By portraying this lion with his muscles taut, his fur standing on end, and his gaze intense, the artist conveyed the power of this snarling big cat. Medieval beasts, whether real or imaginary, were often imbued with symbolic meaning, as they are in animal fables today. It is not always possible, however, to reconstruct their specific intention in a given monument, and such beasts could be for “aesthetic delight,” as one thirteenth-century archbishop commented. The monastery from which this fresco comes was abandoned in 1841.
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Title:Lion
Date:after 1200
Geography:Made in Burgos, Castile-León, Spain
Culture:Spanish
Medium:Fresco, mounted on canvas
Dimensions:Overall: 10 ft. 11 in. x 11 ft. (332.7 x 335.3 cm) Overall (top panel): 83 x 132 in. (210.8 x 335.3 cm) Overall (lower panel): 48 x 132 in. (121.9 x 335.3 cm)
Classification:Paintings-Fresco
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1931
Accession Number:31.38.1a, b
From a room above the chapter house of the Monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza, near Hortigüela, Burgos, Spain (sold by the government in the nineteenth century)
; Private Collection ; [ Sr. Colominas, Barcelona (sold 1931)]
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Spanish Medieval Art," December 15, 1954–January 30, 1955.
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Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. "Pinturas murales en San Pedro de Arlanza." Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 86 (1925). pp. 13–16.
Huidobro Serna, Luciano. "El Monasterio de S. Pedro de Arlanza y su primer Compendio historical, inédito (II)." Boletín de la Comisión Provincial de Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos de Burgos 6, no. 20 (1927). p. 213.
Kuhn, Charles L. "Notes on Some Spanish Frescoes." Art Studies 6 (1928). pp. 128–30.
"Romanesque Frescoes Discovered in Castile." Art News vol. 27 (January 5, 1929). p. 24.
Cook, Walter W.S. "Romanesque Spanish Mural Painting (I)." The Art Bulletin 11, no. 4 (December 1929). p. 339.
Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting: The Romanesque Style. Vol. 1, pt. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930. pp. 189–93, fig. 40.
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "The Opening of The Cloisters." Art News 36, no. 7 (May 1938). pp. 9–14, 21.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sixty-Ninth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year 1938." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 69 (1938). p. 24.
Rorimer, James J., and Margaret B. Freeman. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Mediaeval Art, in Fort Tryon Park. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1938. pp. 1–4, fig. 1.
Rorimer, James J. "New Acquisitions for the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 33, no.5, part 2 (May 1938). p. 8, fig. 5.
"Art Throughout America - Cambridge: a Spanish Wall Painting of the Thirteenth Century." Art News 37, no. 23 (March 4, 1939). p. 16.
Wehle, Harry B. A Catalogue of Paintings: Volume 1, Catalogue of Italian, Spanish and Byzantine Paintings. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1940. pp. 210–11.
Gudiol, José. Spanish Painting. Toledo: Toledo Museum of Art, 1941. p. 2.
Rorimer, James J. Medieval Monuments at The Cloisters: As They Were and As They Are. Revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1941. p. 15, pl. XXVI–XXVII.
Gómez-Moreno, María Elena. Mil Joyas del Arte Español: Piezas Selectas, Monumentos Magistrales.. Vol. 1. Barcelona: Instituto Gallach de Librería y Ediciones, 1947. p. 160, pl. 357.
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. 127, 173–74, fig. 143–44.
Anthony, Edgar Waterman. Romanesque Frescoes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951. pp. 64, 180–81, fig. 440.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Mediaeval Art in Fort Tryon Park, New York. 11th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1951. pp. 1–3, fig. 1.
Allen, Josephine L., and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1954. p. 92.
Gaya Nuño, Juan Antonio. La Pintura Románica en Castilla. Madrid: Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1954. pp. 21–23, 36, pl. 45.
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Connoisseur Magazine. "Early Spanish Treasures at the Cloisters." The Connoisseur 136 (September 1955). p. 17.
Gaya Nuño, Juan Antonio. La Pintura Española Fuera de España. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1958. no. 2542, p. 295, pl. I (a).
Randall Jr., Richard H. A Cloisters Bestiary. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1960. pp. 4, 49.
Ainaud de Lasarte, Juan. Spanish Frescoes of the Romanesque Period. Mentor-UNESCO Art Book. New York: New American Library, 1962. p. 22.
Ainaud de Lasarte, Juan. Romanesque Painting. Compass History of Art. New York: Viking Press, 1963. p. 28, pl. 136 (detail).
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. pp. 21–23, fig. 3.
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Demus, Otto. Romanesque Mural Painting. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1970. pp. 57, 119, 478, fig. 65.
"Books - Medieval Monuments at The Cloisters: As They Were and As They Are." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 30, no. 4 (February 1972-March 1972). pp. 171–73, fig. 6, 7.
Rorimer, James J. Medieval Monuments at The Cloisters: As They Were and As They Are, edited by Katherine Serrell Rorimer. Revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. pp. 48–49, fig. 59, 60.
Demus, Otto. "European Wall Painting around 1200." In The Year 1200: A Symposium. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. p. 96, fig. 2, ill. p. 108.
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Socias Batet, Immaculada. "Les pintures murals de San Pedro de Arlanza al Museu dels Cloisters de Nova York." In Agents i comerç d'art: Noves fronteres. XI Seminari sobre Història Social del Col·leccionisme / Agentes y comercio de arte: Nuevas fronteras. XI Seminario sobre Historia Social del Coleccionismo (2015), edited by Yolanda Pérez Carrasco. Biblioteconomía y Administración Cultural, Vol. 296. Gijón: Ediciones Trea, 2016. pp. 157–88, fig. 16a–d, cover ill.
Senra, José Luis. "Y vivía entre las fieras, pero los ángeles le servían. Poder, saber y representación abacial en el monasterio de San Pedro de Arlanza." In En busca del saber: arte y ciencia en el Mediterráneo medieval, edited by Alexandra Uscatescu, and Irene González Hernando. Investigación. Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2018. pp. 333–66, fig. 10a, 11.
Senior Research Associate Christine E. Brennan recalls enjoying the Medieval Festival at The Met Cloisters with her family and invites visitors to join the festivities this Sunday, September 18.
Attributed to the Master of Pedret (Spanish, Catalonia, 12th century)
ca. 1100
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