GATE. – A movable closure made of metal or wood; if fixed and continuous, in which case it is sometimes made of stone, it is called a grille; when used inside churches it is called a transenna or pluteus (q.v.).
Of gates properly so called, no examples have been preserved before the 12th century; from the 14th century onwards, however, they become increasingly frequent. At that time the Gothic style was able to display its full elegant ornamental stylization. Among the many 14th-century wrought-iron gates still extant, we may mention that of the collegiate church of Bobbio, perhaps the first example of a crowning feature with floral ornamentation; that of the cathedral of Orvieto, the work of Conte di Lello of Siena and his son Giacomo (1337–38); that of the Rinuccini chapel in Santa Croce, Florence (1371), most elegant with quatrefoils within circles and slender colonnettes supporting pointed arches; and that of the tomb of Cansignorio in Verona, with quatrefoils enclosing the heraldic ladder of the family (1373).
Among the grilles in which a marble framework encloses metal elements, we should recall the grille of the tabernacle of Orsanmichele in Florence, with bronze hexapetalae within marble frames, probably designed by Orcagna (1366). Among 15th-century gates, besides the iron one in the chapel of Cardinal Branda in San Clemente, Rome, we may cite the bronze one in the chapel of the Holy Girdle in Prato and that in the chapel of the Council in Siena. Typical is the marble grille of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, the work of the workshop of Andrea Bregno.
In the following centuries, gates, almost always of iron and often adorned with brass, became increasingly grandiose and elaborate, reflecting changes in taste and sometimes clearly illustrating the evolution and characteristics of regional styles. Examples are innumerable. We may mention the gate of the chapel of the Madonna in the Annunziata of Trapani, by Giuliano Musarra (1591); that in the chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral of Naples, after a model by Cosimo Fanzago (second half of the 17th century); that in the presbytery of the basilica of Sant’Antonio in Padua (Camillo Mazza, 1661); those in the basilica of Saint Peter, which served as models for so many other Roman churches of the 17th and 18th centuries. Special mention should be made of the doors of the Loggetta of Sansovino in Venice, by Antonio Gai (1734); and the gate of the altar in the scuola of San Rocco in Venice, by Giuseppe Filiberti and his son (1751).
Among modern works we may cite the grille before the Colleoni chapel in Bergamo, designed by the architects Muzio and Moretti and modeled and cast by Giovanni Lomazzi (1912–13).
In France, wrought iron was used in gates from the end of the 13th century; in the 14th century gates were also made of iron sheet applied to an armature. In the 15th and 16th centuries rich marble transennae were constructed, such as those in the cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres, which take the particular form of a rood screen (q.v.).
We may also recall the grille from Angers, now in the museum of Cluny. In the 17th and 18th centuries, gates, in keeping with the taste of the period, attained exceptional richness of form and movement of line.
In Germany, Austria, and England, gates took on particular forms, almost always more complex than their Italian contemporaries. The same is true in Spain, where in the 16th century rich iron and bronze grilles are found; special mention should be made of those in the cathedrals of Valencia, the work of Francisco de Villalpando; those of Pamplona, Zaragoza, Burgos, Toledo, Seville (choir of the cathedral), and Salamanca. All these works combine nobility of conception on the part of the designers with great skill on the part of the craftsmen. – See Plate XL.