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Altar side panels from Mataplana

Romanesque

Anonymous

Between the last quarter of the 12th century and the first quarter of the 13th century

Location icon

Among the medieval Catalan painted panels for decorating the altar sides –the only surviving examples of this kind of object all around the world– some have been preserved integrated into the original sets (such as those from Tavèrnoles in the MNAC or from Lluçà in the MEV) or as couples without the missing frontals (those of Montgrony in the MEV or of Aurós in the MNAC). Other sets, on the other hand, are preserved in different museums, a phenomenon not unusual in Catalonia, such as the altar from Sagàs, distributed between the MEV and the Museu Diocesà I Comarcal de Solsona, or this pair of side panels, one in the MEV and the other one in the MNAC, coming from the old chapel of the castle of Mataplana. Both show the same iconography: between two borders with dark vegetable scrolls on a red background, above and below, a large yellow field framed by red and black lines contains an angel standing, looking straight ahead, with a scroll in his hand and the wings outstretched. The one in Vic wears a blue tunic and a green mantle. The pair of angels has been interpreted as intercessors (as in the canopy from Ribes), or as Gabriel and Michael, who often accompany the divine images (as for example in the frontal from Vidrà), but they could also refer to the mention, in the Roman Canon, of the angel who has to bring the offerings of the Mass to the altar of Heaven, which may give the figures a liturgical connotation. The work belongs to the so-called "1200 style", characterized by the echoes of Byzantine art of the Komnenoi era, which arrived to Catalonia in the late twelfth century often through English or German mediation, there in a simpler version than in the frontal from Rotgers or, even more, in the altar from Lluçà.

Marc Sureda Jubany

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Location

Room4 ,Floor0

4 Romanesque Art

5-6-7-8 Gothic Art

Detalls de l’obra

PLACE OF EXECUTION

Catalonia

PERIOD

Between the last quarter of the 12th century and the first quarter of the 13th century

Material

Tempera on wood

Dimensions

97 x 67 x 5 cm

Origin

From the church of Sant Joan de Mataplana, Gombrèn (Ripollès)

WORK NUMBER

MEV 3357