The portal of San Michele in Serra de’ Conti (Ancona- Marche – IT)
The two pictures on this page show the portal (end of XIIIth cent.) of the church of S. Michele in Serra de’ Conti (Ancona- Marche – Italy).
The – already gothic – shape of the portal is quite common. We notice little carvings with the typical allusions to the "Heaven gates" in the arch (usually symbolically connected with the "celestial dome").
However, as far as the knowledge of the author is, the presence of two carved hands in the lower parts of the two door-posts is quite singular.
Incidentally, we’d like to recall that in the two sides of the portal we usually find symbolical references to the terrestrial dimension that’s what exists under the immutable celestial cycles represented in the arch.
So, which could ever be the meaning of the two hands in S. Michele?
At first, you could think to remind of the identification of Jesus with the gate: "I am the gate; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:9).
Nevertheless, it can be noticed that the palms of the hands are turned to the ground, almost leaning on the base of the door. This seems to exclude the hyphothesis quoted above.
In the opinion of the author we can consider the little carvings of S.Michele as a way to give the idea of the Heaven (Sky?) supporting itself on the earth while the two sides of the portal would represent a sort of celestial "arms" In this case it would be just one of the usual cosmological allusions that can be found in the medieval art (1).
Coming to the point, this would be the same thematic usually expressed by the "telamones", that’s characters, who, with great effort, held up the celestial dome. They showed the inevitable labour of the life.
Anyway, comments and suggestions or other hypothesis about what has been said above are certainly welcome. valdamer@libero.it
Carlo Valdameri
(1).We can add that, as sometimes happens dealing with medieval iconography, the carved hands of this portal remind of images that –apparently- seem remote in terms of space and time.
In this case, they recall the position of the Egyptian "Nout", god of the sky, leaning on the earth. https://www.bafan.it/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Geb-e-Nut.jpg
As far as the carvings of the portal are concerned, excluding (of course) any specific religious reference, it is possible that we are dealing with a cosmological perception that was deeply-rooted in minds of ancient men. For this reason it was still understandable by people living in late middle-age
Iconografia medievale - Medieval iconography
