The Other Knights of the Cloister

Other knights can be found in the museum—look around carefully...

Two other column statues, one of them fragmentary, depict a knight. Additionally, a clustered pillar, sculpted with four figures—three armed and one draped—illustrates the triumph of Virtues over Vices. The knight, symbolizing a Virtue, stands with a shield adorned with a cross, trampling an individual beneath his feet, whom he is about to strike down with his sword.

This theme, widely represented in the Middle Ages, is inspired by the poem Psychomachia, written in the 5th century by Prudentius, which describes the eternal battle between Christian Virtues and pagan Vices.