Bronze is an alloy of tin &
copper (sometimes also containing a little lead). Bronze expands and then
contracts when solidifying, making it ideal for casting.
Cast bronze can be decorated by such
techniques as engraving, inlaying, enamelling, demascening, niello work and gilding.
When used for doors, individual bronze panels or groups
of panels can be secured to a wooden frame, or doors can
be cast as a single unit.
Bronze is not the same as Brass,
which is an alloy of zinc and copper.
Medieval metal furnishings and
artworks were particularly vulnerable because of the temptation to melt
them down to make other furnishings or, better still, guns.
ROMAN BRONZE DOORS
Rare survivors from
the Ancient Rome are the massive bronze doors of the
Pantheon in Rome, which date from about 125. They
are not decorated and always in shadow, so you won't
find many photos around.
The central doors of
Saint Mark's Cathedral Venice originated in Byzantium
(Constantinople) a bit later than those of the Pantheon,
and were souvenired from there by the
in the early 1200s.
BERNWARD'S DOORS - HILDESHEIM (GERMANY)
In 1001 Bishop
Bernward was so awestruck by what he saw on a visit to
Rome for the coronation of Otto III, that he ordered up
a pair of bronze doors for the doorway between his abbey
church of St Michael and its cloister. The doors
were designed and made in Hildesheim. Each door
was cast in one piece - an extraordinary achievement -
and they were hung in 1015. There are eight
bas-relief panels on each door - Genesis on the left and
the life of Jesus on the right. The doors are now
in Hildersheim cathedral.
Bishop Bernward's Doors -
Hildesheim Cathedral (Germany)
Also in Germany - Not bronze, but
very old wood and very beautiful - one of the "Cologne Romanesque
Churches" - St Maria im Kapitol - has a c1065 set of doors
with painted bas-relief wooden panels.
photo source not recorded
Top L to R - The shepherds
are told the good news; Nativity scene.
Bottoim L to R: The
Magi ask Herod the way; the Magi find Mary and Jesus.
BRONZE DOORS FROM CONSTANTINOPLE
"post-Roman" bronze doors now in existence in Italy were
also made in Constantinople. They owe their
the merchant Pantaleone of Amalfi, who with his son Mauro ran a
profitable Amalfi-Constantinople trading operation.
The first of their
door gifts was as you would expect, given to the
Cathedral of Amalfi itself.
It was made in Constantinople around 1060 by Symeon of
Syria, is still in place, and includes four panels with
images of saints in inlaid silver, and remaining panels
decorated with crosses.
Amalfi Cathedral Bronze Door
A short distance east
from Amalfi is Atrani, where the Church of San Salvatore de
Bireto has very similarly patterned doors to the ones above,
made in 1087. This door formed part of the magnificent
"Byzantium" exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in London
in 2008-09. The exhibition lives on through its coffee
table book catalogue.
In 1066, as Gugliemo
was subduing the Poms at Hastings, Pantaleone and Mauro
had another door made in Constantinople, this time a
gift for for the great
Abbey of Montecassino.
This door, which is engraved with the names of the
possessions and churches of the abbey, survived the
destruction of WW II, and
is now the middle of three door sets giving access to
Montecassino Abbey Bronze Church Door
Photo from (English) Guide to the Abbey of Montecassino
1070 saw the boys
from Amalfi commissioning another Constantinople door
from Stavrakios (or maybe Teodoro), this one destined
Major Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome.
This is a full on narrative door, containing 54 panels
of scenes from the old and new testaments, and is now
restored and located inside the Porta Santa on the right
side of the main facade.
Detail of Bronze Door Panels - San Paolo fuori
le Mura, Rome
Photo from "The Major
Basilicas of Rome" by Roberta Vicchi
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The fourth and last
of the gifted Byzantine doors dates from 1076, and was
evocative cave sanctuary
of Monte Sant'Angelo in the Gargano. These doors
contain 24 panels depicting a variety of angel episodes
from Old and New Testaments and later church and grotto
Bronze door panel - Monte Sant'Angelo, Gargano
Photo from "L'Angelo
la Montagna il Pelligrino"
Unrelated to the
Amalfi merchants, Salerno Cathedral has a set of
bronze doors acquired from Constantinople in 1099, and
further east Benevento Cathedral has a magnificent pair dating from
the 1100s. No photos of these yet.
TAKE OVER THE BRONZE DOOR BUSINESS
By the early 1100s
the Italians had worked out how to do home made bronze doors.
The oldest survivors seem to be part of the
doors of San Zeno, Verona, and the doors made in Melfi in 1111
for the Mausoleum of Bohemond at Canosa Cathedral (North
Puglia) (no photos yet).
The earlier more
primitive left had panels and a few of those on the
right of the doors of Verona's San Zeno church are
thought to have been made in the earlier 1100s.
The balance of the 55 cast bronze panels on the right
hand door are of a more sophisticated design and were
probably made by a second workshop in the late 1100s.
Verona, Medieval Bronze Door, artist(s) unknown.
Photo from "Great Monasteries of
Europe" by Barnard Schütz
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Above and Cologne door details
The bronze doors on the west and south facades of
Cathedral of Troia were made by
Oderiso di Benevento between 1119 and 1127.
Cattedrale, Puglia - West door panels including self
portrait of the maker, Oderiso
Cattedrale, Puglia - South door panels by Oderiso, with
image of the donor Bishop Gugliemo
The Trani master, Barisano
da Trani, was responsible for the
bronze doors of Trani Cattedrale
sixty years later
(c1180 and now displayed inside to avoid the sea air of this
magnificent crusade harbourside setting). They include a
little artist "self portrait"
and the panel depicting Saint George shown below.
Panel depicting San Giorgio -
Bronze doors of Trani Cattedrale by Barisano da Trani
La Cattedrale di San Nicola il
Pellegrino, Trani - the most magnificent
setting for any bronze doors in Italy (and probably the
Barisano also made
the main bronze doors for the cathedral of Ravello (no
photos yet), and
north doors of Monreale Duomo (near Palermo
in Sicily), both of which which he made in Italy in
the 1180s. Barisano used a technique of low relief
casting finished by chiselling.
Monreale Duomo - North Doors by Barisano da Trani
Photo from Cathedral Guide
West doors of Monreale,
with a much more sophisticated Adam & Eve to Resurrection cycle of Images, were
made by a Tuscan - Bonanno Pisano - in 1189.
Monreale Duomo - West Doors by Bonanno Pisano - sources:
Bonanno Pisano had earlier
(1180) done 3 west doors for the
Pisa duomo which were
tragically destroyed in a fire in 1595.
Not complete tragedy though as our man had also
completed a fourth
door - for the Ranieri Portal on the east side of the
south transept - which is now in the museum.
Ranieri Portal Door (1180) by Bonnano Pisano
ABBAZIA DI SAN
CLEMENTE A CASAURIA, ABRUZZO
In Abruzzo, just north of Puglia, the bronze doors of the
Abbazia di San Clemente a
crosses, abbots, rose
patterns and 14 castles the abbey owned, date from 1191.
Panel from the door of the Abbazia
di San Clemente in Abruzzo
V & A Museum provides an easy way to get to know four
bronze doors via very realistic copies - San Zeno
(Verona), Ranieri (Pisa), Bishop Bernward (Hildesheim)
and Augsburg Cathedral - all contained, unbelievably, in
a full scale copy of the
late 1100s Pórtico de la Gloria of
the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.