Vatican Museums

This bronze high-relief is a cast from the beginning of the 1970s from the plaster mould Fontana presented in 1951-52 for the second level of the Competition for the Fifth Door of the Duomo of Milan. It is not easy to establish the position of the character within the plan of the door in its entirety, in part because there are no indications from the Fabbrica del Duomo regarding the themes to be depicted that make explicit reference to the presence of a monk amanuensis. Fontana conceived the composition around an imaginary diagonal line running from the head to the feet of the monk, placing particular emphasis on the gestures of the hands around the desk.
Fontana and Minguzzi were joint winners of the second round, but the production of the Door was eventually entrusted to the latter alone.