Antelami, Benedetto

Antelami, Benedetto (bānādĕt`tō äntālä`mē), c.1150–c.1225, Italian sculptor. Considered the most important sculptor of the late Romanesque period in N Italy, Antelami was an aesthetic forebear of Nicola and Giovanni Pisano. His relief carvings emphasize rhythmic design by means of drapery details on elongate figures and tight compositions. The faces of his figures are profoundly expressive. Antelami's style, as in his doors for the baptistery at Parma (begun 1196), suggests that he was trained in S France. It is clear that his late work was influenced by French Gothic style.

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Antelami, Benedetto

(born c. 1150, probably Lombardy—died c. 1230, Parma) Italian sculptor and architect. He probably belonged to the Magistri Antelami, a civic builders' guild in the Lake Como region. An early signed marble relief by him, The Descent from the Cross (1178), is in Parma Cathedral; his extensive cycle of sculpture on the baptistery at Parma was begun in 1196. He is credited with the sculptural decorations of Fidenza Cathedral and Ferrara Cathedral. His last work is believed to have been the decoration and (at least in part) the construction of the church of Sant'Andrea at Vercelli, the architecture of which successfully combined Tuscan Romesque with Gothic characteristics (such as flying buttresses, rose windows, and ribbed vaulting) and won him lasting renown.

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Antelami, Benedetto 

Born circa 1150; died circa 1230. Italian sculptor and architect. An outstanding master of Romanesque sculpture. He was influenced by the plastic an of southern France.

Antelami worked mainly in Parma, where he began (in 1196), and carried out a substantial part of a sculptured decoration of the Baptistery. He also created the relief The Descent From the Cross (1178) for the city cathedral.

REFERENCES

De Francovich, G. Benedetto Antelami .... vols. 1–2. Milan-Florence, 1952. (Bibliography.)
Toesca, P. II Battistero di Parma. . . .Milan, 1960