Detail of Scotti da Fombio portal by Maestro Gregorio 1492 - 1499

portal by Maestro Gregorio (late 15th century)
PORTAL, 1492 - 1499
Gregory Master
news 1492
The portal has rather simple jambs, an arch decorated with classical foliage motifs closed by a keystone with a cherub and flanked by two roundels with the coats of arms and names of the clients, a frieze of the trabeazine above still with foliage; above is a cymatium with the Scotti family coat of arms in the center flanked by volutes and sphinxes and surmounted by a pair of dolphins

OBJECT
portal
MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE
STONE
Terracotta
ATTRIBUTIONS
Gregory Master
STORAGE PLACE
Morigi boys' college
ADDRESS
Via Giuseppe Taverna, 37, Piacenza (PC)
HISTORICAL CRITICAL NEWS
Piero Gazzola (1937) was the first to publish the text of the notarial deed between the client Ettore Scotti and a certain Mastro Gregorio, dated 1492, for the construction of the portal, a deed kept in the College Archives. Again, Gazzola, comparing this portal to that of Palazzo Landi due to the splendor of its decoration, lists it among the most important in the city. He finds resonances in the "archaeological taste common to the Cremonese terracottas of the time", in the sculpted head of the frieze extending the pilasters, which are, however, inspired "by good Roman examples of the late empire". Overall he notes a lack of stylistic coherence in the lack of cohesion between the portal and the heraldic crown, compensated by a "lively sense of fleshy plasticity". The dominant motifs of the decoration, cornucopias, tendrils, flowers and dolphins, are usual in the Lombard art of this period and can be found in the two most significant buildings of the time: the Certosa di Pavia and the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo, where they are used in abundance for the decoration of pilasters and pillars . The strong spiral motif of the upper acroterion is also present in the Castiglioni Monument in Castiglione Olona and the dolphins at the top vaguely recall certain details of the washbasins of the Certosa di Pavia. From this we deduce that Maetro Gherardo must have been well acquainted with the Lombard culture of the time, of which he gave in this work a formal reworking of notable quality and elegance the Certosa di Pavia and the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo, where they are used in abundance for the decoration of pilasters and pillars.