A final exhibition in the Duomo Museum shows the proposals for the fifth and last door of the Duomo, which marked the end of construction in 1965. In a competition reminding of Ghiberti and Brunelleschi’s designs for the Gates of Paradise doors of the Baptistery in Florence, artists presented proposals. In the final round, the designs of Luciano Minguzzi won over the more modern proposals of Lucio Fontana. Fontana’s ideas were appreciated but “deemed too far from the traditional language of the existing doors”. (Fontana has a dedicated room in the nearby Museo del Novecento.)
From left:
Proposal for the fifth door of the Cathedral
by Fontana Lucio (Rosario de Santa Fé, 1899 – Comabbio, 1968)
Chronology: 1971-1972 (posthumous cast, original plaster cast 1951)
Dimensions cm: 171 × 86 × 10
Material and Technique: Relief bronze
Model proposal for the fifth door of the Cathedral
by Fontana Lucio (Rosario de Santa Fé, 1899 – Comabbio, 1968)
Chronology: 1971-1972 (posthumous cast, original plaster cast 1955-1956)
Dimensions cm: 161.5 × 73.5 × 10
Material and Technique: Relief bronze
Suggestion for the fifth door of the Cathedral
by Minguzzi Luciano (Bologna, 1911 – Milan, 2004)
Chronology: 1964 (cast, original plaster 1951)
Dimensions cm: 172 × 86 × 5
Material and Technique: Relief bronze