Pulpit Relief with the Symbol of St. Luke in the Cloisters, Sept. 2007

Pulpit Relief with the Symbol of Saint Luke
Limestone inlaid with lead
Italy, Abruzzi, about 1180
Master Stephanus and Workshop
From the church of San Michele Archangelo at San Vittorino

Accession # 1984.197

This relief depicts an ox, the symbol of Saint Luke, holding a book with an inscription from the opening of his Gospel. A second inscription refers to the master sculptor Stephanus and his associates. Nothing more is known of the sculptor, but the hallmarks of his style, with its crispness and richness of decorative forms contrasting with plain surfaces, are characteristic of sculpture in Abruzzi during the late 12th century. Because of changes in the liturgy promulgated at the Council of Trent (1544-68), medieval pulpits were frequently dismantled and their parts scattered.

Text from the Cloisters label.