The Altarpiece of Alella is an

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí that is part of the project of the chapel of the

Holy Sacrament There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those ...

commissioned in 1883 by the Rector Jaume Puig i Claret for the parish church of Sant Feliu (Saint Felix) in

Alella Alella () is a village in the ''comarca'' of Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast on the southwest side of the granite Catalan Coastal Range. The town is known for its wines, cava and perfumes, but is also a commuter town ...

. It became known by a drawing preserved in the parochial archive found in 1959, delineated with India ink in two colours and showing Gaudí's signature, published for the first time in the same year. A reproduction was included the book ''Gaudí'' by

George R. Collins George Roseborough Collins (September 2, 1917 – January 5, 1993) was an American art historian and educator. An expert on the work of the architect Antoni Gaudí, Collins was Professor of Art History at Columbia University. Career A native of ...

the following year which was transcendent for the worldwide diffusion of the work of the architect of

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is k ...

as it was the first monograph dedicated to him in English language. The drawing at issue is the cross section of a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

attached to the church of Sant Feliu. The altar and its altarpiece are placed in the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

of the chapel behind a pointed arc with seven stained glass windows. The altarpiece has a flat panel shape with marked

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

inspiration, sculptural figures ahead and the main motif representing the

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

guarded under a canopy. Neither the altarpiece nor the chapel designed by Gaudí came to be built although the project was approved on by the Bishop of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Jaume Català Albosa. Finally the chapel was built according to another project. Gaudí's plan was exhibited and reproduced several times. In 1997, on the commission of the Town Hall of Alella, the altar and chapel were reconstructed following Gaudí's design using CAD programs. This work was part of the ''Gaudí i Alella'' exhibition at the Centre Cultural Can Lleonard in 1999, including a model of the chapel and the altarpiece.

Description

The altarpiece is a square table placed over a decorated with pointed arches pedestal with a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

of medallions representing vegetal and angels figures. In front it is placed the altar with the tabernacle also in ogival form. In the centre is the sculpture of the crucifixion surrounded by an almond-shaped figure from which rays emerge, under a canopy of fine gothic design in the form of a temple rotated 45 degrees, where guardian angels are placed. It tops in a cover with sharp slopes where a slender cross is placed crowning the altarpiece. The great table on which the whole is structured is framed by a delicate guard and is divided into four columns where the word ''Sanctus'' is repeated 36 times. In the Gaudí's project the altarpiece was in the

of the chapel preceded by an arch with seven staggered windows according to the ogival arch with figures of angels in the stained glasses. The chapel was covered with gable roof over wooden joists supported by ribbed pointed arches, a characteristic

Catalan Gothic Catalan Gothic is an artistic style, with particular characteristics in the field of architecture. It occurred under the Crown of Aragon between the 13th and 15th centuries, which places it at the end of the European Gothic period and at the begin ...

system of diaphragmatic arches and woody beams that can be seen for example in the Royal Chapel of Santa Águeda in Barcelona.

Symbolism

In a 1983 article on the centenary of this project, Joan Bassegoda Nonell explained its symbolism, based on the Apocalypse of St. John. The seven angels in the windows of the arch are described in Chapter 8, Verse 2: ''"I saw seven angels standing before God, to whom were given seven trumpets."'' In chapter 4 St. John expressed that he saw four beings -lion, bull, eagle and man- repeating day and night prayer: ''Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty, who was, who is and who will come.'' In each of the four columns of the altarpiece can be read nine times the word ''Sanctus'', equivalent to four times three repetitions of the triple prayer symbolizing this way this passage of the Apocalypse. The central figure of the altar is the

with

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

in the cross and the

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

and St. John at both sides composing the so-called ''Horizontal Trinity'' or ''Juanist Trinity''. The group stands in front of the almond shaped form where rays of light emanate from the head of the Christ, forming the ''Elliptical Aura'', a symbol of

apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...

and glory. Thus the whole assembly of the chapel and the altarpiece formed a direct symbolism of the crucifixion and the interpretation of passages of the Apocalypse of St. John. The invocation of the ''Sanctus'' had been used shortly before by Gaudí in the watercolor drawing of a

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...

