Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The Frescoes of Santa Maria del Mur

One of the highlights of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is this marvelous 12th-century fresco from Catalonia. It shows Christ in majesty, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists, and then more saints below.

The fresco comes from a little village church called Santa Maria del Mur, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Just an ordinary place, where peasants and a few other folks worshiped. The church sold it to an art dealer in 1919, and he placed it on the market; the MFA bought it in 1921 for $92,000. As I said when I saw this, isn't it great for us that America had all those rich robber barons in the era when European churches were selling off their old art like crazy?

I especially like these conversing saints, who look so much like manuscript illustrations.

1 comment:

karlG said...

Great image -- thanks!
With your forbearance, here's another Catalonian Romanesque Christ in Majesty from a little priory in Marcevol (about 35 miles west of Perpignan):

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zMpc00O1P2M/VuX1E1U7EZI/AAAAAAAAB4I/U0JqEjTMvPMmnuPc3s4DCFxacT-tkknBg/s1600/Priorat%2BFebruar%2B2015%2B005%2B%25283%2529.JPG