Reconsidering the Career of Nicholaus Artifex (active c.1122– c.1164) in the Context of Later Twelfth-Century North Italian Politics Anna Lee Spiro Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 ©2014 Anna Lee Spiro All rights reserved ABSTRACT Reconsidering the Career of the Artifex Nicholaus (active c.1122–c.1164) in the Context of Later Twelfth-Century North Italian Politics Anna Lee Spiro The present study revises the chronology of the twelfth-century North Italian artifex Nicholaus, whose signature appears on sculpture at the Sagra di San Michele, Ferrara Cathedral, Verona Cathedral, and San Zeno in Verona, demonstrating that his career began c.1122 in Piacenza, and ended in Verona around 1164, revising the c.1110 to c.1150 dating most recently proposed for this artist by various scholars. The best documentation for Nicholaus records that he was put in charge of supervising the construction and decoration of the new cathedral in Ferrara in 1135. His activity here seems to have ended only around 1150, at which time the interior of the cathedral was functional. With his atelier, he executed a monumental entranceway with a double-storied protiro on the south side of the church as well as on the façade, two smaller western portals, capitals and other architectural sculpture for the exterior and interior of the cathedral, and church furniture. In the early 1140s, Nicholaus’s associates and possibly the artifex himself crossed the Alps in order to execute the corbel table sculptures on the apse of the imperial burial church at Königslutter in Lower Saxony. Nicholaus and his atelier were in active in Verona by the 1150s. After 1164, having completing the western entranceway to the cathedral—the best preserved of Nicholaus’s works—they began the construction of the entranceway at San Zeno. The elegiac tone of two signature inscriptions here indicates that Nicholaus is no longer active and most likely deceased. Artists here working in a late version of the Nicholaus style include Guillelmus known for his signature inscription and the Genesis Master, who executed the façade reliefs at San Giovanni in Venere in Fossacesia (Abruzzo), dated c.1190. The façade at San Zeno was assembled only c.1200 with the Wheel of Fortune window and famous bronze doors as well as the Nicholaus sculpture. It has long been agreed that certain subjects in the Nicholaus portal sculptures refer to the contemporary political scene. The reform policies of Pope Gregory VII supported by Matilda of Canossa inspired the subject of The Temptations of Christ depicted on the lintel at Piacenza Cathedral. Luigi Simeoni proposed that the formation of the commune of Verona in 1135 is celebrated by the scene on the lunette at San Zeno, which depicts Verona’s patron saint in the midst of the Veronese troops. However, my research into the long-term relationship between Verona and the emperor has allowed me to conclude that the image on the lunette at San Zeno documents the formation in 1164 of the Veronese League, the forerunner of the Lombard League the actions of which would end Frederick Barbarossa’s plan to make Northern Italy again part of the Empire. A second subject here, The Hunt of Theodoric, seems to have been chosen to insult Barbarossa, previously well received in Verona. My methodology can be described as follows: as I lacked firm documentary evidence for the dating of Nicholaus’s Verona projects, because the subject matter seemed to reflect a particular historical situation the date of which allied with my stylistic analysis regarding the probable date of the sculptures, I used the date for that event as the terminus post quem for that work. Still to be examined and agreed upon by the scholarly community is the organization of the workshop with regard to the number of artists, who worked under the Nicholaus name, and the assignment of the individual sculptures to designated masters including the artifex himself. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract List of Illustrations iii Introduction 1 1. Wiligelmus and Nicholaus 32 2. Piacenza: The Emerging Artist 61 3. Nicholaus at the Sagra di San Michele 101 4. Nicholaus at Ferrara Cathedral 119 5. Nicholaus at Königslutter 184 6. Nicholaus at Verona Cathedral 195 7. Nicholaus at San Zeno: The Final Project 245 8. Conclusion 338 9. Bibliography 349 i Dedicated to the memory of my parents Pauline Konecny Spiro, R.N. and Erich Spiro, M.D. ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Modena Cathedral, west facade. Fig. 2 Modena Cathedral, west facade a) Center entranceway b) Relief to left of protiro: dedicatory plaque held by Enoch and Elias c) Epigraph above main apsidal window honoring architect Lanfrancus Fig. 3 Modena Cathedral, west façade a) Central portal b) Capital on south (right) with telamons c) Detail of rinceaux Fig. 4 Modena Cathedral, west façade, central portal: Detail of inhabited rinceaux on right doorpost Fig. 5 Modena Cathedral, west façade, central portal a) Figures of prophets on inner face of the right doorpost b) Zachariah c) Telamon at bottom of doorpost reliefs Fig. 6 Modena Cathedral, west façade, central portal a) Figures of prophets on inner face of left doorpost b) Malachi Fig. 7 Modena Cathedral, west façade a) First plaque: Moralizing Creator, Creation of Adam, Creation of Eve, Fall of Man b) Second plaque: God confronting Adam, Expulsion, Labors of Adam and Eve Fig. 8 Modena Cathedral, west façade a) Third plaque: The Story of Cain and Abel b) Fourth plaque (cropped): Lamech killing Cain,The Ark of Noah, Noah and his Sons Fig. 9 Modena Cathedral, south side a) Porta dei Principi b) Lion support These images may be viewed in a supplemental PDF accompanying the digital dissertation and as a pocket insert in a bound version. iii Fig. 10 Modena Cathedral, south side a) Porta dei Principi b) Detail from lower face of lintel: St. John the Baptist Fig. 11 Modena Cathedral, south side, Porta dei Principi: lintel Scenes from the Life of San Geminianus a) Saint goes to Constantinople by land and by sea b) Exorcism of emperor’s daughter; emperor rewards saint c) Return to Modena and death of the saint Fig. 12 Modena Cathedral, north side, Porta della Pescheria a) Detail: lintel and historiated archivolt b) Lion support (left) c) Lion support (right Fig. 13 Modena Cathedral, south side, Porta Regia Fig. 14 San Giorgio in Argenta a) Portal b) Lunette and lintel c) Detail: griffin from lintel d) Detail: figures at end of lintel and on capitals Fig. 15 San Savino in Piacenza, interior a) Capital with human figure b) Capital with felines intertwined with rinceaux c) Variant acanthus capital d) Capital with interlace Fig. 16 Sant’Eufemia in Piacenza, porch a) Capital with harpies b) Capital with wrestlers c) Capital with addorsed dragons d) Capital with addorsed sirens and beard puller (bust) e) Capital with acanthus f) Capital with confronted dragons and human heads at corner Fig. 17 Piacenza Cathedral Fig. 18 Piacenza Cathedral west façade, north portal (Master of Nonantola) a) Overview b) Lintel: Infancy of Christ with “witness” figures: Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity in two fields c) Lintel: Annunciation to the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi. iv Fig. 19 Piacenza Cathedral, north portal, inhabited rinceaux a, b,c,d,e Sections from inner most relieving arch Fig. 20 Piacenza Cathedral, north portal a) Left capital with nude figures b) Right capital with two clothed figures. Fig. 21 Piacenza Cathedral, north portal a) Left doorpost, Paciencia b) Right doorpost, Virtue and a telamon Fig. 22 Piacenza Cathedral, south portal (Nicholaus) a) Overview b) Lintel: Presentation in the Temple, Flight into Egypt, Baptism c) Lintel: Three Temptations of Christ Fig. 23 Piacenza Cathedral, south portal (Nicholaus?), inhabited rinceaux a,b,c,d Details of relieving arch e) Overview of relieving arch Fig. 24 Piacenza Cathedral, south portal a) Left capitals: Abel and Cain b) Right capitals: figures expressing remorse Fig. 25 Piacenza Cathedral, south portal a) Left doorpost: Paciencia & telamon b) Right doorpost: Humilitas and Avaricia Fig. 26 Piacenza Cathedral a) Left (bearded telamon from the north protiro b) Right (young) telamon from the north protiro c) Left (bearded) telamon from the south protiro d) Right (young)telamon from the south protiro Fig. 27 Nonantola, Abbey Church of San Silvestro Details from exterior of right doorpost by the Master of Astolfo a) Telamon: Annunciation, Vistiation, Nativity (Midwife with Christ) b) Nativity (Animals Adoring Christ) Annunciation to the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi v Fig. 28 Nonantola, Abbey Church of San Silvestro: main entrance Details of the rinceaux a & b) Maestro della lunetta di Nonantola, details of inhabited rinceaux c & d) Maestro delle Sfingi, details of inhabited rinceaux Fig. 29 Piacenza Cathedral: central protiro, cosmic arch a & b) The winds c & d) The signs of the zodiac Fig. 30 Piacenza Cathedral: west façade, spandrel figures a & b) North protiro: John the Evangelist & John the Baptist c & d) South protiro: Elias & Enoch Fig. 31 Piacenza Cathedral: central apse window a) Gabriel b) The Virgin c) Balaam d) Isaiah Fig. 32 Carpi, Pieve: details from the pulpit a) John the Baptist from the right side of the pulpit b) The angel of St. Mathew from the front of the pulpit Fig. 33 The Sagra di San Michele a) View of abbey at top of mountain b) Scalone dei Morti c) Porta dei Zodiaco at top of Scalone dei Morti Fig 34 Reconstruction of Zodiac Portal by Christine Verzár Bornstein Fig. 35 Sagra di San Michele, capital and associated base a) Cain killing Abel b) Cain and Abel giving their offerings to God c) Base with confronted griffins with head of human d) Base with confronted griffins Fig.