The niches set into the inner jambs of the main portal of the Cathedral’s medieval façade were once occupied by a series of sixteen marble statuettes depicting Apostles and Evangelists, carved in the second half of the 14th century. The project to adorn this part of the architectural front with figures of saints was completed in several stages: two full versions of the cycle were executed prior to the current one. The present group was sculpted between 1387 and 1390 by Piero di Giovanni Tedesco, based on designs by Lorenzo di Bicci, Agnolo Gaddi, and Spinello Aretino (only one statue, based on stylistic features, can be attributed to a different hand and appears to belong to another set).

According to archival records, the sculptures were originally painted and gilded by accomplished artists, although no trace of the original polychromy survives today. When the facade was dismantled in 1587, the statues went to private collections and in the last century some were recovered in the Villa Medicea della Petraia in Castello (Florence) and some in the Bargello Museum.

The identification of the individual saints is not easy, both because some statues are mutilated and because they all appear as male figures draped in the ancient style, united by a single common iconographic attribute: the book. It is almost certainly the New Testament, testimony to the stories of the life of Christ of which they were direct witnesses. Identifying the individual saints is difficult, partly because some of the figures are mutilated, and partly because they all appear as male figures in antique-style drapery, distinguished solely by the common iconographic attribute of the book—almost certainly the New Testament, bearing witness to the life of Christ, of which they were direct witnesses.

The placement of these figures at the entrance to the sacred building carries symbolic meaning: the Apostles and Evangelists may be considered the first members of the Church, understood as the community founded by Christ and gathered within the sacred space for the proclamation of the Gospel and the celebration of the holy mysteries. Incorporated into the very structure of the building, these Apostles visually embody the passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (2:19–20): “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone”.