Communication : Maria del Mar Valls Fusté, « Medieval Painted Ceilings, Mixed Media Structures », ARDS Conference, Londres, 11 décembre 2024
La RCPPM est heureuse d’annoncer la participation de Maria del Mar Valls Fusté au 11ème colloque annuel de l’ARDS, plateforme pour la promotion de la recherche dans le domaine de la sculpture au Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance en Europe occidentale portée par le musée de Louvain.
Son intervention, qui se tiendra mercredi 11 décembre, portera sur la charpente peinte de la chapelle funéraire de l’archevêque Lope Fernandez de Luna à la cathédrale El Salvador à Zaragoza (1374-1381).
Abstract :
The process of building and decorating medieval wooden ceilings was part of a cooperative experience among different artists (architects, carpenters, sculptors and painters). Its study has allowed to document the connections between them, not necessarily as part of a fixed working system, although that option did exist in the form of multiple workshops. In Medieval Iberia, these three-dimensional structures present diverse architectural typologies and attract the gaze of those who enter in the interiors they crown with their visual density and capacity to combine a well assorted repertoire of artistic techniques. They served as a symbolic device in the sacred and courtly sphere where their forms, materiality and iconography played a key role on the spatial configuration. Therefore, medieval ceilings, can contribute to the knowledge of how historic materials and techniques build meaningful and integral artworks. This paper aims to highlight these features by presenting the ceiling of the funerary chapel of Archbishop Lope Fernández de Luna in the cathedral of El Salvador in Zaragoza (1374-1381) (Crown of Aragon).
The chapel is dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel and is attached to the apse of the gospel of La Seo. The presbytery is covered by a gilded wooden ceiling, which becomes a muqarnas dome in its center, and underlines the placement of the archbishop sculptural tomb, made with alabaster by Pere Moragues. In the ceiling’s lower base is visible the sculptural representation of the Tetramorph, whose eschatological dimension needs to be put in dialogue with the muqarnas symbolism and the Arabic carved inscriptions of its friezes, constantly interrupted by the coat of arms of the promoter. Previous scholars have provided a transliteration for the Arabic inscriptions but never have them linked to the three-dimensional decoration that is also part of the ceiling. Historiography has long focused on the uniqueness of the ceiling in the Kingdom of Aragon and the Catalan, Castilian and French artisans documented in the construction of the chapel. Their different backgrounds speak about the ambition of the project but also indicates that Castile and its assimilation of Al-Andalus architecture should be taken into consideration. Between 12th-15th centuries, the muqarnas dome was a suitable and popular solution for Castilian royal burials.
This contribution will explore the connections among doxologies such as الملك لل al-mulk li-llāh (sovereignty belongs to God) or الحافظ الله al-hafiz li-llāh (God protect us), the muqarnas -archetypal forms of Islamic architecture which reflect the image of a cosmos governed by the will of God- and the four round figures of the evangelists. Carved words and figures, three-dimensional patterns and visual effects reproduce and reveal the same lasting message: to be welcomed in the kingdom of heaven and remembered in the world of men.
Informations :
Mixed Media: Sculptural Ensembles in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. 11th ARDS Annual Conference on Current Research in Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture, London (UK), The Courtauld Institute of Art, The British Museum, and The Victoria and Albert Museum, 11-13 December 2024
Pour plus d’informations sur le colloque, cliquez sur le lien.
