central portal of the facade with statues of the saints in several stages. On his death the cycle of the Apostles was still incomplete and was only finished between 1362 and 1377 by Francesco Neri Ubaldi, nicknamed “Sellaio”, or the Saddler, and Simone di Francesco Talenti. However, possibly because the overall design appeared dated, Piero di Giovanni Tedesco was commissioned to produce a new group between 1387 and 1390 (only one statue is stylistically attributable to a different hand). The statues were originally painted and gilded by leading artists of the time, although no trace remains today. Individual saints are hard to identify with any certainty, all of them are depicted holding a book representing the Gospels, symbolizing their role as witnesses to the life of Christ.