ALFANO DA TERMOLI. – Apulian sculptor of the first half of the 12th century. Three capitals formerly belonging to the destroyed ciborium above the high altar of Bari cathedral, and now preserved in that city’s Provincial Museum, bear on three diptychs his name, “Alfanus civis termolitanus,” accompanied by highly laudatory expressions, as well as that of a family of wealthy merchants from Bari, the Effrem, who commissioned the work. Since the altar was consecrated in 1233, the ciborium certainly dates from shortly before that year. In the elegant figural and decorative motifs of the capitals (one depicts angels with images of the donors, the second bears intertwined vipers, and the third is covered with foliage), one can observe the joining of Apulian classicizing traditions with motifs from transalpine sculpture.
