MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, Italian
(active c. 1180 in Sicily)

View of the cloister and washing fountain

1175-85
Marble
Cathedral, Monreale

The picture shows the cloister and the washing fountain in the Cathedral of Monreale. In Romanesque cloisters the cloister basin or fountain, which bore a striking resemblance to baptismal fonts, stood in the middle of the cloister garth. It served for the monks' ablutions and took the form of an outer basin fed with water from a raised central dispenser.