Fragment of the Byzantine door of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

The fragment, irregularly trapezoidal in shape, comprises the upper right corner of the panel with the Pentecost scene already in place in the Byzantine gate of the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. In addition to a part of the epigraph, in the upper part you can make out three apostles and rays with tongues of fire descending from above. The doors of the basilica belong to a unique group of artifacts attesting to the same technique, date (second half of the eleventh century–first quarter of the twelfth century) and provenance, preserved or documented in various Italian churches. This particular door was produced in Constantinople in 1070 and commissioned by the Amalfi consul Pantaleone and the Rector of Saint Paul Ildebrando of Soana (the future Pope Gregory VII), and originally secured the central entrance of the Ostia basilica. The door was damaged in a fire of 1823 and, after restoration in 1966–1967, it was placed inside, behind the Holy Door. The panels and frames are made of orichalcum, an alloy similar to brass, bracket-cast and fixed on a wooden support. The door’s original decoration was damascened in silver. The fragment still bears traces of this damascene in the grooves that held the metal in place despite the fire damage, which is evident in the surface's scorch marks and oxidation. Damascening was used for all the door panels, which depict episodes from the life of Christ, portraits of prophets with scrolls, the evangelists and apostles, and scenes of their martyrdom. Alongside the iconic and narrative scenes are decorative and symbolic elements such as leafy crosses and eagles. The door also contains dedicatory inscriptions, a portrait of the prostrated donor between Christ and Saint Paul, and the signatures of Theodoros, who designed the door, and Staurakios the smelter, both of whom were active in the Constantinople workshop that produced the work.
The order of the panels was certainly altered over time. However, at least since the seventeenth century the Pentecost  was located on the left leaf of the door, in the third frame of the fourth register from the top, as shown in drawings before 1823. It was probably after the 1823 fire that the fragment was moved to the Kircherian Museum, from which it was later moved to the Museo di Castel Sant’Angelo and finally to its present location. Another fragment of the same door (a portion of the panel depicting the prophet Habakkuk) is held in Paris, Cabinet des Médailles of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Livia Bevilacqua
 

Fair.

«[H ΠΕΝΤΗ]KOCTH».

Rome, Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls;
Rome, Kircherian Museum;
Rome, Museo di Castel Sant’Angelo, from 1913;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, from 1920.
 

Rome, Castel Sant’Angelo, Esposizione internazionale di Roma. Mostre retrospettive, 1911;
Bari, Castello Svevo, Andar per mare. Puglia e Mediterraneo tra mito e storia, June 14–November 16, 1997;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, Cipro e l’Italia al tempo di Bisanzio. L’ Icona Grande di San Nicola tis Stégis del XIII secolo restaurata a Roma, June 23–July 26, 2009.
 

Vatican Apostolic Library, ms. Vat. lat. 6780, ff. 44r-44v, 45v-47v (Onofrio Panvinio, 1551–1568);
Vatican Apostolic Library, ms. Barb. lat. 2160, ff. 94v-95r (Pompeo Ugonio, second half 16th century);
Vatican Apostolic Library, ms. Barb. lat. 4378, Figure et Inscrittioni intagliate nelle porte di bronzo della Basilica di S. Paolo copiate d’ordine del Sig. Card. Francesco Barberini (Antonio Eclissi, 1634);
Giovanni G. Ciampini, Vetera Monimenta, I, Romae 1690, tav. XVIII;
Vatican Apostolic Library, ms. Vat. lat. 9840, f. 32r (drawings for J.B.L.G. Seroux d’Agincourt, Histoire del l’art par les monumens, IV, Paris 1923, tavv. XIII–XX);
Archivio di Stato di Roma, Commissione per la riedificazione della Basilica di San Paolo (1825–1870), bb. 4, 22, 71;
Archivio Storico dei Musei Vaticani, b. 103, fasc. 2.

