The paintings from Arlanza are a set of

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s belonging to the mural decoration of a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza San Pedro de Arlanza is a ruined Benedictine monastery in north central Spain. It is located in the valley of the river Arlanza in Hortigüela, Burgos. Founded in 912, it has been called the "cradle of Castile" (''cuna de Castilla''). It was aban ...

, in the

Province of Burgos The province of Burgos is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia (p ...

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, Spain, dating to around 1210, and now dispersed among a number of collections. The Spanish government began to detach and sell sections of the frescos in the 19th century, though less exciting sections remain ''in situ''. In 1943, the largest group of six major fragments was moved to the

National Art Museum of Catalonia The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Pl Espanya, the museum is especially notable for it ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Most of the Romanesque mural painting that has survived is of religious subjects. There was also fine decorations of a courtly or profane nature in large monastic centres, such as Arlanza in Castile, and these fragments represent especially rare survivals. According to C. R. Dodwell, the "imposing" Arlanza paintings are "endowed with all the power and grandeur of Romanesque at its best".

Description

The ten very large animals and other subjects from the world of

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

come from the

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

or a room above, on the lowest floor of the so-called ''Torre del Tesoro'' (Treasury Tower), and are inspired by illuminated

bestiaries A bestiary () is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beas ...

, with the basic landscape backgrounds that are often seen in these. The Barcelona group includes a

gryphon The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk o ...

, a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, in a watchful pose. The MNAC has 5 more fragments from the same decorative group. There are other panels of a lion and a dragon, now at

The Cloisters The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art ...

in New York, one at the

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, and another in a private collection. The style of the paintings in Arlanza is generally related to other Spanish works of around 1200, especially the frescos from the

Monastery of Santa María de Sigena A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

(also in MNAC, Barcelona), which are clearly influenced by English

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

miniature painting, something that can be seen in the refinement and the precision of the motifs, combined with their monumental nature. The Sigena frescos, which are probably actually largely by English artists, namely some of the team who illuminated the

Winchester Bible The Winchester Bible is a Romanesque art, Romanesque illuminated manuscript produced in Winchester between 1150 and 1175. With :wiktionary:folio, folios measuring 583 x 396 mm., it is the largest surviving 12th-century English people, Engli ...

, also contain a very similar gryphon and lion, and are possibly by the same principal artist.Dodwell, 268 The Arlanza fragments in New York still include their section of the black and white

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

with more figures including fabulous beasts running below the large

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

animals. (Barcelona) Motiu arquitectonic de San Pedro de Arlanza - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.jpg, Emblem of Castile, MNAC Dragon passant, burgos, post 1300.JPG, Dragon in New York Lion passant, burgos, post 1300.JPG, Old emblem of León in New York San Pedro de Arlanza - Pintura.jpg, A figure with crozier, still at Arlanza; later period San Pedro de Arlanza - Interior torre - Planta baja.jpg, The room in the tower from which(?) the paintings were removed (Barcelona) Couple of bird sirens de San Pedro de Arlanza - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.jpg, Bird-mermaids, MNAC

Description

Notes

Further reading