Medieval Wooden Doors in Central Italy: a Reconsideration, in The Doors of Andrija Buvina in Split Cathedral: 1214-2014

In the twelfth century, between Lazio and Abruzzi, were made carved and painted wooden doors, iconostasis, altars and chest, according to a tradition probably developed in the previous century in Monte Cassino during the works promoted by the abbot Desiderius. The analysis of these works, especially the wooden doors of the Greek abbey at Grottaferrata, Santa Maria in Cellis (Carsoli) and San Pietro in Albe (Alba Fucens), related to recent discoveries, provides a framework of considerable interest, also in the light of the close relationship between Split and Italy in this period. The inscriptions in two Umbrian Madonnas of the second half of the thirteenth century also allow some considerations on the role of the painters in wooden sculpture.