The enthroned Virgin and Child are surrounded by eight apostles, six of whom are identified in the Latin inscription above: Simon, Jude, Matthew, John, Thomas, and, apparently, Barnabas. The border of animal medallions may derive from Islamic decorative sources. The technique of raised and painted gesso on wood, particularly favored in Catalan art at this time, imitates metalwork.
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Title:Altar Frontal
Date:ca. 1225
Geography:Made in Catalonia, Spain
Culture:Catalan
Medium:Wood with gesso, canvas, paint
Dimensions:37 3/4 x 58 x 2 3/4 in. (95.9 x 147.3 x 7 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Wood
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1925
Accession Number:25.120.256
Inscription: (Across the top in a black border): SAN[C]TVS : SIMO[N] : et : IVDA : S[ANCTUS] : MAT[THAE]VS : et : IOh[ANNE]S : S[AN]ct[VS] :[T]OM[A]S S : et : B[A]R[N]ABE (Saint Simon and [Saint] Jude, Saint Matthew and [Saint] John, Saint Thomas and [Saint] Barnabas)
From the parish church of Ginestarre de Cardós, Lérida; Juan Cuyás, Barcelona ; Gaspar Homar, Barcelona ; George Grey Barnard American, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 1863–1938 New York, New York (until 1925)
New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "Spanish Medieval Art," December 15, 1954–January 30, 1955.
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. "The Earliest Painted Panels of Catalonia (I)." The Art Bulletin 5, no. 4 (June 1923). p. 86.
Cook, Walter W.S. "the Stucco Altar-Frontals of Catalonia." Art Studies 2 (1924). pp. 45–51, fig. 4.
Richert, Gertrud. Mittelalterliche Malerei in Spanien: Katalanische Wand- und Tafel- Malereien. Berlin: E. Wasmuth, 1925. p. 31, fig. 24b.
Breck, Joseph. The Cloisters: A Brief Guide. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1926. pp. 28–30.
Folch y Torres, Joaquim. Museo de la Ciudadela: Catálogo de la sección de arte románico. Barcelona: Industrias Gráficas Thomas, 1926. pp. 61–62, fig. 60.
Breck, Joseph. The Cloisters: A Brief Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1927. p. 30.
Porter, Arthur Kingsley. Spanish Romanesque Sculpture. Vol. 2. Florence: Pantheon Books, 1928. p. 49, n. 750.
Breck, Joseph. The Cloisters: A Brief Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 30.
Gudiol i Cunill, Josep. "Els primitius. La pintura sobre fusta." In La pintura mig-eval catalana. Vol. 1, pt. 2. Barcelona: S. Babra, 1929. pp. 50–52, fig. 8.
McMahon, A. Philip. "New Books." Parnassus 1, no. 5 (May 1929). p. 42.
Scolari, Margherita. "Review of La pintura mig-eval catalana. vol. I, Els primitius. Pt. I, Els pintors; La pintura mural." The Art Bulletin 11, no. 3 (September 1929). p. 305.
Breck, Joseph. The Cloisters: A Brief Guide. 4th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1931. p. 30.
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. p. 25, fig. 11.
Cook, Walter W.S. "The Saint Martin Altar Frontal in the Walters Art Gallery." The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 11 (1948). pp. 35–36.
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. 318–321, fig. 330.
Morey, Charles Rufus. "Review of Pintura e imagineria románicas (Ars Hispaniae VI)." Magazine of Art 44 (1951). p. 297.
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. 25–26, fig. 10.
Spanish Medieval Art: A Loan Exhibition in Honor of Dr. Walter W.S. Cook. New York: Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Association, 1954. no. 40.
Carrasco Urgoiti, María Soledad. "Una exposición de arte medieval español en Nueva York." Clavileño 6, no. 32 (1955). p. 47.
Scaglia, Giustina. "Arte medioevale spagnola al Metropolitan Museum di New York." Emporium 121, no. 725 (1955). p. 218.
Connoisseur Magazine. "Early Spanish Treasures at the Cloisters." The Connoisseur 136 (September 1955). p. 17.
Folch i Torres, Joaquim. La pintura romànica sobre fusta. Monumenta Cataloniae, Vol. 9. Barcelona: Editorial Alpha, 1956. p. 137, Pl. 32.
Cook, Walter W.S. "A Stucco Altar Frontal from Betesa." Speculum 35, no. 3 (July 1960). p. 894.
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. 38–39.
Schrader, J. L. "George Grey Barnard: The Cloisters and the Abbaye." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 37, no. 1 (Summer 1979). p. 18, fig. 26.
Cook, Walter W.S., José Gudiol Ricart, and Editorial Plus Ultra S. A. Pintura e imaginería románicas. Ars Hispaniae, Vol. 6. 2nd ed. Madrid, 1980. pp. 304–5, fig. 386.
Sureda, Joan. La pintura románica en Cataluña. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1981. no. 90, pp. 247, 343.
Bango Torviso, Isidro. "San Pelayo de Perezancas. Las imágenes de un calendario románico organizadas según la vieja liturgia hispana, y su contexto en el conjunto del programa iconográfico." Anales de la Historia del Arte 4 (1994). p. 552, n. 22.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 30, pp. 63, 194.
Kroesen, Justin E.A. Staging the Liturgy: The Medieval Altarpiece in the Iberian Peninsula. Liturgia Condenda. Leuven: Peeters, 2009. p. 29.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 61.
Velasco Gonzàlez, Alberto. "Una primera aproximació a l’activitat de Joan Cuyàs i Sala (1872-1958), decorador, restaurador i agent del mercat de l’art." 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. p. 216.
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