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Leaflet
The paintings of Saint Catherine from La Seu d'Urgell are a late but extraordinary example of Catalan Romanesque painting. Conceived as the mural decoration of one of the chapels in the cathedral of La Seu, they were rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century and removed and sold in three separate parts on the international antiques market. These three parts are today conserved in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the MEV and the Abegg Foundation in Switzerland.
The paintings are an example of the transformations that took place in Catalan Romanesque painting in the middle of the 13th century, when it felt the impact of the French Linear Gothic style. They are associated with the patronage of Bishop Ponç de Vilamur (1230-1257), a distinguished combatant of the Cathar heresy in the diocese of Urgell. The prominence in the paintings of Saint Catherine has to be understood in the context of this circumstance, for the saint was the model par excellence of anti-heretical preaching and the patron of the Dominican order, which had come into being precisely to combat Catharism.
The exhibition, moreover, explains to us the technique, known as strappo, for the removal of mural paintings: during the 1920s and 30s it was used to systematically remove the major groups of Romanesque mural paintings conserved in Catalonia.
The show is part of the project to reunite dispersed groups of Catalan Romanesque art, begun by the MEV and the Museu Nacional in 2008 with the exhibition The Painted Sky. The Tost Baldachin. Now with The Wise Princess we have the opportunity to enjoy the whole group of paintings of Saint Catherine, presented together for the first time since they were removed.
The 75th Anniversary programme is supported by the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals.
Exhibition co-organized by the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and the Museu Episcopal de Vic