The Deposition by Benedetto Antelami

In the south transept is a stone panel with a scene of The Deposition by Benedetto Antelami, dated and signed 1178.

The panel is the surviving part of an ambo which stood proud in the nave on the right-hand side of the cathedral, on four columns, decorated with marble panels on which the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion were carved. The work was dismantled in 1566 as part of the transformation of the cathedral presbytery proposed by the Council of Trent.

This panel, as a part of an ancient ambo, must be read within its natural original liturgical context: it has the character of a splendid liturgical icon, which, while finding its narrative theme in the Gospels, seems to command greater contemplation.

The inscription already allows us to know the name of the sculptor and the year when the panel was made: ANNO MILLENO CENTENO SEPTUAGE(SI)NO OCTAVO SCULTOR PAT(RA)VIT ME(N)SE SECU(N)DO / ANTELAMI DICTUS SCULPTOR FUIT HIC BENEDICTUS.

At the centre of the work is the cross, made from two trunks, which divides the whole narrative into two parts. The wooden members of the cross bear buds designed to mark the beginning of a flowering – a tree of life, as suggested by the Apocalypse and a prelude to the Resurrection.

On the cross is Jesus with his left hand still nailed to it. Nicodemus, depicted on a ladder, is pulling out the nail with pliers.

Instead, it is Joseph of Arimathea who is supporting the body of Jesus, wrapping his arms around his waist and, with a strong but gentle gesture, placing his face against Christ’s side slashed by the soldier’s spear.

The arm which has already been removed is supported by the Archangel Gabriel who brings Jesus’ hand to his mother’s face.

On the right is the centurion who confessed Christ’s divinity on the death of Jesus, and behind him five nameless men, mute spectators of the demise.

In the right-hand corner, four soldiers are portrayed in the act of dividing up Christ’s seamless tunic, casting lots with dice in hand.

To the left of the cross, is depicted St. John, together with the three Marys present at the foot of the cross, the first witnesses of the empty tomb. The faces, the gestures of the hands, the robes, the composure and figurative harmony of this sculptural group suggest an entire drama and the truth of a liturgical act, as opposed to the more fragmentary image of the group on the right, which seems to manifest disturbance and questioning.

To the right of the central group is depicted the Synagogue with its ensign lowered, its priest’s head being lowered by the Archangel Raphael

On the left a figure represents the Church with its banner raised on which the cross stands, its representative clad in liturgical robes and with a chalice in his right hand. These two figures symbolically express in the Synagogue the end of the first covenant, while in the Church that takes over, its primary role as the custodian of the grace merited by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

In the upper corners two wreathed medallions stand out with a male head on the left, the Sun,

and a female face on the right, the Moon, marking the continuity of time.

The panel brings together scenes chronologically which actually occurred at different times. The agony on the cross, while the soldiers cast lots for the tunic, the moment of Jesus’ death with the confession of the centurion, the deposition in the sepulchre for the three days of the burial, and finally the reference to the Resurrection expressed by the pious women.

The viewer is further made a participant in the story, an event which thus becomes contemporary, thanks to the presence of the sun and the moon marking the passage of time, and to the figure of the Church, which continues to bestow the grace merited by the Christ.