Este paramento decorativo modelado en estuco, creado para el frontal de una mesa de altar, estaba originalmente recubierto por hojas de estaño vidriado brillante que imitaban las versiones más costosas de oro y plata. La franja exterior evoca los estampados de un textil contemporáneo: las criaturas con cuatro patas inscritas en marcos circulares eran un diseño de gran popularidad en las sedas de la época. La decoración del borde también podría ser una referencia a un paño real que cubría el altar, una práctica habitual en las iglesias de este periodo, lo que significa que las figuras sagradas que adornan el frontal solo se podrían ver en ocasiones especiales.
Shaped in stucco, this decorative panel for the front of an altar table was originally covered in sheets of shiny glazed tin, imitating higher-end versions in gold and silver. Its outer edge evokes the patterning of a contemporary textile: the four-legged creatures in circular frames were a favorite design for silks in this period. The border decoration also possibly alludes to an actual cloth that would have been draped over the altar. This common practice in churches of the period allowed the sacred figures adorning the frontal to only be seen on special occasions.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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