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Giovanni di Balduccio's style is known from four signed works, which have formed the basis for a reconstruction of his oeuvre: the tomb of Guarniero degli Antelminelli (c. 1327-28) in San Francesco, Sarzana; the pulpit in Santa Maria del Prato in San Casciano, near Florence; the shrine of St Peter Martyr (dated 1339) in Sant'Eustorgio, Milan; and the architrave (1347) from the main portal of Santa Maria di Brera, Milan (fragments in Milan, Castello Sforzesco).
The picture shows the fragments of the main portal of Santa Maria di Brera, Milan. The church was deconsecrated in 1806. After the Napoleonic suppression of the convents in the early 19th century, the façade was torn down, and the nave was divided horizontally. The upper floor became the Napoleonic rooms of the new Galleria Reale (now the Pinacoteca di Brera), the art gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti; the lower floor housed the sculptures of the museum of antiquities.
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