Sculptures
The Civic Museum's sculpture collection is an indispensable source for understanding Piacenza's figurative culture in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The sculptures testify to Piacenza's unique position as a crossroads, a city that benefited and enriched itself with converging influences from multiple regions. The rooms housing the sculptures were once part of the Appartamento alla Cantonata, inhabited by the Duke from 1676 and then left to the Court Auditor.
On display are valuable Romanesque sculptures, statues, and high reliefs belonging to the so-called "School of Piacenza." This term refers to a series of works, both from Piacenza and elsewhere, distinguished by the fusion of stylistic elements belonging to the craftsmen of Wiligelmo with those of Niccolò, both of whom were involved in the decorations of Piacenza Cathedral. Also on display are commemorative, dedicatory, and sepulchral epigraphs dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. Most of the works on display come from the 19th-century collection of Bishop Bissi.
Madonna of the Square
Madonna and Child - Follower of Benedetto Antelami (?) - First half of the 13th century - Limestone, 150.5 x 62.5 x 59 cm
Provenance : from the church of Santa Maria di Piazza, formerly in the church of San Francesco and in a niche of the Gothic Palace
The sculptural group originally belonged to the church of Santa Maria de' Bigulis, which was destroyed in 1281 to make way for the construction of the Gothic Palace.
The Madonna and Child was then placed on the western facade of the palace; later transferred to a shrine built above the central balcony of the facade (1597).
In 1812 it was placed in the church of San Francesco and then again in a niche specially created on the facade of the Town Hall.
The sculptor seems to be familiar with the works of the Baptistery of Parma, with the sculptural style of Benedetto Antelami's craftsmen, even if he makes the clothes heavier and the bodies more awkward.
Telamon
Telamon - Anonymous sculptor - First half of the 12th century - Istrian stone sculpture, 43.5 x 27 x 56 cm - Unknown provenance
The sculpture has no certain provenance, but its similarity to the naked telamons on the left portal of Piacenza Cathedral has led to the hypothesis that it could be one of the decorative elements for the central portal of the same Cathedral.
Stylistically, the work is close to the circle of Wiligelmo, and therefore should be attributed to workers active on the Cathedral construction site who came to Piacenza from Modena.
Lamb of God
Agnus Dei - Anonymous sculptor - First half of the 12th century - Sandstone high relief, 34.5 x 47 x 14 cm. Provenance: Provostship of the Cathedral of Piacenza
The high relief depicts the cruciferous lamb with a crossed halo, surrounded by phytomorphic decorations (vine shoot with grapes and an acanthus scroll on the left, a stylised rose on the right).
Previously attributed to Modena craftsmen working in the city's Cathedral, given the calligraphic ductus of the rendering of the details and the similarity with the capitals of the church of San Savino and those of the collegiate church of Castell'Arquato, a Lombard craftsmanship seems the most convincing attribution.
THE 
star called "del Benvegnù"
Slab called "del Benvegnù" - First half of the 14th century - Sandstone relief, 55.5x75.3x12.5 cm - Provenance: Montechiaro Castle, then in the Cortesi collection of Piacenza (1829), and in the Bissi collection (1838)
The relief was placed above the door of the Montechiaro castle. It depicts two figures, presumably the castellans, receiving a group of people, and above is an inscription in the vernacular, which later became proverbial in Piacenza hospitality: “ Signori . sie . tuti . gi benvegnu ./. e zascaun . chi . che . vera . sera . ben ./. vegnu . e ben . recevu ” (Gentlemen, you are all welcome here and those who come will be welcome and well received).
This artifact is a very rare example in the medieval period of a figurative relief with a caption in the vernacular.
A very similar inscription is found on an epigraph documenting the construction of the Vigolzone castle, located near the Montechiaro castle, both of which belonged to the Anguissola family. Since the Vigolzone castle is dated 1330, it is presumed that the relief under examination here is of a more recent date, therefore around the first half of the 14th century.
To 
Prayer of the Lamb
Adoration of the Lamb - Mid-12th century - Sandstone architrave, 43.1 x 250 x 29 cm - Anonymous sculptor of the “School of Piacenza” - Provenance: Church of San Matteo, Piacenza
The architrave crowned the portal on the northern side of the Church of San Matteo.
