The first gallery opens with a massive 1st century A.D. marble Roman vessel carved with Bacchic dancers, surrounded by "the legacy of the fathers" French and Italian precursors of the Renaissance, including Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni, who blended French Gothic style with elements of Roman art gleaned from ancient sarcophagi.

WSJ: Review: The Flowering of the Florentine Renaissance | 'Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400�C1460,' at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence