The Apostles from Àger is a painting created in the late 11th century or early 12th century, currently exhibited at the
National Art Museum of Catalonia in
Barcelona.
[Guia del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.p. 37 MNAC, 2004. ]
Description
The church of
Sant Pere in Àger
Sant may refer to:
People
* Alfred Sant (born 1948), Maltese politician
* Andrew Sant (born 1950), English-born Australian poet
* David Sant (born 1968), Catalan director, actor and writer
* Indira Sant (1914–2000), Indian poet
* James Sant ...
, founded by
Arnau Mir of Tost Arnau may refer to:
Places
*Arnau Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, a medieval church in Arnau (modern Rodniki) east of Kaliningrad
*German name for Hostinné, a town in the Czech Republic
*University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, a public me ...
, who conquered the valley of
Àger from the
Saracens
file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...
, was the see of a regular canonry exempt from ordinary jurisdictions (in other words, it did not depend on the
Bishop of Urgell), with enormous estates from the donations by the founder and his descendants. In keeping with its importance, the church, now in ruins, was very monumental.
Of the paintings that once decorated it, only scattered fragments remain of the main and southern apses, of which the most outstanding and complete is that of the two apostles, Thaddeus and James, from the first arcosolium in the central apse. The two monumental apostles of Àger are presented in a face-on, hieratic position, with scrolls or volumes in their hands, which they are holding in alternating positions, at the same time as the colour of their nimbuses and their clothing also differs.
The beardless one on the left is Thaddeus and the one on the right, with a beard, is James, as the inscriptions indicate. The pictorial style belongs to the Lombardic influenced Pedret Circle and shows a close relationship with that in the paintings
in the cathedral of
Saint-Lizier in
Couserans (in situ, France).
As in Saint-Lizier, in each of the niches in the apse of Sant Pere in Àger there must have been a pair of apostles. All together they must have made up the Apostolic College, whose representation was fully meaningful in Augustinian chapter houses like that of Àger, who, in keeping with the Gregorian reform, wanted to strengthen the independence of the Church as an institution in the face of secular power.
References
Sources
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External links
The artwork at Museum's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apostles from Ager
11th-century paintings
12th-century paintings
Catalan paintings
Romanesque paintings
Paintings in the collection of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
1100s works