WILIGELMO
(active 1099-1120 in Modena)

Creation of Adam and Eve, Fall of Man

1100s
Marble, height 100 cm
Cathedral of San Geminiano, Modena

The picture shows one of the four reliefs on the west façade of the cathedral of San Geminiano in Modena. The subjects of the reliefs were taken from the Book of Genesis.

Master Wiligelmo worked from 1099 for the cathedral architect Lanfranco in Modena. We know his name due to the inscription which he left over one of the four façade reliefs whose theme is essentially the Book of Genesis. These four reliefs are the starting point of Romanesque sculpture in Italy, and the return to the Classical style is characteristic of Wiligelmo's figures.