Capital with with corinthian elements and signatur

One of the capitals in the Monreale cloister is signed and bears on its western side the inscription: EGO ROMANUS FILIUS COSTANTINUS MARMURARIUS. As a result the entire cloister was for some time attributed to this artist. Wentzel and Claussen have argued against this interpretation however. They assert that ROMANUS more likely indicates a personal name rather than a place of origin and that MARMORARIUS was not a customary title for that profession in Rome at the time. In addition, the customary authorial claim hoc opus fecit is missing. The stylistic relationship to Roman cloister capitals, however, suggests placing this sculptor in the workshop of Vassaletto.

This Corinthian-style capital is noteworthy for its sumptuous decoration of projecting, highly relieved leaves, its volutes filled by acanthus leaves, and its twisted cauliculi. A stylized abacus flower lies embedded in a feather leaf frieze and the impost block is decorated with crawling vines. These details also characterize capital W14Sh88.

Wenzel, Hans, “Antiken-Imitation in der italienischen Plastik und Malerei des 13. Jahrhunderts,” in Sitzungsberichte der Kunstgeschichtlichen Gesellchaft Berlin, 1953/1954, pp. 12ff.

Claussen, Peter Cornelius, Magistri doctissimi romani. Die römischen Marmorkünstler des Mittelalters, Stuttgart, 1987, pp. 237-238.

signed artist Wentzel Claussen Rome name Vassaletto workshop feather-leaf-frieze crawling-vines inscription ancient-imitation EGO ROMANUS COSTANTINUS FILIUS MARMURARIUS