The Altarpiece of Saint Dominic of Guzmán

Anònim. Aragó - Taula de sant Domènec de Guzmán - Primer quart del segle XIV
 

The Altarpiece of Saint Dominic of Guzmán

 

The Altarpiece of Saint Dominic of Guzmán

In the 13th century the first so-called mendicant orders were founded: the Dominicans and the Franciscans, which as well as religious vows practiced the vow of poverty.  Furthermore, they respectively fought against the Cathars in France and the north of Italy.

In this altar frontal, Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans or preachers, holds in his right hand a new monastic rule and a lily, allegorical of his chastity and the worship of the Virgin Mary.  In the upper left compartment of the frontal, there is a representation of the scene of the Test of Fire, where the burning of the books of the Cathars figures, which at the time were considered heretical, and the miraculous salvation of the Gospels, which is also allegorical of the book of the rules of the Dominicans.

In the same way that the book in the Romanesque plastic art was sacred, the Word of God or transmitted by God, now, depending on the images, goes beyond this dimension and also in the fact that it also contains heretic messages, it should be destroyed.

 

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