Cancello

CANCELLO. - A movable closure of metal or wood; if fixed and continuous, in which case it is sometimes of stone, it takes the name of grille; if used in the interior of churches it is called a transenna or pluteus (v.).

Of gates properly so called, no examples have been preserved before the 12th century; on the other hand they are found ever more frequently from the 14th century onward; at that time the Gothic taste had the opportunity to display in them all its elegant ornamental stylization. Among the many 14th-century wrought-iron gates still extant, let us recall that of the collegiate church of Bobbio, where there is perhaps the first example of a finial with floral ornaments; that of the cathedral of Orvieto, the work of Conte di Lello da Siena and of his son Giacomo (1337-38); that of the Rinuccini chapel in S. Croce in Florence (1371), most elegant with quatrefoils within circles and slender little columns supporting pointed arches and that of the tomb of Cansignorio in Verona, with quatrefoils in which is inserted the heraldic ladder of the family (1375).

Among the grilles in which a marble framework encloses metal elements, mention should be made of the grille of the tabernacle of Orsanmichele in Florence, with bronze hexagons within marble frames, probably after a design by Orcagna (1366). Among the 15th-century gates, besides the iron one of the chapel of Card. Branda in S. Clemente in Rome, there are cited the bronze one of the chapel of the S. Cingolo in Prato and that of the chapel of the Council in Siena. Typical is the marble grille of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, the work of the workshop of Andrea Bregno.

In the following centuries the gates, almost always of iron, often adorned with brass, became progressively more grandiose and richer, according to the changes in taste, and represent, sometimes with evident clarity, the evolutions and characteristics of taste in the different regions. The examples are innumerable. Let us cite the gate of the chapel of the Madonna in the Annunziata of Trapani, the work of Giuliano Musarra (1591); that in the chapel of S. 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 S. Antonio in Padua (Camillo Mazza, 1661); that of the basilica of S. Peter served as a model for the gates of so many other Roman churches of the 17th and 18th centuries. The doors of the loggetta of Sansovino in Venice, the work of Antonio Gai (1734), deserve particular mention; and the gate of the altar of the scuola of S. Rocco in Venice by Giuseppe Filiberti and son (1751).

Among modern works let us cite the grille in front of the Colleoni chapel in Bergamo, designed by the architects Muzio and Moretti, modeled and cast by Giovanni Lomazzi (1912-13).

In France, from the end of the 13th century onward, wrought iron is found used in gates; during the 14th century gates were also made of iron sheet applied to a framework. In the 15th and 16th centuries rich marble transennas were built, such as those of the cathedrals of Amiens and of Chartres, which take the particular form of the Jubé (v. choir).

Let us also recall the grille coming from Angerolles, later in the museum of Cluny. In the 17th and 18th centuries the gates, according to the taste of the time, assume an exceptional richness of forms and movement of lines.

Also in Germany, in Austria, in England the gates had particular forms, almost always more complex than the contemporary Italian ones. Likewise in Spain, where in the 16th century rich grilles of iron and bronze are found; special mention should be made of those of the cathedrals of Valencia, the work of Francesco di Villalpando; those of Pamplona, of Saragossa, of Burgos, of Toledo, of Seville (choir of the cathedral), of Salamanca; all these works unite to the nobility of conception on the part of the designers a great skill in the executants. - See Pl. XL.

Vincenzo Golsio