Text by Georges Duby, Giovanni Romano, Chiara Frugoni, Peter Rockwell, Bruno Zanardi. Introduction by Franco Maria Ricci
1992 / 280 PAGES.
Language: Italian
This volume, the first of two tomes dedicated to the Baptistery of Parma, was created with the aim of documenting the results obtained following the long restoration of the baptistery by Bruno Zanardi, made possible thanks to the Cassa di Risparmio di Parma.
From 1986 to 1992, extensive restoration work was carried out on the interior and exterior of the Baptistery of Parma. This volume brings together critical contributions that aim to offer a complete picture of the monument: at the opening Georges Duby offers a historical-artistic dissertation on the Fons Vitae, as the baptistery is sometimes called, to which are related the line drawings and engravings by Bertoluzzi and Sottili for the series of plates dedicated to the Baptistery of Parma by Studio Toschi. This is followed by a historical analysis by Giovanni Romano on the figure of Benedetto Antelami, the sculptor and also probable architect of the Baptistery. Chiara Frugoni offers readers a description and iconographic exegesis regarding the great sculptural cycle of the Antelami complex, followed by images of the sculptures under analysis. The volume ends with a section on the restoration work, composed of essays that examine the plastic decoration of the baptistery and the stone and brick surfaces of the interior and exterior of the Baptistery of Parma.