The Bronze Doors of the Maschio Angioino

Detail from the Battle of Accadia showing King Ferrante with his knights
Photos by New York Scugnizzo

The bronze doors at the main portal of the Maschio Angioino (Angevin Keep)[1] in Naples chronicle the victory of King Ferrante d’Aragona (Ferdinand I of Naples) over Jean d’Anjou, Duke of Lorraine, and the rebel barons in 1462. Adorned with decorative frames and medallions, the detailed bas-relief panels depict the war’s most significant battles.

Ferrante is ambushed at Calvi

The "Mars-mighty" King and his attendants fight off the attackers

The door's top two panels recount the failed attempt on Ferrante’s life by the traitorous Prince Marino Marzano and his henchmen at Calvi. The assassins escaped, but their poisoned dagger was discovered. Inscriptions in Latin read: “The prince with Jacopo and the deceitful Deifobo; they simulate a conference so that the king may be slain” and “The Mars-mighty king, more spirited than famous Hector, probed with his shining blade, that the plot might perish.”[2]

The Battle at Accadia

Ferrante is victorious and the Angevin take flight

The middle scenes show the Aragonese victory over the Angevins at the Battle at Accadia in Puglia accompanied by the text “The Trojan Ferrante conquered the enemy in the field as Caesar conquered Pompey at Oechalia.” [ibid]

The Battle at Troia

Ferrante's triumphal entry into Troia

The bottom panels depict the Battle at Troia in Puglia and concludes with the inscription: “Troia gave rest to our side, and an end to the labor, in which place the enemy shed much blood and was routed.” [ibid]

The original doors can be found inside the Museo Civico di Castel Nuovo

The original bronze doors made by Guglielmo Lo Monaco circa 1474-75 can be found inside the Museo Civico di Castel Nuovo in Naples. Curiously, an iron canon-ball is embedded in the bottom left panel. 

Decorative device with ermine and Ferrante's motto Probanda,
meaning tried, tested, approved or most worthy [ibid]

Apparently after the sack of Naples in 1495 by King Charles VIII of France, the doors were hauled off as booty. During the return march through hostile territories, the French were set upon by the Holy League, a multi-state alliance formed by Pope Alexander VI to counter French ascendancy in Italy. Though Charles and the bulk of his army were able to escape, his ships laden with the spoils of war were captured off the coast of Genoa and the damaged doors were returned to Naples.[3]

Two examples of the ornamental motifs that adorn the frames

Maschio Angioino, or Angevin Keep (also called Castel Nuovo), Napoli

~ Giovanni di Napoli, January 13, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Bibliography/Notes: 

[1] The Maschio Angioino, also known as the Castel Nuovo (New Castle), is a Medieval castle founded in 1279 by King Charles of Anjou (Charles I of Naples). The Aragonese triumphal arch and cenotaph were added in the fifteenth century by King Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfonso I of Naples, Alfonso V of Aragon and Sicily). It is located next to the port in Naples.

[2] Collecting Art in the Italian Renaissance Court: Objects and Exchanges, Leah R. Clark, Cambridge University Press, 2018

[3] Bronze Door, Comune.napoli.it

Further Reading:

• The Aragonese Arch at Naples, 1443-1475, George L. Hersey, Yale University Press, 1973