In the upper and lower part of the entablature you can glimpse the inscription, which was read: “(Q)UAM DRACO FRAUDE DEDIT MORTEM, PIUS AGNUS ADEM(IT) UNDE PROPAGO FUIT AGNUS AD ASTRA DUXIT/ […]”.
The cruciferous lamb is placed at the centre of the architrave and is surmounted by an arch supported by two columns that support an archivolt modulated in a quadruple architrave.
Six figures, three on each side, kneeling and praying, show reverence and adoration to the lamb.
Interpretations regarding the attribution of the artefact have been varied over the years, varying between Emilian and Lombard craftsmen; however, the stylistic features clearly place the work within what has been defined as the "Piacenza School."
Majesty the Lord
Majestas Domini - Anonymous sculptor of the “Piacenza School” - Second half of the 12th century - Sandstone lunette, 114x182x11 cm - Provenance: Farmhouse in Podenzano (PC)
The lunette is divided into three parts: in the center is Christ in Majesty, seated on a throne; on the sides, two Saints accompany two kneeling, praying figures.
In the central score, under the throne of Christ, we read the inscription: “MULTE VENITE SIT PAX I (n CHRISTO)”.
Of uncertain provenance, but perhaps designed for the Romanesque church of the Holy Sepulchre (rebuilt in the 16th century), the lunette presents stylistic and iconographic affinities with the figurative tradition of the Île de France (see the Apocalyptic Christ of Notre Dame in Paris).
Stylistically, the work could be placed within the Piacenza School, due to the affinity between the characters of the epigraph and those of the writings in the lunette of Castell'Arquato, of the pulpit of the same collegiate church and of the panels of the corporations in the Cathedral of Piacenza.
Emblem of the Carpenters' and Bricklayers' Guilds
Emblem of the Carpenters' and Bricklayers' Guilds - 15th century - Sandstone slab, 68.2 x 56.5 x 15.5 cm - Provenance: Convent of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine
The emblem was found during archaeological excavations in the area of the former Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, so it is likely that the slab was located in the convent church.
The work is divided horizontally into two parts: the upper part depicts the work tools of the two Corporations (hammer, plumb line, trowel, carpenter's axe); the lower part features the inscription “M(agis)tri . lig
(The master carpenters and masons built this chapel and equipped it with a chalice and vestments.)
Tondo with Saint Simeon
Roundel with Saint Simon (and others) - 1460-80 - Sandstone, Ø cm. 54 - Provenance: formerly in the cloister of the Church of San Sepolcro in Piacenza, moved together with the other four roundels to the Olivetan house in Verano di Podenzano (PC), from there purchased by the Bozzetti family and donated by them to the Museum in 1979.
The four tondi represent an important testimony for understanding the architectural events of Piacenza in the second half of the 15th century.
They come from the cloister behind the apse of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Piacenza, and more specifically from the arches of the cloister; this is based on early Renaissance Tuscan and Lombard models (the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence, and the small cloister of the Certosa di Pavia).
The artist of the tondi is to be found in the Lombardy area, given the massive volume and the uncomplicated gestures.
Male head
Male head - Second quarter of the 15th century - Alabaster
The work may be part of an alabaster altarpiece from the Borromeo Chapel in Santa Maria Padane in Milan, and then transferred to Palazzo Borromeo on Isola Bella.
This head has been traced back to the hand of a sculptor from beyond the Alps who was active in the second quarter of the fifteenth century.
David and Ezekiel
David and Ezekiel - Anonymous sculptor of the “Piacenza School” - - Second half of the 12th century - Marble high reliefs, 118.5 x 23 x 17 cm - Provenance: Canonry of Fragnano (Quarto) Piacenza
This high relief of the prophet David, together with the mirrored one representing Ezekiel, comes from the provostship of the Cathedral of Piacenza, then preserved in the Canonry of Fragnano and from there merged into the collections of the Civic Museum.
Both prophets hold scrolls bearing passages from their psalms. Traces of polychrome are visible, suggesting that the statues were originally painted.
The two marble high reliefs would belong to the Piacenza School, due to the stylistic consonances with examples attributed to the same school and the close affinities with some prophets of the Cathedral and with the prophet Isaiah of the Collegiate Church of Castell'Arquato, similar in the rigid drapery, the physiognomy and the contracted posture of the body to those examined here.
