The Bronze Door Panels within the Façade of San Zeno Maggiore, Verona: A Chronological and Liturgical Assessment.

This thesis presents an analysis of the bronze door panels of San Zeno Maggiore, Verona, with reference to the surrounding low relief stone sculptures, textual material relating to Bishop Zeno, the patron saint of the church, and the wider religious and political developments of the late tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries. In identifying those panels the thesis recognises the way in which the door panels and stone sculptures form a traditional narrative identifying Creation and the Fall on the right juxtaposed with Redemption and Salvation on the left. The core of the thesis focuses on two facets of the bronze door panels: the dating of the panels’ production, and the composition of the doors prior to the earthquake of 1117. The doors are complex and include in their current state panels manufactured by at least two workshops operating in different periods. These are discussed with reference to the works themselves and to recent historical scholarship. The thesis concludes that the panels were manufactured in two periods: the first period may have been either in the Ottonian era (c.960-c.1040) or later in the eleventh century (c.1080); the second period was the later twelfth century (c.1175). The thesis also discusses the stone relief sculptures, carved in 1135-1138, that provide a framework and context for the doors. The second aspect is the baptismal and Paschal lectionary, which incorporates San Zeno’s preferred readings, as the basis for the choice of subjects of the first set of bronze door panels. The massive earthquake of 1117 severely damaged the basilica and some original panels were damaged and discarded. It has not been possible to demonstrate definitively that the sermons and lectionary were known to those who commissioned the panels, but the thesis seeks to show their importance in describing the panel composition. The door panels and stone reliefs assert a symbolic distancing from both Papacy and Empire after the Investiture Controversy. The two lowest stone reliefs, on the left and right of the doorway, represent accounts of Otto and Berengar fighting over Adelaide, and of Theodoric and the wild hunt, respectively. The significance of these narratives is discussed.