On 28 March 1425 Jacopo della Quercia was commissioned to design a complicated portal for the west façade of San Petronio, a late medieval church, located in the very heart of the papal states. He produced a design for a round-arched entranceway framed by historiated pilasters with Old Testament reliefs, eighteen busts of prophets, five New Testament reliefs in the architrave above the door, decorative colonnettes and a lunette above the door containing free-standing statues of the Virgin and Child, St Petronius and the patron, Cardinal Lodovico Alemanno, papal legate to Bologna. The Virgin and Child, the prophet busts, the lintel reliefs and the colonnettes were all carved first, during the period 1426-September 1428, while the Old Testament scenes and St Petronius were added in 1429/30.

Jacopo della Quercia's reliefs in Istrian stone for the Porta Magna of San Petronio in Bologna, his preoccupation during the last thirteen years of his life, are recognized as his masterworks.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Main Portal 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main Portal 1425-39 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main portal: reliefs on the left lateral support 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main portal: reliefs on the left lateral support (detail) 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main portal: reliefs on the left lateral support (detail) 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 1 Creation of Adam 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 1. Creation of Adam 1425-35 Istrian stone, 99 x 92 cm (with frame) San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 2. Creation of Eve 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 3. Original Sin 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 3. Original Sin 1425-28 Istrian stone, 99 x 92 cm (with frame) San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 4. Expulsion from Paradise 1425-28 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 4. Expulsion from Paradise 1425-28 Istrian stone, 99 x 92 cm (with frame) San Petronio, Bologna
	Left reliefs on the portal: 5. Work of the Ancestors 1425-28 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Main portal: reliefs on the right lateral support 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main portal: reliefs on the right lateral support (detail) 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main portal: reliefs on the right lateral support (detail) 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Right reliefs on the portal: 1. Sacrifices of Cain and Abel 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Right reliefs on the portal: 2. Cain killing Abel 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Right reliefs on the portal: 3. Disembarking from Noah's Ark 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Right reliefs on the portal: 4. Drunkenness of Noah 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Right reliefs on the portal: 5. Sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham 1425-30 Istrian stone, 82 x 68 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Main Portal: Lunette 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna
	Main Portal: Virgin and Child 1425-30 Istrian stone, height 211 cm San Petronio, Bologna
	Main Portal: St Petronius 1425-30 Istrian stone San Petronio, Bologna