Altar frontal from Avià

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Location: 
Room 12
Artists / Makers / Authorities: 
Anonymous
Social tags: 
  • frontal
  • Mary
  • Sedes Sapientiae
  • Byzantine Art
  • two fingers
Description:

This altar frontal is an excellent example of what is known as 1200 art, which in the Christian West was characterised by the influence of Byzantine art renovated during the twelfth century through the English miniature and the art of the Crusaders. The frontal is centred on the figure of Mary as the 'Sedes Sapientiae', or Seat of Wisdom, with the Child on her lap and flanked by four scenes from Jesus's childhood. The Byzantine stylistic influence can be seen in the sculptural modelling of the bodies, the three-quarters treatment of the faces and the remains of gilt plant decoration in the background. Mary's position in the Nativity scene, in which she is half seated on a bundle of straw, is also of Byzantine influence.

 

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Frontal d'Altar d'Avià

Painting

Circa 1200

107 x 177 x 7.5 cm

Purchased 1903

Inventory number: 

015784-000

From the church of Santa Maria d'Avià (Berguedà).
Tempera, parchment overlaps, stucco reliefs and remains of varnished metal plate on wood
Subject: Religion
Century: 13th
Anònim - Frontal d'altar d'Avià - Cap a 1200 [1]
Frontal d'altar d'Avià [1]
Anònim - Frontal d'altar d'Avià - Cap a 1200 [2]
Frontal d'altar d'Avià [2]
Anònim - Frontal d'altar d'Avià - Cap a 1200 [3]
Frontal d'altar d'Avià [3]
Anònim - Frontal d'altar d'Avià - Cap a 1200 [4]
Frontal d'altar d'Avià [4]