, preserved in the Reus museum, and the following year he will repeat it in the stained glass windows of the crypt of the Sagrada Familia temple. Bassegoda remarks that the student gate for a cemetery that Gaudí projected in 1875 contained numerous apocalyptic symbols. File:Proyecto reconstruccion Alella-Retablo.png File:Proyecto reconstruccion Alella-Seccion.png File:Proyecto reconstruccion Alella-Detalles Retablo.png File:Proyecto Capilla Alella-Seccion longitudinal.png File:Proyecto Capilla Alella-Seccion transversal.png

Other Gaudí works in Alella

Gaudí befriended Manuel Vicens Montaner since the commission of the famous

Casa Vicens Casa Vicens () is a modernist building situated in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona. It is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí and is considered to be his first major project. It was built between 1883 and 1885, although Gaudí drew up the ...

. As a result, he spent many summers of the 1880s in the residence that the Vicens family had in Alella, at the Carrer de Dalt (today Anselm Clavé street). Gaudí designed two pieces of furniture that remained in this house for many years, while Mr. Vicens' daughter lived there: a wooden and metal corner fireplace currently displayed in the ''Casa Vicens'', with a great sculpture on a slender pedestal. Written on metal plate are shown the initials ''M.V.'' of Manuel Vicens. The other piece of furniture is a hanging wooden corner cabinet decorated with gold metal inlays. The interior faces of the doors have shelves to optimize the functionality of the small furniture. It is currently in a private house in Barcelona. This piece of furniture shows the initials ''D.G.,'' of Dolors Giralt, Mr. Vicens's wife. In the parish church of Alella there is another piece that can be attributed to Gaudí. It is the first section of the staircase of the romanesque

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

, considered the most notable of its style in the coastal area of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, which received a modification in its initial section on the ground floor giving it curved shape with broken triangular floor steps so that each step allows to gain two heights, according to the

system described and illustrated by Viollet-le-Duc that allows stairs with slopes of up to 45 degrees. Gaudí should be credited with having innovated on this scheme which applied only to straight stairs. By the same dates Gaudí was building a similar staircase in the stables of the Finca Güell, which turns very likely to attribute to him the one of the bell tower of Alella. Stairs with the same configuration were projected by Gaudí in the waterfall of the park of the Ciutadella in Barcelona when he collaborated with Joan Fontseré. In this case the structure was metallic, while the other two are made of bricks. Finally may be related the wrought iron cross next to the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

of the church of Alella, whose shape is similar to the one that Gaudí drew in the design of the altar of the Crucifixion (in the drawing it is suggested since it is covered by the arch), and attributed to the architect too.Web site of the Parroquia de Sant Feliu de Alella. Sant Feliu d’Alella i Gaudí.

Bibliography

*ARTÈS, SALVADOR and GALERA, LLUÍS (1959) ''Notes històriques de la parròquia de Sant Fellu d'AleIla''. Alella. Publicacions de la Parròquia d'Alella. Pp. 14, 34 y 49. *ARTÈS, S. (1963) ''Alella i Gaudí''. Alella. 1ª época. Nº 35. Alella, XI. * BASSEGODA NONELL, JOAN (1983) ''Cien años del retablo de Alella''. La Vanguardia. Barcelona. 18-7-1983. *(1985) ''EI campanil de Alella''. La Vanguardia. Barcelona. 9-1-1985. *(1989). ''El gran Gaudí''. Sabadell. Ausa. . *CASANELLES, ENRIC (1965) ''El retaule d’Alella''. Alella. III época. Nº 54. Alella. X. p. 4. *(1965) ''Nueva Visión de Gaudí''. Barcelona. Polígrafa. *COLLINS. GEORGE R. (1960) ''Antonio Gaudí''. New York. Braziller. *MARTINELL, CÉSAR (1967) ''Gaudí. Su vida, su teoría, su obra''. Barcelona. Colegio de Arquitectos de Cataluña y Baleares. P 47. *RÀFOLS, JOSEP F. and FOLGUERA, FRANCISCO (1929) ''Gaudí.'' Barcelona. Canosa.

References

External links