A hermitage was constructed in the first half of the eleventh century at San Baudelio de Berlanga, which was situated along part of the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands. (The site is halfway between Madrid and Saragossa, just north of today’s main road.) The church interior was transformed a century later, after the hermitage at Berlanga came under the control of an agent of Alfonso I, king of Aragon and Navarre, in 1129. Two cycles of vibrant wall paintings were created for the community of monks established there; scenes from the Life of Christ were set on an upper level, while images of animals and hunting decorated the lower wall. The camel was associated with the lands of the Bible, but also with power, luxury, and the exotic.
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Title:Camel
Date:first half 12th century (possibly 1129–34)
Geography:Made in Castile-León, Spain
Culture:Spanish
Medium:Fresco transferred to canvas
Dimensions:Overall: 97 x 53 1/2 in. (246.4 x 135.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings-Fresco
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1961
Object Number:61.219
From the monastery of San Baudelio de Berlanga, near Soria; [ Leon Levi (from 1922)] ; [ Gabriel Dereppe French, Paris and New York (by 1927–sold 1952)] ; co-owned by Clowes Fund and Elijah B. Martindale (1952–61)
New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spain, 1000–1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith," August 30, 2021–January 30, 2022.
Cook, Walter W.S., and José Gudiol Ricart. Pintura e imaginería románicas. Ars Hispaniae, Vol. 6. 1st ed. Madrid: Editorial Plus Ultra S. A., 1950. pp. 139–49.
Anthony, Edgar Waterman. Romanesque Frescoes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951. pp. 181–83, fig. 449.
Forsyth, William H., and Margaret B. Freeman. "'Report of the Departments,' Ninety-Second Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1961-1962." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 21, no. 2 (October 1962). p. 81.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park. 3rd revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1963. p. ix.
Baetjer, Katharine. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. p. 175.
Baetjer, Katharine. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. Vol. 2. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. p. 185.
Schrader, J. L. "A Medieval Bestiary." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 44, no. 1 (Summer 1986). p. 29.
Little, Charles T., ed. The Art of Medieval Spain, A.D. 500–1200. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 103, pp. 223–228.
Baetjer, Katharine. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. p. 145.
La ermita de San Baudelio de Berlanga. Las pinturas de la bóveda: Avance de la restauration. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de cultura y bienestar social, 2001. pp. 15–16.
Jiménez-Blanco, María Dolores, and Cindy Mack. Arte español en Nueva York: Guía. Madrid: Hispanic Society of America, 2004.
Guàrdia, Milagros. San Baudelio de Berlanga, una Encrucijada. Memoria Artium, Vol. 10. Bellaterra: Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, 2011. pp. 13, 45, 213, 216–17, 224, 270, 367, 435–37, pl. 6.
Perratore, Julia. "Spain 1000-1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n. s., 79, no. 2 (Fall 2021). pp. 35–41, fig. 46.
Perratore, Julia. "The Art of Medieval Iberia at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Met Cloisters." La Corónica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures 50, no. 1–2 (Fall 2021–Spring 2022). pp. 438–39, pl. 1.
Attributed to the Master of Pedret (Spanish, Catalonia, 12th century)
ca. 1100
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