Indentified by his papal tiara, the apostle Peter wears an ornately decorated ecclesiastical vestment (chasuble). The keys signifying his role as guardian of the gates to Heaven, which were given to him by Christ, are missing. The inscription indicates that the sculpture was commissioned by Bernat Pere, chaplain at the cathedral, who died in 1348.
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Detail - Inscription on base
Detail - Painted design on chasuble
Artwork Details
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Title:Saint Peter as the First Pope
Date:before 1348
Geography:Made in present-day Spain
Culture:Catalan
Medium:Pine partially covered with canvas, gesso, and paint
Dimensions:Overall: 79 x 22 5/8 x 13 in. (200.7 x 57.5 x 33 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Wood
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1926
Object Number:27.18.2
Inscription: BN: P: VIQUARI: D:SAT:P: [FEU:FE]R: ESTES: [?] HIMAGES:… DE:PERPEYA:NOS:FE[U] (Bernat Pere, vicar of [the church of] Saint Peter, had these [?] images made. [signature] of Perpignan made [them] for us)
From the church of Saint Michael (formerly church of Saint Peter), La Seu d'Urgell
; Conde de las Almenas, Madrid; his sale, American Art Association(January 13-15, 1927, no.
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Spanish Medieval Art," December 15, 1954–January 30, 1955.
Important Mediaeval and Early Renaissance Works of Art from Spain: Sculptures, Furniture, Textiles, Tapestries and Rugs, Collection of Conde de las Almenas, Madrid, Spain. New York: American Art Association, January 13–15, 1927. no. 359, pp. 212–13.
Rorimer, James J. "A Monumental Catalan Wood Statue of the Fourteenth Century." Metropolitan Museum Studies 3, no. 1 (December 1930). pp. 100–113, fig. 1–6.
Spanish Medieval Art: A Loan Exhibition in Honor of Dr. Walter W.S. Cook. New York: Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Association, 1954. no. 46.
Rorimer, James J., and William Holmes Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 6 (February 1954). pp. 128, 131.
Duran i Sanpere, Augustí, and Juan Ainaud de Lasarte. Escultura gótica. Ars Hispaniae, Vol. 8. Madrid: Plus-Ultra, 1956. p. 198, fig. 192.
Durliat, Marcel. L'art en el regne de Mallorca. Els treballs i els dies 1. Mallorca: Editorial Moll, 1964. pp. 243–44, pl. XXX A.
Byne, Arthur, and Mildred Stapley. Spanish Interiors and Furniture. New York: Dover Books, 1969. pl. 109.
Hayward, Jane. "Sacred Vestments as They Developed in the Middle Ages." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 29, no. 7 (March 1971). p. 307, fig. 11.
Beeson, Nora B., ed. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. no. 43, p. 220.
Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 105, pl. 98.
Museu Frederic Marès. Catàleg d'escultura i pintura medievals, edited by Francesca Español, and Joaquín Yarza Luaces. Fons del Museu Frederic Marès 1. Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona, 1991. p. 360.
Español, Francesca. "El ressò de Rieux a les catedrals catalanes." Lambard: Estudis d'art medieval 9 (1996). pp. 259–67, fig. 1–4.
Martínez Ruiz, María José. "Luces y sombras del coleccionismo artístico en las primeras décadas del siglo XX: El Conde de las Almenas." Goya 307-308 (July-October 2005). ill. p. 287.
Pladevall i Font, Antoni, ed. L'art Gòtic a Catalunya. Escultura I: La configuració de l'estil. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2007. pp. 249.
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