Daniel and Zacharias

Wiligelmo’s (or Guglielmo’s) portal for Modena Cathedral is one of the most important surviving examples of Romanesque sculpture in Italy. The ornament is conceived as a series of relief plaques, which cover the fa�ade without becoming an integral part of the architecture. Proven�al and Languedoc reminiscences can be found in the figures of the prophets Daniel and Zacharias, particularly in the drapery, but the influence of antiquity is the decisive one. Because of their simple and broadly handled volumes, their naturalistic conception, and their tendency to take on a separate existence as free-standing statues, the figures seem restricted by the narrow frames of their niches. In all these aspects they are far removed from the prophets at Moissac and Souillac with their flat, linear dynamism.