Toesca Pietro, Un frammento dell’antica porta di San Paolo fuori le mura ed un cimelio farfense ora smarrito, in «L’Arte», 7, 1904, pp. 509-510;
Esposizione internazionale di Roma. Mostre retrospettive in Castel  San’Angelo, catalogo della mostra (Roma, Castel Sant'Angelo, 1911), Bergamo 1911;
Josi Enrico, Federici Vittorio, Ercadi Egisto, La porta bizantina di San Paolo, Roma 1967;
Matthiae Guglielmo, Le porte bronzee bizantine in Italia, Roma 1971, pp. 72-83;
Frazer Margaret E., Church Doors and the Gates of Paradise: Byzantine Bronze Doors in Italy, in «Dumbarton Oaks Papers», 27, 1973, pp. 145-162;
Bloch Herbert, Monte Cassino in the Middle Ages, I, Roma 1986, pp. 141-151;
Marini Clarelli Maria Vittoria, Pantaleone d’Amalfi e le porte bizantine in Italia meridionale, in Iacobini Antonio, Zanini Enrico (a cura di), Arte profana e arte sacra a Bisanzio, Roma 1995, pp. 641-652;
Pace Valentino, L’arte di Bisanzio al servizio della Chiesa di Roma: la porta di bronzo di San Paolo fuori le mura, in Borkopp Birgitt, Schellenwald Barbara Maria, Theis Lioba, Studien zur Byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte. Festschrift für Horst Hallensleben zum 65. Geburtstag, Amsterdam 1995, pp. 111-119;
Cassano Raffaella, Lorusso Romito Rosa, Milella Marisa (a cura di), Andar per mare. Puglia e Mediterraneo tra mito e storia, catalogo della mostra (Bari, Castello Svevo, 14 giugno-16 novembre 1997), Bari 1997, n. 3;
Angelucci Sergio, Guido Sante, Porta bizantina. Basilica di San Paolo fuori le mura, in ARPAI. Associazione per il Restauro del Patrimonio Artistico Italiano. I restauri, Roma 2002, pp. 107-108;
Bevilacqua Livia, La porta bizantina di S. Paolo fuori le mura: fonti, documenti e testimonianze grafiche (XVI-XIX secolo), in «Nuovi Annali della Scuola Speciale per Archivisti e Bibliotecari», 19, 2005, pp. 185-205;
Bevilacqua Livia, Il programma iconografico della porta di S. Paolo fuori le mura, in Iacobini Antonio (a cura di), Le porte del Paradiso. Arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo, Roma 2009, pp. 239-259;
Sannibale Maurizio, Gli ultimi restauri alla porta di S. Paolo fuori le mura, in Iacobini Antonio (a cura di), Le porte del Paradiso. Arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo, Roma 2009, pp. 261-281;
Iacobini Antonio, Le porte bronzee bizantine in Italia: arte e tecnologia nel Mediterraneo medievale, in Iacobini Antonio (a cura di), Le porte del Paradiso. Arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo, Roma 2009, pp. 15-54;
Pittiglio, in Eliades Ioannis A. (a cura di), Cipro e l’Italia al tempo di Bisanzio. L’Icona Grande di San Nicola tis Stegis del XIII secolo restaurata a Roma, catalogo della mostra (Roma, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, 23 giugno-26 luglio 2009), Nicosia 2009 pp. 232-234, n. 3;
Moretti Simona, Roma bizantina. Opere d’arte dall’impero di Costantinopoli nelle collezioni romane, Roma 2014, pp. 233-238;
Ristovska Natalija, Medieval Byzantium in the Context of Artistic Interchange between East and West: The Illuminating Example of the Inlaid Brass Door at Saint Paul Outside-The-Walls in Rome, in Papacostas Tassos, Parani Maria (a cura di), Discipuli Dona Ferentes. Glimpses of Byzantium in Honour of Marlia Mundell Mango, Turnhout 2017, pp. 363-445.