The Altar frontal from La Seu d'Urgell or of The Apostles is a Romanesque

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 ...

frontal currently exhibited at the

National Art Museum of Catalonia The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (, English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Ma ...

, Barcelona, Spain. The work dates from the second quarter of the 12th century and comes from a church of the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

La Seu d'Urgell La Seu d'Urgell (; es, Seo de Urgel, formerly in ca, Urgell}) is a town located in the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain. La Seu d'Urgell is also the capital of the comarca Alt Urgell, head of the judicial district of la Seu d'Urgell and the seat of ...

and was acquired in 1905. It is one of the masterpieces of the collection of panel painting of the MNAC. The frontal, the item covering the front of the altar, stands out for the quality of its bright colours and because it illustrates some of the characteristics of composition in Romanesque art, such as bilateral symmetry, abstraction of the background, with no reference to space or context, and the unnatural geometrical treatment of form to be observed in the folds of the clothing. It also shows certain conventions of representation, such as so-called hierarchical perspective, which consists in representing the chief character in a larger size.

Description

The composition is presided by the '' Maiestas Domini'', or ''

Christ in Majesty Christ in Majesty or Christ in Glory ( la, Maiestas Domini) is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whos ...

'', represented in a double

mandorla A mandorla is an almond-shaped aureola, i.e. a frame that surrounds the totality of an iconographic figure. It is usually synonymous with '' vesica'', a lens shape. Mandorlas often surround the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in tr ...

, typical of earlier

Carolingian art Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for th ...

. According to the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

sources inspiring the vision, the Lord's throne is the arc of Heaven and he has the Earth as his footstool. His face is framed by a cruciform halo and his expression is severe. He is holding the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...

in his left hand and blessing with his right. The Apostles figure in the lateral compartments, arranged in tiered pyramids, an original compositional formula, although it was already known in the art of the Early Empire and also appears in the famous 11th-century Romanesque bibles of Rodes and

Ripoll Ripoll () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter River and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the French border. The population was 11, ...

. The disciples are all addressing the Saviour, either with their eyes or with the inclination of their heads, and are carrying books or scrolls. St Peter, furthermore, is holding the keys. Opposite him, on the other side, is St Paul, with his characteristic bald head. Both the image of Christ and the quality of the yellow and red used and even the bordering on the frame are very similar to those on the frontal from Sant Martí d’Ix,(MNAC/MAC 15802) which probably came from the same workshop. This frontal was painted in

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on a

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

panel. It is one of the most characteristic representations of

Catalan Romanesque Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

, showing Romanesque stylistic principles, such as bilateral symmetry and hierarchical geometric forms, as seen in the folds of the clothing. It is also noteworthy for the quality of the

polychromy Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

. The work shows similarities, especially with regard to colors and borders, to the frontal of

Saint Martin of Ix In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

, indicating that probably they are from the same author or workshop.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

The frontal at Museum's websiteThe Art of medieval Spain, A.D. 500-1200
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this altar frontal (no. 169) {{MNAC Paintings depicting Jesus Paintings depicting Paul the Apostle 12th-century paintings Catalan paintings Romanesque paintings Paintings in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya Paintings depicting Saint Peter Altar frontal