The Sculptor
Benedetto Antelami
by Kart Forster
Bencdetto Antelami:
Skulpturen im Dom
und am Baptisterium zu Parma
Aufnahmen von Leonardv. Matt
Bencdetto Antelami:
Sculptures in the cathedral
and at the Baptistery of Parma
Recordings by Leonardv. Frosted
Who was Benedetto the sculptor, surnamed Antelami? We find no
reliable trace of him in the written reconds, in registers of baptisms
or deaths. He appears from nowhere, places his name on his marble
relief, Th Depasition from the Crss, in Parma Cathedral and adds
that he finished his work in the second month of the year 8. The
first line of the inscription runs:
ANNO MILLENO CENTINO SEPTUAGENỌ 0CTAVO SCULPIOR PATUET
MENSE SECUNDO ANTELME DICTUS SCULITOR FUT HIC BENEDICTES
(Is u78, in the second montb, there appeard a scaiptor
Aed Antelami. That senlptor sar this Besedette. )
There is documentary evidence that the surname Antelami was
generally given to master-builders from the pre-Alpine valleys of
Lombardy. On the architrave of the north porch of the Parma
Baptistery Benedetto calls himself "sculptor". But who was the
architect of the Baptistery? We need not delve into the tattered
records of the controversy which rages about the builder of the
Baptistery. If we remember that Benedetto clearly designates him-
self as sculptor and master-builder on the Deposition, there is no
further reason for surprise if he simply signs himself as: "Benedetto
the Sculptor." No certain conclusion can be drawn from the two
inscriptions on the Depasition and the Baptisterythe only two in
which the name of Bencdetto appears. Our only resource is to
detect the work of his hand by our own feeling for his personal and
peculiar style.
In the twelfth century French architecture blossomed into life in
a kind of apotheosis of sculpture. In the carly cathedrals, architec-
ture "crystallized" into sculpture. In comparison with this develop-
ment, Antelami's clear distinction between sculpture and architec-