UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active c. 1138 in Verona)

Doors of the west portal

c. 1138
Bronze, wood, height 488 cm, width 366 cm
San Zeno, Verona

Bronze doors form one of the major monuments of the Romanesque Middle Ages. Coveted by all the great religious centres, they are preserved both in Italy, from Venice to Sicily, and in the northern countries.

In northern Italy, the door leaves of San Zeno at Verona are composed of panels assembled on a wooden core executed by different masters in a firmly Romanesque style: they present an iconography mainly centred on the Old and New Testaments, but also including apocalyptic themes and the story of St Zeno. Different dates, which should fall in the second quarter of the twelfth century, have been assigned to the various styles.